clair02

Welcome aboard, JustDanJ! It's so nice to have you here. This is a great community for learning languages and you are going to get (and hopefully give) a lot of value in this forum. Look forward to interacting with you on the inside. Have a great day!

Welcome to the community, Gurzo. It's really great to have you here. We are going to have tons of fun learning together. I look forward to meeting you on the inside. Hope you have great day!

A great welcome to the community, GaeilgeGirl! I look forward to connecting and learning with you inside the community. Enjoy your day!

Welcome to the forum Enlivo! I look forward to interacting with you on the inside. This is the perfect place for learning languages and I know you're going to love it here.

Hi DJlearns and welcome to the Linguaholic forum. Advancing your career is wonderful motivation for you to learn Mandarin, and you will find all the help you need here. See you on the inside.

I don't think that intelligence has anything to do with it except that an intelligent person might be better able to come up with a learning routine or strategy that will enable them to learn faster and retain more things. But all things equal, intelligence alone doesn't really count for much in my opinion. Take a new born baby and raise them in a family that speaks one language and he will grow up speaking one language. Take them and raise them in a family that speaks 10 languages, and they will grow up speaking 10 languages, regardless of their IQ.

I've never actually given this much thought. Every time I 'feel' like I am fluent in a language, I just move on to the next one, but I've never sat down to think about it or to ask myself, "Am I fluent enough now?" I guess you just know when you get to the point where you can actually hold your own in a conversation and you can understand things that are being said to you without asking people to repeat themselves slower, or having to look things up in the dictionary. Also when you speak and the native people have no problem understanding you, then I think you're fluent enough.

Only while I was in school. But now that I'm grown, and make my own choices, learning doesn't feel so much like a chore anymore, but it's now something interesting and exciting that I'm doing to better myself and to get better results in my life. I also know now that giving up is never an option and I have the discipline to see things through that I never had while I was in school. Those are the joys of growing up, I suppose.

I understand what you mean. It's always fun and exciting in the beginning and when that initial excitement wears off, you start to lose motivation and enthusiasm for it. I experienced that when I first started studying another language and the technique that I used to help motivate myself was to remind myself why I wanted to learn that language in the first place. Your big 'why' plays a big part in your motivation and determination to learn any language. Do you want to be able to converse with your friends from another country in their language? Is it so you can get a better job? Whatever the reason, keep it in the forefront of your mind and think about it often and you will find the inspiration to continue with your studies.

We are all so busy these days that it is a constant challenge to find time to do the things that we want to do, like finding the time to practice your language. It's very fortunate that you don't have to assign big blocks of time to language learning, but you can learn even if you just have a few minutes to spare here and there. That's pretty much how it has been for me. I have an hour long lesson every week, but other than that, I try to get in whatever I can whenever I can. And I also make sure to practice a lot, even when I'm alone, I try to think in the language and speak to myself in the language that I'm learning. It helps.

I haven't given this much thought either. I only made the decision that as soon as I feel that I'm fluent enough in one language I would move on to the next, I guess I will decide what the next language is when the time comes.

Mine has to be 'amore' which means love in italian. It just sounds so romantic and beautiful.

Welcome to the forum, Valieria! It's great to have you here. As a teacher of Italian, I'm sure you will be able to give great value to this forum. I look forward to interacting and learning from you.

Welcome to the forum, Lucy! I really hope you have a great time here. That's quite a list of languages you have under your belt. Congratulations, and I hope you get all the help you need here.

Good day Stogian, and welcome to the forum. I certainly look forward to connecting with you and helping each other learn along the way and having loads of fun.