When did you start to learn a second language?

[TheStoryteller1]

I was around 5 years old when I was introduced to my second language and 15 when I started my third. I wans to learn at least 5 in my lifetime.

Right with you on that!

I was 5 years old and we started learning conversational English in pre-school. I remember only that "How are you?" for some reason for me blended in such sound that it sounded like Ariel (you know, the mermaid:P). I thought that was kind of cool. I was horrible in English up until 4th grade where I realized I may really like knowing it one day.

I started learning German in high school. In university, I took another year of German, 1 of French, and 1 of Spanish. Last year I studied a bit Japanese in my spare time. So now I have a base for few languages, and I have to concentrate on some of them and learn more. Right now I've chosen Spanish to be the first such.

[PSLoveCharli]

If you don't count the couple of times I started in high school and college, then I truly began about 3 months ago. It's going "so-so" but not making progress like I'd like to. It's coming along though!

[thomas pendrake]

I was in El Paso, Texas when  I was in the third grade and we had Spanish lessons. I also learned some Spanish from the Mexican kids. That was largely stuff the teacher wouldn't teach.  I took Latin starting in the 8th grade and French starting in the 9th. When I reached college I began studying Russian.

[caparica007]

Good question, I think English was introduced when I was 6 or 7 years old and French 3 years later. I think the sooner, the better, kids really pick up things much easier than us adults. 

[PSLoveCharli]

I've been learning Spanish off an on for about 2 years. But I recently started speaking simple phrases with co workers. Not too much, but it's a start.

[Expressionism]

I started when I was a toddler. Lessons-wise, I started in elementary school.

[rosacrux]

Living in Mexico it as quite obvious that English had to be the second language I had to learn. English classes started from 3rd or 4th grade and never stopped. Even in college I was still taking English classes, in order to improve my speaking skills.

[devilishomar]

I started learning a second language (Urdu) pretty much from the beginning. I was going to go to an English medium school anyway so my parents thought they would teach me both English and Urdu to prepare me better.

Properly, however, I stared learning a second language from elementary school. That's the same case with all of my other friends as well.

[andre-nunes]

I started learning English pretty soon, probably in my third or forth grade, so I was 8/9 years old. It was great that my parents put me in a language learning school because it's a very useful skill to have nowadays. I did my first certificate in English (Cambridge's FCE when I was 17) 

[katara]

Where I live we start learning our first foreign language which is English in elementary school. In middle school you have to pick your second foreign language which is a choice between French and German.

[eppie]

I started to learn English when I was in school. From elementary to college, it was the language of instruction being used. It is a second language to us here in my country.

Same thing with me, maybe we're from the same country? 

Anyway, I started learning English as my second language since elementary days (I think even in kindergarten?) up to college.  Most subjects like Math and Science are being taught in English.  At home we talk in "semi" to full English.  :grin:

I was able to learn Spanish too in college for 4 semesters (as a school requirement) and now I'm interested to learn Mandarin as my husband is Chinese and all my kids are studying in a Chinese school and they are always teasing me when I try to speak Mandarin.  :cry:

[Hedonologist]

I had to learn Spanish in school from age 11. Although as I knew this was coming I did do a bit of preparation before hand. The first language I attempted on my own was Japanese at the age of 12. Funnily enough of all the languages I have studies I have found the Spanish is probably my weakest.

[dorannmwin]

I started learning Spanish when I was in seventh grade, or 12 years old. I do still remember a lot today after 4 years at school, but I am no where near fluent. My son started at 5 and in kindergarten and now in first grade he speaks the language better than me.

[scribe_of_the_stars]

My first language is Spanish and my second language  is English, which I started learning since kindergarten. My mother wanted us to learn a second language so she had us in a bilingual school.

[Petar Petrov]

In Bulgaria, we had to start learning a language in the 3rd grade. When I moved to the USA, we took a couple of weeks learning German, Spanish, and French in the 7th grade. That way we can make up put mind of what we like best. Then I took four years of German. I know some German but not a lot. I think if you go to Germany you will learn it way faster. It took me 2 years to learn English when I moved here.

[Katya S]

I've started to learn a second language several times since I was about 10, but the only time when I actually decided to stick with it was when I started learning Japanese when I was 13. I'm really enjoying it, and I hope that I manage to keep on going with it in the future. Of course, it would probably have been easier to start learning when I was younger, but any time is better than never, I suppose

[littlebelgianwriter]

I am in the same country as Jeroen030.

I formally started to learn a second language at the same age as he did.

Moreover, I call French my paternal language because my dad was raised in French, and my parents wanted to make sure that I learned French properly.

I recall being taught French by my parents at the tender age of three.

I am aware of the fact that this is exceptional, but now I know that it would have been better if my dad would have spoken French to me an my mother Dutch.

You are never too young to learn a second language.

[JohnSmite]

Not including the French i did at school i started learning Italian at 20. I started because i wanted to talk to my Grandfather in his native language (he is fluent in english) Im now 26 and sadly my abilities are only at conversation level (due to my inability to stick to learning Italian) hopefully this year that changes.

[Solirivera55]

I started learning a language when I was younger, probably around 5 years old my parents started teaching me our native language , Spanish.. As a 19 year old today I  am a perfect spanish speaking woman of today. I love teaching my son who is 1 and a half and speaks spanish now. Says Hola, but that is just a start . Ha.

[sos]

I started learning a new language when I started high school and that subject was French.At first I wasn't okay with it but with time I came to love the language because it is very cool to listen to.

[LivetoErr]

Well, being Canadian, we had to learn French from Kindergarden to Grade 6. After Grade 6 we could choose whether or not we wanted to continue learning the language. Since, at that time, I lived in Alberta there was no need for me to continue learning French so I elected to stop taking classes.

Then in High School I took one semester of German. I had planned on doing more semesters of it but we moved to a different city and my new school didn't offer German as a language. I elected to take other elective courses and didn't try to learn another language until college.

My boyfriend during college was Russian. Even though, he spoke excellent English I chose to take Russian, for my language requirements, so I could communicate with his grandparents and other extended family. They visited often, so it was beneficial for me to learn the language. At some point, my health took a turn for the worse and I decided to go to a school closer to home. My new college didn't offer Russian so I enrolled in Spanish classes.

During my first semester of Spanish, I got really sick and decided to drop out of school. Around that time, my parents were hitting hitting the age of retirement and decided they were going to retire somewhere warmer. Mexico was their choice. Initially, they were only going to spend the winter months down in Mexico but my father was in a serious car accident. He nearly died and, as a result, decided they were going to move down to Mexico full time. Seeing as warmer weather was better for my health, I came down with them.

Therefore, I am now trying to learn conversational Spanish so I can better communicate with the people here.

[fredkawig]

English, which is my second Language was taught to me when I was 2 years old. My parents started teaching me how to speak in English even when I was still very young. My mom told me that I can speak straight English when I was very little but when those who baby-seated me spoke different Languages, I didn't speak English anymore.

[amandak]

I began in 8th grade, where you could choose either Spanish or German (in America). It was required of every student to pass 2 years of a language. Eventually, French was added to the options. Most students did the minimum 2 years and then quit but a few of us got to level 5 (5 years).

I really wish America would take the lead of many European countries and start students on a second language in elementary school.

[shamzblueworld]

I started learning English when I was in 6th grade, that was the first foreign language I started learning. Though I already knew Urdu and Punjabi.

[Aishe]

I grew up speaking two languages - Thai and English, though in schooling life I was exposed to Maori from a very young age (probably since the start), and after that I took French and German for a couple of years starting from when I was thirteen.

I haven't retained much of that knowledge though, so it probably wasn't very effective.