When did you start to learn a second language?

[Lodismel]

I didn't start learning a second language until High-School. At least nothing that was real learning. When you grow up in a population that is one third hispanic you tend to pick up a little spanish. When I got into High-School I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to learn Japanese.

[Timeisrelative]

I started learning English when I was 9 years old. Right now I English is the language that I'm the most fluent in, other than my native language of course. I highly recommend learning a language from an early age as it will make it a lot easier.

[pipps]

I started learning French in high school at the age of 11 and it didn't go very well. I just didn't make the most of the opportunity so age 20, I'm trying again. This time with Portuguese. I started learning last year, and it sort of fizzled because I got busy but I'm starting again in 2 weeks time:)

[basmae]

I started learning my second language at the same time that I learnt my first.  My father and mother both spoke Arabic but my mother was also fluent in English so she made sure that I learnt the language too.

[Cookiesandcream]

Till 6th to 8th Grade, I studied French but I dropped it when I was in 9th Grade because it wasn't required anymore. Now I can't even remember most of it except for a few words and slangs. But when I was in 11th Grade, I started the IB programme and had to choose a language. I dreaded this part the most because I've never been good at learning languages even though I really wanted to! So I picked Spanish. It was tough at first but made it a habit to learn 10 words everyday and read a paragraph or two in Spanish. That really helped me and now, I guess i'm semi-fluent in it.

[Victor Leigh]

Well, for me, practically from the first day in school! At my parents' home, we speak Cantonese. They sent me to an English kindergarten. So from my very first day at school, I began to learn a second language, English, which has now become my first language.

[jptrey06]

I've been planning to study Japanese since November last year but I just started last week. I'm studying every after work and at lunch at school. It's fun, because I have like 5 Japanese classmates and they also trying to teach me some words.

[fluffyducky]

I started learning Chinese when I was 5 or so, when I first started school. It was forced upon all of us (everyone had to learn their race's mother tongue) and a lot of it was pure memorization so sadly most of us ended up being utter shit at it, failing all the exams and weekly spelling tests, and hating the language. I'm glad I learned though, it's really useful nowadays.

[Caffajake]

There was a French club at my school when I was six, but I was never formally taught any language until the age of eleven, when we started German lessons. It would have been really good to have had some foreign language teaching in between those ages, when children are most receptive to learning new languages.

[Linguetronix]

Umm... I'm from India, so I knew my regional language + my national language before the age of 4. I learned English sometime then too so that by the time I was 6 I was fluent in three languages. What I consider my first "second" language, would be French, which I started when I was around 11. I'm not very good at French though

[Emmanuel]

I learned english and french roughly at the same time. My mother spoke french, my father english. I was put in a french school because they knew I'd pick up english from my surroundings no matter what. I'm still perfectly bilingual to this day.

[maripereira]

Ever since I was little my parents used to make me listen to songs in English and watch silly American cartoons. That's why English feels so natural to me. When I was 15 I spent 7 months in The USA to practice my skills and came back much more confident about my second language.

Now I'm 20 and I'm trying to learn Spanish. I think it'll be easier, since I already have knowledge in another idiom and Spanish is quite similar to Portuguese.

[Lithium]

I started learning English in the 2nd grade. Since then, I have been learning German as well. These two languages are somehow related.

[Gmac9100]

I started learning Spanish when i was in High School. It is mandatory that every student take a language study elective. I chose to study Spanish. Now as a young adult i have pretty much mastered it. I am glad i stayed the course, because there were plenty of time in which i wanted to quit.

[JeronimoMagalhaes]

When didn't I start....I know English ever since I can remember, they ask me how I know it and I just can't explain. It's a pure mistery of life...

[Victor Leigh]

I started learning English when I was 9 years old. Right now I English is the language that I'm the most fluent in, other than my native language of course. I highly recommend learning a language from an early age as it will make it a lot easier.

Not necessarily true. I learned Thai when I was already 40. Went to night class to study it. Now I speak Thai like a native. Can read Thai, too. Can't write Thai too well, though. It all depends on your interest and the opportunity. If you are really interested and you have the opportunity, you can learn any language you want at any age.

[erikao1o]

I'm Canadian and was enrolled in the French Immersion system, so I started learning French when I was in kindergarten. I studied French from kindergarten all the way to grade 12. I started learning Spanish when I was in high school, and I studied it for two years there. I need to start practising my French and Spanish again!

[thestarsshine]

When I was about 11, I started teaching myself Japanese, and learning a bit from my friend who had a Japanese tutor. I really loved learning it and I absorbed as much info as I could get my hands on (which admittedly wasn't a lot). I kept doing this self-learning thing up until high school when I tested into a ninth year Japanese immersion class.... it was tough, but gave me a huge advantage when they started offering mainstream Japanese classes at my school.

I sometimes consider going to college to learn more Japanese, but it's so expensive and I'd have to take so many unrelated courses that I just don't see the value outweighing the cost. I hope one day to be making enough money that I can get a tutor or audit some courses or something, though, that would be amazing.

[greggreggerson]

I started to learn a second language in the eighth grade. My middle school offered introductory Spanish and I figured it would be more fun than taking an art class.

[IndianapolisJones]

I also started because it was a school requirement, but I'm actually pretty glad that it was required. In sixth grade I chose Chinese because it was vastly different than any language I had ever been exposed to, and the other languages offered at my school (Spanish, German, and French) did not seem appealing to me. I stuck with Chinese for seven years and I'm pleased with the results.

[Sandman]

I was taught two languages from birth. Most people in my country learn 2 or more languages from when they learn to first start speaking, South-Africa has 11 official languages.

[kate23]

When I was about 4 I started learning French because my sister, who was in high school at the time and chose to study French, was teaching it to me. But she didn't teach me a whole lot (she was just learning herself after all) and by now I've forgotten it all, I pretty much just know how to say goodbye in French, lol.

But it's something that I was always interested in, even when I was 4, so I always planned on continuing learning it and am only now just getting around to it. Well, unless you count several years ago when I studied French for a few weeks in middle school.

[Gelsemium]

I can't really recall when I started to learn English, that was my second language. I was probably around seven, as it was mandatory to learn from that age on. I think I studied English at school up to the 10th grade (10 years total) and then one more year at the university, that was optional. I hated it though, lousy teacher!  :bored:

[Rob93FL]

When I was in high school, we were required to take two years of a foreign language. The foreign languages that my school taught were Spanish, French, Latin, and I believe German. I chose to learn Spanish because I had heard that both of the Spanish teachers were excellent. I wouldn't consider that learning a language, though, because I was forced to learn it. Also, I didn't continue the language after my second year was up.

Now that I'm older, I can appreciate and understand the benefits of knowing more than one language. Right now, I'm studying Farsi. It's the language of my father's country, Iran, and I've always wanted to visit his side of the family. I'm taking private lessons with my sister, and I've been enrolled for around eight months. I look forward to finishing up this language so that I can move on to giving Spanish another try.

[Hanaseru]

I grew up with Chinese (second language ouo), but at my little independent school thing, we were forced to learn French from 7th grade.  Starting like 9th grade, I got really interested in learning even more languages