Hardest thing for you learning a new language?

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Ambarina

The mind certainly is your best friend or worst enemy. Like a psychologist friend of mine said "El coco dá pá mucho".
Anyone out there bilingual, having learnt two languages (if not more) from childhood or are there any of you who have bilingual children? It is really interesting to watch them develop. I've always talked to my son in English. From about the age of 1.5, although he couldn't speak very well, he was able to discern what language was the most appropriate. He spoke Spanish to the neighbours and English to his mum and dad. From lack of vocabulary, he mixed both languages for a while until the day when, when stuck for a word, he said "Mummy, how do you say ......?
Children don't have our hang ups. They just get on with it.
Watching my cousins when they were small - two bilingual Spanish/English, two bilingual Spanish/French and two Spanish speakers. They soon realised that the language they had in common was Spanish but it was amusing to see them playing the first day, mixing languages. It was a real tower of Babel.

First of all, I misspelled "fluency"

And yes, it has always been fascinating for me to watch children develop in two languages. They just go and get it.

My two girls are fully bilingual, with almost no accent in English and almost no accent in chileno.

I say almost because it is impossible not to soften your accent living outside your country. In the case of my girls, although there were born in the US, their first language was spanish a como diera lugar! :-)

[Jane]

Since different people learn in different ways, what one person finds difficult could be very easy for the next person. Also we should take into consideration different levels or stages of learning, what a beginner finds difficult will not be considered as such by an advanced learner...
For me, at the beginning, speaking was very difficult for me, for fear of making mistakes and making a fool of myself, but these days, I´ve learnt to learn from my mistakes and get better. Now, achieving functional fluency is my next goal and it isn´t easy one bit...

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Jane

Since different people learn in different ways, what one person finds difficult could be very easy for the next person. Also we should take into consideration different levels or stages of learning, what a beginner finds difficult will not be considered as such by an advanced learner...
For me, at the beginning, speaking was very difficult for me, for fear of making mistakes and making a fool of myself, but these days, I´ve learnt to learn from my mistakes and get better. Now, achieving functional fluency is my next goal and it isn´t easy one bit...

Almost everybody I know have had that fear, including myself.

I think it is a state of the mind...

[poli]

For me it's understanding different people and different accents. Depending on the person, I sometimes understand nearly 100%, but with
others much less.
Reading is less difficult. I can generally say what I need to say although sometimes awkwardly.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by poli

For me it's understanding different people and different accents. Depending on the person, I sometimes understand nearly 100%, but with
others much less.
Reading is less difficult. I can generally say what I need to say although sometimes awkwardly.

For your "reading" problem, which I translate as problems when you speak, just read aloud, so that you can hear yourself, trying to imititate the inflection of your choice. Argentinian, Mexican etc...

That will cure it, I am sure.

[Fazor]

It's certainly difficult to speak and listen to others in the language. But the hardest thing for me is just remembering everything. Verb tenses and conjugations, idioms, vocab . . . you can learn them all individually, but in use, you have to put everything together. It can be a lot.

I'm awful at spelling, but spelling in Spanish seems to be a lot easier than in English. Things tend to be spelled the way they're pronounced, and follow certain conventions, whereas English doesn't seem to be as consistent.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Fazor

It's certainly difficult to speak and listen to others in the language. But the hardest thing for me is just remembering everything. Verb tenses and conjugations, idioms, vocab . . . you can learn them all individually, but in use, you have to put everything together. It can be a lot.

I'm awful at spelling, but spelling in Spanish seems to be a lot easier than in English. Things tend to be spelled the way they're pronounced, and follow certain conventions, whereas English doesn't seem to be as consistent.

nothing that reading and writing won't fix, though. I mean practice.

[Fazor]

Sí. Es por qué soy aquí.

[Ambarina]

Originally Posted by Fazor

Sí. Es por qué soy aquí.

Pequeña corrección:
Esa es la razón por la que estoy aquí o Por eso estoy aquí.

[Fazor]

Me gusta 'Por eso estoy aquí' mejor; es más breve.