Anyone here successfully learned a 2nd language as an adult?

[rod9301]

I learned German at 22, Italian at 25, Spanish at 50

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[snoqpass]

French, Arabic, and Serbo-Croatian

[billyk]

My brother taught himself to speak French, Swedish, Russian, and a few others as an adult in his 50s. I’ve got no idea how he did it, but I know it’s possible.

[riser4]

What is college? Stop going until we figure it out. Because I went to college, I have no idea what it was. I went to college, I was 18 years old, I looked like I was 11. I lived like a goddamn Ninja Turtle. I didn’t drink water the entire time. I lived on cigarettes and alcohol and Adderall. College was like a four-year game show called Do My Friends Hate Me or Do I Just Need to Go to Sleep? But instead of winning money, you lose $120,000. By the way, I agreed to give them $120,000 when I was 17 years old. With no attorney present. That’s illegal. They tricked me. They tricked me like Brendan Dassey on Making a Murderer. They tricked me like poor Brendan. They pulled me out of high school. I was in sweatpants, all confused. Two guys in clip-on ties are like, “Come on, son, do the right thing. Sign here and be an English major.” And I was like, “Okay.” Yes, you heard me, an English major. I paid $120,000 for someone to tell me to go read Jane Austen and then I didn’t. That’s the worst use of 120 grand I can possibly fathom. Other than if you, like, bought a duffel bag of fake cocaine. No, I take it back. That’s a better use of the money, ’cause I know you’d be disappointed when you open up the duffel bag and you realize it’s not real cocaine, it’s like powdered baby aspirin or whatever they do. But at least you have baby aspirin. And maybe you have a baby and one day your baby goes, “Oh, my head,” and you go, “Hey, I’ve got something for you! Come here, little guy.” And you dump it out on a mirror. You make it nice for the baby. You make it nice. You cut it up into lines with your laundry card or whatever and you make it nice, and your baby takes his sippy-cup straw and he holds it in his little ravioli-sized baby fist and he leans over– [snorts] and he snorts up the baby aspirin, and he gets rid of his baby headache, plus you get a duffel bag! That is way better than walking across a stage at graduation, hungover, in a gown, to accept a certificate for reading books that I didn’t read. Strolling across a stage, the sun in my eyes, my family watching as I sweat vodka and ecstasy, to receive a four-year degree in a language that I already spoke.

Gold.

[My Pet Powder Goat]

Lol!

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[reckless toboggan]

[SumJongGuy]

[iceman]

I could only get $10 grand a year and ecstasy wasn't invented yet (well it was, but it was just called MDMA and you couldn't find any) but other than that I feel like I went to college with John Mullaney. wtf was I doing there? English Major. Jane Austen. Chaucer. I still haven't read that shit.

[Buster Highmen]

I'm still learning to speak wife.
(did a ton of MDMA, read a bunch of snooty Eng Lit. in college)
son just got admitted to Reed with 1540 SAT and 4.0/4.0 since forever

[PNWbrit]

I'm still learning to speak wife.
(did a ton of MDMA, read a bunch of snooty Eng Lit. in college)
son just got admitted to Reed with 1540 SAT and 4.0/4.0 since forever

Congrats B.

[Buster Highmen]

Congrats B.

Thanks. I still have trouble with her inflections and slang sometimes though, independent of the mixup at the hospital.

[SumJongGuy]

I'm still learning to speak wife.
(did a ton of MDMA, read a bunch of snooty Eng Lit. in college)
son just got admitted to Reed with 1540 SAT and 4.0/4.0 since forever

[goldenboy]

Bump. Is duolingo still the favorite app? I've been doing it for several months for Spanish and I don't feel like I'm learning all that much, so I'm considering babbel or Pimsleur or ? For context I took Spanish in Jr high and high school and have travelled quite a bit in Spanish speaking countries. Usually, at the end of a 2 week trip, I'm at the low end of conversational (depending very much on the country- Peru good, Argentina not a word, ha). But of course then I forget it all once I'm home.

[zion zig zag]

Bump. Is duolingo still the favorite app? I've been doing it for several months for Spanish and I don't feel like I'm learning all that much, so I'm considering babbel or Pimsleur or ? For context I took Spanish in Jr high and high school and have travelled quite a bit in Spanish speaking countries. Usually, at the end of a 2 week trip, I'm at the low end of conversational (depending very much on the country- Peru good, Argentina not a word, ha). But of course then I forget it all once I'm home.

I'll weigh back in since I started the thread. I'm still using Duolingo but I also occasionally listen to Spanish learning podcasts like Chill Spanish Listening Practice and News in Slow Spanish Latino. I tune into local Latino radio stations and try to get the gist of what the dj is talking about and the ads are pretty easy to get. I also listen to a lot of music in Spanish, including rap. I try to speak a little Spanish everyday either to the cleaning crew here at work, my wife, etc. I also try to form thoughts into Spanish in my head, ie - how would I say this in Spanish, that can be a good exercise in substituting the way you would normally convey a thought in English into Spanish words and phrases that you know.

And after all of that for more than 5 years, I'd also say I'm at the low end of conversational. And by low end conversational I mean that I can, somewhat painfully, sit in a taxi and tell the driver why I am there, for how long, where I'm from and what my home is like, etc. And he can tell me what he likes about the area, where he grew up, things that I should do while in town, etc., and I can understand him. It does not mean that I can have a conversation about something with technical terms or specific knowledge. For example, I blew up a rental car in Argentina and I knew exactly what was wrong and what it needed, but I could not convey that to the mechanic that came to get the car.

Lack of consistency is the killer here and I think I would be further along with more. But I will practice very hard for a few months leading up to a trip, and then after the trip I'll take a break, and even a week or two off seems like a huge setback. I've come to the realization that without immersion and constant practice I will always be a struggling, very low end intermediate. If you want to know just how bad you are take a CEFR test and see where it places you and prepare to be humbled.

[rideit]

I'll weigh back in since I started the thread. I'm still using Duolingo but I also occasionally listen to Spanish learning podcasts like Chill Spanish Listening Practice and News in Slow Spanish Latino. I tune into local Latino radio stations and try to get the gist of what the dj is talking about and the ads are pretty easy to get. I also listen to a lot of music in Spanish, including rap. I try to speak a little Spanish everyday either to the cleaning crew here at work, my wife, etc. I also try to form thoughts into Spanish in my head, ie - how would I say this in Spanish, that can be a good exercise in substituting the way you would normally convey a thought in English into Spanish words and phrases that you know.

And after all of that for more than 5 years, I'd also say I'm at the low end of conversational. And by low end conversational I mean that I can, somewhat painfully, sit in a taxi and tell the driver why I am there, for how long, where I'm from and what my home is like, etc. And he can tell me what he likes about the area, where he grew up, things that I should do while in town, etc., and I can understand him. It does not mean that I can have a conversation about something with technical terms or specific knowledge. For example, I blew up a rental car in Argentina and I knew exactly what was wrong and what it needed, but I could not convey that to the mechanic that came to get the car.

Lack of consistency is the killer here and I think I would be further along with more. But I will practice very hard for a few months leading up to a trip, and then after the trip I'll take a break, and even a week or two off seems like a huge setback. I've come to the realization that without immersion and constant practice I will always be a struggling, very low end intermediate. If you want to know just how bad you are take a CEFR test and see where it places you and prepare to be humbled.

I have done Duolingo every day, for 1575 continuous days. I can’t say that DL alone has made me fluent, but it has made it possible to become fluent, if that makes sense. It’s really the discipline.I do about 30 minutes every night. However, I travel to Spanish speaking countries two or three times a year. And fully immerse when I do.
I also speak Spanish every day as well, in a variety of situations. I watch all of my Netflix shows in Spanish, with Spanish subtitles, which helps immensely. The best way to describe where I am (semi-advanced intermediate) is that to an English ear, I sound truly fluent, but to an educated Spanish ear, I’m not quite there yet. But that’s pretty common, and no different than when people are just learning English here. I often will mix up some basic things (for example, “we was in Mexico, they hasn’t gone yet”, etc. The true value of consuming media and reading a ton is that by repeated exposure, when I am about to make a mistake, I only realize that ‘it doesn’t sound right’ because I have heard it said correctly so many times in my media.
In other words, with DL, you only get what you give. It only really started to click when I started making notes of my mistakes, and writing things down. I also use DL Max, which is hugely helpful, and worth every penny.

I am also attempting to tackle French and Portuguese, just to keep things interesting.

EDIT: I just got back from three weeks of studying Spanish in Costa Rica, the entrance exam was SO humiliating, I thought I was so much more advanced than I was, LoL. Gut punch to the ego, for sure. But I retook the test at the end of the three weeks (48 hours of class), and it all was much, much clearer.

[Grange]

I use the free version of Duolingo and have a lifetime membership to Babbel that I bought around Black Friday last year. I'm working on French currently. I've been using the free version of Duolingo for a few years though I started with Spanish for a trip to Spain in 2022. Found that 8 months of Duolingo everyday got me to be able to pick a word or two of Spanish when listening, but unless someone spoke very slowly I was mostly lost.

Currently I've been doing French everyday for over a year and while it is more difficult to me than Spanish, I'm slowly getting better. Still very far from being able to have a full conversation, but now I can pick up enough words to decipher few sentences provided someone is speaking in the present tense.

I was doing both Babbel and Duolingo (free version) at the same time and personally I like Babbel better. I like the conversation examples better in Babbel. The issue I am having with Babbel was it progressed me too quickly. Babbel started working on past and future tenses and I wasn't able to keep up with the lessons without a lot of mistakes. If you find you are picking up lessons well then Babbel is better in my opinion. For me I'm still doing Duolingo and go back to past lessons in Babbel right now. Once I feel more comfortable I'll move forward with Babbel.

I doubt I'll ever become fluent with these apps, but hopefully on my trip to France next year I'll at least be able to ask basic questions and understand a few phrases.

[goldenboy]

^^Hmmn, ok, that's super helpful. I feel like duolingo has been stuck on "my pants are red" forever, so if babbel gets too advanced too quick, maybe I can bounce back like you're doing. It's 50% off for the lifetime right now, so it's tempting if it's worth it..

[dan_pdx]

Not since college when I learned Japanese via the full court press method. I think it's pretty fucking hard as a working adult to put in the hours to get really solid at a new language.

[Grange]

That's when I bought the lifetime membership to Babbel. It was a good deal to me.

I like the recap lessons on Babbel as I can pick different ways to do the lesson. I think flashcards reviews are good for memorizing specific words or phrases, but I really like the listening reviews where you hear a word or phrase and I choose the correct translation from a list. This helps me learn the language by listening rather than reading. I've done a few speaking reviews, but sometimes the speech recognition software makes it difficult to get a correct answer.

[Talisman]

Very interesting TED talk on learning to be fluent in a foreign language in six months and most of what the speaker presented aligned with my experience of learning a foreign language as an adult. Depending on the definition I speak Japanese and Spanish with some fluency. I only have time to continue learning one foreign language and use Rocket Spanish. Rocket has pretty good voice recognition software and teaches listening comprehension, writing, and speaking. I use Spanish conversationally with a friend who is from Honduras and on travel for work and vacations.

[zion zig zag]

Very interesting TED talk on learning to be fluent in a foreign language in six months and most of what the speaker presented aligned with my experience of learning a foreign language as an adult. Depending on the definition I speak Japanese and Spanish with some fluency. I only have time to continue learning one foreign language and use Rocket Spanish. Rocket has pretty good voice recognition software and teaches listening comprehension, writing, and speaking. I use Spanish conversationally with a friend who is from Honduras and on travel for work and vacations.

I guess we'd have to start with a definition of fluency. I have a hard time believing anyone could be fluent in 6 months without total immersion or being some kind of savant.

[Foggy_Goggles]

I also have, "get better at Spanish" on my short list. I'm basically a bit of a bilingual project manager at times and enjoy taking vacation in Spanish speaking countries. In both enviroments, I'm usually the best Spanish speaking gringo but that ain't saying much.

From what I've seen from friends, Duolingo teaching a pretty academic style. If a high level is your goal, I can see how that may work. But it appears to hamper people when they are actually trying to verbally communicate. They worry about conjugation, tense and other grammatic technicalities which really doesn't matter when you are trying to get on the right bus or ask the masons how they are doing.

[CarlMega]

Cramming a bunch of Spanish most via Duolingo (153 days - up to 1.5hrs a day) these days - preparing for some travel.

My baseline is being able to read forms/signs as there will be a lot of that in my motorcycle travel.

That feels pretty attainable and I think I'll be able to do better - some level of practical oral communication. Plan on taking some intensive, in-person Spanish lessons while I'm down south; many people report good progress.

You can't just "phone it in" w/ Duolingo alone and gain much proficiency. You need to apply yourself. Take notes, dig deeper in other resources and force yourself to practice outside the app.

The apps are fun & convenient tho plus bring some structure & repetition - so I think they are useful. I'm building on Spanish from highschool and college and really only at A2 level, but those academic lessons also made me appreciate structured formal training (which is largely missing in Duolingo). Gotta find balance.

Anyway - a few other resources:

Busuu - free and more academic-like structure - poor man's babbel
Babbel - I only tried the free lesson and liked it, but hedging if it'll be worth the lifetime (woot sometimes has it for $150) or maybe trying a month
italki - excited to try this - basically online tutors for cheap. bridging the gap between convenience of app work and a hands on, in-person classroom

Been dropping in Spanish podcasts, children's television - which should help but it's humbling, even this basic stuff.

[Foggy_Goggles]

Probably a good place to mention that the translation apps (I use google) are amazing and really change the game for international travel (at least Spanish).

[zion zig zag]

They worry about conjugation, tense and other grammatic technicalities which really doesn't matter when you are trying to get on the right bus or ask the masons how they are doing.

I don't know man, conjugation seems pretty important. It may be the difference between you getting on the right bus, sending a rando on that bus, or telling some guy that you want to take his wife on that bus.