Did you grow up learning more than one language, or did you learn a second or more in school? Or???
Our friends are and when we were in Mexico a couple of months ago, I really wished I have followed through on learning Spanish. I had been low key trying but not very hard. After that trip my wife and I decided to really put an effort in. We are using an app on our phones called Duo Lingo.
My wife's GF is English (she does not speak Spanish), her husband is Panamanian, his cousin that was there with us, she is married to a fellow from Western Mexico who owns a Mexican restaurant here in Florida.
The other couple we were with the husband is Puerto Rican and his wife is a Scandinavian and is multi-lingual. The last couple the Husband is from Albania and the wife Italian, she speaks Italian and can sort out Spanish pretty good too. He is multi lingual as well being from Europe.
So my wife, her GF and myself were the 3 gringo's with no Spanish, a lot of the time we were left out because the staff was going straight to Spanish when interacting with our crew. Especially at dinner time.
After we got back we decided to really lean into learning, I am struggling. I would love to pick it up fast, it has been a very slow go I spend about 10 minutes every day on lessons. I think it is going to take me a very long time to become even close to fluent.
I was just wondering if anyone tried to pick up a second or 3rd more language and how long it took them to become decent enough to hold a conversation.
My wife's GF has an advantage, she has her husband to help her. My wife and I are on our own unless we practice on people we know. That is not going to be every day, we would have to go visit them.
I am also afraid to open a convo in Spanish as after Buenos Dias I am lost... LOL!!
I've lived in enough places to have had multiple girlfriends and wives who spoke other languages. So I've picked up enough to be somewhat conversational, but never enough to really stick. I have little bits of Spanish, Icelandic, German, Hindi, Korean, Italian floating around in my old brain.
Jim you know I'm in the NATO category of dating. I've never learned another language though. I have used translate app extensively.
Being in South Florida, it would be very handy so speak Spanish here. The Euro Mechanic I use when a job is too big for me is Cuban, a lot of my customers are Cuban too. Plus, when we go to Miami everyone speaks Spanish there.
Not to mention many of our friends are bilingual too. I think its time to join them. LOL!
The crazy dog lady next door to me died a couple of years ago, the house, despite being in a living trust, went into foreclosure.
A guy was poking around the yard yesterday, I ran into him in my front yard and spoke for a bit, he had a really heavy accent, turns out he moved here from Argentina 15 years ago, settled into Miami where he can easily speak Spanish 100% of the time. He is now up in this area, 100 miles north of Miami, and English is the primary language. His accent is thick BUT, I am going to have someone to practice on!! LOL! I told him I was trying to learn and be prepared to hear me murder his native tongue.
I have been using Duo Lingo free version which limits you to 5-10 minutes a day, I am going to buy it so I can put in as much time as I want each day. The free version keeps you moving very slowly in an effort to frustrate you into buying it. It worked!!
I gave up on Duo Lingo, I didn't feel like I was learning anything. Most likely because my brain does not work well when trying to learn another language. I am trying another app called Speak.
I am starting it tonight, lets see how this works. I am no where near conversational and it is frustrating me.
Sometimes I wonder if I immersed myself in it would I have better results. Maybe I should move to Miami? :grin: