Re: "Usefull languages"

En réponse à David Starner <starner@...>:

>
> But that's beside the point. I'm talking about adult learning of
> languages, not learning languages as a child, which is much easier and
> IIRC somewhat different mentally.
>
On the contrary, it's exactly at the point. I had explained that I had begun
English learning at that age too, and Dutch learning only now, 15 years later.
Though I began learning English at the age of 10, it took me more than 10 years
of the conventional reading-writing education system to get a small level of
understanding of it (and to this day I'm still unable to read an article of the
Times for example). On the other hand, I took one month of Dutch now that I am
25, and I'm already good enough to speak it on an everyday basis! So the
problem is really not the age when you begin learning, but the way you learn.
Dutch and French people begin learning English at about the same age. Yet
nearly all Dutch people reach bilingualism, while French people are usually
never able to utter two words of English (yes, I'm a big exception). The only
difference is that the French system is based on reading and writing, while the
Dutch system is based on speaking. Unless you pretend that the French are
somehow less gifted in languages than the Dutch, you're obliged to recognize
that there *is* a big difference between both kinds of learning. And there's no
reason why it would change with adults (in fact, it's proven by facts that it's
not. And facts are more important than theory, aren't they?).

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.