Posted on 06/11/2020 4:27:39 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative
He'd been in the US for a while, and most of my team is at a remote site -> so conversations (technical with nuance) happened over skype at the time.
It was VERY frustrating not in a way that you're angry at the person, but just hard to make progress. He is middle age. He also had been in the states over 5 years.
BUT ... our team talks a lot :-) ... on the phone I mean -> we MEET a lot, and they talk a lot down there.
I think his other jobs probably were programmer jobs where they stuck him off in a corner (like many development jobs) ... and so he didn't get a hell of a lot of practice.
But I noticed a couple months ago that I rarely don't understand a word he's saying. He's quick with US sayings now, much more confident ... and can finally communicate his very excellent thinking. Thinking was always excellent ... but he had trouble expressing it. Was just hard to understand and needed to expand his quickly accessible vocabulary.
So that's over about 18 months.
The difference -> LOTS of communicating all day long on our team. Previously he had no problem formulating ideas ... but expressing them ... he was only 80% there, and that was enough to make it really slow and hard to get to.
Now he's 97% and we have no problem joking with nuanced little twists of phrase.
Now I know PART of it, but not most of it, is that I'm used to it -> my ear has learned. But in general my answer is:
YES anyone can learn language at any age if they are in a situation where they are forced to talk A LOT.
It's probably quicker when very young, and also then you have the added benefit of not having another original language competing in your head.
But yes - patience, lots of expressing oneself ... practice practice practice ... and hopefully a supportive environment where people are patient. There were times when we were I thought my head was going to explode in the beginning trying to understand and also trying to hide my frustration. But we all knew he was trying, and he had the emotional intelligence to sense our frustration but also know we weren't made at him
So yeah - it can work. But if ANYONE is a dick ... that person will probably just shut down and withdraw.
Hah! And by the way - it would be good if some people had English as A language at all. (Sometimes that goes for US citizens)
Some Swiss also speak Romansh.
I learned to speak German at age 35. Total immersion is the only way. Went to Germany and didn’t speak English for 5 months. Keep up with it by reading; especially dialogue so plays are a favorite.
Oriental business friends never get our colloquialism at all. You have to be careful and avoid our normal speaking patterns.
Even Germans don’t always follow our casual conversations, and they’re very cood.
I have a friend who was a Vietnamese refuge. She was about 11 when she came here and speaks English beautifully. Her brother who is only a couple of years older speaks with a thick accent.
He needs to hire a Karen for language.
The best Karens in education wore nun uniforms and carried rulers and yard sticks as their rod and staff of authority and retribution.
A year with a Karen correcting his speech and he’ll be as proficient as any born native speaker.
Depends on him as to how interested he is in acquiring better English skills.
There is book learning in community colleges and language schools specializing in some form of hands on instruction.
Then there is the proverbial “talking pillow” meaning someone with language ability who is a constant companion.
I did 10.5 years of Catholic school...with many of them having French lessons.I learned almost nothing.Listening to a French person speak I’m lucky if I can pick out 1 word out of 20.
Those schools obviously lacked appropriate Karens.
No one denies a Karen. All submit to the Karen.
Or else she calls your manager and gets you fired!
That’s how people learn Hebrew they go to Israel and only speak Hebrew for several months
BTW When I was learning Hebrew (but here in the US) I found the form of writing very easy to learn...
I had learnt to write Pitman’s Shorthand in high school and they look so similar in part that I had little trouble with Hebrew...
Someone has to be willing to work with him, find out in detail the kinds of mistakes he makes and help him fix them.
English is a tough language for non-Romance, non-Germanic native speakers. If German has many rules and few exceptions, and French has few rules but many exceptions, English has many rules and many exceptions.
Some people are great at languages, some aren’t so good, and most can learn I suppose.
Make sure your friend learns to put a space between a comma or a period and the word following it.
My wife is from another country. As we age her accent and vocabulary are slipping. I believe it is do to age.
I was taught that way.It works just fine for me.
They basically learned through immersion in daily life, work, and raising kids in America. Dad decided to further his education and managed to get into a PhD program in bacteriology. He almost didn't get in because of his age and being a non-native English speaker. This was in the early 1950's when America wasn't so welcoming of immigrants with fractured English. He was intelligent and hard working, and finished his degree. He worked in a research lab in the pharma industry, having never taken a formal English course in his life. When he needed something written for publication, he had secretarial support for his spelling. These days we have digital support. Mom's English was solid and she actually taught it along with other languages.
Both of my parents had heavy accents, and Dad's English was always more limited in range and vocabulary than Mom's. Mom was younger, she taught languages, and she just pushed herself more. They both read English books for pleasure. I never witnessed people having trouble understanding my parents, despite the accents. it is even more common now to encounter accented English. My experience with Asian accents is that if I'm having trouble understanding a speaker, it is usually when someone speaks very fast. The combination of accent, speed, and different rhythm to the language can make it very difficult. I run into this with people from India and sometimes China.
Learning may be compared to your three mile run in your college days. You might have to walk at it. However, if you’re physically able and motivated; some success is sure to occur. One does forget more rapidly it seems. Increase repititions. Learn songs. Don’t believe the can nots. Teacher.
Oh, well, all right then. As long as it works just fine for you. I guess everyone else has been doing it wrong all these years.
My Dad missed out on a lot of American humor, and colloquialism could be challenging. As he hit his late 90's and had cognitive problems we noticed that his English deteriorated faster than the European languages he'd learned in his youth.
Feel free to ignore my posts.Whatever makes you happy!
We saw that with my Dad. Mom is 95 and still sharp. The isolation of COVID isn't good for her though, since she misses out on her usual interactions at church and her women's group.
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