I’d like to learn French. I took it in middle and high school and did well in it, but I don’t remember much now. Spanish would be the thing to know in my part of the country, but I don’t have that much interest in it.
Klingon? I'd learn it if an alien visit me.
i know latin, greek, and can understand spanish, italian, french, and a little german.
but that won’t help me with dementia because i have 3 boys
I worked with a flight attendant who spoke 14 languages. His brother spoke 22. Their parents were Swiss and I think they worked for the UN, so they grew up all over the world.
He was absolutely amazing. He spoke Swahili, Turkish, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian- just unbelievable! He actually got furloughed and I don’t know where he is now. I can’t believe my company let him go!
English, French, Spanish, Italian, and a little Greek and Yiddish, plus fluency in several American dialects such as Alabama, Georgia, Tidewater and east coast Ebonics. Guess I’m good to go past my sell-by date.
My problem was I got to the point where I could understand the language, and then never got to the point of actually expressing myself completely.
Maybe one day...
30 years ago I took 4 years of high school Spanish. I didn’t think I learned a thing, but then, a few years ago I had an epiphany. I had accidentally turned on a Spanish speaking TV show. I wasn’t really paying attention but suddenly I realized that I understood every word! If I try to really listen then I can’t get it. But if I let a Spanish speaking show run in the background, I understand everything! Amazing! Still can’t speak it though. Lol.
Umpbay
My wife speaks nine or so with ease. Watching a subtitled movie once, she was learning that language, too. Amazing to see. I had a year of German and two years of French 1 but it didn’t stick.
I’ve been using Duolingo to learn French, and it’s free and IMHO just as good as any of the for-pay apps like Rosetta Stone.
In 14.5 hours of lessons, Complete Spanish teaches the structure of the language, a significant amount of vocabulary (especially verbs), and the nuances of how the Spanish language causes/requires you to think differently in expressing yourself. Listen carefully to the instructions to gain maximum value from the lessons.
The SoundCloud streaming version is excellent. Install SoundCloud on your phone (iOS or Android) and search for Complete Spanish.
My dad was bilingual. He got Alzheimers around age 78-79. (He is still alive but I had to use the past tense in the first sentence because he is no longer verbal.). I don’t think any of the “keeping busy” “active mind” stuff is true. It’s all BS. My parents were both extremely active and engaged and they both have been felled by this disease.
The cause is probably environmental, possibly cumulative over a lifetime of exposure to ... I don’t know what. It’s an epidemic and epidemics aren’t genetic.
It took me a bit, but I found a video I came across last Spring while taking world history:
The Origin of Old English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC4QEEU8Td0
For your possible interest regarding the subjects of language, dialects, and accents:
Shakespeare: Original pronunciation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s
Yorkshire Dialect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScELaXMCVis
I don’t remember much of my high school French, but I remember the teacher. Ooh-la-la!
For anybody out there taking the time to learn Klingon, except maybe those who are under the age of 12, it’s time to go outside and get some fresh air.
Correction: it's impossible to learn another language!
Like one of the people mentioned in the article, I have a lifetime love of languages. I used to listen to short wave broadcasts back in the 70s and 80s and enjoyed just hearing exotic languages. One of my favorite things on the Internet is getting to listen to languages that my grandparents lived and died without hearing a single word of. And not this mainstream stuff . . . I mean really exotic stuff like Maltese, Breton, Basque, Greenlandic, Georgian, Albanian, Mongolian. Stuff like that. I can't and never will understand a word, but I just love listening (or reading) and knowing what they sound (or look) like.
I've tried to learn languages all my life and have been successful only with one: Biblical Hebrew, a textual language which is acquired and learned visually. I've tried to learn Israeli Hebrew for decades and simply can't do it. As the article says, I can't instantaneously translate in my mind and send it to my tongue at one and the same time.
Well . . . now I know why. I'm the farthest thing from a "chameleon" one can possibly be. I am but a simple redneck and unable to put on any other skin.
It's nice to finally know what my handicap has been.
This is an absolutely mesmerizing thread. We need more like it!