My grandparents came to the UK when I was four and they didn't speak much ENglish, despite having lived in the US from the late 1930s. They got the flat next door to us and I just picked up German easily. I did it at school too, and having the paths for language acquisitionm made it easier to learn French. I did those at university and Spanish in the first year, but then changed course. Although I'm fluent and my accentis good I still find declensions difficult. And gender of nouns.
I was not a good student in Spanish. We got to the levelof reading Cervantes in a year but I struggled. Then when I joined Capt Ex at sea a few years later I did Spanish via the Seafarers' Education Service. That didn't work very well either as I was lazy and there was noone to talk to. I do like talking when in other countries though and learned a bit of Hebrew when a volunteer for three months in Israel and a bit of Turkish when I had a Turkish boyfriend and spent time with his friends at university.
Then, in 2007, I retired to Spain and before that did a Spanish evening class and we did classes there too. I like to communicate so manage to speak, although I'm still not good after 2 years there. Our dogs are bilingual. They know lots of commands in Spanish and I seem to scream Spanish ones if in dire need of them to pay attention. They react better to Venga Acqui! than Here! And Molly knows Nada mas means no more of whatever.
The teacher training I did first was to teach English as a Second Language to Adults, ESOL, so I know how the mechanics of language learning works. It meant I was a critical student when I went to Spanish classes from 2007 onwards :).
As Capt Ex is Syrian born and his first language is Arabic I have had the experience of a room full of relatives speaking a language I don't understand. I did learn a few words of Arabic, and a few things are the same as Hebrew, but i should have learned more.
Now I am going deaf people with strong accents are sometimes difficult for me to understand, especially on the phone. Any interference with the sound like other noise, a quiet voice, poor diction or an accent makes it harder.
I was not a good student in Spanish. We got to the levelof reading Cervantes in a year but I struggled. Then when I joined Capt Ex at sea a few years later I did Spanish via the Seafarers' Education Service. That didn't work very well either as I was lazy and there was noone to talk to. I do like talking when in other countries though and learned a bit of Hebrew when a volunteer for three months in Israel and a bit of Turkish when I had a Turkish boyfriend and spent time with his friends at university.
Then, in 2007, I retired to Spain and before that did a Spanish evening class and we did classes there too. I like to communicate so manage to speak, although I'm still not good after 2 years there. Our dogs are bilingual. They know lots of commands in Spanish and I seem to scream Spanish ones if in dire need of them to pay attention. They react better to Venga Acqui! than Here! And Molly knows Nada mas means no more of whatever.
The teacher training I did first was to teach English as a Second Language to Adults, ESOL, so I know how the mechanics of language learning works. It meant I was a critical student when I went to Spanish classes from 2007 onwards :).
As Capt Ex is Syrian born and his first language is Arabic I have had the experience of a room full of relatives speaking a language I don't understand. I did learn a few words of Arabic, and a few things are the same as Hebrew, but i should have learned more.
Now I am going deaf people with strong accents are sometimes difficult for me to understand, especially on the phone. Any interference with the sound like other noise, a quiet voice, poor diction or an accent makes it harder.