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Am I a foreign language dummy?

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Kjas
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30 Mar 2012, 10:23 am

I speak several languages and still screw up my spelling in all of them, I'm also not a native English speaker.

I think you essentially have two problems stopping you from learning here:

1) no to little motivation

Your wife will take care of things that you need her to and you know that. So, on a survival basis, you basically have it covered. What motivates most people who move to another country is that they need to learn it to survive there. When I first moved here my best friend moved with me, and as a result, I didn't utter any English for a year and a half because I didn't have sufficient motivation to start speaking. I was listening and soaking it up at school and at home, but I wasn't using it.

2) teaching methods

Most teaching methods in language learning center themselves around grammar. Sadly, learning grammar is really not going to be useful to an aspie. What makes kids so good at languages is two things, first they are visual thinkers at that age, their thought process is not yet language based and secondly, they are great at picking up and using patterns. Aspies are very similar to kids in those two ways, most of us are visual thinkers and most of us are also good with patterns.

Therefore you need to find a way to learn that is pattern based, not grammar based. Italian is similar to Spanish (there are heaps of patterns in spanish), therefore there must be basic patterns already present in the language that you can learn from.

Start with basic words / phrases you know you're going to use. Your wife should be able to help you. Build on it week by week. The point is not to memorise sentences, but to break stuff down at a really basic level so you can change a verb pattern or a noun pattern in the sentence and still be understood. You should be able to create your own sentences from the beginning without too much thought.

e.g. I want to see my wife.
The bolded indicates the subject, which you can replace with another subject (I have, I must, I need)
The underlined indicates the verb, which you can replace with another verb (to speak, to visit, to give)
The italics indicates the object or noun, which you can replace with another (my friend, her, them)
And the you have the option of extra basics you may need ( with, and, to, something)

Just keep finding patterns like the above, the more you use them, the more you will learn and you will naturally start to expand your patterns as you go out of necessity.


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Last edited by Kjas on 30 Mar 2012, 9:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Gazelle
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30 Mar 2012, 5:22 pm

WildMan wrote:
I moved to Italy last summer. I have permanent residence and everything. But I can't speak or understand any more of the Italian language than when I got here! I tried to sign up for an "Italian as a Second Language" class last September, which was aimed at immigrants and ex-pats, but the people who referred me to the class screwed up and it was too late to sign up and all the other classes were closed, so I have to wait until next summer. I have the Rosetta Stone but... well, yeah.

I feel like a complete moron. The most I can do is go to the grocery store and ask where the beer is, while hoping to God that the person I ask is very good at pointing and gesturing. Most Italians can't speak a lick of English so it's not really possible to meet them in the middle; if you come here you either learn sufficient Italian or you're up the creek. Everybody swore up and down I'd be speaking like a pro in a matter of months. "Oh, you'll be in a state of total immersion!" They should have added the following caveat: "results may vary."

The fact that my wife is a local is what keeps me from being totally screwed. (She's also the reason that I'm here.) I work at home on my computer, using nothing but English, so at least I'm not screwed in that department (yet). I don't leave the house all that much, and when I myself socialize with people other than my wife, it's usually with the few individuals her and I know who have at least some grasp of English. My best friend over here speaks it pretty good.

I don't know what's wrong with me. I did a search here to see if other Aspies have trouble with learning foreign languages, and... holy sh**! More like the complete opposite! It turns out that Aspies are linguistic virtuosos when compared to the average bear. And I'm a complete dumbass when compared to the average bear. Many Aspies also have a thing with music. Happily, I am one of those.

Regarding music. I tried to take guitar lessons in high school and it was a complete failure. I couldn't learn theory, I couldn't figure out chords, I couldn't figure out anything. Not a damned thing. None of it made sense. My guitar teacher went so far as to tell me to take a hike, and my mom was pissed at me for having wasted her money. Five years later I bought an old crappy bass guitar off a buddy and proceeded to teach myself. I started out completely naive, going off ear and feel alone, nothing else. It turned out I had damn near virtuosic capabilities. I want to learn enough theory to compose avant-garde symphonies. And I can improv like a mo'fo. I'm self taught so there's certainly holes, some of them gaping, but I'm naturally gifted at music, to the degree that professional musicians have expressed jealousy about it. I hate to toot my own horn, but that's at least one positive generalization about Aspies that I live up to!

Language, on the other hand... nope. What the hell is wrong with me?

Start out slowly and try very basic phrases such as "how are you?" "Come stai?" Or "good morning" buon giorno. Do not put too much pressure on yourself and remember that it takes awhile to learn another language and you are in a good position to learn it well since you are living in Italy. In the past I lived in Italy and I studied work books and listened to DVDs while living in Italy and also listened to tapes prior to moving there. I was able to speak basic phrases and order in a restaurant. I did buy a hand-held device that looked like a calculator and it helped define words when I was at a restaurant, etc. Good luck. :)


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Velociraptor
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09 Apr 2012, 1:15 am

I am horrid at language learning.

I've been trying to learn a language for 10+ years.

Can't seem to do it, and have found myself in tears and/or pannicking the heck out many, many times.

I finally decided to try to learn through videos. That's helped. Book learning didn't do all that much, though helped a little. Videos seem like the next useful step.