Multilingual people of Lemmy who learned a language (or multiple) as adults, how did you do it? (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 1 day ago by user224@lemmy.sdf.org to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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I wish we as society could simply have one language to overcome language barriers, but that's more of a content for my daydreaming.

I often encounter issues due to language barriers.
Mainly with 2 languages.

Since the start of war, I've been encountering lots of Ukrainians I can't really speak with. Especially when I was on a dorm, where they were a great majority.
Not that I tend to talk with people, but I felt weird after a while.
Probably like someone who doesn't speak Spanish in the US (at least I assume that's fairly common over there).

And now searching for a job, I found many companies want you to know German.
Which I also encountered as "would've been useful now" a few times.

Seems like I should know an answer to this, as English isn't my first language, but I have no fucking idea how I picked it up. I never made any serious attempt (i.e.: studying for more than a week) to learn it.

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[-] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

I've posted about being the world's shittiest polyglot multiple times. Here's my secret :

Learn turkish as a child
Immersion learning in the UK from child to adult.
German classes for five years as a child to teen. Due to lack of dedication (outside of singing Rammstein songs) , lose the entirety of my german capabilities, despite getting a good grade.
Learning Spanish as an adult. Started with night school to build a foundation, then kept at it with media consumption and duolingo. Got A2 certification. Moved to Rio De La Plata and start immersion learning. Pandemic and having a child ruined my immersion learning, as did work from home, so, responsibilities are all at home, so I don't get to leave the house for speech opportunities much.

My Spanish is OK. My Turkish struggles. English is my primary language. While my spanish isn't as good as my english, I think "learning a language as an adult is impossible" is bullshit, but accents are difficult to get rid of (I still say Üstedes)

this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2026

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