Learning French when older - C'est Possible ?

[petecam]

So at the ripe old age of 44 I find myself nearly divorced and dating a woman I knew from the past who lives in France.

She is half English half French and completely fluent in both, so no problems there.

However, I spend a lot of time in France and therefore decided it might be a good idea to learn. I just think its rude to be in someone's country and not at least try to speak their language.

I did a tiny bit of French at school and I know the odd word, but to put it bluntly while I'm not a stupid chap I'm dire at languages :blink:

Has anyone picked up a language later in life? Do you have any tips? Is a private coach a good idea?

Comments appreciated!

Merci!

[lee540]

I'm 28 and my company sent me to work on a construction site in Northern Morocco for 3 months, I came back to London last week.

Bit of broken French I spoke in secondary school and the odd holiday got me by. You have a perfect scenario though, your girlfriend is fluent.

I met a girl in Morocco that I spent a lot of time with, fully immersing yourself in the language, making mistakes and learning is the best way in my opinion. When you spend time with your girlfriend, try and speak French together all of the time and let her correct you and learn.

[dave j]

I'm currently learning Italian.

Couple of good apps -

Duolingo

On itunes - coffee break french (podcasts)

Both free and really help.

Bon Chance!

[P4ulie]

Compared to myself aged 12 im a retard. Not many adults retain the ability to just soak up information.

I try to learn a new word or phrase a day & add it to the vocabulary. You will be surprised how much you will remember from them school days, once you get going (thumbs)

[hotbulb]

Can't advise re french, but (re)learnt Welsh in my mid 40s, having forgotten what little I'd learnt in school.I did an intensive course, WLPAN, based on the intensive Hebrew courses used for new immigrants to Israel, i believe. Very useful......... but I'm with lee540 - immerse yourself in the language and it'll sink in as if by magic

[Ken Shabby]

So at the ripe old age of 44 I find myself nearly divorced and dating a woman I knew from the past who lives in France.

She is half English half French and completely fluent in both, so no problems there.

However, I spend a lot of time in France and therefore decided it might be a good idea to learn. I just think its rude to be in someone's country and not at least try to speak their language.

I did a tiny bit of French at school and I know the odd word, but to put it bluntly while I'm not a stupid chap I'm dire at languages :blink:

Has anyone picked up a language later in life? Do you have any tips? Is a private coach a good idea?

Comments appreciated!

Merci!

No-one's 'dire' at learning languages - they just aren't prepared to put in the hundreds and hundreds of hours doing often quite boring rote learning of words.

So the answer to your question is no what your age is - but whether you're willing to apply yourself to a long, difficult process of frequently quite boring memorising of lists - a process to which there is absolutely no short-cut (and like the Americans, patience is a quality that's largely been trained out of the Brits).

My guess is - given that you have to ask firstly you're looking for someone to give you a shortcut.

Well sorry - there isn't one.

My guess is you won't bother (you wouldn't be on here looking for advice if you were really motivated - wouldn't be necessary to consult strangers if you had real intent) and you'll just let the other half talk for you.

[andymac]

It's very easy,,,,,,,I just start clucking etc if I want chicken or lots of gesticulating,,,, lol

[pinball1008]

We're currently taking French lessons, started about 6 weeks ago. I'm 55 and like you I don't have an affinity for languages. It ain't easy that's for sure, but having a teacher who is fluent in English but French certainly helps. I find grammar and verbs the hardest, but then my English grammar isn't very good either. There are lots of cd based language courses available but I have no experience of those.
As has been said, there are no shortcuts, so stick at it.
However, this "My guess is you won't bother (you wouldn't be on here looking for advice if you were really motivated - wouldn't be necessary to consult strangers if you had real intent) and you'll just let the other half talk for you." isn't helpful. This site is used a lot for people asking advice on a range of subjects and it doesn't necessarily mean they "can't be bothered".

[boboneleg]

I'm currently learning Italian.

Couple of good apps -

Duolingo

On itunes - coffee break french (podcasts)

Both free and really help.

Bon Chance!

Ciao Davide,

come è l'italiano progredendo finora

saluti, Roberto.

[petecam]

My guess is you won't bother (you wouldn't be on here looking for advice if you were really motivated - wouldn't be necessary to consult strangers if you had real intent) and you'll just let the other half talk for you.

There are many ways to learn a language (evening classes, 121, books, CDs, apps etc etc) as an engineer by nature I like to research and ask questions.

I know a lot on this forum travel and some live abroad so I wondered how others got on.

Plus chatting to others can in itself be motivating.

I know there are no short cuts and I potentially have a long road ahead but the truth is some pick up languages better than others, just like some people pick up social skills better than others.