Learning a Language at 40 – One Year On

Since I received nice comments from you about the previous post “Learning a Language at 40”, I thought it’d be nice to reflect on it now.

One year has passed and the miracle has happened: I speak Italian fluently!

Sure, I still have some hesitations with the endings and sometimes I try my luck and invent new Italian words that no Italian would understand… However I can tell the baker which type of bread I want to buy and say a nice word or two, and I’ve even been able to take job interviews in Italian.

Did I do any particular effort? Did I dive into language learning books?

No. I simply immersed myself.

Immersion means listening, speaking, reading, and writing in the foreign language in order to achieve communicative goals.

I listened to Italian television every day because, except for one French channel, this is all that’s available on my TV set. I also listened to customers chatting in stores (that’s great because you can listen without having to interact and hear a lot of useful small talk).

I spoke because it was necessary – I had to order food, to solve phone bill mistakes, buy electronic items (for example I wanted to compare the qualities of various cameras).

I read Italian magazines – especially fashion ones. They’re not too hard to understand, have a lot of pictures, and present great Italian fashion.

I wrote emails to communicate with the accountant or for work projects. At first I copied a lot of the language (such as greetings and complimentary closes), then I became a little more autonomous.

So what comes out of this is that we need to use the language in context and with a purpose in order to acquire it. Also we need to accept the fact that we make mistakes – what matters is getting the message across.

By doing that I was able to learn gradually, without even realizing it.What was hard to say became easier. What sounded like a string of uninterrupted vowels became identifiable words. Simply because I was surrounded by the language for a sustained period of time.

As I understood and said more, I also became more confident, and the virtuous circle started. Today I feel pride and pleasure at being able to converse in Italian.

I hope you will feel the same with whichever language you are learning to speak.