Do you have foreign language learning disability?

LovesHashem

Tue, Apr 12 2022, 4:02 pm

I have no idea. The only language I picked up is because I moved and was forced into school with no choice but to learn it.

amother

Floralwhite

Tue, Apr 12 2022, 4:17 pm

I can learn other languages well enough....in writing and verbally with a decent accent, but...I have hidden hearing loss so trying to understand a native speaker (not a teacher or professor speaking more slowly and enunciating well) is hard, so I don't usually understand spoken word so well in another language.

amother

Bellflower

Tue, Apr 12 2022, 7:42 pm

I am terrible in word structure and grammer. in all languages including my native tongue, english. I can't speak hebrew because I can't put a sentence together. I talk Yiddish the way I translate it from english and I use it almost daily since I was 2!

DrMom

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 1:57 am

I am okay at picking up languages, but it still requires effort. I can remember some new words pretty easily, but learning the grammatical structure takes some mental energy. It's like learning a new programming language -- it takes time to absorb the new syntax. It's easier of it is similar to a language I already know. (English vs Spanish or German, as opposed to Chinese or Turkish).

Even if you are not great at picking up languages, is everything a "disability?" What's the difference these days between a disability and just not being good at something ?

Chana Miriam S

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 2:19 am

I learned to read Hebrew st the same time I learned to read English. I speak Hebrew fluently but can’t read without nekudot. I read English and even French ( which I don’t speak fluently ) well.

It baffles me. I always thought if I could speak fluently my Hebrew reading would improve but I guess not.

Chickensoupprof

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 4:08 am

Ok my native tongue is Dutch, sometimes I see that I make terrible grammar mistakes in English.
English is ok though, German I've learned and when I'm in Germany I pick it up in daily life if I want to speak English, I speak Yiddish, I picked Yiddish up by sluchim, all the younger kids speak Yiddish with me.
Was last week in Jerusalem and I spoke Yiddish in a store. I want to get stronger in Yiddish really is a lovely language and it is really easy to pick up. I literally see now that I speak Yiddish mostly to children I'm not even remotely fluent in adult conversations.
Hebrew I learned to read, with nekudot but I'm afraid to say that I make lots of mistakes also during davening. Ivrit doesn't work for me, totally illiterate in that.
If I see things in old Latin I like to translate it a bit. Really want to be able to speak French.

amother

Apple

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 8:21 am

People who are dyslexic or who have any type of reading disability often have a difficult time with learning new languages. That being said, my son who has reading comprehension difficulties was speaking Hebrew so well after one year in Yeshiva in Israel that people often asked him when his parents made aliyah…🤷🏻‍♀️

amother

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 10:22 am

My dh thinks I do it on purpose. I know enough of the language to get around, but zoom or phone conversations are extremely difficult and I can barely string a normal sentence together. He thinks I’m just giving it as an excuse that I can’t get it. We’ve been living here over 10 years.

amother

Orchid

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 12:28 pm

I always say I don't have a head for languages. My Hebrew is atrocious. I did ok in high school Spanish class but that's different than learning to really speak a language. I barely remember any of it now. It's one of the reasons I'm reluctant to make aliyah because I am scared that I'll never be able to understand and speak Hebrew well enough to communicate.

amother

Sand

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 12:35 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I have a learning disability and will never be able to pick up another language. I was once speaking to someone in Israel and she said that he parents are living there since they got married (over 30 years) and her mother never picked up Hebrew.
It happens....
Can't imagine having to put up with it on a daily basis.
Have you tried courses (like ulpan) not sure where you live...

jeg

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 1:04 pm

OP can you PM me? I might be able to help you, I have experience in this area. Not sure if I can respond before Pesach but I will try

amother

Thu, Apr 14 2022, 8:07 am

jeg wrote:

OP can you PM me? I might be able to help you, I have experience in this area. Not sure if I can respond before Pesach but I will try

What do you mean you have experience? In what area exactly?

jeg

Thu, Apr 14 2022, 5:29 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

What do you mean you have experience? In what area exactly?

Professional experience, if you DM me I can explain after Pesach.

amother

Fri, Apr 15 2022, 11:26 am

jeg wrote:

Professional experience, if you DM me I can explain after Pesach.

Thank you, but I don’t feel comfortable sending a private message about this without really understanding what you can help me with and since you’re not a poster I’m familiar, less so. Thank you though!