I couldn't agree more. I also find that with European
languages, especially Spanish, French, Italian and
Portuguese, there is so much common ground, that when
I find myself in these countries, my knowledge of
French helps with grasping the basics quickly. With
the Indian languages I speak, I have to say I have
realised how not speaking Telugu for 20 years has made
me lose fluency and takes me some time to get back
into the Telugu mode of speaking. I have unfortunately
completely lost Tamil, and whilst I am no longer able
to speak fluently in Kutchi, my Gujarati is getting
better with practice. 

Most Indians speak languages out of necessity, but are
not necessarily literate in every language they speak.
Cheers
Ujwala
--- Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com> wrote:


> Just a short word on adults learning to pronounce

> foreign languages and on

> acquiring a third or fourth language.

> My wife and I like languages, and have had no

> trouble learning to speak and

> pronounce the sounds of new languages. My wife is a

> native speaker of

> Cantonese but speaks Japanese,  Mandarin and 

> Spanish and learned to speak

> and pronounce French very well,  after the age of

> 40. I speak 12 languages

> now, but have learned Cantonese, Korean, Russian and

> Portuguese just in the

> last 7 years (since the age of 55).

> I find learning a third and fourth language

> different from learning a second

> language only in the sense that as a learner you are

> more confident that you

> will succeed, and that you have a better idea of how

> to go about it. A major

> obstacle to learning languages is the lack of

> confidence in, and even a lack

> of commitment to, the idea that you can transform

> yourself into someone

> acting in another culture. Once you have done it

> once, things become easier.

> 

> Steve Kaufmann

> 

> On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 7:38 PM,

> <robinschwarz1 at aol.com> wrote:

> 

> >  Andrea--there is a whole field devoted to

> multiple language acquisition.

> > Two researchers who have written or edited books

> about this are De Angelis

> > and Selinker--they published one in 2001 and

> another in 2007.

> >

> > Robin Schwarz

> >

> >

> >  -----Original Message-----

> > From: Andrea Canter <lucidpandora at gmail.com>

> > To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov

> > Sent: Sat, 3 May 2008 9:11 pm

> > Subject: [EnglishLanguage 2315] Re:

> EnglishLanguage Digest, Vol 32, Issue

> > 6

> >

> >  I am curious how 3rd and 4th language learning

> differs from 2nd language

> > learning. In my own experience, once I started

> learning beyond the second

> > language I found myself getting all my languages

> confused. I would think and

> > say words in French when I was trying to speak

> German and vice versa. This

> > is good in respect to exercising the ability to

> think in another language,

> > but obviously very cumbersome. Is this normally

> what happens? Is there ANY

> > research on it at all?

> >

> > Andrea Canter

> >

> >

> > On Sat, May 3, 2008 at 8:18 PM,

> <englishlanguage-request at nifl.gov> wrote:

> >

> > > Send EnglishLanguage mailing list submissions to

> > >        englishlanguage at nifl.gov

> > >

> > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide

> Web, visit

> > >       

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage

> > > or, via email, send a message with subject or

> body 'help' to

> > >        englishlanguage-request at nifl.gov

> > >

> > > You can reach the person managing the list at

> > >        englishlanguage-owner at nifl.gov

> > >

> > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so

> it is more specific

> > > than "Re: Contents of EnglishLanguage digest..."

> > >

> > >

> > > Today's Topics:

> > >

> > >   1. [EnglishLanguage 2304] Re: Minimal pairs

> (robinschwarz1 at aol.com)

> > >   2. [EnglishLanguage 2305] Re: Minimal pairs

> (Michael Tate)

> > >

> > >

> > >

>

----------------------------------------------------------------------

> > >

> > > Message: 1

> > > Date: Fri, 02 May 2008 17:10:27 -0400

> > > From: robinschwarz1 at aol.com

> > > Subject: [EnglishLanguage 2304] Re: Minimal

> pairs

> > > To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov

> > > Message-ID:

>

<8CA7AB013B6B464-9C0-228A at webmail-dd18.sysops.aol.com>

> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

> > >

> > >

> > >  See the work of Virginia Kuhl at the U of

> Washington, who is a

> > > neuroscientist, as well as the work of Norman

> Segalowitz, and his colleagues

> > > Gatbonton and Trofimovich, who do studies on

> adult language acquisition for

> > > starters. This latter group, especially

> Gatbonton, have theories about the

> > > progression of acquisition of phonological

> information (i.e. sounds) in

> > > language acquisition. Gatbonton's framework

> shows that this acquisition is

> > > gradual and predictable and subject to exposure

> to native language speakers.

> > > ? These researchers do not comment on the

> brain's ability to process

> > > language sounds. ?

> > >

> > > I find one has to dig deep in the literature of

> neuroscience to find the

> > > information on how the brain processes language

> sounds as it matures, but

> > > Kuhl is recognized as one of the lead

> researchers on this process.? It has

> > > been very frustrating to me that ESL as a field

> tends to ignore neuroscience

> > > and its information on how the brain learns

> language(s) as well as the

> > > information coming out of international reading

> research, which now also

> > > includes studies on the brain and how languages

> are differentiated in it.?

> > > In addition, I feel that the whole field of

> multiple language acquisition is

> > > equally ignored.? Acquiring a third or fourth

> language is a very different

> > > process from acquiring a second language.? As

> near as I can tell, a very

> > > large percentage, maybe the majority, of our

> adult ESOL learners already

> > > speak two or more languages when they begin to

> learn English, so I feel we

> > > should be looking at the field of multiple

> language acquisition much more

> > > than at second language a

> > >  cquisition .??

> > >

> > > Robin Lovrien Schwarz

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > -----Original Message-----

> > > From: Sally Bishop <s.bishop at aggiemail.usu.edu>

> > > To: The Adult English Language Learners

> Discussion List <

> > > englishlanguage at nifl.gov>

> > > Sent: Fri, 2 May 2008 3:46 pm

> > > Subject: [EnglishLanguage 2301] Re: Minimal

> pairs

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > Do you have research you can site on this

> comment: "

> > > Bear in mind, however, that neuroscience and

> many decades of SLA study

> > > are clear on the fact that adults will not

> acquire very accurate

> > > pronunciation of foreign sounds because the

> brain of an adult language

> > > learner does not process unfamiliar sounds

> effectively and does not

> > > translate them into speech gestures ( i.e.

> pronunciation) accurately

> > > anymore.?? Thus accents."

> > >

> > > S Bishop

> > >

> > >

> > > On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 1:46 PM, 

> <robinschwarz1 at aol.com> 

=== message truncated ===>
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