[masraum]

Originally Posted by Zeke

You would think that around here Spanish would become a 2nd language by osmosis. You did good learning at age. Everything I have read points to mucho difficulty in learning a 2nd language in later years.

One thing I am aware of and that would really hamper me is the speed in which Spanish is spoken. Yes, there are some English speaking folks that talk really fast and one becomes aware of that immediately. Seems the norm in Spanish. I'd never get up to speed.

I speak at an average speed AFAIK, and really slow speakers annoy me. I've spent some time in the Southern states and they do take their time. Too fast is OK but the Spanish speaking people do it better.

What is the rate of speaking in Italian? We English speaking folks are rather slow to the rest of the world that speaks from the Latin root.

Of course dialect and accent vary in all language. I'm just speaking in general.

Yep, the speed that a language is spoken and accent/dialect can make a huge difference.

I spent 2 summers in Spain because my dad was stationed in Spain, so I was able to visit. I was working in the officer's club on base in the kitchen. Everyone else was a Spanish national. One night I was getting dinner and the guy kept asking me "bakedpotatofrenchfry". I had no idea what he was saying, but it wasn't just me. The guy that was standing next to me was also a Spanish national, but his dad was retired US military so he was also fluent in English. That guy also had no idea what he was saying. He had to ask the guy in Spanish, and then explained it to me. Once we both understood, you could pick it out, but hearing it, there was no way.

I'm lucky, I can listen to folks with thick accents speaking English and almost always understand everything that they say. I also know a few words of Spanish and Japanese, and can pick those out of sentences when they are spoken.

My wife has no ear for it. If someone has a thick accent (whether they're from NJ or India or Mexico) and speaking English, there's a good chance that she won't have any idea what they are saying.

Originally Posted by flatbutt

I am kinda sorta in the same situation except I am studying ASL...American Sign Language.

As with any language I must use it every day in order to become fluent but there are no deaf people in my social circle.

Yeah, that one's tough. I don't think I've ever in my life been around someone deaf that signed, and I'm 55 today. My first experience with someone deaf that signed was probably 5-6 years ago when the grocery store that we went to hired a guy. Super nice guy, probably my favorite cashier at that place.