Learning a language

[bunn]

How long do you reckon it takes to learn a new language to the point where you can have simple conversations with native speakers of that language?

Specifically, how long do you think it would take for someone who can already speak at least two languages to learn an unfamiliar language, when they are in an environment where the unfamiliar language is spoken by everyone and they are working on picking up the language as the main thing they are doing?   Assume that the person has the assistance of someone who can speak both languages, and that the structure of the language is similar to those already known.

I reckon two weeks would be more than enough, but then my attitude to languages is a bit Top Gear.  Pp, who has A's at O Level in several languages he can't speak at all, feels that two weeks is a ludicrous underestimate. 

Comments

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

Assuming that (a) you don't have to learn a new alphabet at the same time, (b)any tones involved are at least vaguely similar to those in the language you're starting from, and (c) it is grammatically similar as well, a few weeks should be enough. It took me six weeks, starting with English and the basics of French, to learn Spanish to, officially, the intermediate standard. That was with four hours a day one-to-one tuition, five days a week, in Chile. I managed basic conversation-for-living after about a month (the terror of my first solo visit to the day-cleaners' is still with me).

New scripts take much longer.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that's really helpful! I think French and Spanish are a little further apart than I was envisaging...

I'm now watching Welsh TV to try to see how much I can figure out based on a knowledge of Welsh unused since I was 12 (and never to conversational level :-D)

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

Having already learned about the concept of conjugation for French, Spanish was relatively straightforward, and the pronunciation was much, much easier, since Spanish is mostly spelt as it is pronounced.

And I spent hours watching children's cartoons, telenovelas (for simple, contemporary vocabulary) and the news (for clear pronunciation), which was both fun and helpful. My accent in Spanish is considered a neutral, educated-Latin American one.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I'm probably exaggerating the difficulty of Spanish, because the one time I was in Spain, I was only there for a week, and I can still remember the enormous relief of getting back to France where I could understand and be understood!

But I'm pretty sure that would have been much easier if I'd actually tried to learn something about Spanish before I went. Even a few hours preparation makes such a difference!

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

I'd disagree about new scripts - if they're alphabets, they're pretty trivial. My intensive Russian class in uni did print one day, cursive the next, because being able to read Cyrillic was a necessary foundation for reading the textbook. I still read Cyrillic very slowly, but I can read it (and write fluent cursive that...I can't read very well, heh) despite forgetting most of the grammar and vocab.

Learning Arabic script is a bit more time-consuming, but it's still an alphabet, just one where letterforms change. Learning to write in Japanese or Chinese is where it becomes non-trivial.