Learning a language in later life

At school, I was told I was hopeless at languages and was directed into a science-oriented education. Somehow I did manage to get the certificates in Latin and French that I needed to get into university. Later, while studying theology, I put a lot of effort into learning New Testament Greek and surprised myself by winning a prize, but I was still convinced that I was hopeless at languages.

Half a century on from my experience of language-learning at school, I decided to start learning Italian. I hoped that learning a language would keep my mind active as I approached retirement. Italian commended itself because I sing and it is the singer’s language par excellence. Unfortunately, that Italian class came to a grinding halt at the start of the COVID pandemic.

Looking around for a language I could study online during the pandemic, I decided to revisit French, starting with an online intensive course run by Dundee University. Having thus refreshed my school French, I followed it up by doing a year with the Open University. As a result, I am now fairly confident about my ability to read French. But I still struggle to understand French speakers and actually speaking the language seems a step too far. However, I plod onwards, hoping to build my confidence to the point where I feel able to speak the language.

Whenever I feel inclined to give up, I take inspiration from the example of Mary Hobson. She began learning Russian at the age of 56 because she wanted to be able to read War and Peace in the original. She studied independently for six years before feeling confident enough to enrol for a degree course at London University. At the age of 74, she was awarded a PhD for her work on Alexander Griboedov. Since then, she has won several prizes for her translations of Russian classics, and she is recognized as an authority on Pushkin. Here is a link to an interview with her in which she offers some tips on learning Russian, which can be generalized as follows:

• Make the language part of your life (create routines e.g. practising grammar while waiting for the bus).
• Talk to yourself in the language. Look up words you don’t know.
• Keep practising in your head.
• Use a really good dictionary: look up similar words; create families of words.
• Read classic authors. (I would be inclined to say, read whatever seems most relevant to your intended use of the language. At least at first, she had no interest in communicating in Russian. And I would add, listen to the spoken word.)
• Accept your ignorance (be prepared to make a fool of yourself – I’m afraid I find this really hard; the perfectionist in me cringes at the thought).
• Recite poetry to learn where stress goes. (This was specific to an issue with spoken Russian. It is possibly less relevant with a language like French.)
• Find yourself a language buddy (a native speaker who can tutor you in the language).