Is SA an issue for lerning foregn languages

[itay]

Hi,
I've studied 2 foreign languages in high school. i feel my SA has affected me from mastering these languages. I think SA becomes an issue when it comes to practise with that language, talking with people face to face, not so bad when it comes to write and read in that language, i think that in this case we'll face the same problems that the "normal" people face.
In my case, i've got some problems spelling but all the issues are when i have to talk to someone, the words just don't come out or they come out in a stupid way, and my accent is apolent

 

[chained]

well I love languages, and do good at all parts of them, and u cant master an accent just by learning a language, but i think SA can really affect when u talk to ppl, i mean ur insecure about what u re going to say to someone on ur own language, let alone a foreign...I think it can rly affect it..

 

[mrb]

well im trying to learn spanish from a teach your self cd , but im not getting on to well lol after 5 min i get board and turn it off ::

 

[alwmt]

My SA has affected me greatly in learning foreign languages. I took French and Japanese and they were both awful. In French we had to speak every class and only in French. I don't even speak English without first thinking about what I'm going to say. It was impossible for me succeed in French being expected to spontaneously speak in a foreign language in front of humans. I actually succeeded in first year Japanese class because it was small and I actually liked my classmates. I didn't feel like people were judging me negatively. However, in second year I was in a class where people were actually laughing at me and making snide remarks. To top it off when I went to the teacher for help she laughed at me too. I promptly withdrew from that class and I haven't looked back. I couldn't learn in an environment that I was not comfortable in.

Right now I'm taking Italian and it is very different from French and Japanese. We don't speak every class like we should and the class is only two days a week. This has helped and hindered me. It has helped because it gives me time to study and learn in a peaceful environment. It has hindered my learning because by not speaking I haven't learned as much as I did in Japanese.

I wish that I could afford a private tutor or the Rosetta Stone. At least then I could speak it and learn at my own pace instead of being graded and compared to others.

 

[illuminationSP]

I'm learning a new language, but it isn't through a class with other people. There are alternative ways of learning.

 

[Lorraine Manca]

i think social anxiety definately makes learning a foreign language harder, for two years i lived where very few people spoke english, you'd think id be fluent in the native language, but not so! i could read it pretty well, but i could understand NOTHING of what was spoken. as far as speaking went, people would try to help me with the pronounciation so much that it made me very uncomfortable, so i said as little as possible to avoid the "no, you pronounce it this way" charade. living overseas for two years made my social anxiety much worse!!! i was very happy to be sent home. whenever i see someone foreign in the u.s., i dont know how they do it

 

[market.garden]

I think it definitely has an effect on learning languages. I've been trying to learn a second language in order to speak to the other half of my family, but I still can't bring myself to practice with them. I also chickened out of going to a night class - learning from home now but its not the same.

 

[Brokenx]

I have trouble learing my own language so i have no clue.

 

[Iseesky]

Yes, I took French throughout high school and hardly learned how to speak it. I can write it quite well...Not fluently, but pretty well. We learned how to speak it through oral presentations. We'd have to make up a dialogue and perform it in front of the class. I was so nervous that I'd memorize everything that I had to say without actually learning and understanding it. The best and easiest way to learn a language is to have a conversation with people who speak the language. It's hard to have the courage to do that with social anxiety.

 

[Timeboto]

there is diffrent kind of types of SA... but one of them is not to have the problem to learn a new language but more the motivation for me..
I tried to learn french and it went great until I lost all that because of I didnt study enough and were and playing games instead in the computer rooms in school...
but I speak and understand like 5 languages..
For me the problem is to have the motivation but of course the SA have played a big roll but not in learning languages... it was not that I was not enough motivated as I should have been.. but french seemed to be so good at that time.. with all the romance with it lol...

And I also was trying to get abroad to read spanish but never went there, instead I used my money on other things.. so the motivation and the will were there but also the will and the motivation failed me because I was to lazy... I dont blame everything on SA but more and more on the failure to se things in ways that was not the right to do at that time but seem to be the right back then...

I spend more time to have fun and enjoy than to study when I realy wanted to study but I choose the fun .. Sure I can study know but I understand more and better to spend the time I have on other things that I need not for yesteday but for tomorrow!

 

[philly2bits]

It can be. I've heard many times that the best way to learn a foreign language is to immerse yourself in it as much as possible. Obviously SA will limit that depending on how severe it is. It's hard enough going to an area where alot of people will be. I'm sure it's even harder going to an area where you know few people will be speaking anything you can understand.

Luckily there are programs you can buy like Rosetta Stone which allow you to practice in your own home. I think the higher end versions even have voice recognition which allows you to practice speaking as well. I hear Rosetta Stone is the best program out there but I believe it's also very expensive.

 

[lunarla]

Definitely has. It's prevented me from learning french as my second language which was offered in my high school. I dropped the course in grade 9. It was just the way the course was - you had to participate. I'm more of a sit back and learn kind of person, I think that's when I do my best! The deal breaker for me was that a lot of the course was based on projects, and those projects were french videos. Basically making a video of a group of people, including myself speaking the language in some kind of scene which also involved acting. I've always been insecure with myself so going in front of a camera was not an option for me.

That's okay though because I find that I do well learning on my own. Which I'm doing with Spanish as my second language. Tengo un gato de color naranja, mi abuelo es viejo. No es un buen día hoy?

 

[itay]

don't even speak English without first thinking about what I'm going to say

in second year I was in a class where people were actually laughing at me and making snide remarks. To top it off when I went to the teacher for help she laughed at me too. I promptly withdrew from that class and I haven't looked back. I couldn't learn in an environment that I was not comfortable in

The best and easiest way to learn a language is to have a conversation with people who speak the language. It's hard to have the courage to do that with social anxiety.

It was like reading about my self ... the sad thing in all of this was the fact that i didn't learn foreign languages when i could have done, the fact is that i would loved to learn them, all the issues where when i was in the classes, thinking instead of simply talking, the jokes of the other classmates, the teachers that were on my constantly on my throat, the spelling issues and so on

but let's face it, how do you suppose to learn the lang if you can't face people?
do you pretend to learn it on your own?
You have to practice if you want to learn the lang ....

I was somehow good with latin cause you didn't need to speak it only write it