The shape of things to come....

[SallyAnne]

My grandfather is no more intelligent than you or I, he just keeps his mind and body active and refuses to sit there and waste away. I'm not assuming that everybody learns language for kicks, learning the language of the country that you are planning to emmigrate to is hardly learning a language for kicks. It is learning a language so that you can understand and converse with the local populace.

There is nothing stopping your parents from learning Spanish, apart from false barriers that they may have put up by themselves! (They may even have had help putting these barriers up if everybody around them is telling them that they are too old to learn it...)

yeah your granfather might not be more intelligent than you or I, but he sounds significantly more intelligent than my folks.

And my point was that a huge % of people in this country cannot learn a foreign language as easily as you made out. You just assume that they can - they can't. A lot of people struggle to learn anything new (my folks included).
It might be an IQ thing, it might be the fact that they've been too busy working long hours at work, then in the house for the last 40 years and weren't able to keep their minds active in their spare time (as they've never had any!)

My folks haven't been in a class room situation for more than 45 years, so dont be so patronising Ardesco! That's not a false barrier - that's a really scarey barrier which would actually put them off going.

[beaker]

Nah.. I blag it by throwing the occasional 'innnit' onto the end of sentences... when really trying to fit in I use 'ya know whata mean'.

When dealing with posh types of course I dont use these phrases.. I say things like 'toodle pip'.

Learning to speak England is dead easy innit.

I find exchanging "guv" for "mate" works a treat too. Especially on the ladies.

[Ardesco]

yeah your granfather might not be more intelligent than you or I, but he sounds significantly more intelligent than my folks.

And my point was that a huge % of people in this country cannot learn a foreign language as easily as you made out. You just assume that they can - they can't. A lot of people struggle to learn anything new (my folks included).
It might be an IQ thing, it might be the fact that they've been too busy working long hours at work, then in the house for the last 40 years and weren't able to keep their minds active in their spare time (as they've never had any!)

My folks haven't been in a class room situation for more than 45 years, so dont be so patronising Ardesco! That's not a false barrier - that's a really scarey barrier which would actually put them off going.

At the end of the day genetically speaking you have got your ability to learn from your parents ergo they cannot be any worse at learning than you if they put thier minds to it.

You don't have to learn a language in a classroom situation, there are many ways to learn a language, there will be one that will suit your parents learning style. I'm willing to bet that if you stuck them in front of a TV that only played spanish programmes and adverts for a couple of months they would get a fairly good grasp of the language fairly quickly anyway.

The mind is a wonderful thing, you can not use it for years and after a couple of weeks of limbering it up it is ready to go again full of learning potential. The barrier i'm talking about is self belief. If you belive that you cannot do something you probably can't, this is the flase barrier that i'm talking about. It may well take time to remove the barrier, but once you have, you have a whole new world open to you.

Languages are not like science, language is something that we use day in and day out without even thinking about it. Learning a new language is simply learning new words/sentances for things we already know.

[DodgyAgent]

yeah your granfather might not be more intelligent than you or I, but he sounds significantly more intelligent than my folks.

And my point was that a huge % of people in this country cannot learn a foreign language as easily as you made out. You just assume that they can - they can't. A lot of people struggle to learn anything new (my folks included).
It might be an IQ thing, it might be the fact that they've been too busy working long hours at work, then in the house for the last 40 years and weren't able to keep their minds active in their spare time (as they've never had any!)

My folks haven't been in a class room situation for more than 45 years, so dont be so patronising Ardesco! That's not a false barrier - that's a really scarey barrier which would actually put them off going.

Just because someone is thick doesnt mean they cant learn

[gingerjedi]

I'll give you a little lesson in life,

if you learn to lead by example, to take the high ground, to rise above the rest with dignity, your life and career will benefit from it

he who sews Rodders, he who sews

Milan.

Milantapechangerbenes

I take an interest in other cultures but by my choosing, of course there's a bit of leeway and I'm happy to help a foreigner providing they are willing to meet me half way, I don't speak any other language fluently but I find making a little effort goes along way when abroad, I expect the same at the very least when someone ups sticks to move here but sadly a minority don't want to even go that far.

When in Rome....

[sasguru]

At the end of the day genetically speaking you have got your ability to learn from your parents ergo they cannot be any worse at learning than you if they put thier minds to it.

You don't have to learn a language in a classroom situation, there are many ways to learn a language, there will be one that will suit your parents learning style. I'm willing to bet that if you stuck them in front of a TV that only played spanish programmes and adverts for a couple of months they would get a fairly good grasp of the language fairly quickly anyway.

The mind is a wonderful thing, you can not use it for years and after a couple of weeks of limbering it up it is ready to go again full of learning potential. The barrier i'm talking about is self belief. If you belive that you cannot do something you probably can't, this is the flase barrier that i'm talking about. It may well take time to remove the barrier, but once you have, you have a whole new world open to you.

Languages are not like science, language is something that we use day in and day out without even thinking about it. Learning a new language is simply learning new words/sentances for things we already know.

Er Ardesco, how many languages do you speak?

[Ardesco]

Er Ardesco, how many languages do you speak?

One because i'm a lazy sod and haven't bothered to learn any. I know a few phrases in French to get me by if I have to go into France, and I understand a bit more than I speak. I can also pick up some Gujarati (much to the shock of most Gujarati's who get quite worried as they don't know how much I understand ) but that's about it.

There is nothing to stop me learning new languages, and if I decide to emmigrate to another country where English is not the national language I will be learnign whatever is the national language before I go.

[Pinto]

One because i'm a lazy sod and haven't bothered to learn any. I know a few phrases in French to get me by if I have to go into France, and I understand a bit more than I speak. I can also pick up some Gujarati (much to the shock of most Gujarati's who get quite worried as they don't know how much I understand ) but that's about it.

There is nothing to stop me learning new languages, and if I decide to emmigrate to another country where English is not the national language I will be learnign whatever is the national language before I go.

Then you don't know how hard it is to read/write/speak a new language properly, particularly late on in life.

[AtW]

Then you don't know how hard it is to read/write/speak a new language properly, particularly late on in life.

It's tough for sure. But one who wants to go to another country should compare and decide whether this toughness is preferable to toughness of the other kind in his/her own country. You can't expect to trade up to a perfect thing for free - that's not possible.

[Ardesco]

Then you don't know how hard it is to read/write/speak a new language properly, particularly late on in life.

Here we go again....

Old people are NOT stupid. You don't suddenly become brain dead and unable to learn as you get older!!!