<p>Does anyone know why it is so difficult for people to learn languages as teenagers/adults? Is it something with the brain? And is it possible to overcome this?</p>
<p>I've always been fascinated by languages. Partially because I grew up bilingual (Chinese/English..and I'm learning French at school), but also just because I find language interesting...how humans have so many different kinds of verbal communication and the different sounds of languages. Just wondering if it could be possible to learn a few more languages as an adult, seeing as my schedule for high school, at least, isn't very forgiving if I wanted to take a class in another language.</p>
<p>Since you know both Chinese and English, I think you can probably handle some other new language pretty well. As you know, a lot of Asian languages (Japanese, Korean..etc etc) came from Chinese, and it will be easier for you to learn these languages if you know Chinese well. I am also a bilingual (Chinese/English) and I think it's super hard for some native Chinese/English speaker to learn English/Chinese since the two languages are totally different. I am now leaning Japanese and find out that it's not as hard as learning English. Many Japanese leaners (native Chinese speakers) can learn Japanses in only about 2 years or so and can speak fluent Japnese. They even do better than native Japanese speakers on the liturature part since many native Japanese speakers can't recognize as many kanjis as Chinese speakers (well..if you do read Chinese) You can also learn other languages that are more similiar to English (like French which you are leanring) and it's will be much easier. But however the best way to learn a new language is to go to that country and live there for a while..:P You will be able to speak the language fluently and read easy articles in a year if you are not very stupid.</p>
<p>"You will be able to speak the language fluently and read easy articles in a year if you are not very stupid."</p>
<p>Heh. I actually was considering maybe Japanese, since it is somewhat similar to Chinese. As for European languages, I think Spanish would be the most useful, but for some reason, German and Finnish appeal to me more.</p>