Were you a little overwhelmed at first when you started learning a new language?

[Skyros]

[Smoke-n-Growls]

Not really, but I grew up learning French nearly at the same time I learned English. So I can't really tell if it was "overwhelming", it was just everyday stuff for me.

It really helped me in life, tbh. Learning a second language - especially early on - teaches you to think a little differently. Not necessarily better, just kind of from a different angle. And it does make it easier to learn additional languages later. Your brain's already formed the neuropathways with the other languages.

I learned Spanish and ASL at a later date, and still retain some of it but am quickly losing them due to lack of practice. I have switched to learning a few other languages, though, but not nearly as formally.

[purplepoppy]

Most people here grow up bilingual to varying extents. Some are fluent in both English and Welsh others may be fluent in English but have some grasp of Welsh recognising words but not being able to converse.
When we get new people arriving and they want to learn Welsh I think all of them are overwhelmed for a long time. Your mind not only has to cope with new words but a new sentence structure, different grammar, regional accents, dialects, the fact not everything can be directly translated or makes sense.
Learning a new language is a massive undertaking, and it's easy to be overwhelmed if you try to advance too quickly.

[Avicenna]

Yeah, that’s totally normal if you’re actually trying to talk to people, especially in-country

[Guy13]

More than overwhelmed... like frustrated and angry about it.

[Babygirl_S]

English is not my first language and I never felt overwhelmed. I was always interested in learning more. It was one of my favourite subjects.
I have always been fascinated by different cultures and languages.
I wasn't very fluent until the age of 12. Learning a different accent was also fun for me. When I was 14, I could only understand the Indian accent. I wanted to be able to enjoy Hollywood movies and music more so I learned how to easily understand American and British accents.
I got pretty good over time and it was all mostly self-taught (particularly phonetics). I am eager to learn even more to have impeccable English as I'm not perfect.
We were also taught French and I love how it sounds but I failed to become fluent in it. I didn't take it very seriously because I knew it's not spoken by that many people.

[melanieeeB]

As a kid, no it just happened. But as an adult- yes! French was really hard for me to learn and after 5 years I quit and to this day I'm not good.
Now leaning Spanish is okay, it's more fun to me but I'm little insecure with the pronouncing and I can't keep it in my mind for long... i guess it's also cause I'm learning other things too and it's just too much at once but yeah it's hard

[letuswaltzforthedead]

When I learned English, I was a little because at school, most of the teachers and students only knew English and I had a hard time communicating myself. With French, it was pretty easy and had almost an air of "wow, a brand new world" because I had become obsessed with all the french music and films I saw. Currently, with Russian, I definitely feel overwhelmed and at a loss when it comes to learning it.

[jennifer_bloom]

I was overwhelmed when I tried to learn Sanskrit but not when I tried to learn Hebrew cause I learned Hebrew for pleasure and nobody measured my performance while I needed sanskrit to get into grad school and my self esteem depended on my performance.

[hellomellow7]

Not really.. I started learning at a young age, so half the time when I try thinking of a word in English it comes to me in German instead

[Skyros]

Which language did you study and how hours a day?

[hellomellow7]

German and about 3 hours

[Skyros]

I just started with Rosetta Stone and it has me doing 30 minutes a day. Guess I need to step it up.

[SAMI_DABBAB]

It certainly didn't happen with English, but with Turkish I was just mind blocked at the start

[Agape93]

Not really