How long did it take you to learn english?

@ Nanda, Shaylee and Anchyyy: I think you use of English on the forum is very good. I have noticed that those who speak English as a second or even third language improve when they post on a regular basis, or visit on a regular basis. I think the constant use of having to read and type the language helps you learning the language IMO.

... I've studied english since first grade ... english is soon going to become the first language of Sweden.. .. it's been years since I heard any swedish artist write a song in swedish...

As for japanese, I think if you live in Japan, and you're forced to use it everyday, you'll pick it up quite quick - in a year or two. Speaking, that is. as for writing... I don't even wanna think about how long it would take me to learn all the kanjis. My japanese teacher (in Sweden, mind you, I can't speak japanese yet, nor do I live in Japan) tells me, japanese is an easy language to speak, but really difficult to write.

GoldCoinLover said:

How long did it take you to become fluent in english? I've heard english is alot easier than japanese, and other languages, is this true?

I've heard it takes an american person 10 years to become fluent in writing, reading, and speaking japanese.

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I'm not fluent yet in Japanese but I know a lot and it's only taken a few years to get here. I still can't read too well though, I can speak quite a bit but my reading skills aren't so hot. It probably will take me ten years to learn to read it but I don't think it'll take more then a few more years before I can speak fluently.
And dude English isn't easy. It's my first language and sometimes I'm not even fluent

My English can be terrible, even though I'm a native speaker. I used to be... how to call it?... 'top of the class', when I was in college, and my English can still be good when I think about it (at work, for example). I blame the internet! It makes me use a 'stream of consciousness' way of writing, where I put words in a grammatically incorrect order and... well... write a bit like speaking... :sorry:

Seriously, I do think the internet has changed something about the way English is written (and other languages as well, obviously, but I don't know enough about them to say). Most articles I've seen on the subject blame internet and text messages for 'bad' stuff that happens to the language, but I don't think it's necessarily changing in a bad way. Just... different. One example is the English you use when you're chatting with someone on msn messenger. Totally 'bad' English in the traditional sense, but is it really 'bad'? I don't think so. I think it's just another way of using the language, and if anything making it more flexible. I mean, in the past, only 'educated' people could even read and write at all. Now, not everyone can but lots of people... so the language/use adapts to suit the needs of the people using it, who don't always want something really brainy and formal.

As someone (I've forgotten who it was! Was it Jane Austen?) once said, "Language has been given to us to make our meaning clear, not to hide it". Well, that's debatable! but... you get my drift... the main thing is to get across what you are trying to say.

I've found that typing on forums and emails etc. has made my use of English more flexible... like in my previous sentence I used a lower case letter after an exclamation mark. Technically, that's incorrect, but I do sometimes use it, to try and convey and impression of the sentence moving on quite quickly, rather than totally stopping there.

I'm also finding the use of emoticons is becoming horribly addictive almost to the point of mutating into a kind of 'English kanji'! A sentence begins to look incomplete without some kind of 'mood indicator' attached to it. >< (Case in point. ^_^) It becomes pretty extreme when you start wanting to use them in your handwriting... *sighhh*...... Oh yes, and those little words that go between asterisks... serving a similar function to emoticons, I guess... It seems to me like a way of trying to 'stretch' the English language to make the experience of reading/writing more like talking face to face, where 80% (-ish) of communication is made up of body language.

It might seem a bit childish or philistine or... something, hehe... but I actually find those 'mood indicators' really useful, because it's difficult sometimes in writing to detect what someone is actually thinking or feeling - for example, you can miss out on sarcasm or irony. There have been countless times when the addition of a simple " ^_^ " or " >> " has totally changed the way I've read a phrase...

Ohh... I'm sorry to go on so much... I think I've drifted way off topic. Please feel free to move this post if it fits better somewhere else!

I hear you Kinsao san !! I don't worry so much myself about how English is changing, that is just bound to happen; like you said, good or bad. There are a few things that I myself wouldn't do, however--fail to captialize the first person pronoun, for example--but do not mind at all others doing it. I also tend to use the asterisks to label a word as being under scrutiny, or in identifying its sense. I don't use the emoticons so much, just because I'm new in the cyber world.

I do have problems with my English. The biggest is spelling--I do have check more than I'd like to and it does take up some time in some posting situations. And because I want to leave as little left out as possible in the idea I may be trying to get across, I over word my sentences; I then end up with those typical-of-me long posts. hee, hee, hee....

I'll try harder !! I liked your post there Kinsao chan (if I may)

hmmz

i know somebody from poland, whos been livin in the states for just over a year now. when i first spoke to her she cud only really speak the basics, incapable of stringing together a legit sentance in English anyway

a year later, she speaks better than me xD

so it just goes to show...if u wanna learn a language, chances are u will pick things up twice as fast when u are in the environment or constantly learning.

I started learning english in 6th grade, up until then I only spoke German. Being born and raised in America not learning english until 6th grade isn't a good thing. I got so far behind in school, but now I only know a few words in German and I'm really good at English.

isayhello said:

I think if you live in Japan, and you're forced to use it everyday, you'll pick it up quite quick - in a year or two.

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That's the key in learning any language at the most effective way: Being "forced" to use the language.
It can be painful at times but the rate at which you are absorbing the new language is amazing when under dire situations.....
I experienced that myself when I was a 13 year old kid and moved to Canada knowing only the 26 English alphabets.

Hyde_is_my_anti-drug said:

...And dude English isn't easy. It's my first language and sometimes I'm not even fluent

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I with you on that one.
It's embarrassing to said this....
English is the only language I know
"fluently". Yet, I still can't consider
myself fluent. I realize last night, how
bad my English really is.
It's essential that I improve my English
skills before continuing my Japanese studies.

I started learning English when i was 5 years old!! i.e. in kindergarten!!..but what they taught us was "British English"!!..so it's been 16 years since i started learning the language..and i even studied "English Phonetics & Phonology", American and British accents and dialects!!..also, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics..etc
but i guess my English isn't that perfect yet!!..need to learn more!

Im Still Learning ....

I'm past 50 and still learning...

This forum helps me in knowing how people speak in casual conversation and also how young people speak.

I do also like to read remarks with sardonic wit like Mike's and try to learn from them.

epigene said:

I'm past 50 and still learning...
This forum helps me in knowing how people speak in casual conversation and also how young people speak.
I do also like to read remarks with sardonic wit like Mike's and try to learn from them.

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But, if I recall correctly, you were raised in a (somewhat) bilingual environment from a young age, right? (My apologies if this is incorrect.)

Your command of English regularly strikes me as showing native-speaker intuition (or at least something very close to it) and I wonder, sometimes, if it would be ever be possible for someone like me (who started studying Japanese at 19) to attain that level.

(Of course, this is a rhetorical question, and I've already come to an answer of sorts, which is -- it may be impossible, it may not be, but posting on message boards like this in English like I'm doing now isn't going to help me get there.)

jt_san,

"Somewhat bilingual" is correct. My mother was determined to raise her children to become bilingual and taught us the best she could. I learned to read in English when the rest of the kids had no idea what English really is. Having grown up in Yokohama, I also made friends with many American children from military bases.

But, I went to the US for the first time only when I was 18 (for college). That was when my English truly improved.

I did the same thing my mother did (immersion in English)to my children, who went on to college in the US.

Many Japanese think I'm completely bilingual, which I am not. What I am working on now is trying to approximate the native speaker the best I can.

Hi, all.

I've been learning English since before going to school. So, that means i'm a somewhat fluent speaker.

I've heard from my Japanese language teacher that in Japan they start learning English in middle school (chuugakoo...if I'm not mistaken) Since I can understand both English and Japanese, I'd love to help. Though my kanji is really terrible.

started when I was 5 and still learning

It started within the family. We talk English at home from time to time. And we are still learning until now. I thought I am already fluent with all the accent but when I talk to Americans, I still get lost because they talk fast and so slang. And they got a lot of figures of speech that cracks me up. Anyway, one thing I've discovered is that they are terrible in spellings which is not really a big deal if you are just talking. I think some of us are too much serious about it. Having English as our second language, it shouldn't be that tough to learn it. But learning Japanese language is another story. I would like to try and see how long it would take me to learn. And yes, it is one of the reason that I joined in this forum.

I'm really not sure if I'm honest. I started reading very enthusiastically from a young age so I may have started before I started school so determining how long it took me would be hard to say.

I would love to become more fluent in another language but while I was at school, French and German just didn't appeal to me as strongly as Japanese does now. My attitude to language is completely different now... though it is a bit late!

I find it very interesting that a lot of us do not consider ourselves fluent. Some people in the world will have quite a fight on their hands to reach a very high standard of language. With complications like dyslexia in the world it can be tough. However, most of my friends that have had that sort of thing, I have found that they are very expressive and creative people.

If I'm honest, I think some of us are not giving ourselves the credit we deserve for our language efforts. As long as you don't have to rack your brain too hard to type these posts correctly, it's safe to say that you are reasonably fluent in that language!

Either way, keep up the good work everyone!

I started studying since I was 11 years old. However, I only study English seriously since I was 15. It took me 3 years to read an adult English book and another 3 years to watch movie without subtitle.

I'm worrying about my Japanese skills. I hope that it won't take me 6 years to watch an anime without subtitle