Being a software developer, when I say I am trying to learn a new language, I need to clarify whether it is a programming language versus a "natural"/"real world" language. Whereas learning a new programming language or API hasn't ever seemed insurmountable, learning a new natural language has been challenging.
Through-out primary and secondary school, my worst subject was French, where my marks were in the 70% range whereas my other courses were in the 90+%. In particular, my spoken or listening comprehension was more dismal. In fact, sometimes I wonder how I passed at all considering that now, I can barely put together a few words en francais.
I've also had to re-learn my mother/childhood tongue of Cantonese. My wife (and in-laws) being Cantonese-speaking has definitely helped there. Currently, I would consider my Cantonese at a "working knowledge" level.
I also took a stab at learning Japanese and German. Somehow we spent about 10 days in Japan without uttering a word of Japanese other than arigatō. With German, I actually spoke a few words of German with some native speakers in Berlin and elsewhere.
What I find especially hard with learning any natural language is the spoken or listening aspect. With programming, it is either reading code or writing code, which for a visual learner like myself, I find relatively easy. Having a "bad ear", listening for the subtleties of a foreign language is difficult for me, just as it was difficult hearing the "1" beat in ballroom dance music. In the years past, it was "hard" to obtain learning language materials, especially audio recordings. Now, literally at my fingertips, with Google and the proliferation of free materials to learn languages, especially accessible multimedia to back it all up, learning a new language shouldn't be as challenging ... right? Wǒ bù zhīdào :-) No more tape recordings to play, rewind, play, rewind, play, rewind ...
I'm taking a Mandarin class now and know I have to devote some time to it everyday. As with other attempts to learn, putting in the time is important. But with natural languages, trying to speak the language and not being embarrassed on Fails is absolutely necessary. Let's see how it goes ... on week #2.
