Steve's 'Too late in life' thought....

I restarted a quest I've had my entire life... never completed it. I want to learn how to speak Italian... IOW, learn a 2nd language.

I learned enough French back in about 2006 to be conversational. Did so because I was going to visit one of our foreign exchange students, and her family. I did well... I would say I achieved a little more than mere 'conversational'. I have forgotten nearly all of it... to speak... I still can understand a little. BTW... I used the Pimsleur Course to learn French, it works pretty well.

Any of you speak a 2nd language 'fluently'? I envy you if so.

Funny thing about Italian, I used to speak it... but that requires some explanation:

I grew up in the country, far from friends my age. I only saw friends my age while at school. At home I had one playmate, albeit the best playmate ever... my Grandfather, who spoke ONLY Italian.. almost no English. We were together day and night. Now here's the "odd thing":

Spending time with my grandfather we spoke Italian with each other... but I had no idea I was speaking Italian! To me it was just how I spoke with my grandfather. We used different 'words'... that's all it meant to me at that time. I never once considered it a "second language".

My grandfather passed away in 1964... and that ended my Italian. I had several relatives who spoke mostly Italian that I saw often as well, but not that I saw nearly as often as my grandfather. Today I know a few words, can understand a few more, but I'm no where near conversational.

So today. My oldest grandson is taking an Italian course in college... began this semester. Obviously I can't take the course with him so I did what I could... I signed up with Babbel, an online language learning course. I have only just begun.... a week ago. So far it's just the basics... "Hi" - "Bye" - "Pleased to meet you" - "My name is" - "What is your Name"... etc... all of which I already knew. BUT... I'm not going to skip ahead.... just think it would be better if I didn't.

So.. back to topic... too late in life to learn a new trick? I don't think so. - JamesJM