too old?

I am wondering that at 58 if I'm too old to learn a new language? People a lot younger than me probably retain more information than I.

Quote from GaryWages
Hi Ray, I don't think you are too old., I am 60- and taking the course, but I'll tell you it is not easy, I try to do some everyday, I want to go to France one day. I've been before but could not communicate. I think it is harder for us older students to learn anything, I should know as I teach piano and my older students lag behind the young ones, the older beginners give every excuse for not having practiced. Lets hope we both can learn French at our ages, thanks, that was a good question. sincerely, gary wages

Thanks for the advice, Gary. I would like to live in France for a year or so.

Salut,

being an adult learner also has great advantages.
The older you are the more you know about the world and the more concepts you know. If you come across a concept in another language you will already have an idea of what it is in your first language.

For example children need to learn what the difference between a rock, a pebble and a stone is. You already know that so if someone tells you the French word for it you already have a concept saved in your brain and you can simply add the new word to it.
As a child you would have to learn about the category of "hard things" and then learn the different concepts behind stone, pebble and rock.
So there is more brain power involved. As an adult this might take slightly longer and you might have to repeat words more frequently to keep them in mind, but you can never do enough practice. It keeps you young and the more you do it the easier it will get.

All the very best to you

That is very true.
Everyone can learn anything if they just really want to.
For some it might take longer, but in the end you will get their and it will be a very satisfying experiment.
You can never be too old for learning a language

Congratulation à tous!
I'm sure that all of you will be fluent in French very soon.
In my experience patience and keep practicing is the key of learning a language.
All the best for your French learning!
Bonne chance!

Salut tout le monde!

I'm really happy that I'm having friends around my age band learning French i.e. 50 + above. I'm 54 this year. Been working with a French company for 10 years before I resigned. Did some French lessons then but never got beyond the basic intros.

Now that I've quit working and am on my own consulting practice, I really want to pick up this language. I've told myself that this is one language that I will learn till I get it right coz I've kind of always been good with languages (self-taught) except with French

After all the knocks and bums and good guidance from Rocket French, I think my ability to read French is improving but I still have problem with listening and speaking skills. Is this something that Rocket French have plans for to help its members and students? At the end of the day, mastering a language is not just about knowing it but being able to converse and write as well.

Please advise. I live in Malaysia and currently learning French alone as it's difficult to find learners in my same age group over here.

joyce

Salut Roy,
I am 58 years old and am learning French for the first time. This is such a beautiful language that I refuse to let age stop me. We are never too old to learn. This is a true indulgence for me, as I have no reason to learn the language; yet, It is a dream to visit France one day. When I hear french words come forth from my mouth, it is like breath of fresh air.

Rita Moore

I am still looking/listening to lesson 4 (being thirsty) and having extreme difficulty. Take for example, 'Désolé d'être en retard.'

Etre means 'to be.' But what does the 'd' at the beginning of etre signify? Oh dear, I'm just not getting this. It's so confusing. It would appear that I am merely learning parrot fashion, when I should be learning to construct sentences.

Hi Strathmore,

Thanks for your post! I'm sorry to hear you're having difficulty with the course.

We tend to switch between the formal and informal because many native speakers do the same and we'd like to get our learners accustomed to both styles. I will pass your feedback on to our Product Development team to see what they think.

As for 'retard' and 'en retard', 'retard' translates best as 'delay' and 'en retard' signifies 'be late/tardy'.

If you'd like to send an email to our Customer Support team, they'd be happy to help you out with anything! So if you're needing guidance on how best to approach the course, they can help.

Merci,
Marie-Claire

Hi Lyn

Good to see that I'm not just the only one feeling that French seems to be the most difficult language to master.

I've learnt Mandarin and Thai on my own and though I would not say that I'm good I still can survive using whatever basic grammar I have in those 2 languages.

On the other hand, I have spent so much money and time trying to learn French and ..... I'm still learning to read, pronounce it correctly and most important of all listen and comprehend what is said. This last 2 stuff is really my toughest challenge.

Then again, like you, I am determined to get on to mastering this language even if it means learning and getting it at 80!!! (lol)

@ Strathmore - you remind me a little of my girlfriend, and the way she approaches the course. She wants to understand every last thing in a lesson before she moves on - luckily for her at this stage I can answer most of her questions. I didn't really have that advantage when I was going through the course, and it's not really necessary when learning a language - it's not the way our minds normally assimilate new languages. Some questions are filed away for later retrieval and resolution.

Bungle on through the lessons, find books to read through alongside a dictionary (there are many French fables done as readers for beginner which are fantastic - Monsieur le Vent et Madame la Pluie, and Les Deux Frères are two great examples), find French movies, pick out three words and watch it again till you grasp a whole sentence. Chat to people. Ask them questions. I'm on the third course now (Platinum) and I still don't grasp everything from the first course, but lots falls into place as you go. Then you listen to an earlier lesson again, and you're very glad you didn't dwell on something that was at that stage a little beyond your grasp. It's just a waste of time to dwell too long. Move on - it'll come.

If you can already speak a second language, you will understand how different grammar can be from English, which makes it easier to settle phrases like your example. ("Sorry of to be in delay" would be a more literal translation - except that as you know, "en" doesn't literally mean in, but it comes close in some contexts like en conversation - just like the word "que" can mean what, that and than, depending on the context). You just need to accept that and move on till you get used to it, and get away from the mindset that you'll be able to relate all sentences word-by-word to English. You won't. Another one that's weird is "Il y a" - "there is". Literally this means "It there has", which of course doesn't make any sense in English, but once you have that breakdown - you can sort of relate it to "there is", and then you just accept it. My second language is Afrikaans, which I grew up with in SA, and thanks to the French Hugenots, it relates to French a lot better than English in a lot of ways, but the most important thing is that you understand how different grammatical structure and idiomatic phrase can be, so your mind makes the required paradigm shifts more happily.

My advice: Understand what you can for now, then carry on regardless. Don't bust a gut trying to get to the bottom of everything - it will definitely come in time.

Salutations et bonne chance!

Salut Strathmore,

I'm sorry to hear you've given up on the course! Please don't!

We try and respond to all customer emails within 2 working days. Even if it might take a little longer, we will always reply. And I'm not sure what departments you were referred to as we really only have one support team with a few members. I'll get in touch with them.

The forums can take a bit longer to get a reply on. As I said, we have a small team, but try to get to everything as often as possible.

If you ever do want to start again, we're here to help.

Marie-Claire

Bonjour Larry!

I am sorry to hear that your post has been removed but I can assure you that it was not on our behalf. There may have been a glitch in the system somewhere or you may have pressed the wrong button. Whatever the case may be, we do apologize and we are advocates for all languages and would never be bias towards one or another.

J'éspère que cela vous mette à l'aise. - I hope this puts you at ease.

- Marie-Claire