How long did it take you to learn english?

[GoldCoinLover]

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.

[sadakoyamamura]

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.

It didn't take me as long as 10 years to learn English because I started young but I bet that its gonna take longer than that in Japanese. I mean in the speaking alone I think I've been trying to learn for the last 3 years and I still am beginner level. I guess this is brought about by not being very exposed to an atmosphere where learning Japanese is a must. :-)

[Gaijinian]

えぇッとですね、流暢になるのは１０年間かかるってい うより、知能の遅れた人の標準ですかね・・・。

[Chiaki_Kuriyama_Fan]

Is it me or was the above post a load of sqaures???

[Brooker]

28 years....................................

[RockLee]

hmm been studying it since 1st grade of highschool...that's about 11 years ago.

[-Rudel-]

Working on 2 1/2 years in Japanese. I think I am ready for JPLT 4.
Just need to brush up on the Kanji.

It's amazing that in America, most people are told that English is the hardest language to learn, YET....YET! I see many foreigners mastering English as if it were nothing.

But if an American trys to learn another language, it can be harder. Wierd. :souka:

Perhaps they meant, "American" English is the hardest, since we speak with so much slang, and metaphors. :note:

[lexico]

Is it me or was the above post a load of sqaures???Try adjusting the menu bar setting; e.g. if you use Internet Expolorer,

On the menu bar, click 3rd from left "View(V)" for pull-down menu
Drag mouse pointer down to 8th from top "Encoding (D)" for right pull-down menu
If you see "Japanese (Shift-JIS)" click on it.
If you don't see it, click on "Other (M)" which will give you more choices; look for "Japanese (Shift-JIS)"

That should give you all the kana/kanji that's supposed to be in Gaijinian's post. If you still have several squares, and you really want to see them, try copy-and-pasting into Windows Memopad or a word processor with CJK capability. I still get 7 squares with Japanese shift-JIS; those are simplified Chinese characters; 1st line: 說, 話, 說, 說, 麽, 2nd line: 東, 嗎.

Does anyone know how to get JIS and Simplified hanzi on the same page ?

[Apri1]

i found japanese to be the easiest language to learn and i've studied a lot.

i think you never stop learning a language but you can be somehwat fluent in 2 years at least. 5 at the most.

[Uncle Frank]

Been at it for 55 years and still can't spell. I'm getting better at the grammer and vocabulary. I feel ashamed I can't learn another language like so many of our members!

Frank

:blush:

[GoldCoinLover]

Been at it for 55 years and still can't spell. I'm getting better at the grammer and vocabulary. I feel ashamed I can't learn another language like so many of our members!

Frank

:blush:

Ahh, japanese you mean?

[nice gaijin]

I think Frank is talking about English, seeing as he's writing in English and talks about not being able to learn another language... Just some induction for your benefit.

[Elizabeth]

I think Frank is talking about English, seeing as he's writing in English and talks about not being able to learn another language... Just some induction for your benefit.
He also hasn't been very successful at studying Japanese for long periods in the US (which might make it seem like 55 years :p ). That may have been what Goldcoinlover was referring to. Either way, I didn't see his response as particularly out of place at all. :relief:

[GoldCoinLover]

He also hasn't been very successful at studying Japanese for long periods in the US (which might make it seem like 55 years :p ). That may have been what Goldcoinlover was referring to. Either way, I didn't see his response as particularly out of place at all. :relief:

Elizabeth you are a really nice person..are you ignoring my private message?

[Xsuit]

Well when it comes to english or rather american english it's very hard to say because the language is constantly changing. One can learn the basics in perhaps a year or so but I've been learning for about 18 years and well all I can say is I still don't know everything and probably never will since everything changes and words are intergrated and used in different ways and then new words are being thought up and so on and so on but the basics of merican english, yeah it's pretty easy to learn and the rest is mostly just atlib or based on instinct in a sense, ah well.

[miu]

I was 'taught' English at kindergarten when I was 5 but didn't really start studying it until I was 11. I can't say how long it took me to learn English because I feel like I'm still learning :blush: I studied English at school for about 7 years or so but I think I might've been pretty fluent after 5 years or so... That is, being able to read all sorts or texts and talk with English speakers little or no difficulty. But I can't be entirely sure because you think you're doing fine when you're necessarily not :blush:

[Sensuikan San]

Try adjusting the menu bar setting; e.g. if you use Internet Expolorer,

On the menu bar, click 3rd from left "View(V)" for pull-down menu
Drag mouse pointer down to 8th from top "Encoding (D)" for right pull-down menu
If you see "Japanese (Shift-JIS)" click on it.
If you don't see it, click on "Other (M)" which will give you more choices; look for "Japanese (Shift-JIS)"

That should give you all the kana/kanji that's supposed to be in Gaijinian's post. If you still have several squares, and you really want to see them, try copy-and-pasting into Windows Memopad or a word processor with CJK capability. I still get 7 squares with Japanese shift-JIS; those are simplified Chinese characters; 1st line: 說, 話, 說, 說, 麽, 2nd line: 東, 嗎.

Does anyone know how to get JIS and Simplified hanzi on the same page ?

My word ... this is several months after the question ... but I just read your post Lex. - and I don't have the problem at all!

In addition to seleting the "shift-JIS", I also select "Japanese" under "Auto-Detect"

... I never get the "squares" or "?" symbols. And this seems to work in Netscape, Firefox, IE, Opera ... et al.

Sorry to take so long!

(and ... I do have Asian language support downloaded (free) from Microsoft - but I guess we all do ....)

ジョン

[lastmagi]

My writing English is somewhat decent. I'm still having trouble with prepositions and little things like that. But my speaking English is horrible. Words get put in grammatically incorrect or awkward spots, and I'm amazed that people can even understand me.

I'm still working on it, I guess.

[Dekamaster]

Still learning something new each day...

[Anchyyy]

It took me about six years. My english is still not perfect, even tho i'm the best in class when it comes to english :relief:

[Mycernius]

Still learning after 35 years. What doesn't help is the way that a word can change its meaning. I think the best example is the word Gay. 30 years ago it meant happy, cheerful. then it starts to mean someone who is homosexual. It is now being used by the youth in the UK to maen sad or uncool as in
"Do you want to go to such and such"
"No, that's so gay"
It is bad enough trying to keep up with this as a native speaker. No wonder some non-native speakers get confused. Even more so when the slang. Even everyday words can mean something different in the US compared to the UK.
ie: British English.............................American English
Pavement/Path...................................Sidewalk
Road.............................................. ...Pavement
Lift.............................................. .....Elevator
Bonnet............................................ ..Hood
Boot.............................................. ...Trunk
Trousers.......................................... ..Pants
Autumn............................................ .Fall (old English word that fell out of use in the UK)
Arse.............................................. ...Ass
Chips............................................. ...Fries
Crisps............................................ ...Potato chips
Fag (Slang).......................................Ciga rette

Even spelling can cause difficulty
Travelling........................................ ..Traveling
Colour............................................ ..Color
Favourite......................................... .Favorite
Analyse........................................... .Analyze
Theatre........................................... .Theater

And then there are words that are spelt the same, but said differently:
In BrEng: Bouy as Boy
In AmEng: Bouy as Boo ee
In BrEng: Route as Root
In AmEng Route as rout (This seems to be regional in the US)
In BrEng Hostile as Hos tile
In AmEng Hostile as hostel

[Anchyyy]

Still learning after 35 years. What doesn't help is the way that a word can change its meaning. I think the best example is the word Gay. 30 years ago it meant happy, cheerful. then it starts to mean someone who is homosexual. It is now being used by the youth in the UK to maen sad or uncool as in
"Do you want to go to such and such"
"No, that's so gay"
It is bad enough trying to keep up with this as a native speaker. No wonder some non-native speakers get confused. Even more so when the slang. Even everyday words can mean something different in the US compared to the UK.
ie: British English.............................American English
Pavement/Path...................................Sidewalk
Road.............................................. ...Pavement
Lift.............................................. .....Elevator
Bonnet............................................ ..Hood
Boot.............................................. ...Trunk
Trousers.......................................... ..Pants
Autumn............................................ .Fall (old English word that fell out of use in the UK)
Arse.............................................. ...Ass
Chips............................................. ...Fries
Crisps............................................ ...Potato chips
Fag (Slang).......................................Ciga rette

Even spelling can cause difficulty
Travelling........................................ ..Traveling
Colour............................................ ..Color
Favourite......................................... .Favorite
Analyse........................................... .Analyze
Theatre........................................... .Theater

And then there are words that are spelt the same, but said differently:
In BrEng: Bouy as Boy
In AmEng: Bouy as Boo ee
In BrEng: Route as Root
In AmEng Route as rout (This seems to be regional in the US)
In BrEng Hostile as Hos tile
In AmEng Hostile as hostel


You learn something new everyday! :relief: I still have to work hard on my english.:bluush:

[ShayLee]

I started learning english when I was 10, so that's 8 years, and I still suck big time. I just don't get tenses :p

Oh, and may I add some more words to Mycernius's list?

British .......... American

railway .......... railroad
engine .......... motor
sweets .......... candy :-)
handbag .......... purse
film .......... movie
shop .......... store
chemist .......... pharmacy
leave .......... quit
lorry .......... truck
tap .......... faucet

That's all I can remember for now. I have few more words in my mind, but dunno, which is AmEn and which BrEng : money - cash, biscuit - cookie, subway, first floor (there is sth confusing about floors, I remember that) :souka:

[Mycernius]

subway, first floor (there is sth confusing about floors, I remember that) :souka:
In the UK the ground floor is called the Ground floor (Well, duh!). In the US it is the first floor. The first floor in the UK is the one above the ground floor. If you are in the US it is the second floor. I have been told that the Japanese use the American system for tall buildings

[nanda]

i started learning english when i was in junior high, i was .. 11 .. so .. 9 years, almost 10 years ..
and i'm still learning .. *sigh .. i have serious problems with grammar and vocabulary .. and speaking .. and writing ..

[Mycernius]

@ 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.

[isayhello]

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

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.

[Hyde_is_my_anti-drug]

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.

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 :relief:

[Kinsao]

My English can be terrible, even though I'm a native speaker. :bluush: 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. :gomen: Please feel free to move this post if it fits better somewhere else! :p

[Mars Man]

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) :cool:

[Sojiro|san]

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.

:)

[Riyko]

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.

[godppgo]

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.
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.

[シェリー]

...And dude English isn't easy. It's my first language and sometimes I'm not even fluent :relief:
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.
:note: It's essential that I improve my English
skills before continuing my Japanese studies.

[Rukia]

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! :relief:

[Dutch Baka]

Im Still Learning ....

[epigene]

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.:-)

[jt_]

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.:-)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.)

[epigene]

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.

[Takaryo]

Hi, all. :wave:

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. :(