learning a foreign language is hard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I have watched Korean dramas (with subtitles) and listened to k-pop music for 20 plus years. I also watched a ton of Japanese animation movies or cartoon (with subtitles) growing up. I can only speak greetings and basic phrases in Korean & Japanese. Does TV or music really work? Or it has to be simple TV or music designed for toddler?

My son is learning Mandarin.

TV can work for some people (I had a friend who learned Korean and Japanese entirely from tv but she was already fluently English/Mandarin bilingual so that may have helped). Personally I have noticed that tv/music daily really helps as a supplement to lessons but I can’t learn solely from it. I think immersion via media also works way better for younger kids.

I think it depends on what kind of learner you are. I could see an auditory learner being able to pick a language up from TV and radio. I am a kinesthetic learner and trying to learn from TV or podcasts is pointless for me. Trilingual — only ever picked up language when I was immersed in-country, plus I write out lots of flashcards and do other types of “physical” learning to improve my vocabulary.

[Anonymous]

For Spanish watch Latino TV shows in Spanish with English subtitles, for Japanese watch in Japanese in English subtitles or watch in English with Spanish subtitles.

You learn faster by learning new vocabulary words every day. Spanish is hard they have e and o for boys and a for girls at the end but Chinese is harder. But my family loves languages, we live in an interconnected world

[Anonymous]

Also doing conversation you learn faster. There's many places he can speak and for free online in Spanish. Twitch if he's a gamer, omegle lol but with supervision

[Anonymous]

It is very hard to learn a foreign language without daily practice or family support. I learned English at school with non English speaking parents, but we had two hours worth f lessons a day plus homework starting at 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I think my expectation is out of reach. I think it is more of his learning attitude/habit that frustrate me more than his progress. Benchmark for 50 words a year is really low to me for K. He has high grades in every subject and thus I expect that he will learn fast in foreign language.

Mandarin is one of the most difficult languages to learn, and he is doing 4 hours a week (2 hours for online 1:1 and 2 hours for in person). It is just painful to sit with him to learn, but he is not focused and not wanting to practice. I hope it is not a waste of time, money and energy in the long run.

Kids learn fast when they WANTS to. They also lose interest in learning fast if it becomes a regular thing/chore. Even kids in China get bored with learning Chinese at school and they speak that language every single day.
Both my husband and I speak Mandarin but my kid is starting to prefer speaking English to us as that's the language she uses at school. (She's 6)
We downloaded a mandarin learning app and work with her once a week, yet she's still bored and tries to get out of it every time.
But, she enjoys watching cartoons from my husband and I's childhood. And she excitedly acts out the stories using only Mandarin.
She hang out with her non-English speaking grandparents all the time and that helps greatly. Although I understand this may not be an option for everyone. So...the next best thing is maybe setting up playdates with mandarin speaking family like others have suggested?

[Anonymous]

2 months really is no time at all!

As a result of an overseas assignment, my children started school in a foreign language, and it took them more than a year to really acclimate and start speaking fluently (though their comprehension was really impressive in a few months).

In addition to the good advice you've gotten regarding tv shows (my advice to anyone learning a foreign language is to watch children's programming - characters generally speak slower and with better grammar than adult programs), try to find a social event or sports league in the language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I have watched Korean dramas (with subtitles) and listened to k-pop music for 20 plus years. I also watched a ton of Japanese animation movies or cartoon (with subtitles) growing up. I can only speak greetings and basic phrases in Korean & Japanese. Does TV or music really work? Or it has to be simple TV or music designed for toddler?

My son is learning Mandarin.

If you don't speak Mandarin at home, fluently. Your child is never going to be fluent from an online tutor and tv shows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I have watched Korean dramas (with subtitles) and listened to k-pop music for 20 plus years. I also watched a ton of Japanese animation movies or cartoon (with subtitles) growing up. I can only speak greetings and basic phrases in Korean & Japanese. Does TV or music really work? Or it has to be simple TV or music designed for toddler?

My son is learning Mandarin.

If you don't speak Mandarin at home, fluently. Your child is never going to be fluent from an online tutor and tv shows.

Well duh