ph_visitor wrote:Some of us, no matter what, cannot learn a new language in a reasonable, within one's lifetime, time frame.
I find Chinese brutally difficult. Friends can say words to me, I can repeat them, they clap like little children over my 'good Chinese' and 5 seconds later I cannot remember what I said or how. I have tried everything and I think it is simply age and health-related learning disabilities that are making me stupid as I get older.
People like Ladislav, who are gifted at languages and learned many before the age of 35, are not good examples for the rest of us over 50.
Rome was not built in a day.
1. Learn the standard version of a language - listening and speaking
2. Once you have 2,000 - 3,000 most common vocab under your belt plus most common grammar patterns and structures, practice more with people who speak to you quickly and in a very colloquial style.
3. Once you have the base in your chosen area, you can adjust to new regions and accents easily. Even a native English speaking American needs time adjust to English as its used in SP, India, or Scotland. Traveling around China is challenging cus the less educated people (common people) in each region and sub-region speak Mandarin with an accent heavily influenced by the respective local dialect. Even the south of Taiwan has the problem to some extent. But, if you have learned the standard form sufficiently, you will pick-up on the regional variation very quickly (in days to weeks).