Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm not multilingual myself. I wanted to study German in secondary school, but for some reason was forced into French instead. Found that a bit off-putting so I gave it the bare minimum effort. I tried learning Gaelic on DuoLingo for a few weeks, but I realised I'd been treating it like a memory game and wasn't actually understanding what I was learning. Which is part of why I ask the above question. Are there autists among us who have learned other languages? If so, how did you find your experience of learning a new language? Do you have any advice for autistic people in particular, looking to learn a new language?
best, well quickest, way to learn is total immersion. It is not for everyone. I learned Castillion this way, For this one needs a healthy sense of humour towards oenslef and can laugh along with others for 'meter la pata' moments. this method also is a total commitment. One must also not mind looking a bit crazy (but I had that skill mastered long ago.) If one is going to seem cray-cray, own it with humour.
This method begins with a tall wall of incomprehension, metaphorically speaking, that separates one from others. I treated it like a puzzle and looked for patterns, repeats, syntax etc. bricks in the wall began to fall out and I could see in more and more till the wall was gone and I understood with out knowing how I did it. My brain knew how and it felt good as I did it. This took about 6 months.
I didn't have this advantage with Japanese. this language takes longer to learn for a person whose mother tongue is derived from Latin (Other Latin based languages are easy.) I only have access to japanese friends twice a week via skype for an hour. I can watch lots of Japanese language shows. these all add up to my level (after 5 years) being half fluent speaker. I can read it fine but need the simplified syllabary children use, as the kanji all look the same to me.
I really enjoy learning languages and do best when I can learn words in context to ideas. I love to investigate things and puzzles. A language is like a puzzle to me.
When I am settled again I want to add Hawaiian and German to my language skill set.
For advise I would say the best is to
1 - use the library in your area to find out what language lessons are available on their online platform.
2 - go to Mixxer https://www.language-exchanges.org/ and get some language partners to exchange with.