Does anyone with #ADHD, #Dyslexia or #Dyscalculia have advice on how to learn a second language? I seem to have issues with auditory understanding. For example, in Duolingo I'm great at learning the language, but as soon as you remove the app, I can't understand anything because I don't see the text. Is this normal? #neurodiverse#neurodivergent
@aproposnix Disclaimer: I do not have dyscalculia or dyslexia. My flavor of neurospicy likes learning languages, but/so maybe my experience will be helpful.
There is a method in which you just listen to a new language (starting with the simplest things), it probably suits what you are saying. They call it "Comprehensible Input" - it's described here: https://www.dreamingspanish.com/. The website is for learning Spanish, but the description of the method is in English. 1/2
@aproposnix I learned English by watching British/American TV series with subtitles - first Polish subtitles, then English ones. It was an effective and easy method for my brain at the time (and before I knew I had AuDHD).
Can you tell us what your second language is? Maybe we will have some helpful materials for you :)
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@izabelamisiak Thanks for the tip. My background is a bit complicated. I have been living in Czechia for the past 20 years, so I have been fully immersed in the language and culture . Despite this I simply seem incapable of learning it (#Czech). I have recently made the decision to focus on learning #German which, so far seems MUCH easier. My issue, as with Czech, again seems to be related to auditory processing issues. I am listening to German songs now, which is somewhat helpful.
@aproposnix Yeah, German should be easier than Czech, it is more similar to English, so there are fewer obstacles to jump through.
Someone recently recommended a website https://sprachy.com/ for learning German; I haven't checked it thoroughly yet, but maybe it will be useful?
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@aproposnix I don't know if it's comforting, but "total immersion" doesn't work for me at all, not if I don't know the language well enough to feel confident. I lived in Spain for a few months, and I learned nothing because I was in panic mode all the time ;) 2/2
@izabelamisiak this is comforting actually. I think there's most definitely an issue with social anxiety as well. My confidence in language is low, didn't help being bullied for 20 years on how bad my Czech is. I'm more determined now with the German.
@aproposnix I'm so sorry you had this experience. No wonder learning a language was hard in these circumstances - the brain doesn't learn when it's focusing on survival (I'm sure there's research on this; this is not an ND-specific thing, but we are more often in survival mode). I hope you will enjoy learning German now when the situation is different. Sending hugs (if allowed) 💚
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