At a social gathering a few weeks ago I was introduced, rather generously (but not totally outrageously depending on definitions oft discussed on these pages), as someone who "speaks nine languages".
That sounds rather impressive, but it is worth emphasising that however many languages I "speak" (whatever that means), I have definitely failed to learn more than I have succeeded in learning.
It is worth running through the list of my comprehensive failures, if only to reinforce the point that success is possible if you try often enough (but only if motivation is really present).
Let us start with the DNAs or Did Not Attempts: there are some fascinating languages out there, such as Japanese, which greatly interest me and about which I have read plenty. I can neither use nor understand them at all. Not at all. Nothing. Where can you even start?
Then there are the VDAs or Vaguely Did Attempts. Here, I made a not inconsiderable effort. With the likes of Russian and Arabic I did the Michel Thomas course over several hours, and with the former I paid particular further attention before visits to the former Soviet Union. For some reason, I can still say "Is the theatre far away?" but that is about all. I used to be able to read the Cyrillic Alphabet, but even that skill has fallen away somewhat. Otherwise, really, nothing. Barely a word. Certainly not a single sentence of any complexity at all.
Then there are the languages I have in fact made some effort with. I have done at-home courses and classes in Irish; I have completed DuoLingo in both it and in Malay/Indonesian. For that latter, I have also investigated phrase books, YouTube channels and other materials. Still, basically, well, nothing. I can say my name. For some random reason I can say (in both languages) "I am eating an apple". In Irish I can even just about say "I like music programmes" (but I might struggle with the truth, namely that "I don't like music programmes"). I cannot understand nor even read either languages, apart from a few obvious road signs and such like. It would be easy to say that Irish is a bit complicated, but the thing is Malay/Indonesian is incredibly simply structurally - very few phonemes (so the phonology is straightforward), written in the Latin script, and containing a grammar which lacks gender, tense or even number (to clarify something is plural you just repeat the word). No, the fact is I just failed despite several efforts at each.
The list goes on. I had a look a Polish before a business trip there but did not really get beyond "excuse me", "I don't speak Polish" and "thank you". Romanian was quite fun before a business trip to Moldova, and I found I could understand it to some extent purely relying on other Romance languages, but despite a few attempts via home courses and the like I have never gained any active proficiency beyond "thank you" and "do you speak English" (and even then only in the probably inappropriate familiar form - the formal register is a bit too tricky...)
There are also languages in which I have made progress but have stumbled somewhat short of the finish line labelled "proficiency". I can read Danish news articles up to a point, but I understand nothing spoken and I can say and write nothing beyond incredibly simple sentences requiring limited vocabulary usually explaining that I don't speak the language very well; this means I can read Norwegian similarly and Swedish to a slightly lesser degree, but I can say and write essentially nothing beyond "Do you speak English?" and "happy birthday" in either of those. Even in Afrikaans, a language I used to read relatively proficiently and in which I had developed some level of understanding (though short of what anyone could legitimately call "fluency"), I am now too far removed both in time and geography (and thus motivation) and so any proficiency I did have has rusted away. Nope, not great.
Even when we turn to the languages which may be on the list of nine, there can be trouble. A test on a YouTube channel by an Italian to see if he could understand other Romance languages determined that he could understand not a word of a Portuguese person playing Minecraft - and, frankly, nor could I. Deprived of images and context and thrown into a subject about which I know nothing even in English, I could not understand anything beyond the odd word (which even then was so out of context it had no actual meaning to me). It has to be said that, in its colloquial form, on the same series, he and I both found colloquial French (a language in which I have a good A-level and a professional qualification, albeit both attained many moons ago) extremely difficult too; in French, as in other languages, I often find myself having to engage in workarounds for vocabulary I just cannot immediately recall much more frequently that I would like to if I were to claim true "fluency", and it's very irritating!
So there you go - languages which are so inaccessible I dare not even start; languages I did start and got absolutely nowhere with; languages I appeared to make progress with but actually failed comprehensively to learn even at a basic level; languages I have made progress with an then basically forgotten again; and even languages I kind of know which in some contexts become hopeless... it is fair to say that language learning, as with any skill, is not exactly 100% success even for those truly dedicated to it!
This just re-emphasises that success is possible - but really only where there is sufficient motivation. That is probably the moral here!
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