but it always seems so dificult!

True, but it does depend what you learn. For instance I've tortured myself by learning Russian, but because I know it I picked up Czech really easily (written Czech at least). It all depends on your starting point, which is why English speakers find romance and germanic langugaes easiest because they are closer to our native tongue.

(My next wishlist language is Ukranian )

We are all different, also in the proficiency of our specialized memories.

I am very good for numbers; I can still remember a few telephone numbers of some primary class (friends 50+ years later!). But I am also bad for people names, but no to that extreme.

Your description reminds me of a neurological syndrome or disorder, the name in Spanish is "Anomia" something like "lack of names". Sorry I could not find the corresponding name in English.

Please, I do not mean you have that. It's just a comment and in any case I believe there is not much to be done, except to adapting to the condition.

Back to languages, Russian and Ukranian have the added difficulty of using the Cyrillic alphabet! Not a minor problem, at least for me!

But they are European languages and it would be nice if we could all make the effort here to have a least a minimum knowledge of them.

Same problem with Greek; its alphabet is well known to engineers, but not to the general public. And Greece has been in the European Union for several years but in a way it's somewhat isolated because of this problem.

Micron, I am also like you at times. I am the dumbest person when it comes to faces, irregular shapes or even at differentiating light and dark colors from recent memories. However, I am good at street directions and memorizing long phrases and procedures. I am also a fast reader, with a lingering memory to any key words that I see fit. I did okay in my Math and Science subjects but had a bit of a struggle with English.

Jose Luis, it’s my first time to hear comments about Greek language. Quite interesting.

I think in order for anyone to really learn new language/s, it is very important that he has the opportunity to practice it by engaging into conversation. My mother is Hispanic and my father Asian. I am very good with Thai and Bahasa Indonesia until 13 years old because we lived in these countries and people who took care of me are locals who could not speak English. I was more proficient in these languages than English when I was young because the only people who speak English to me then are my parents. I tried learning French but forgot all about it now.

Personally, I can advance faster in a foreign language if I have a good grammar base and a reasonable understanding of its prepositions, verbs and declinations (if any). Then I can engage in conversations and make improvements. But in my experience I think it was reading, lots of interesting reading, that fixed the English vocabulary deep in my memory, to the point I have not forgotten it after many so years.

Contrary to the case in French or Italian, I have never been in an English speaking country longer than a few days, say, about one week when receiving technical training in Lorain, Ohio (once) and in North Carolina. My opportunities for long or frequent conversations in English therefore have been scarce.

The Greek culture was the cradle of the western civilization (if we can call so this we currently have); it was then "discovered" by the Romans and with them it spread in Europe. Later the Arabs further developed several important achievements of the ancient Greeks, particularly math and also introduced some their greatest philosophers.

Many words in western languages have a Greek root. We were in Greece for a couple of weeks this last December and it was funny to find in their modern Greek, so many words that are identical or make part of our modern languages.

In spite of this, nobody seems to care much about the Greek language (that also sounds beautifully when spoken). This is in part understandable, considering the difficulties of its alphabet.

To honour them a little, I have changed my avatar with this beautiful Fresh found in an Etrusque Tomb, that can be seen in the Museum of Paestum (but that's Italy...)

OOoh Micron has kids!..heehee^_^
I think chinese and english is the most hardest languages to learn. I think those are the two..yea. BUT we have A LOT of ppl speaking them!

Tghough no language is really "easy", English is cosidered tobe easier thanmany others. A few reasons:

No written accents (French has 3!)
No gender (that one really simplifies things!! -German has 3)
Simple verbs (in comparison)
No declination of articles and adjectives (German has 4 cases and it is a nightmare when combined with 3 genders and the plural)
No distinction between the second person and the ceremonial person ("you" for all cases)
And a few others IMHO but it is almost 2AM here and I'd better go to sleep...

There is no one "hardest" language to learn. The perceived difficulty level of a language depends on how similar/different the new language is from languages that you already speak or have studied.

Please note that I am not accounting for other factors such as contact with native speakers or amount of instruction.

There is no one "hardest" language to learn. The perceived difficulty level of a language depends on how similar/different the new language is from languages that you already speak or have studied.

Please note that I am not accounting for other factors such as contact with native speakers or amount of instruction.

"Your description reminds me of a neurological syndrome or disorder, the name in Spanish is "Anomia" something like "lack of names". Sorry I could not find the corresponding name in English."

Do you mean aphasia?

Wikipedia is really great.

Only problem is that there are versions in English and Spanish (and possibly other languages). But if you do not know the name in the "other" language it's difficult to find a way in.

Good to know Anomia is a subset of Aphasia. Just for my general culture.

I insist I was not saying micron could have this disorder; I just made a comment but now I notice it was probably not a good idea.

I sincerely apologize and also I strongly suggest that we should leave this subject here.

Yes, that's true.

The problem I have is that quite often, the names do not keep their original Latin spelling.

Aphasia in English, for example is Afasia in Spanish. Quite often there is an "Y" in English instead of "i" as in Spanish, sometimes "h" in variable positions and so on.

Micron,
Were you ever taught any specific tricks/strategies for remembering names, information, etc... as a child; or do you have any self invented strategies/tricks that you use?

Mrs_Carbohydrate
I can Help you with Ukrainian, ITs Esey! Same as russian except for N and I.

I can read Ukrainian pretty well, although I know a lot of the grammar and vocab has more in common with Polish (Unlike, say Belorusian) so that stumps me sometimes.

Hey you guys, uhh..back to MOZART topic. i forgot to tell you guys my solo piece..it's called KONZERT NR. 2 i think that's it..the words are kinda half chopped off..but yea. that's it. if anyone has played that..you guys could help me.