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[helmikuu.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone, just joined. Anyways i know some of you here have taught your selves to speak read write in anouther language, tell me....would you say it's more natuaral for some people to teach them selves than others?

I tought myself how to read and speak in russian, and it took about six months for me to actaully read fluently in russian, even though i don't understand most of it

Comments

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, it's natural - people have different strengths, and some people have more strengths than others. There are different styles of learning, different levels of discipline, etc, etc. It's expected that some people will find it easy to pick up the basics of a language on their own, while others will find it impossible.

As for reading fluently ... I think you may be confused about the definition of fluency. If you were able to read fluently, you would understand very nearly all of it.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Agreed: to be able to quickly put together sounds, according to the letters that represent those sounds, does not mean READING yet. You can READ when you understand what the WORDS mean, at least some of them. I can pronounce Italian words very quickly while I look at an Italian text, but this does not mean that I can READ Italian: the level of what I UNDERSTAND is almost zero.

[thevoiceofnick.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't really say it's more natural to teach yourself. Nature (or culture) dictates we learn language from our elders. This means that our minds are more adept at learning a language when someone else is teaching us. We didn't learn our first language by teaching ourselves, so it makes sense that it's easier to learn when someone else is telling you what you should know. Of course, everyone is different, and we aren't children anymore, so if you can learn something on your own, then more power to you!