...I just have to read the subtitles. Taking on another Asian language is a bridge too far for me. I tried to start learning Mandarin but it actually impaired my comprehension in Korean so I gave up after a few months. When I see people who know multiple foreign languages (and claim to be proficient) I'm amazed.

She speaks
Japanese
Mandarin
Cantonese
Korean and
English. She speaks them all fluently. She was my tutor for a while with Japanese..

I tell myself I'm too old. I've heard some neuroscientists say that if one learns a foreign language as a child, then the facility to learn languages is enhanced. I didn't, so it's a handicap. I read about one person who was like that and one of the parents was professional linguist so that explained a lot I thought.

Even the people I knew as a student or early in my career who were competent interpreters in European languages were raised as children in Europe.

Her parents and grand parents speak Mandarin and Cantonese, her brother lives in South Korea and she lived with him for a while, learning Korean. She went to High School in Japan and learned Japanese there, and later learned English... before coming to the USA. She told me that English was the hardest to learn, which I thought was funny because to me, learning Kanji and learning to read Kanji seems difficult ...


日本語で漢字を学ぶことさえ難しいです！
Nihongo de kanji o manabu koto sae muzukashīdesu!

Think of it this way. IF you were placed in a different situation where you HAD to learn, you would find your way through. Motivation is a powerful tool. Start small and be realistic - a few words a day. By the end of the week, two or three sentences. By the end of the month, a small conversation. Try to find someone who would be willing to endeavor on this adventure with you.

Don't sell yourself short. You never know where this journey may take you.

Good luck.

This is what I've been thinking about Korean for the last five years or so.

I know my Russian suffered when I learned Serbocroatian--they too easily mixed.

Same for Czech and Slovak, so I quickly stopped Slovak (except for passive knowledge) when I realized my Serbian/Russian problem was about to repeat. (But my Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, and Russian all nicely staid separate. I shied away from Sorbian. And don't ask about Belorusian and Ukrainian.)