Who has had experience learning a foreign language with ADHD and dyslexia?

[DyslexicMission]

Hello everyone, my name is Maxim, I am 51 years old, and I live in Poland. On my YouTube channel "Dyslexic Mission," I am conducting an experiment to see if an adult with ADHD and dyslexia can independently learn a foreign language from scratch to a basic conversational level within a year.

In these videos, I will talk about the methods I use for language learning, what works, what doesn't, and so on.

The benefit of this experiment for English-speaking people with ADHD and dyslexia is that they can see from my experience how much progress a person with ADHD and dyslexia can realistically make in learning a foreign language independently within a year.

For me, the English language is foreign, and that's the language I will be learning. As native English speakers, you will be able to judge easily how the process of learning a foreign language progresses for an adult with ADHD and dyslexia.

This is not an easy task, as even composing a short text for a video can take me three days due to my ADHD and dyslexia. Then I have to translate the text into English and try to read it on camera. It is psychologically challenging for me to upload these videos on YouTube.

I would be grateful for any of your feedback, support or advice.

[Cleo2255]

I was finally diagnosed with ADHD at age 57 - AFTER I had retired from my teaching job. I taught French and German, I also speak English and Estonian and a bit of Italian. In other words, I have a gift for learning languages! Does my ADHD have anything to do with it? I don’t know. I just know that it is very easy for me, and I have become a linguistic expert. 😊

[DyslexicMission in reply to Cleo2255]

You're doing great and I'm happy for you and your accomplishments. It's amazing to be proficient in multiple languages.👍

However, the degree of difficulty varies for everyone. In my case, due to dyslexia, I need a lot of concentration just to write my own name without making a mistake. Just yesterday, I was signing documents and misspelled my own name), Instead of "Maksim," I wrote "MaksiM."

In order to learn a foreign language within an hour, I have to take medication for attention concentration due to my ADD. It can be emotionally exhausting, which is why I take them in small doses and not every day.

This reduces productivity and, consequently, motivation, among other things.

I know there are many people with the same problems who feel embarrassed and don't talk about it. That's why I started uploading videos on YouTube so that people with similar challenges can see that they're not alone. It also serves as motivation for me to keep going.

[ArtsyBrain]

I've had ADHD my entire life, although only being “officially” diagnosed recently at age 67, and have managed to learn Spanish and ASL; American Sign Language (for the Deaf). While I am nowhere near “fluent”, massacre the grammar, and have to ask people to repeat themselves quite a bit, feedback from native speakers has generally been quite encouraging.

That said, while one can learn "words" and “grammar” from books and recorded lessons, there is no substitute for interacting with native speakers and spending a great deal of time feeling awkward and incompetent. As I'm sure you know, in any language there are lots of colloquialisms and regional differences in vocabulary that you just don't get from books. For example, for years I was getting confused and lost during conversations in Spanish, when they would quite frequently and, it seemed randomly, say “este” which means “this” in English, but it just didn't make sense where they were using it... until I asked my husband (a native speaker) and he explained that it was just the way Spanish speakers say “Ummm.” Learning that made a HUGE difference in my being able to follow a conversation!

While not an expert in dyslexia, I would think learning a new language would still be possible through the use of audio and/or immersion courses along with social interaction and practice with native speakers.

All in all, I've found it an enjoyable and deeply rewarding pursuit. In fact, I'm now trying to learn German, which is my own family heritage. Of course, being quite impulsive, like most of us with ADHD, I went overboard and bought five lesson books, a German dictionary, a huge dictionary of conjugated verbs, and a nifty set of flashcards, on a whim, all of which are now sitting on a shelf unused because I got frustrated and set it aside! So, while it may take a lot of sustained motivation (which can be difficult for individuals with ADHD) it is a wonderful feeling when the “language barrier” that formerly kept us apart, is cracked open just enough to actually converse and relate with others in their own language!