London Banter - View Single Post

Roland Perry · January 11th 17, 03:27 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In message , at 16:11:57 on Wed, 11 Jan
2017, d remarked:
Some people are just no good at learning foreign languages

after 200 hours (and that is a lot) of lessons I was still finding spoken
German incomprehensible

To be fair I found german hard too. French was a lot easier and I managed to
get myself up to a basic conversational level just by teaching myself on the
tube ride in the mornings. Perhaps you should have picked a different country
to live in?

Difficulty in picking up foreign languages (or even English when an
infant) is one of the classic symptoms of even high-functioning autism
sufferers.

I think thats a bit unfair. Some people are just bad at languages in the way
that others just don't get maths no matter how much effort they put in.

It' not "unfair", it's a condition with symptoms, just like colour
blindness, dyslexia or dyspraxia. Not everyone can be good at
everything, nor should we blame them, it's just the way they are.

Understanding disability[1] is a fundamental part of a caring society.

The other side of the coin is that like blind piano tuners having
enhanced audio skills, high-functioning autism sufferers can be amazing
talented at certain tasks.

[1] Again, that's a word with unnecessary baggage.
--
Roland Perry