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Knowledge of foreign languages lasts throughout life

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By *irtydevil666 OP   Man
over a year ago

bristol

A new study conducted by the University of York has shown that people tested on foreign languages 50 years after they last sat an exam perform just as well as recent students.

The research saw 500 participants who had studied GCSE French or A-level from the 1970s until 2020 and tested their vocabulary and grammar.

The results revealed that there was no change in language proficiency over time.

Professor Monika Schmid, head of the university's Department of Language and Linguistics, said: "The knowledge of language is astonishingly stable over long periods of time, compared to other subjects such as maths, history or sciences.

"This is likely because of the way language is stored in memory.

"Vocabulary is memorised in the same way that facts, dates and names are, for example, and whilst this memory is vulnerable to erosion, grammar is learned in a similar way to riding a bike - a kind of muscle memory, which is much more stable."

Eh bien, c'est pratique à savoir....

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By *icecouple561Couple
Forum Mod

over a year ago

East Sussex

I can bear that out I think. I took up learning French many years after last studying it and it just all came back to me. I was surprised and in one class looked at the teacher all shocked and said

"I have no idea how I know that!"

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By *icecouple561Couple
Forum Mod

over a year ago

East Sussex

Even the tiny bit of languages I only learned for a short while comes back. I can't read the Greek alphabet anymore though, I'd need a refresher on that

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By *ora the explorerWoman
over a year ago

Paradise, Herts

This is true. I stayed in a very remote french village last week on my drive back from Spain and loads came back to me. Nobody spoke English and I got by fine. That was from my french o’level god knows how many years ago! I understood more than I could speak though.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"This is true. I stayed in a very remote french village last week on my drive back from Spain and loads came back to me. Nobody spoke English and I sucked a lot of penises to get by. That was from my french o’level god knows how many years ago! I understood and blown more than I could speak though. "

Lucky French men

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By *ora the explorerWoman
over a year ago

Paradise, Herts


"This is true. I stayed in a very remote french village last week on my drive back from Spain and loads came back to me. Nobody spoke English and I sucked a lot of penises to get by. That was from my french o’level god knows how many years ago! I understood and blown more than I could speak though.

Lucky French men "

Hahahahaha. Git

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By *UGGYBEAR2015Man
over a year ago

BRIDPORT

I studied French, German and Latin at school and remember fuck all of any of it.

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By *uke olovingmanMan
over a year ago

Gravesend


"This is true. I stayed in a very remote french village last week on my drive back from Spain and loads came back to me. Nobody spoke English and I sucked a lot of penises to get by. That was from my french o’level god knows how many years ago! I understood and blown more than I could speak though.

Lucky French men "

Zoot alors

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By *uke olovingmanMan
over a year ago

Gravesend

Ah leaned ma fronsh from witching allo allo

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By *ora the explorerWoman
over a year ago

Paradise, Herts


"This is true. I stayed in a very remote french village last week on my drive back from Spain and loads came back to me. Nobody spoke English and I sucked a lot of penises to get by. That was from my french o’level god knows how many years ago! I understood and blown more than I could speak though.

Lucky French men

Zoot alors "

I did actually get an A in my French oral

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By *ealitybitesMan
over a year ago

Belfast

I'm a glitch in this particular matrix. I studied Irish until 3rd year and French for O level and don't remember any of it apart from the odd word or two.

I wouldn't be able to construct a sentence.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I watched Star Trek as a kid and find I can speak fluent Klingon after a few beers.... probably

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By *iaisonseekerMan
over a year ago

Liverpool

Having lived in Spain and spoken both French and Spanish to a high degree of fluency, I'd agree that grammar is hard-wired but vocab is more easily eroded.

My experience is also that you retain a core of language skills but forget the rules that produce certain grammatical structures, which is unnerving when you've studied to degree level but then, how many people remember what they learned on a course 20-odd years ago?

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