Are many autistic people prevented from learning another language?

[AprilR]

Nope, learning languages have always been very easy for me. Many autistic people irl have above average language learning skills too

 

[Judge]

I think there is a scene in the Robin Williams film Good Morning, Viet Nam, where his English language students speak with his American (Texas?) accent. Funny and so poignant.

LOL...reminds me of Harold Ramis in "Stripes", teaching immigrants all the wrong slang terms.

 

[paloftoon]

I personally have a hard time learning another language, but this is an individual basis and not an "autistic" trait.
As they say, if you know one autistic person, you know one autistic person.

 

[paloftoon]

On another note, if you aren't trying to learn a language, you want to watch this movie so that you can know what to do to prevent the DuoLingo Owl from coming after YOU! :

(funny face emoticon needs to be here)

 

[NDR2]

I’ve always been bad at languages. I could learn and remember certain words in languages when I was little, but not enough to have a working knowledge. I did poorly in French class in elementary school – we were taught using the immersion technique where the teacher would simply speak French and we were supposed to pick it up; and that was the wrong way for me to learn. I had French classes again in junior high school that were taught primarily in English and we’d learn things slowly. That was easier for me.

Growing up in New York City it should be easy to pick up Spanish. I picked up some Spanish words and phrases from TV, books, and other sources. I later had Spanish classes in high school (also using English primarily and learning slowly) and did fairly well. I’d like to say I’m conversational, but when someone tries to have a conversation with me in Spanish I still get stuck.

In Sunday School when I was younger I learned the prayers and songs in Hebrew, and I could say and sing them, even if I didn’t know what they meant. I could also learn songs in other languages and be able to sing them, too.

I could also learn words and phrases from language cassettes and do well at it – enough to make people think I was good at languages. But it usually wouldn’t go beyond that.

I also acknowledge that as a native speaker of English in the US, being bad at languages is a privilege. I do know some other people on the spectrum whose first language wasn’t English. It marvels me how they were able to learn and speak English fluently when I couldn’t speak another language fluently if my life depended upon it.

 

[Lightswitch411]

How, exactly, is anyone "prevented" from learning another language?

 

[undertheradar]

I'm not sure if I've replied to this... I took German, French, and Spanish... And honestly I struggled, at best I could find a library, a beer, and a bathroom... And in Spanish I might be able to find piece of paper

I might be able to ask you how you were doing or tell you to have a good night... And maybe greet you... But in general... That's about all I can do

And I remember language was incredibly hard... Overwhelmingly so

 

[lovely_darlingprettybaby]

This description of one of the events at the recent British Science Festival got me thinking (emphasis added):

Autistic people & the languages nobody knows they speak​

Did you know that half the world’s population is bilingual? However, reports have shown that many autistic people are prevented from learning another language because of misconceptions that it will be “too much” for them. This is denying them access to multiple skills and opportunities, and the chance to enjoy the thinking skills and social benefits of bilingualism.

In this year’s Social Sciences Award Lecture, Bérengère Digard from the University of Edinburgh explains why these misconceptions are incorrect. Bérengère will share how being bilingual has helped many of the autistic people she works with, shaping their thinking skills and challenging the current theories of autism.

Original link

Is this really true?

I do not think so
But it depends what you are good at.
I struggle to grasp languages because of my hearing the,way things are heard
And like how they pronounce certain letters and roll their Rs in some languages or whatever

 

[NDR2]

How, exactly, is anyone "prevented" from learning another language?

Maybe a better way to phrase it is, “Unable to learn another language.”

Then again, probably nobody’s really “unable” to learn another language, but some may be unable to master it.

 

[Judge]

This thread also reminded me of the dreaded "NFL" some would see on their grade card in high school (No Foreign Language).

The kids in foreign language class who had such a hard time. Where they might have passed, but that the instructor recommended that they do not pursue a foreign language at a higher level of education. Which usually limited their choice of universities in the event they excelled at other things.

The thing is, in hindsight none of those kids I knew of were on the spectrum. Yet they wore their "NFL" status like a badge of honor or something. Go figure...

 

[The Pandector]

If you count computer languages, I bet there are a lot of autistics who are good at those instead

Funny, but true for me. While I lived on the hardware side, I spent enough time coding to get comfortable with maybe five languages over the years. Spent 18 months in Korea, trying in earnest to learn the culture and language. Though I occasionally dreamed in Korean for many years after, I never was conversational other than haggling a price, ordering food or creative ways of explaining to cab drivers that I had no intention of paying a ridiculously inflated fee. I once met a beautiful blonde French/PE teacher who was willing to teach me, but I fell in love and she sent me back to my seat. Athletic and beautiful, she had a sexy French accent that I later figured out was a pronounced lisp. What French I did learn was all with a lisp. She quit the school to open a dance studio; I considered a career in dance.

Honestly, I cannot absorb another spoken language, definitely a deficit. The payback is too small given the effort. However, I learned a lot about the Korean culture.

 

[Lightswitch411]

Maybe a better way to phrase it is, “Unable to learn another language.”

Then again, probably nobody’s really “unable” to learn another language, but some may be unable to master it.

britishsciencefestival.org : "However, reports have shown that many autistic people are prevented from learning another language because of misconceptions that it will be 'too much' for them."

The wording clearly indicates someone is making the judgement that learning another language "will be 'too much' for them" and, therefore, they are being prevented.

It was a lecture so there's no explanation. I guess, it's referring to public schools denying language course enrollment?

It just seems so bizarre. If I had known being on the spectrum would get me an "out" of a difficult class I would have taken that "pass" for Chemistry! :-D

 

[NDR2]

britishsciencefestival.org : "However, reports have shown that many autistic people are prevented from learning another language because of misconceptions that it will be 'too much' for them."

The wording clearly indicates someone is making the judgement that learning another language "will be 'too much' for them" and, therefore, they are being prevented.

It was a lecture so there's no explanation. I guess, it's referring to public schools denying language course enrollment?

It just seems so bizarre. If I had known being on the spectrum would get me an "out" of a difficult class I would have taken that "pass" for Chemistry! :-D

True. You can’t presume anything about people on the spectrum. Just like I mentioned before about my friends on the spectrum who are fluent in more than one language.