Can dyslexia contribute to dificulty in learning a language?

Question

I'm a 16 year old dyslexic/ADD girl. I've been tested and confirmed for both and if I study hard I can do well in school. I have fair grades, but one subject I can't absorb and comprehend is Spanish. Is that because of the dyslexia?

Answer 1

Evelyn - i don't know what kind of dyslexia you have - but a lot of people with labeled dyslexic often have problems understanding the little parts of words that make the difference between it being one word or another.  Consider the difference between

bear

pear

fair

dare

mare

care

by the time you figure out the word, the speaker is on the next sentence.  it makes learning english hard, let alone learning another language.  it is called an auditory processing disorder. you feel like you are always a couple of words behind everyone else.  and it makes reading hard because it is hard to link the word on paper to the little bitty parts of speech.  and until you can figure out where one word stops and the next word starts, learning another language is very hard.

if this is your situation and you also have ADD, then learning another language can be very frustrating and you want to quit before you get very far.

Spanish is one one of the easier languages to learn because the language is structured a lot like English - if you learn the spanish words for each English word then you can put simple sentences fairly easily.

good luck -

barb

Answer 2

Since dyslexia is a reading disorder, I would think that when you try to read Spanish it is a problem. People with dyslexia also have difficulty with spelling, making another problem for you.

However, your speaking/listening of Spanish should have no bearing on Learning Spanish, just as you speak/listen to English.

Answer 3

I think if you try hard you can learn it. Some folks have to work harder....I am trying to learn a bit spanish my self. I'm having trouble too. Seems like much much practice. Don't give up.