I'm curious about other people with aphantasia and their experiences with learning languages. I write fiction for a living, so I feel like I've got some facility with at least English. But in my youth, I tried to learn French and German and found that it was essentially impossible for me. Even ASL, which should involve less "translating" since it's still English was utterly daunting. This may totally be a "me" problem, just another item on the impressively long list of things I'm not good at, but it feels like it might be connected to my aphantasia. How easy or difficult has it been for you to learn second (or beyond) language?

learning languages

April 3, 20251 min readByJamie Mason

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SANDRA Dune•recently•edited

5 languages here. I was always good at languages. I do not "hear" words in my memory but can match sounds quite well. I am very verbal in English (mother tongue) as well.

Holly Larner-Carey•recently•edited

I found languages really hard at school, although I usually pick up a few words if I'm in another country. I also pick up local phrases and accents after spending a while in a place (e.g. after 6 weeks in the USA on an exchange trip I described something as "awesome" without a hint of irony). I hadn't considered that this might be linked to aphantasia, but maybe it did. Learning through spoken repetition always seemed much easier than learning lists of verbs from my exercise book. I also don't really "hear" an inner voice - although I do talk to myself out loud if I'm trying to learn something or remember something. I don't remember if my teachers used visualisation techniques for teaching language, although I do remember doing role-play type conversations, which were always so fake and stilted that they really didn't help me learn anything at all.

Ella .S•recently•edited

Haven't reached 20, and I can speak 3 languages. There are plenty of ways to learn a language, so don't give up:) Aphantasia itself, can be a help. It's really easier to stop overthinking for me with aphantasia, and focus on the words and how they sound. While learning any of those languages I never felt any difference between me and others.

Ella .S•recently•edited

Debbie Noel•recently•edited

Hi, I studied French and German at uni, so I'd say it's not a barrier in itself. Though I do remember being told to use a mind palace type technique to remember new words and I found this a very convoluted way of embedding new vocabulary (obviously I was not seeing what others could). Instead, I just repeated words a lot (drills) and used each word in context (writing and speaking). Immersion really works! Go live somewhere and anyone will pick up a lot in just 6 months. What they might but be so good at is grammar... I was better at this and realised I was just good at decoding and using structural rules - less interested in actually talking to people!

Deirdre Sutton•recently•edited

Languages are my 'thing'. I have always found it relatively easy, but have no idea what senses I am using. I don't 'hear' anything, but as with visual imaging I just know what the sounds are, the same way as I 'know' what things look like. Just now at 83 I am adding Spanish to the repetoire as my daughter lives there, but it certainly is less easy than it used to be.

Corina Wachter•recently•edited

Have you read the article on the expanded definition of Aphatasia, which is being broadened to include subcategories such as auditory, olfactory, etc.? I have near-global aphantasia, with my only sensory memories/imagination being auditory and spatial. I learned Spanish fairly easily in high school, and I now realize that my auditory memory is the only reason I was able to. Perhaps you have multisensory aphantasia, with auditory memory bring affected/absent. Are you able to hear songs in your head?

Mick Holmshaw•recently•edited

I really struggle with languages. I’ve been learning Spanish for a couple of years and it’s very hard. I can read Spanish pretty well but cannot recall even pretty simple words when trying to form a Spanish sentence. My friend speaks many languages. When I described aphantasia and asked for some tips he couldn’t understand how I could possibly learn a language. He said he sees the words in his mind and can manipulate written words, sentences, fonts, etc. so it’s like he’s seeing a page of notes. It blew my mind!!!! I simply can’t imagine what that would be like (And it didn’t help me at all 🤷‍♂️)

Natasha Greenman•recently•edited

I speak 3 languages. All learned as a child. Language learning, for me, doesn't require visual cues, it's all auditory, which I don't have an issue with.

Renee Russell•recently•edited

I've learned spanish well though fluency feels impossible to me. Perhaps for you it's that because we don't have mental imagery our words and way we express ourselves are very important to us. It could feel dangerous to your brain to learn a different word than the one you already use for something. Do you have an "inner voice"? I've read that some people don't have that either, like they can't hear themselves think. I have a robust inner voice. I will even speak to myself in Spanish sometimes in it

Jamie Mason•recently•edited

I think this is very possible for me. The mental impressions and memories surrounding the other senses are just about as blank as my visual aphantasia. Although, just like visual aphantasia, I can easily recognize and place sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile input each time I reencounter them. The "code" for those things is just as strong in my mental encyclopedia as it is for things I've seen.

Jamie Mason•recently•edited

Yeah, it might have nothing at all to do with my aphantasia. I'm probably just terrible at it! : )

Jamie Mason•recently•edited

I also have a robust inner voice. It's strong running narration/commentary that I have to wonder doesn't stand in for the images most people experience. And I think in full, complex sentences not just concepts. It does make me wonder if the tremendous difficulty I have in learning other languages is somehow tied to the tremendous cost of swapping out my inner narration in translation. When I took language classes, I could study to get an A on tests and in the course, but it was much more like math to me than language -- if that makes any sense. I could never substitute the other language to self-articulate my own thoughts to me.