Can you be bilingual with hearing loss?

November 30, 2020 10:11 AM

I would like to learn French as a second language, but I am concerned that it will be extra difficult to learn with my hearing loss - especially with listening to people who speak French (news, film, in person, etc.) because some people talk quite fast. I have to read people's lips sometimes depending how far away they are.

Has anyone been able to learn to speak and listen well with a second language? Did it take a very long time? Or is it too difficult? Do you have any tips or words of encouragement? My first language is English, and I would like to study and live in Montreal for school for a few years.

posted by RearWindow to Education (7 answers total)

FWIW, I know this doesn't answer your question directly, but unless you'd like to study in French it's totally possible to live & study in Montreal for a few years speaking only English. Of course it's definitely worth learning French because you will have a much richer experience in the city -- but what I mean to say is that your French doesn't have to be perfect. It's a beautiful city, good luck!
posted by mekily at 10:14 AM on November 30, 2020 [2 favorites]

I have had a mild hearing loss all my life. I was taught lip reading as a child and use it subconsciously. These days with masks, I am finding it harder to hear. I recently was fitted for hearing aids. I have struggled with learning a new language. Struggled hard. I took French in middle school and high school and still placed into the lowest level French in college. I think with headphones I could do better to learn.

I have also spent some time, weeks at a time, in Montreal. While speaking French would be both a help and courteous, you can be an English only speaker in the city and do quite well without angering many people. I would not make my decision on whether to attend school in Montreal based on language. Make it based on the school itself and what it is you will be studying. If the teachers are talking in French, that will be very difficult.
posted by AugustWest at 10:24 AM on November 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

I've worked with a few people who learned a second language with hearing loss. We would be communicating in their second language (English), so it is definitely a doable (but not necessarily easy) thing to do.

Are you planning on taking classes, or self teaching? I think receiving some kind of instruction, where the teacher will walk you through how to physically form certain sounds. This is helpful even without hearing loss.

AugustWest's suggestion for headphones would be a good one, especially if you do not use hearing aids. Even some people who use hearing aids find headphones give them a clearer sound quality when watching TV (this of course depends on the nature of the hearing loss, headphones, etc).

Once you've acquired some reading ability in French, I'd recommend watching shows/movies with synced up captions. Or get French audio books and read along. It's something we have people do in auditory rehab to help people match up what they hear with words they know. They're usually practicing in their native language, but the read along method was also how I would get my brain to start matching up words I knew when reading a foreign language with what they sound like.
posted by ghost phoneme at 10:42 AM on November 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

60% deaf here, and I'm trilingual. English and Dutch I learned in the house, so that may be different. French I learned in school, and I stuck with it. Languages are something I shouldn't be able to do, but somehow I did? I shouldn't be able to ride a bike, either, so... *shrugs*

I also lived in Montreal for grad school. Montreal is a perfect place to pick up French. You can totally get away with speaking only English -- that's your safety net. People are quite forgiving when they see you making the effort. The immersion of daily life is going to teach you a lot more than any formalized setting. Watching dumb game shows in French and reading bilingual signs everywhere will help you out a lot, too.

I wouldn't hesitate. It's a great opportunity to pick up the language, and even if it doesn't work out, you're still OK.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:03 AM on November 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

I've been deaf since about the age of 2. My hearing loss is the opposite of most, bilateral, low frequency, so there were no hearing aids for me until I was 16. I took Spanish in high school with no real issues. I actually defaulted to speaking Spanish in a couple of shops when I visited Normandy a few years ago, despite my effort to speak some basic French. Capt. Renault is quite right, people are wonderfully forgiving when they see you making the effort.
posted by Qex Rodriguez at 11:19 AM on November 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

I've lived with Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) for decades. I have to read lips to assist my hearing when there is too much ambient noise. I retired early and left the US in 2008. I finally found a city in a region in a country where I've yet to find a reason why I'd want to leave. The language has sounds which don't exist in English. To often I couldn't understand enough words of the spoken language, even when the person was talking slowly. While searching for ways to improve my listening comprehension I found something used by ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching methods. Studies have shown those who learn how to correctly pronounce the phonemes* of a language can recognize spoken speech substantially better than those who can't pronounce correctly.

So I took a self-paced class that teaches the mechanics of phonemes, that is manipulation of lips, mouth, tongue, and breath. My listening comprehension improved a lot. And sometimes random locals compliment my pronunciation.

The course was offered by mimicmethod.com. Last month they announced some bad and good news. The bad news is the company has discontinued their self paced study courses to focus on live on-line coaching in 1:1 or small groups. The good news is they said they will make their existing self-paced courses free by the end of the year.

Yes, they had/will have a French course.


*What's a phoneme? It's the smallest unit of sound that distinguishes one word from another word in a language, eg, the 'oo' in boot, and the 'oo' in book are different phonemes.
posted by Homer42 at 11:41 AM on November 30, 2020 [5 favorites]

Yes, is the short answer, however if you are using captioned videos, make sure that they are effectively captioned, as automatic captioning can be a hot mess. When we went to Quebec, we refreshed what we learned in school by watching an immersion program on PBS, however it’s not on the air (and was very 1980’s).
posted by childofTethys at 3:16 PM on November 30, 2020