SE HABLA ESPANOL, ENGLISH, CHINESE... SECOND-LANGUAGE CLASSES FLOURISH IN THE VALLEY.

Byline: RICK COCA Valley News Writer

For 50 years, Lynn Warren seethed over having failed to learn a second language when she had the chance as a young woman.

But the 70-year-old Sherman Oaks resident recently decided that her longing to learn a foreign language would not be soured by the series of disastrous French classes she took a half century before in college.

Warren enrolled in a Spanish class through Los Angeles Valley College Community Education and Extension program. This time around, she was determined to succeed.

``That was 50 years ago and I've been ticked off about that for five decades and didn't like having that negative history be a part of my life,'' Warren said. ``I decided to take Spanish and purge myself of that experience and to prove to myself that I could learn a second language, even at this stage in my life.''

Warren certainly picked the right place to attempt to conquer her second-language demons. Living in one of the most diverse cities in the world, she and other Los Angeles residents have ample opportunities to learn a new language. In the San Fernando Valley, classes are offered at university and community colleges, extension learning facilities, adult schools, cultural and religious institutions as well as at private language schools. Some people, such as Warren, are trying to right language-wrongs from years past. Others are learning a second language for work purposes. Still others are learning a new language because they plan to travel and want to be able to mingle with the locals in distant locales.

Whatever the reasons, their success not only depends on the quality of instruction, but more importantly, educators said, on the student's maintaining a positive attitude.

Don Grigware is Warren's instructor. The North Hollywood resident said he learned to speak Spanish soon after learning Latin beginning in fifth grade and French in high school. He's been teaching French and Spanish classes on and off for 25 years. Grigware is also an actor and brings much of that discipline's expressive energy to his language classes.

``When you (learn) a foreign language, you have to be like a small kid and not be afraid,'' Grigware said. ``You have to really exaggerate to make the vowel sounds.''

Patricia Miller is a language professor at California State University, Northridge. She also serves as the director of the university's Barbara Ann Ward Language Center. She said CSUN currently offers 11 languages and, along with other schools in the state university system, is working to make other languages, such as Farsi, Korean and Russian available to all students via a common distance learning project.

A native of Milan, Italy, who came to the United States in 1964 without knowing English, Miller earned a graduate degree from CSUN before she began teaching there. She has deep empathy for those learning a second language.

``I learned to speak English in New York,'' Miller said. ``I arrived on a Thursday and I went to school (the following) Monday. (I) think the secret to learning another language is being open to all the possibilities (and possessing) a sense of passion to communicate with all the individuals living in the far-reaching corners of the world.''

At the Language Door School in Encino, the far-reaching corners of the world come to the students, who can learn a variety of languages, including Spanish, Armenian, Italian, Hungarian, Korean, Norwegian and Swedish.

Language Door French teacher Pascale Lanfranchi said the school emphasizes the culture of the languages it teaches as well as the languages.

In the four years that she's been teaching, Lanfranchi, a native of France, said although her students come from diverse backgrounds and countries of origin, the majority are studying French for work purposes.

``I'm amazed at how many people want to learn French,'' Lanfranchi said. ``It's not an easy language.''

Lanfranchi said that French and Arabic are the two most requested languages for jobs in the Secret Service, FBI and CIA. In fact, she has taught French to students preparing for service in the CIA.

She also points out that French is still the official language for various international bodies including the United Nations.

``It's still a language that matters and counts to this day,'' Lanfranchi said.

At the Celtic Arts Center in North Hollywood, Irish is the language of choice, along with Scottish Gaelic. Irish language instructor Sean Aherne said saying ``Irish Gaelic'' is redundant and only done here in the United States.

``In this country, a lot of people think if you speak Irish, you speak English with an Irish accent,'' said the Kerry County native.

Never mind that the Gaelic language has been spoken continuously in Ireland for 2,500 years and is the third oldest language used in literature in Europe, after Latin and Greek, Aherne said.

The Irish class meets each Monday at 7 p.m., and is free of charge. The Scottish Gaelic classes meet Saturdays at 10 a.m. (there is a small fee). The difference between the two Gaelic tongues, Aherne said, is similar to the differences between Portuguese and Spanish.

Not all language classes offered in the San Fernando Valley are focused on languages from faraway places. At the Pacoima Skills Center in Pacoima, one of eight adult LAUSD centers in the San Fernando Valley, about 75 percent of the students, or roughly 7,000 pupils, are enrolled in English as a Second Language classes. The predominately Latino student body from the Northeast Valley attends the school voluntarily.

``English is not mandated,'' said Don Kihara, assistant principal for the center. ``From my experience, the students we have want to acquire English. (They're) people working one and two jobs and they want to better themselves by learning English.''

English student Paul Roque, 43, originally from Mexico, first attended English classes in 1993 and returned to school a few weeks ago to further improve his English and computer skills.

``I learned English by listening to music and watching TV,'' Roque said. ``By practicing with my kids. (It's) very important to learn English because in this country if you talk English, you have more opportunities. ''

His biggest motivation in learning English is a common one heard at the center. He wanted to be able to help his two children with their homework. His motivation to improve on those skills will help his children as well.

``I want to improve my language and to speak better English to open my own business,'' Roque said.

Min Leu is the principal for the San Fernando Valley Chinese Cultural Association's Chinese language school, which meets on Saturdays at Granada Hills Charter High School.

Leu said the majority of the students are the children of Chinese immigrants from Taiwan. Mandarin is the dialect they teach at the school. Students also learn the written language. Leu said Chinese can be a difficult language to learn because there are five ``tones'' used in the oral language and the symbols used in the writings are often not literal translations of the words they represent.

Leu said some Chinese-American children resist learning and practicing the Chinese language throughout grade school and high school because ``they want to blend in.'' In college, where different world cultures are studied and focused on, students change.

``It's very interesting. I've heard a lot of parents say that their kids are giving up on Chinese language, but when they get to college (the kids) are picking it up by themselves,'' Leu said. ``This is a very interesting phenomenon.''

Leu said in the advanced class, the top student for the semester was Richard Dickson, a non-Chinese student.

Lynn Warren, the student who enrolled in a Spanish class years after her first attempt at learning a second language failed, was not the top student in her class. She still feels a sense of accomplishment.

``I feel very proud of myself, in fact,'' Warren said. ``And it's not because I'm a shining student in this, but the fact that I conquered my fear that I've been hauling around for five decades.''

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5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Roger Edwards and Jim McHugh practice their lessons aloud in their Spanish class at the Language Door in Encino.

(2 -- color) Heather Fox and Kristen Savage Garcia work on their Spanish language skills at the Language Door in Encino.

(3 -- color) ESL teacher Sharon Anton, right, listens as students read aloud to work on their English skills at the Pacoima Skills Center in Pacoima.

Rick Coca/Valley News

(4 -- color) Student Richard Dickson, right, takes a test during SFVCCA Chinese Language School at Granada Hills Charter High School.

(5 -- color) Advanced Mandarin teacher Nancy Shen writes out answers for students at the SFVCCA Chinese Language School.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News