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Learning a foreign language
Posted on 11/5/15 at 10:53 pm
Posted on 11/5/15 at 10:53 pm
How many of you have learned a foreign language after graduating high school? How long did it take to be good enough to survive in conversations? What method was most effective for you?
Posted on 11/5/15 at 10:53 pm to JeanPierre
I tried learning French in 2 months last year and failed....
Posted on 11/5/15 at 10:55 pm to tduecen
Books and CDs work ok, but you really have to be around fluent speakers and try to understand and speak as much as possible. The brain is flexible, just have to immerse yourself in it a bit because there are nuances to all languages.
Posted on 11/5/15 at 10:56 pm to JeanPierre
My friend went through the Special Forces language school and learned to get along passably in German in about three weeks. Total immersion works faster than anything else.
Believe it or not, watching subtitled movies and TV shows helps you pick up common phrases pretty quickly.
Believe it or not, watching subtitled movies and TV shows helps you pick up common phrases pretty quickly.
Posted on 11/5/15 at 10:57 pm to Jim Rockford
I watch a lot of foreign movies on netflix and it is not helping
Posted on 11/5/15 at 11:01 pm to JeanPierre
I took classes at the alliance francais in NOLA for a while. It was a mixture of course work and group conversations (and a lot of wine drinking). After doing that for a year (1x per week or so), I had no issues travelling around rural France and communicating the basics.
I live in Germany now and have a private tutor twice a week and am immersed in the language. Way better, obviously, but it is a lot of work. After a day of meetings in German you will have a massive headache.
I live in Germany now and have a private tutor twice a week and am immersed in the language. Way better, obviously, but it is a lot of work. After a day of meetings in German you will have a massive headache.
Posted on 11/5/15 at 11:04 pm to Spirit of Dunson
I really want to move to a foreign land... I applied to teach in Italy this summer but during my interview when they told me I would have to pay my way I objected. That ended the interview.
Posted on 11/5/15 at 11:08 pm to JeanPierre
(no message)
This post was edited on 1/6/16 at 5:42 am
Posted on 11/5/15 at 11:21 pm to JeanPierre
quote:
learned a foreign language after graduating high school?
Spanish in college. Could read pretty well after two years. you learn what you work on. It takes 4 years to master any romance language. it takes 5 for Asian languages, because you are learning a representation system too.
pictograms. stylized pictograms.
Spanish is ideal because you are able to use it constantly in many regions.
Google is pretty handy to use to keep it up. You can read the press in whatever languages on Google.
I have spent a lot of time at work reading French and Spanish news.
This post was edited on 11/5/15 at 11:22 pm
Posted on 11/5/15 at 11:53 pm to Spirit of Dunson
Thanks for the replies everyone, they're encouraging. I am trying to learn French. I have been listening to french children's songs and watching Caillou like it's going out of style. Also, I have discovered Charles Aznavour. I have truly been missing out.
Posted on 11/5/15 at 11:54 pm to JeanPierre
I want to learn French or Spanish... although I was told German would be easier to learn
Posted on 11/6/15 at 12:21 am to JeanPierre
The only thing you will learn from Caillou is how to be an entitled, whiny brat.
Posted on 11/6/15 at 1:39 am to BrownTownExpress
My brother was always a bit of clutz with languages, but he's fairly conversant after a year in France. His expat friends probably hold him back though. He has to force people to talk French, so he can learn.
Posted on 11/6/15 at 2:04 am to JeanPierre
If you are in college, learning a foreign language isn't too bad. Going to class and having someone instruct you makes it easy to get started. If you really want to learn the language and work towards it (study, practice conversations) you will do well.
If you are just doing this on your own, I would buy a introductory textbook or learning system. College level textbooks that have workbooks are great options.
I have studied foreign languages in both of these ways. With the college (or class) option I learn more, and faster, because of the constant schedule and instruction. The 'on your own' option is fine, you just need to be sure to make time and commit yourself to it. If you don't you will not learn much and have difficulty retaining what you covered. Trust me.
Don't just go with Rosetta stone, research other options. There are cheaper and better alternatives.
If you are just doing this on your own, I would buy a introductory textbook or learning system. College level textbooks that have workbooks are great options.
I have studied foreign languages in both of these ways. With the college (or class) option I learn more, and faster, because of the constant schedule and instruction. The 'on your own' option is fine, you just need to be sure to make time and commit yourself to it. If you don't you will not learn much and have difficulty retaining what you covered. Trust me.
Don't just go with Rosetta stone, research other options. There are cheaper and better alternatives.
Posted on 11/6/15 at 3:32 am to tduecen
quote:as someone that has studied french and German, i say to hell with German. French was way way easier to learn.
I want to learn French or Spanish... although I was told German would be easier to learn
quote:amen.
The only thing you will learn from Caillou is how to be an entitled, whiny brat.
@ OP, check out if there is an Alliance Francaise organization near you. My wife and I started taking classes to do something different together. It was fun, cheap, and we learned a good bit of French. They have chapters in almost every state and major city. LINK
Posted on 11/6/15 at 3:45 am to JeanPierre
Took Spanish I and Spanish II in high school.
My girlfriend's mom's side speaks nothing but Spanish. I can understand what they're saying and I can reply with terrible Spanish.. If it was the other way around, it would be like:
Q: How are you?
A: Yes
While it doesn't make sense, it's a positive response... So they get the picture
Sorry... Haven't slept in 2 days
My girlfriend's mom's side speaks nothing but Spanish. I can understand what they're saying and I can reply with terrible Spanish.. If it was the other way around, it would be like:
Q: How are you?
A: Yes
While it doesn't make sense, it's a positive response... So they get the picture
Sorry... Haven't slept in 2 days
Posted on 11/6/15 at 3:51 am to tduecen
quote:
I want to learn French or Spanish... although I was told German would be easier to learn
lol Spanish is easy
German if fricking hard. Just the word "the" can be pronounced Die, Der, Das, Den. etc
Posted on 11/6/15 at 4:05 am to JeanPierre
I'm the only English-speaker in this village in the Gobi Desert. I speak nothing but Mongolian all day, and I still sound like a dumbass after a year and a half. I was intermediate low the last time I took a test. Mongolian is ridiculously hard though. I'm learning more about learning languages in general, and I think the next language I will learn faster. It takes a lot of work as you get older, I guess, but you can do it.
I could chit chat with people after about 6 months. I found that what I knew after I studied by myself just fell apart when thrust into a real situation. So it's about those live reps, even though you can understand it all at home it doesn't matter.
I could chit chat with people after about 6 months. I found that what I knew after I studied by myself just fell apart when thrust into a real situation. So it's about those live reps, even though you can understand it all at home it doesn't matter.
Posted on 11/6/15 at 5:16 am to TigerattheU
Didn't I read somewhere (too lazy to look it up) that Mongolian and Finnish (and maybe Japanese?) are somehow related? Or there's some connection anyway? Maybe it was the level of difficulty in learning was all the same as in really tough.
Hats off to you making the attempt.
German verbs.
Meh.
I sound like a moron in German more so than my English and that's saying something.
Hats off to you making the attempt.
German verbs.
Meh.
I sound like a moron in German more so than my English and that's saying something.
Posted on 11/6/15 at 5:34 am to soccerfüt
Mongolian has vowel harmony, which is weird at first but then seems to make the most sense. It has base words, and then you tack on all kinds of suffixes. You change all the extra parts to match the vowels. It's the same cyrillic alphabet as Russian, and Russian looks super weird to me. Vowel harmony would be like Tigir Droppongs OT Loongo.
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