Trying to learn different languages... on my own :/

Pimsleur is pretty easy to start off with and it teaches u the basics for a general conversation.

am very bad at learning another language but I find that writing some of the more complicated words and meanings down helpful.

You need to have strong commitment and determination which I find are the qualities I lack :(
 
The easiest way to learn another language is to sleep with somebody from the country of the language you want to learn (if she speaks more than one language, that's even better!). It's what I did!
 
z3b3dy said:
The easiest way to learn another language is to sleep with somebody from the country of the language you want to learn (if she speaks more than one language, that's even better!). It's what I did!
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Whoa...you must have lasted a long time....or slept with her more than once :o

I agree with this though..best way BY FAR is to get a girlfriend who speaks the language as a native.
 
Personally, i'm trying to learn finnish... no idea why, but i've got nothing better to do and it's a real challenge. I know a few very basic phrases, and a lot of people i talk to on IRC are fluent english speakers who are finns, so when they speak finnish i try, i ask them what the conversation was about and pick up a few phrases that might be handy :)
 
Balddog said:
Whoa...you must have lasted a long time....or slept with her more than once :o

I agree with this though..best way BY FAR is to get a girlfriend who speaks the language as a native.
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Why thank you! As she's a European lass, she speaks 5 languages fluently therefore I have my own teacher and 'holiday translation guide', oh and girlfriend!
 
It's best to start out with a cd-rom which gives very basic phrases and how to pronounce unique characters. Once you know how letters are supposed to sound together, it becomes much easier to start looking at more new words. I think most of the learning programs have lists of words in them.
I'd recommend trying to get a textbook with grammar rules in it, which you should find at any large bookstore, especially near a university.

Once you feel comfortable with that, then look for basic books, which either give you a translation page or you already know the story of. If you already know the context of a paragraph, it is much easier to work out what the words mean and then store them for later.
 
Learning another language will always make it easier for other languages. Personally doing Latin at school was a great help for learning languages. I'm quite fortunate with having been brought up on more than 1 language so I tend to find picking up languages fairly easy.

The important thing is understanding the language, and most importantly the grammar. Once you've mastered that, it's just a question of vocabulary - and that just comes with practice. My grammar in 3/4 languages is pretty good, I just need more vocab and more practice... but it's not getting any better over time unfortunately :(

Big thumbs up from me though for taking the time and effort to learn another language. :)
 
Best way to learn is to go and stay. Its what I did to learn English, although it wasn't my choice and I was only 4 years old at the time :p

You need to have people speak the foreign language around you at all times. The only reason I can speak French properly is because my parents are French and the language at home is always French.

You have to get used to thinking in the foreign language. That is far more easily said than done, of course, but it is a crucial step in becoming truely fluent in the foreign language of choice.

For instance, depending on who I am talking to, I will think and devise an answer in their language, rather than going from their language to my first language, then thinking an answer in my language and then translating it for theirs. If that made sense.
 
I think I want to learn Polish and German soon, all these Pols around might aswell be able to hear what they are saying. ;):D

I did Latin for 3 years, German for 2 and French for 5. I was alright at Latin and German but the one I had to take - French - I hated. Only got a C in it. :(
 
Killerkebab said:
Best way to learn is to go and stay. Its what I did to learn English, although it wasn't my choice and I was only 4 years old at the time :p

You need to have people speak the foreign language around you at all times. The only reason I can speak French properly is because my parents are French and the language at home is always French.

You have to get used to thinking in the foreign language. That is far more easily said than done, of course, but it is a crucial step in becoming truely fluent in the foreign language of choice.

For instance, depending on who I am talking to, I will think and devise an answer in their language, rather than going from their language to my first language, then thinking an answer in my language and then translating it for theirs. If that made sense.
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Ditto, the concept of thinking in a language that you don't know might seem odd and daughting. Especially when you can only speak 1 language, but unless you can flip that switch on the fly from 1 language to another then in my opinion you are not fluent in that language and chances are you will forget it in a few years. When you can do it, then it will stay with you for life.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Ditto, the concept of thinking in a language that you don't know might seem odd and daughting. Especially when you can only speak 1 language, but unless you can flip that switch on the fly from 1 language to another then in my opinion you are not fluent in that language and chances are you will forget it in a few years. When you can do it, then it will stay with you for life.
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Do you flip it?

I cant flip it...It just happens..Its beyond my control...I think entirely in korean now :o Im not fluent though.

Its weird as hell when i suddenly catch myself thinking in korean...so strange.
 
Best way to learn a language?

Live in the country for 6 months, you will be suprised what you can pick up.

I recommend adult education centres, you get the chance to speak to other people in your class who are learning the same language as yourself.

Other than that, you need to make friends with other people who wish to learn English.
 
Balddog said:
Do you flip it?

I cant flip it...It just happens..Its beyond my control...I think entirely in korean now :o Im not fluent though.

Its weird as hell when i suddenly catch myself thinking in korean...so strange.
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It's a metaphore, I can go between the languages without translation in my head. I know what you mean by thinking in another language, i even dream in it.
 
the g/f and i have been talking about looking into learning Sign language as a second langauge.

I hated German at school although i did fairly well in my exams.

The trick is to use it as often as possible, maybe find a friend that wants to learn it as well so you can bounce it off each other!
 
Freefaller said:
Learning another language will always make it easier for other languages. Personally doing Latin at school was a great help for learning languages. I'm quite fortunate with having been brought up on more than 1 language so I tend to find picking up languages fairly easy.

The important thing is understanding the language, and most importantly the grammar. Once you've mastered that, it's just a question of vocabulary - and that just comes with practice. My grammar in 3/4 languages is pretty good, I just need more vocab and more practice... but it's not getting any better over time unfortunately :(

Big thumbs up from me though for taking the time and effort to learn another language. :)
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I have been reading a few message boards (well, I was last night) and have to admit that its very addictive to learn a different language. At the moment I am finding that if I have trouble remembering the words until I heard them spoken in German, and then bang, it floods back to me without having to be told the meaning. Hence the reason that currently I am walking around my house randomly greeting people that arent there in German :/

I have started to use language tools in google to type in the odd word to, for example hello and other one word things, and then make notes of them in note pad alt and tabbing to them every so often so that it sinks in.

I was thinking of watching some multi language films to, and setting it to German. Maybe that will increase my understanding as I get to see when words are used and under what levels of stress and so on in the voice.

Thanks for the words of encouragment people :)
 
I did French at GCSE and that was it. However, i'm regularly in France now, either on Holiday or work, and can pretty much speak it fluently although i've never been for longer than 10 days. It was after my second 10 day visit that I found myself pretty much talking French.

Listening to the Radio helps too..
 
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I got fluent by watching TV here :p

I think it's pretty necessary to learn with someone who is fluent in the language or they have it as their native language. Especially if you are speaking it - pronounciation is cital. You don't want Johnny Foreigner laughing at your English accent! :D

Give me half a year back in England and I'll have forgotten all my French . . .
 
i'm wanting to learn lituanian but i can't find any sites or anything with c.ds/voice dictionary or anything :(
 
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