I've been procrastinating on learning a new language like Spanish or German and, well, seeing that i spend plenty of time at the computer and of course, online. I was wondering if someone could direct me to a site where it would be easiest to start the process.
Learning with children is best but school days are long gone. Any ideas are most welcome! Thanks!
easiest way of learning a language is with practice.
i learnt my english when we got satelite television when i was a kid. i remember how i would watch cartoons all days and before i even realised it i was fluent in the language. i don't think i was even 12 when i was already transalating for my grandparents who had apartments for turists 
so if you have any TV channels in german or spain, i strongly recommed you to watch them. even if the program is kinda boring. try to find something that you like...
also try and take a trip to the country if money and time allow you so.
i know it's alot of trouble and most people probably aren't able to go through all that, but it's the most efficient way of learning a language. Buy selflearning book or going on language course...
Thank you for the tips cheh and xkobram!
I think a good basic grammar software or website could be helpful too.
Any hints in that area?
| DaComboMan wrote: |
Thank you for the tips cheh and xkobram!
I think a good basic grammar software or website could be helpful too.
Any hints in that area? |
Software can be also good...
But you need high-quality software beacause cheap programs are only good with a teacher.
I dont know any of that software but i would try google.
Education is not cheap but i think you could ask your friends if they dont have a copy of software...I Can Learn you norwegian if you can learn me more english! 
| ikka wrote: |
| I Can Learn you norwegian if you can learn me more english! |
Lol I dont think he would be interested in speaking Czech 
nor Norwegian...
English moves the world! | ikka wrote: |
| I Can Learn you norwegian if you can learn me more english! |
That would be fun ikka but seeing that i can understand French, English and Italian, right now i think it will be better to start with another more common language like Spanish.
If i could find a good spanish news station. | DaComboMan wrote: |
| ikka wrote: | | I Can Learn you norwegian if you can learn me more english! |
That would be fun ikka but seeing that i can understand French, English and Italian, right now i think it will be better to start with another more common language like Spanish.
If i could find a good spanish news station. |
And you think you need it? Do you use your languages? Whats your job? | xkobram wrote: |
| DaComboMan wrote: | | ikka wrote: | | I Can Learn you norwegian if you can learn me more english! |
That would be fun ikka but seeing that i can understand French, English and Italian, right now i think it will be better to start with another more common language like Spanish.
If i could find a good spanish news station. |
And you think you need it? Do you use your languages? Whats your job? |
For now it would be like a hobby, trying to keep the memory alive with a bit of mental gymnastics. 
| DaComboMan wrote: |
For now it would be like a hobby, trying to keep the memory alive with a bit of mental gymnastics. |
And when you were on some party you could say "Give me beer" in that languages...
Do you know that word "How many languages you can speak, that times you are human" ( Sorry i cant translate it in English )?how about downloading some e-books about the language you are interested in, and maybe some tapes(*mp3). Just change your computer settings at the language you wish to learn, so that you will b forced to start learning the language, and searching words in the dictionary, etc. You can use babelfish translation to help you(from altavista.com) and maybe download a dictionary at an electronic form.
When you get a DvD, turn the subtitles, and if it is possible, also change the sound language...
These will help you a lot, and probably, you will start to slowly learn the language...
| DecayClan wrote: |
how about downloading some e-books about the language you are interested in, and maybe some tapes(*mp3). Just change your computer settings at the language you wish to learn, so that you will b forced to start learning the language, and searching words in the dictionary, etc. You can use babelfish translation to help you(from altavista.com) and maybe download a dictionary at an electronic form.
When you get a DvD, turn the subtitles, and if it is possible, also change the sound language...
These will help you a lot, and probably, you will start to slowly learn the language... |
Pretty good alternatives DecayClan!
Thank you!Use a search engine.
I typed "Lean Spanish" into Google and found this amazing FREE website:
http://www.studyspanish.com/
(But there is a premium subscription option, lots of freebies)
You can find tons more resources just like that. Amazing what Google can do. My uncle gave me this advice:
"the best way to learn a language is to sleep with it."
My girlfriend is French and I can't say I've learned heaps, but it's more than I'd learn from a book.
Other than that, there is the slightly less fun method:
Just live there.
I picked up fluent German after 2 years of living here. Now I'm in my 4th and I've no problem going out and speaking to Germans in bars or at parties.
Well, >.>..
You could always find a software title that reviews say is really good, and download it illegally somewhere XD
but don't do that, or the FBI'll ban your ass D:
im studying nihonggo now, and i say practice makes a big difference in learning. without it you will tend to forgot the words.
I don't really know where you should go to learn a new language like that. But, as the first poster said, try practicing some stuff from the language everyday. You could also buy a book or tutural for it. The only thing else I think that would be able to help you is if you search on the internet (You Should Use Google), and find a website that teaches you the language you are looking for. Good luck on learning it.
To learn a new language is not easy, because you need help. If you buy a "language-book" in the store, i think it don't would be very helpful. You need someone, who you can talk to him.
My Advise: Get contact with a people from this land, which language do you want to learn. Use the web, it may can be useful...
A guy called Michael Thomas does a very good learn to speak spanish CD, I would have thought this would be a better option, particularly if you drive to work every day as it means you can listen to it every day.
He has wonderfull handy tips like every word which ends in either able or ible is the same in both english and spanish although the pronunciation changes, so able becomes ab-lay and ible becomes ib-lay so it is probable becomes es ist prob-ab-lay and so on and so forth, hope this helps.
If you want to start learning a language for free then there are plenty of resources on the internet. Try about.com for a start. They have an introduction to Spanish and probably other languages as well. Then you can look up the website of a national newspaper from the country whose language you are learning. You can also find radio and TV sites for the appropriate country. It's easy getting started...
You can get a lot from books (libraries are free), especially if you're more interested in reading/writing then speaking. Try getting a work of fiction that has both the original and the translation, and a dictionary. According to legend Borges learned Italian this way by reading Dante on a long train ride. But then again Borges was a genius...
Start posting on a website with a forum where english is thrown out more as a second langauge. It can be hard to jump straight into a community where noone really speaks english, but there are many out there where enough of whatever you are trying to learn is used that it becomes pretty easy to pick up on the meaning.
I recommend a place called school. It has a lot of rooms. They have a person who's in charge of the room, they're called a teacher. They are supposed to teach you something you want to know! OH MY GOSH! That's amazing!
I'd recommend some online courses for the beginning, but as soon as you get the basics, you'll need practice. If you spend much time in the Interenet, you may a) surf on websites on the language you're learning and b) chat with people on it. I'm grateful to my friend Jim from the US for he'd been so patient to me when 3 years ago my English was.. well, hard to understand. With time and more talikng to him, my skills grew. Not that I'm boasting, but my English is one of the best in my academy :3
chat room or specific forums abuout learning foreign language would be perfect. but the first thing to do is find a chat partner that can teach you foreign language from basic of course good luck for you... Much practice, in anyway. Like what people posted before me. Chatting, watching cartoons, many movies in the language you want to learn, with subtitle, so you can learn some new words
(you must have a bit knowledge about the language to do this, because else you won't know where the words stop etc.).
But if you want it really cheap, find some free lessons on internet.
i tried the subtitles thing... dont think anything really sank in 
learning on books, learn to speak with people using that language, watch tv program that are speaking that language.
I'm basically repeating what others said here...
Best way to learn a language, IMHO, is to learn the basics and TALK.
Find a chat partner via Skype or WLM and talk with him/her using the microphone.
Also watch TV shows and that sort of things...
Later you can learn some grammar, but first it will be the best to just know what to say, and when to say it.
Just my 2 cents.
I would start with stock phrases ("How are you?"; "Where is the train station?") and then pick them apart with grammar later on. After learning four languages in a classroom situation and then doing Chinese from a more oral approach, I can say I definitely find that the Chinese comes more naturally to me. There's a lot of chanting and phrase repitition involved in that approach, but it feels easier to speak than the other four, even though it's actually more complicated.
It's one thing to learn the language, another things is to remember it. If you do not have a "connexion" with the language you want to learn, you can study as hard as you can, but you will forget it later on. After a small period of time, you will be able to recover the knowledge, but the more time will pass by without practicing, the more difficult it will be to remember the grammatical constructions, etc. But if you DO have the connexion I advise to download songs in that language, watch TV channels in that language. And, learn words...I'm afraid it is not free, but you have to learn words. As many as possible, That is how I started with Spanish. And finding a book was really easy, in fact a friend gave it to me. To start with a bases. After that I moved to the country and once in the country, you will learn a language really fast. Good luck
