Language Learning

[Mr Biglesworth]

Has anyone been learning/learned/wanted to learn another language lately?
My program at school required that I do a couple years of language courses, so I picked French because a) it's Canada's second language, and b) it's widely spoken internationally. I pirated myself teach-yourself courses online which was a good start, then started class in the fall. After two years of classes, I could read a fair amount of french but still didn't have confidence or much of an ability to speak. So this summer I went into a 5 week french-immersion program in Quebec in a small french town. It was pretty impressive, once you're forced to speak a language you start to put together all the pieces you learned in class pretty quick. I'd say i have fluency now in that I can hold conversations in french on any topic and live my day to day life with it, but I still have a long ways to go. It's still hard to follow the french while i watch tv/listen to the radio, plus my vocabulary is still fairly basic. But it's a good start, I'm able to seek out conversation groups and other french communities to continue learning.

I also started to learn Swahili while I was in Kenya last year, which got put on the back-burner when I returned and went back into French, but it's becoming my main interest again. I'm obviously just a beginner, and it's hard because there's very little opportunity to practice it with native speakers, but I'm just working from books and some other learning programs to learn the most essential grammar and vocabulary, which is moving along fairly quickly.

I've used a lot of different learning methods for both languages, so if anyone would like some insight into which ones I found useful I could offer my experience (ie. Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, Michel Thomas, podcasts, textbooks, classes, etc...).

[squirrels2nuts]

je suis un grenouille tabernac tu mere hawh hawh hawh mes ami

[Mr Biglesworth]

Oui, c'est exactement

[GT2000]

Swahili eh? Isn't that one of the "noise-making" dialects? Or is that me being ignorant?

How's rosetta stone?

[Mr Biglesworth]

Swahili: no, haha, everyone's disappointed to learn there are no clicks in swahili. !pilay

Rosetta Stone: My initial impression of RS in the french edition was that it wasn't all that useful and so i didn't really give it a fair chance and moved on to other systems. I came back to it with their swahili edition and I've been finding it much more valuable (not because they're different versions... RS is the same in every language). It completely teaches by getting you to learn by trial and error and by deductive thinking, and you keep on reapplying the knowledge that you've already learnt. With swahili I'm finding it's a good way to pick up new vocabulary. However, I'd say it's almost essential to supplement RS with some kind of traditional grammar study, even if it's just a cheap textbook. It will save you a lot of time to just get the rules down easily.
My recommendation (especially since TTT members are known to get their own discounts on electronic media) is to get a few sources for learning and stick with them, concentrating on whichever one you're most engaged with. For instance, get rosetta stone (is it russian you're interested in? spanish?), an audio course like pimsleur or michel thomas, and go out and purchase a book for the grammar. Then just stick with it!

[raublekick]

print('I know many languages, they just aren't useful to anyone but nerds')

[heX]

About a year ago i got RS for french, and intended on putting some time into the language here and there. I knew I would eventually need a language for school anway, so why not. I never actually got around to using it. Would you say it would be futile to us RS about once a week to help pick up a language?

[Mr Biglesworth]

Yeah, I'd say that'd be pretty much futile. I don't think RS would be that useful unless it was used continuously, and even then it's best to supplement it with a bit of grammar study. The good thing with RS though is that it's easy to just spend a bit of time on it when you get the time throughout the day.

[Stormy]

Took French in high school, but that was high school, so I remember very little. I'm well on my way with German, and I've had a semester of Brazilian Portuguese, but I also want to learn Japanese. I like learning the languages of WW2 villains, probably because I like vilifying myself and experiencing intense bourgeois guilt. Ha ha.

Thanks for the tips on RS, Neil. I've been wondering whether to invest in it.


Hex: I think learning language, whether with RS or not, requires a little effort everyday. Especially at our age, using a language, and often, is probably the only way to make any progress.

[Liss]

I've been using Rosetta Stone for Spanish, and I've found it helps a lot, especially in drudging up all that high school Spanish vocab. I like that you don't have to THINK about the direct translation.

Like any language study, though, like my French in college, if you don't study continuously you lose the knowledge fairly quickly, even if it will come back later.

I'm leaving for Spain on the 23rd, so I'm taking the immersion route. I'll be there nearly a year.

[Mr Biglesworth]

Have fun Liss! Are you doing an exchange for school? After Swahili I'd really like to learn Spanish. Good luck picking it up.

[Liss]

I'm going to be teaching English in or around Madrid. I decided to take a break from school. After graduation I enrolled in a dual masters program at Chapman University, but backed out quickly after. I wanted to take some time to travel, work, experience life some before returning to the college world. Working abroad makes the most sense to me.

I'm scared though, being shaky on the language and trying to commit to at least a year away from my family, etc. I'm more terrified than excited, but I think I will like it.

[thecreeper]

i'd like to relearn my spanish a bit, since i was pretty fluent in it in high school. now i dont remember anything. i'd also be interested in learning japanese, but im lazy and will not do this.