Best System for Learning a Foreign Language? 132
amrust asks: "I've set a New Year's Resolution for myself. Starting next year, I want to teach myself Spanish. However, looking in local bookstores and online, there are so many different programs and systems to choose from, that I can't decide which method is best. I'd like to learn the Spanish language itself, not just a few choice phrases and words, for traveling. I have a lot of patience for serious in-depth study, at home. I would prefer an easy-to-learn (but comprehensive) system that includes audio CDs, as well as textbook material, to follow along with. Which system can you recommend for someone just starting out, assuming they currently speak English, and have never previously taken a foreign language course?"
Que? (Score:1)
Re:Que? (Score:2)
However this is only 1% of what you need. The other 99% is the actual drive to learn and study it EVERY DAY. When you take language classes in college (a good way to learn a foreign language in my opinion) you initially go 1 hour every day for a semester (about 18 weeks). That covers about 1/2 the language. The second semester covers the second half. That is approx 18 weeks X 5 days X 1 hour. This doesn't include time studying for tests and vocab quizes. I'd say I average about 3
Re:Que? (Score:1)
Re:Que? (Score:2)
Re:Que? (Score:1)
Re:Que? (Score:1)
Re:Que? (Score:2)
Re:Que? (Score:2)
Re:Que? (Score:2)
That would be: (Score:2)
?Qué?
?Dónde está la biblioteca?
I just realized that slashcode eats (ignores) the open question marks (rotated "?" sings that open question sentences in spanish)
Classes (Score:5, Insightful)
Look up your local community college and enroll in a spanish class. Failing that look for a tutor or group learning sessions. They should be pretty easy to find as Spanish is widely taught.
Re:Classes (Score:1)
Re:Classes (Score:4, Funny)
Hmmm...
I'm not sure learning Spanish from them is any better an idea than trying to learn English here...Re:Classes (Score:5, Funny)
I also like the debates between the advocates of "Diseño Inteligente" and "religion del monstruo de espaguetis".
Re:Classes (Score:2)
Good luck, though! That's a great resolution, and if you stick out you'll be glad you did!
espacio: la frontera final (Score:3)
Re:Classes (Score:5, Insightful)
Go somewhere Spanish is spoken. Live without English for some time, and you'll quickly pick up the basics as a matter of survival. This is the essence of the exchange programs--immersion. Immersion is the best way to learn a language, bar none.
Re:Classes (Score:1)
Re:Classes (Score:1)
"No" is the same in both english and spanish
Re:Classes (Score:3, Interesting)
I learned passable Italian by taking a 4 week class and travelling in Italy for another 10 weeks. Northern Italians though my accent was southern and southern Italians thought my accent was northern. They were all quite suprised when I told them I was American -- they thought that if I were NOT Italian, I was Armenian.
mike
Re:Classes (Score:2)
Re:Classes (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, what could be easier than quitting your job, selling your house, abandoning your family and going to live abroad in a Spanish-speaking country?
Re:Classes (Score:3, Interesting)
I know that when I go to another country, as a minimum I'll always pick up a decent phrasebook at the airport and learn some basics. That way I've got a chance of at least saying "please/thank you/excuse me/yes/no" and working out how much checkout assistants are asking for, without looking like a complete tourist tosser. (And in Greece, being able to deciph
Re:Classes (Score:2)
I agree.
Spend a lot of time with Spanish-speakers, preferably around someone that also speaks good English (to translate for the first few days).
In my experience with French, you need to start thinking in the language that you want to learn. Native English-speakers trying to learn other languages seem to be always welcomed. Culturally what that means, you figure it out.
Re:Classes (Score:2)
The dialog is easy and exagerated (makes it easier to pick up). The visuals and the story line will help you follow and understand the conversations.
I did this with "Betty La Fea". As a bonus, it was funny and entertaining. Spanish soaps arent like US soaps. They start, go for a while, and then FINISH. They're more like miniseries than anything else. Very elaborate and well done (most of them).
Plus the women are invariably hot.
Try "Amor Rea [amazon.com]
My experience (Score:1)
Learining a Foreign Language? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Learining a Foreign Language? (Score:1)
Re:Learining a Foreign Language? (Score:2)
As for "refined" Slashdot users, I gotta larf at that. Check my ID# and then understand that I have never found Slashdotters to be the least bit refined. This is an ornery, crass bunch of meglomaniacs and pointyheads clashing in a streetbrawl of language and lies. Pantywaists like you don't want to play this game!
Arrrr. Avast, ye scurvy dog!
Learining? (Score:1)
I suggest learning your own language before attempting others.
coincidence... (Score:1)
Re:coincidence... (Score:1)
i really like.... (Score:1)
this in addition to working on it with ACTUAL fluent spanish speakers has really worked well for me
Rosetta stone? (Score:2)
Just wondering.
Re:Rosetta stone? (Score:1)
Yes: expensive but worth the money
Re:Rosetta stone? (Score:2)
Re:Rosetta stone? (Score:2)
Re:i really like.... (Score:2)
I only went through a couple of lessons, but it was excellent. I definitly wish I had had it as a study aid back when I was in school.
-Steve
Re:i really like.... (Score:1)
I still remember everything almost word for word, and how to manipulate sentences and everything.
It's kinda cool that it stuck so well.
Pimsleur (Score:3, Interesting)
It's also a tad expensive, but if you are serious about learning then combining this with other sources reading websites or other publications in the desired language, etc) would probably be a great start.
(I personally wouldn't pay that much for it, though.)
=Smidge=
Re:Pimsleur (Score:4, Interesting)
I only had two weeks to learn Spanish, so I went with the audio-only approach. There's a comprehensive entry at Kuro5hin on how to learn a language [kuro5hin.org] that covers other learning methods and technologies, providing a good overview of what options there are.
Re:Pimsleur (Score:2)
Highly recommended, but subject to a few caveats:
1. It's very expensive.
2. There's a full course, but they also sell various abbreviated introductory courses: Make sure you get the full course. You'll know you have the right one if it comes in 3 levels, each consisting of about 16 cassettes. The levels are also sold separately. (I used casett
Re:Pimsleur (Score:1)
Re:Pimsleur (Score:2)
Pimsleur isn't enough, though. I high
Expensive? There's more than one version (Score:2)
I've done parts of the 18 lesson packs for Italian and German
But
My advice (Score:4, Funny)
Well, that's what *I'd* do.
Re:My advice (Score:1)
B
Re:My advice (Score:2)
Are you aware you are posting on Slashdot? I mean, a girlfriend... come on! You insensitive clod
Re:My advice (Score:2)
How about a hot-enough hispanic hooker? It wont cost much more than private lessons, and it is a lot more fun.
Re:My advice (Score:2)
Re:My advice (Score:1)
Re:My advice (Score:2)
They don't speak English, but repeating yourself multiple times somehow helps?
Re:My advice (Score:1)
Nice girls. Very cute. One said she was an electrical engineering student and the other said she was majoring in "eng-eh-er-ish." (She said it with four syllables.) I'm not entirely sure the "english" major understood the question, but then again someone has to go back and provide the world with engrish [engrish.com].
Re:My advice (Score:2)
That's easy! (Score:3, Insightful)
Talk about motivation! Nothing else can come close.
Bob-
Re:That's easy! (Score:1)
Re:That's easy! (Score:2)
One problem I ran into in Japan is that some of their English was better than mine.
Re:That's easy! (Score:2)
Something like the southern Great Wall between the US and Mexico, on the other hand, traps those who would otherwise work in the US and then go home
Best way to learn a language (Score:2)
Rosetta (Score:1)
Rosetta Stone [rosettastone.com]
Conversation (Score:1)
A good conversation course is carried only in the language to be learned. It sounds odd in theory, but it is one of the few alternatives to immersion, short of taking a trip and living abroad for a while.
Soon you learn to ask your question in $LANGUAGE. I remember in Japan I had to ask things like: "What is the opposite of far?". It wor
Preferred Method (Score:2)
Suggestion: Define your target listeners (Score:4, Informative)
Around here, a Spanish accent is generally heard from two sources: spaniards and people telling Gallego jokes, which would roughly correspond to Irish jokes in English.
Personally I find that Latin American spanish, castellano, is more neutral, if you pick the right national accent. Peruvians, for example, have a particularly neutral and well-pronounced one, while Chilean Spanish is practically incomprehensible. As a native Spanish speaker born in Perú, it took me several years in Chile before I could understand over 90% of what was said to me. Frankly, I don't expect you to come across a Chilean "Aprenda Español" package anytime soon, and personally, I think that's a very good thing!
p.
Re:Suggestion: Define your target listeners (Score:1)
Re:Suggestion: Define your target listeners (Score:2)
Spanish With Michel Thomas (Score:2)
Alcohol is the solution (Score:1)
Re:Alcohol is the solution (Score:2)
-Rick
Memorizing vocabulary (Score:2)
If you want to learn and retain extensive vocabulary, you're going to have to repeatedly test yourself on it (relying on "real life" conversation will not work, as some words are far too rare), so it makes sense to optimize the scheduling of that learning according to what we know about memory formation.
The most effective software for this purpose is SuperMemo [supermemo.com], but it is non-free, so you may instead want to use the slightly inferior, but still effective Memaid [sf.net]. I have found memaid very useful for teaching
Easy way to learn a language (Score:3, Informative)
A Ton of phrases can be created with this simple intro. It will also teach you the basic grammer ideas in the travelers dictionary (and you can always look up sentances later in the books as guidelines). After that... you can walk around on the streets, look up one single word in the translation dictionary like... post-office... and you can already as a bunch of questions relating to a post-office (like where it is!)
After that comes the hardest part of learning a language. Vocabulary. This is what kills most people. My honest best suggestion to you is to buy post-it notes, and stick them all over your house with the english / spanish translation. Literally everywhere. Even on the milk jug inside your fridge. While it is embarrasing, being exposed to all those words will help you learn them MUCH faster then just staring at note cards or words on a screen. With a good computer program (hopefully someone will suggest a good one) you can learn many other vocab words WHILE being exposed to all the common things inside the house that have post-its on it (shoes, tv, books, computer, paper, house, door... lots of things to put all over your house that can be useful in daily conversation).
Good luck with your language learning resolution!
Re:Easy way to learn a language (Score:1)
Re:Easy way to learn a language (Score:2)
But by all means please stay away from the Hungarian Phrasebook [uibk.ac.at]. I've found that to be somewhat less than effective.
A method that I have been using... (Score:1)
Pimsleur (Score:1)
Pimsleur Language Method (Score:3, Informative)
Wikipedia has more information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimsleur_language_le
I find that as you learn more and more, you subconsciously start to learn grammar. For example, I'm currently learning German, and though I can't tell you the rule for where to put time and place in a sentence, I know which one "sounds right."
I rent them using my Recorded Books Unlimited subscription, but you might be able to find them at your local library.
(I personally speak Spanish and English fluently. I used the Pimsleur series to pick up quite a bit of Italian, French and German).
Hope that helps.
-Paul
P.S. The way I personally became fluent in Spanish was to grow up in Southern California to learn the accent, take French in middle school to learn some basic non-English grammar, take a freshman Spanish class in college, meet and marry a wonderful woman from Guatemala, then practice for 11 years.
The above may or may not work in your situation.
Re:Pimsleur Language Method (Score:2)
Also try Destinos.
Alex.
Studying a foreign language (Score:1)
Immersion is the best, if you can afford the time/stress. Learning really sinks in when you need phrases to find food or a place to sleep. To this day I remember what a Vesperkarte is.
For a first foreign language, taking a class is probably next best. I think the quality of classes varies a lot so ask around. In my experience, one class (one hour) per week with no reinforcement
Ah... (Score:1)
Second, harness ot
digital publishing (Score:1)
Language Acquisition Made Practical (Score:2)
In a way it's like the "girlfriend" comments, but it gives you a place to start in the conversation. Try it!
I've had good luck with (Score:2)
It's on the expensive side, but it is extremely fast and it works well. Instead of trying to teach you grammar and memorize conjugation rules and nouns, it immerses you in a Spanish environment so you learn in the same fashion a native spanish speaker would have at first (only sped up 100x).
To the best of my knowledge, Rosetta is even what the US military and Diplomatic Corp use for language training (although anyone with first hand experience feel free to correct m
Michel Thomas (Score:1)
Thomas is an interesting guy. A Polish born Jew, he landed in a Nazi concentration camp, from which he eventually managed to escape. He speaks at least a half-dozen languages, and when he made his way to the US he started his lang
Subscribe to a newspaper or magazine (Score:2)
I bu
Foreign language?? Easy??? (Score:1)
As an immigrant who had to learn English from the scratch, that statement is almost offensive.
Learning a language is not easy. Especially if you actually NEED it, it's painful. You'll fucking hate it. You'll hate all the Spanish speaking countries. You'll hate all the fucking Mexicans. And THAT'S what it takes to learn a language "comprehensively".
You should get yo
Re:Foreign language?? Easy??? (Score:1)
Submitter here. I just wanted to say that I in no way intended to offend anybody with that sentence. I guess I'm so oblique that I don't even fully understand how I offended you. But I sincerely apologize for doing so.
Re:Foreign language?? Easy??? (Score:2, Informative)
The following sentence: "I would prefer an easy-to-learn (but comprehensive) system" hit me on the personal level, because at the moment it sounded like you were completely undermining the difficulty of learning a language and trivializing all my effort to learn English.
Now that I'm calm, I understand that what I just said is completely ridiculous and irrational, but that's how I felt at the moment. I
I've put my language learning experiences online (Score:2)
Dating (Score:2)
Internet audio and video streams (Score:2)
For those who are not within broadcast range of TV or radio stations in the foreign language, audio and video streams over the internet are a great alternative. News broadcasts are especially useful: the language is spoken well, and the context of current events helps with comprehension.
Of course, one really needs to practice in all four areas (re
technology to the rescue! (Score:2)
Since you're asking this question on Slashdot, it's assumed that you're at least moderately well-immersed in technology. Why not use technology to your advantage? If you're like me, a large amount of English that you come across in your daily
What works for me (learning my fifth) (Score:2)
I don't know what are the best methods for learning a language, but at least I can tell you what works for me.
Vocabulary:
Read books in the language they were written (the one you're trying to learn). Underline wit
I will not buy this record: it is scratched. (Score:1)
Learn the way children learns a language... (Score:2)
1. Buy some comics. Read them. Look at pictures, you know how this was when you were a child - the comics are still readable even if you don't know the language. After some time, you will learn some of the words..
2. Read some literature for a little older children. I don't know any spanish famous literature for children, but I guess it won't be that hard to find using some googling..
Finally, you should have some kind of l
Immersion (Score:2)
The way I learnt? (Score:2)
Re:The way I learnt? (Score:2)
Japanese: "shikatanai"/"shikataganai". General meaning is: "no way around it; nothing to be done for it", but I've seen it subtitled in English as "Nothing we can do" or "Oh well, yo
QuicktionaryII translating pen scanner (Score:2)
Dictionaries are too slow when you are trying to read a language that is new to you.
"Sleeping Dictionary" (Score:2)
Classes? (Score:2)
For French, the French In Action series is great. Starting on day 1, we were not allowed to speak any English in class. In addition to the classroom, we also did a French Conversation class (usually at a cafeteria or pub) on our own. One year of French via immersion was much more useful than 3 years of High School
Come to Portland and ... (Score:2)