What's a good program for learning another language?

[Wapsie B]

I think it would be good to know and it might help me land a job I've got a chance for. One of the things they asked me in the phone interview was whether I knew Spanish, which I don't. I know you can't learn an entire language in a short time but ya gotta start somewhere.

[HEyHEY]

1. private tutor

I pay $25 and hour four hours a month

[Wapsie B]

2. Never thought of that.

Thanks.

[Orrex]

3. Sesame Street is an excellent program

Rosita can tell you every last palabra that you might want to learn.

[Wapsie B]

5. For real?

:shrug:

[Orrex]

19. No

You might pick up enough to ask "where are the apples?" but that's about as far as it'll take you.

[Kali]

4. I know this will seem impossible but you CAN learn spanish pretty fast

and the absolute best way is total immersion - lots of programs for it - check google and Lonely Planet - always good recs there.

[Wapsie B]

6. Lonely PLanet?

Yeah I've heard that Spanish is not one of the harder languages to master. I'll check out those sites. Thanks!

[Kali]

13. Lonely Planet is mostly a travel site

but there is lots of discussion about language classes and such - especially in the Mexico section

Oh and I am talking about the Thorntree - their discussion forums http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/

[Wapsie B]

20. ok.

Thank you for the link!

[LadyAziz]

15. Those who say that are wrong

I am currently taking Spanish but it's so hard to understand :cry: I really want to learn it. Sometimes I feel even if God was my tutor I would still fail. I really hate myself for forgetting Arabic and Kiswahili (I can only understand but not speak it). I won't let myself fail in Spanish.

[Wapsie B]

18. I hope you can find a way to learn it

that makes sense to you. That's what I'm looking for; something that'll come as second nature to me.

[LadyAziz]

25. Thanks, and I hope that you succeed as well.

I just need more motivation and I think I'll be fine.

[LanternWaste]

42. if I may be so bold as to make a suggestion--

If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion--

If you have access to Spanish-only stations, watch as many of the soap operas as you can. That one bit of prep work helped me more than anything else when I moved to Mexico some years back.

[CTyankee]

56. I have tried twice and mostly failed at Italian language courses

which I get for free as a senior citizen at a community college.

I think total immersion (for me that would be taking a course for several weeks at one of the numerous schools in Italy that offer it) is best. When I am in Italy I find my Italian vastly improves.

I've heard that Rosetta Stone's program is great. I have the demo disk but didn't find it that wonderful. However, I don't have a microphone attachment and you need that to hear how your spoken Italian measures up.

As a former Literacy Volunteer, I can attest to the difficulty of learning a new language as an adult. Some Literacy Volunteers were teaching people without our alphabet and that's tough. If you don't know the alphabet, it is very hard to learn the language.

[BlooInBloo]

7. Once you know one, others come more easily & can be picked up from cd or something....

.... Might wanna start with Spanish - it's trivial to learn.

EDIT: I've heard good things about Rosetta Stone, but have not tried them myself.

[Wapsie B]

9. Yes I've heard that too. That others come more easily

after the first one. I've heard the Rosetta Stone advertised on the radio. I wonder if anyone's used it.
Thanks. :)

[merh]

49. Rosetta Stone is one of the best

I was just beginning to use it (and actually learn) but lost it and my hard drive in the storm.

It's on my list to get again, when I finally get settled.

[pagerbear]

8. I've had success with tapes put out by Pimsleur

(Of course nowadays it would be CDs.) I used them in the car during my morning and evening commute, which was pretty long at the time.

Others I know have said Rosetta Stone is a good series.

[Wapsie B]

10. Cool.

I'll check them both out. Thanks!

[SteppingRazor]

11. Move to a country that speaks that language

You'll be amazed how fast you pick up Spanish when you're in the middle of Oaxaca.

[Wapsie B]

21. Yeah I'll bet.

Ain't got much choice in the matter then.

[Critters2]

43. Get a job with DeCoster

Many of your co-workers will be Spanish speaking. Of course, you, like them, will run the risk of being badly abused and working in deplorable conditions. But you'd be surrounded by kind souls who speak Spanish and would be willing to help you learn.

Just a thought.

[AllegroRondo]

33. It works, really

I learned more German in my one summer as an exchange student than I did in three years of classes.

[Bluebear]

12. Everyone rants & raves about RosettaStone

http://www.rosettastone.com/en/?a=b

There is a demo on their site.

[Wapsie B]

22. Thank you!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. Rosetta Stone has come highly recommended to me...

But before you spend massive $$$ on it, see if your library has it available. There's a county system here that offers the program on its website free for library card holders. I'm planning to use it for my son this year.

[Wapsie B]

16. That's good to know.

Thanks! I'll check the libraries.

[LadyAziz]

17. I say Rosetta Stone, interacting and visiting a Spanish speaking

country. :-)

[Wapsie B]

23. I have tried to follow along with those who speak Spanish

as their native tongue. To me everything's said so quickly that I just can't get it.
But I'd still like to visit Mexico.

:)

[BlooInBloo]

24. Si Ud conoce la lengua, pero es simplemente demasiado rapido....

... mire Univision o Telemundo o cualquier otra television espanol.

[Wapsie B]

26. Well without even translating this on Google

I recognize the word Telemundo the cable tv channel. Good idea. :)

[Kali]

27. y leer los periodicos, libros etc - especialemente comix!

con los ninos - es mismo!

[BlooInBloo]

28. Es verdad.

[Wapsie B]

29. It's all Greek to me.

:P

[BlooInBloo]

30. :) Just get your hot little hands on spanish media of all sorts, print, video, etc.

[Eurobabe]

31. I would take a course

interacting with others who are learning is essential. I start my German again on 8/10 and I cannot wait! :bounce:

Ja wohl!

[Wapsie B]

36. Interesting.

Never thought of that. Good luck with the German! :)

[BlooInBloo]

46. True that - there are community colleges everywhere.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

65. Yes, community colleges and local Latin American affairs centers

such as the Portland Central American Solidarity Committee or the Resource Center of the Americas in Minneapolis almost all offer beginning and intermediate Spanish classes.

It's good to have a teacher who can tell you if you are learning accurately or not.

I tried to learn French on my own when I was in high school, and even with language records (that's how long ago it was) I arrived in college able to place into second year French but requiring remedial work on my pronunciation.

[AngryAmish]

32. iTunes

I have not tried this and cannot testify as to the efficacy, but there are lots and lots of FREE podcasts out there on learning another language. Look under the education tab and there they are.

I am fairly new to the whole podcast thing but they are great. Exercise is boring and having ssome history lectures to listen to make the time go by much faster (yes, I'm a geek).

[Wapsie B]

37. I will check that out!

Podcasts on Itunes. And free, which is my price. :P

[spinbaby]

40. Oh, yes, check the podcasts

I subscribe to JapanesePod101. It's got a new lesson every day and is fun to listen to. Can't beat it for free.

[Zavulon]

34. Be sure to try this

http://www.synergyspanish.com/lessons/4chapters

A very good place to start, and the four chapters are free.

Another thing you can do: when you're watching a DVD, have the Spanish subtitles on.

[Wapsie B]

38. Thanks for the link!

:)

[bleedingheart]

35. I asked my european friends how they learned english and they said

"from watching US TV"

now they took classes in english but they said the best way to learn was watching TV...

So...I would say..take a class or buy a book...and rent foreign films...

[Wapsie B]

39. Yeah, I have heard that english is a hard one to learn too.

I know someone else talked about Telemundo. But I don't think I'm quite ready for that.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

45. Don't worry whether you're "ready" for Spanish TV

When I taught Japanese, I used videos of Japanese soap operas (because they're the easiest to understand), found passages of dialogue that the students should be able to understand, and figured out questions to ask them.

For example, say there's a scene with two women having coffee in a cafe. They're talking very earnestly, and one of them says, "I don't know what's wrong with my husband. I think he might be sick."

So I would show the scene to the students and ask, "Why is the woman on the right worried?"

Well, they could be expected to understand that she was worried because she thought her husband might be sick.

On an even simpler level, after we had learned the names of different family members (mother, father, etc.), I showed some sequences in which people were introducing members of their families and asked the students how the characters were related to each other.

It gave the students a feeling of accomplishment to have understood some real Japanese intended for native speakers.

I sometimes watch Telemundo or Univision, just to see how much I remember of high school Spanish, and I find that it's MUCH easier to understand with the closed captioning on. (Yes, the Spanish channels are close-captioned, too.)

[Wapsie B]

50. The only thing I was concerned about is the pace of speech

and hearing the words just fly by without giving me a chance to even wonder what they said, let alone comprehend it. But I see your point too. Close captioning would help.
Thanks.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

63. One mistake that language courses make is getting the students

accustomed to slow speech. In real life, there's no such thing as Slow Spanish. Any unfamiliar language is going to sound too fast. Actually, the language isn't too fast. You're just listening too slowly. :-)

I prefer the approach in which students start out by hearing short sentences at normal speed.

When I first learned Japanese, my instructors (native speakers) were told by the supervisor of the course to say everything at normal speed. They could repeat any number of times, but they couldn't slow down.

As a result, by the time I got to Japan, I didn't feel as if people were talking too fast. Mumbling, yes, but not talking too fast.

At that time, Japanese television had an irritating habit of repeating the same 10-second commercial three times in a row. Well, it was irritating, but it was great for my listening comprehension, especially if that sequence of commercials was repeated several times during a program.

[Wapsie B]

64. Listening too slowly,

boy I'll need to really focus on that one. :)

[begin_within]

41. The only real way is to live someplace where you're effectively forced to speak that language

All the books and videos and lessons and classes in the world will only get you so far... the best way by far to learn a language is to live someplace where that is the dominant language. At the moment when you start thinking to yourself in that language, then you've got it. In my high school, some Spanish 101 students spent the summer vacation in Mexico, and when they came back in the fall, instead of going to Spanish 201 they went into Spanish 401.

[Wapsie B]

48. Yeah, that seems to be a very popular way of doing it.

I want a beginner's background at least before I do something like that.

[Critters2]

44. I've heard good things about Rosetta Stone

Also, watch Telemundo and Univision.

[Wapsie B]

51. Yeah, got those on my list.

Just gotta afford TV & cable again and I'll do the Telemundo thing with close captioning.

[Critters2]

53. Go over to Clarion and hang around the Tienda

there. If you tell people you're trying to learn Spanish, I'll bet they'd be willing to help. I knew some good folks there when I was there.

[Wapsie B]

60. Yes that's true.

Also true about your Decoster comment above unfortunately.

[JVS]

47. Watch all 5 Planet of the Apes movies in the target language

[Wapsie B]

52. Serious?

I didn't know that Spanish was the target language for those.

[JVS]

54. "target language" means whatever language it is you want to learn

[Wapsie B]

59. Ok thanks.

Just never heard that term before.

[Courtesy Flush]

58. Movies are hard to learn from

I watch Italian moves pretty often. They speak quickly, and not always clearly. Same is true for American films, but we can understand them. Sometimes the dialog contains phrases I already know, and I STILL can't understand.

The best way to learn is with a tutor, or immersion. When you're speaking with someone face to face, they see that you need them to speak carefully and clearly. That makes a difference.

[Frank Cannon]

67. Movies are great to learn from, but you're right

It's best to choose children's or "family" films where the pace of dialogue is a little bit slower. Setting the "language" to French or Spanish or whatever and also setting the subtitles to the same language really works. You can follow the dialogue as best you can but then look to the subtitles only when you need a little help.

[MysticalChicken]

55. I might check out this Rosetta Stone thing...

I kind of want to learn French, mostly for bragging purposes, but also so I can read Jane Eyre in its entirety and not wonder what the fuck Adéle is saying.

[Wapsie B]

61. Yes I will.

Maybe I can find one at a decent price or free from the library.

[Courtesy Flush]

57. I'm learning Italian now

With Pimsleur lessons. They're good, but if you make a list of all you learned in 30 lessons, it would be a short list. They repeat a lot of stuff over and over. I know how important repetition is, but at the same time, it's not a lot of info. I can click the rewind button for repetition. I'd rather they teach more of the language.

I'm thinking about getting a microphone and making my own MP3 lessons directly from my Italian/English dictionary. I'll cover a lot more ground that way, and I can choose words and phrases that are relevant to me.

I'm an artist, so I can put on my audio lessons as I paint. Makes double use of my time.

[Wapsie B]

62. Yeah, something I can listen to while I'm doing something else

would be great,

[jmowreader]

66. Simple, three-step procedure

Step 1: take a six-month leave of absence from your job.

Step 2: get a job in a slaughterhouse. (Bushwentawol's from Iowa. You can do that there.)

Step 3: eat lunch with your co-workers every day.

You'll sound like a native in no time.