Best Way to Learn a New Language

Intensive week or two of Spanish classes with homestay in Antigua, Guatemala.  Very cheap, and you can combine it with vacation.

Brian 

My BF is using the Rosetta Stone program to learn German (he wants to be able to talk to my parents.... I am a lazy interpreter) and he likes it...

I was watching him using the program and I think it really makes sense and things start to stick with him... I think it's the combination of reading, listening comprehension, seeing the corresponding pics and they also have a modul to train your pronounciation, but he hasn't tried that one yet.... Currently I am the judge of that one.

I am thinking about starting with Spanish again (3rd time) and will do it with Rosetta Stone as well.

Thanks!

(also about the library tip from the other poster).

I have a couple years of french in HS, but that didn't stick much.  It did come back a little when I just spent a couple days over there.  Surprising that I could also understand a little spanish and italian too (Romance languages)...

However, spanish may be more practical, and I have tons of people around here to practice with.

Smuggle drugs through a foreign country and get caught...

A few decades in a foreign prison and you should be good to go...

I learned Spanish through school (high school, minor in college) and through immersion with a little over 18 months in Central America. I'm using Pimsleur (sp) now and then for Porteguese and I like it.

Bottom line though, even with my background in Spanish when I don't use it for a while it's a perishable skill. I use it maybe once every week or two at work.  Overall I've always loved learning new languages, even if all I learned to say was "Drop your weapon! Show me you hands! and Get on the ground NOW!"

Being bilingual or multilingual is a great thing especially if you travel. I knew maybe 20 words and phrases in Arabic when I went to Egypt and people really appreciate it when you don't just walk in a say "Anybody in here speak Englsh?"

Funny story: I was called to the ER one day to translate for a patient who didn't speak English. SO I walk in and there's this Vietnamese lady sitting on the exam table. She sort of looks at me and I sort of look at her, and that was about it. So I walk back out:

Nurse: What did she say?
Me: Nothin'. She doesn't speak English.
Nurse: You didn't translate?
Me: I'm pretty sure she doesn't speak Spanish either.
Nurse: I thought you were a translator.
Me: You mean, like, any language into English?
Nurse: Well yeah, that's what a translator does...
Me: Oh...

puellasolis - 2008-12-10 10:57 AM I can't advise you on the software front, but to supplement it--assuming that an extended stay in another country is out of the question--x2 on what other people said about tv and movies for pronunciation and cadence, in-person conversations with native speakers, and inebriation. Seriously, my French and German are strikingly more fluent when I've had a few beers. When I realized that ("hey, I really can speak this language without tripping over every fifth word", my confidence level went up and I spoke more fluently even when I wasn't drinking.

Wow. I thought it was just me. Exact same experience.

Wow that sounds like alot of fun!

I learned Spanish in El Salvador. I bought all of the books, tapes, and even some computer programs before I went that taught me the basics. But there is NOTHING like being in an environment where no one speaks English. I learned more in 2 weeks in El Salvador than I did from all of my books.

A side note - I love languages and am working on Russian, Arabic, and ASL. But one word of caution - I have found that the more languages you work on you can start jumbling up words and accents. I think its good to choose the language that is MOST important to you and really foccus on that one. Right now I am trying not to speak Russian with a Spanish accent....sigh... 

puellasolis - 2008-12-10 10:57 AM I can't advise you on the software front, but to supplement it--assuming that an extended stay in another country is out of the question--x2 on what other people said about tv and movies for pronunciation and cadence, in-person conversations with native speakers, and inebriation. Seriously, my French and German are strikingly more fluent when I've had a few beers. When I realized that ("hey, I really can speak this language without tripping over every fifth word", my confidence level went up and I spoke more fluently even when I wasn't drinking.

 I've met more than one person who's looks improve with alcohol, not to mention their ability to stops bullets..... I took German in high school and never used it. Years ago I ran into an old friend. We were both drinking and as the evening progressed this guy starts speaking to me in German. I'm understanding him and conversing in German myself. Weird thing how something clicked. I don't know if an actual German could have understood our conversation, but we were able to effectively communicate with each other.

start young,, like before you start speaking English.. I used to watch sesame street in French and spoke it until I kept getting stuck in the corner for not speaking English in school..

If you don't want to move or vacation somewhere for the immersion idea,, find out if there are any Clubs/groups of the language you want to speak and hang out with them locally

Actually, I've heard (and with a Masters in German, I've been around alot of people who learn foreign languages) that most people tend to speak any additional foreign languages with the accent of the first foreign language you learned really well (hence your Spanish accent in Russian).  I've taken a few additional languages since becoming basically fluent in German (and lived in Poland for 5 months) and I always get mistaken for a German, never an American.

As to the original poster, Rosetta Stone is very good.  Not sure where you work, but if it does anything international or is at all governmental, you might be able to get it through work.  I have a friend who works for Siemens who is waiting for one of their licenses to come free and I can get modules through work (government contractor) too.

Hahaha thats funny - makes sense - glad I'm not the only one!

It depends on what you want to learn the new language for.

If you just want a new language for conversation, I'd recommend the following three:

-Rosetta Stone
-Pimsleur (not as cool as RS b/c RS is all computer-based and has cool illustrations/video, but Pimsleur teaches you to actually converse interactively in the language earlier IMO)
-Barron's (Barron's is additionally helpful if you ever want to use the language for business or more formally)

Sometimes you can get one at a university, or craigslist for a language partner--someone you trade English conversation with for whatever language it is you want to learn. Cheap and maybe make a new friend.

Bill - 2008-12-10 12:03 PM

puellasolis - 2008-12-10 10:57 AM I can't advise you on the software front, but to supplement it--assuming that an extended stay in another country is out of the question--x2 on what other people said about tv and movies for pronunciation and cadence, in-person conversations with native speakers, and inebriation. Seriously, my French and German are strikingly more fluent when I've had a few beers. When I realized that ("hey, I really can speak this language without tripping over every fifth word", my confidence level went up and I spoke more fluently even when I wasn't drinking.

Wow. I thought it was just me. Exact same experience.

I guess that is how I learned English at least my conversational English... Oh well... I had it in school for 9 years, than took it in college for 2... But really having a fluent conversation was a six months internship in the U.K. and a lot of beer... Funny thing is that around here, only people that actually speak some German can identify me as a German native, everybody else thinks I am British.... If that is good or bad... I don't know! :-)

Also, watching tv in the language really helps... At the beginning I switched on the closed captioning a lot, so I could read and hear at the same time... But you can pick up a lot of crap on tv as well... Bad language, bad grammar.... But it definitely helps to build an everyday vocabulary.