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French and english
first I started taking some classes but I had to pay for that, then I stopped taking them because I started having some financial problems so the only thing I did to improve my language was reading some french and english books, wacthing movies, and listening to music and of course I used to look for the lyrics and try to understand the songs, and by every morning I take my french and english dictionaries and try to pick randomly 5 words and learn them by heart.
French and english
first I started taking some classes but I had to pay for that, then I stopped taking them because I started having some financial problems so the only thing I did to improve my language was reading some french and english books, wacthing movies, and listening to music and of course I used to look for the lyrics and try to understand the songs, and by every morning I take my french and english dictionaries and try to pick randomly 5 words and learn them by heart.
A now-retired co-worker of mine has been learning German through CDs and podcasts in his car, rote recitation to and from work, and probably some written lessons at home.
Another co-worker of mine has been learning Swahili for ten years. She's about to take her third trip to Tanzania. She took formal classes originally as part of the religious mission she joined. But she also found a Swahili language club where we live. They meet in the back room of a restaurant. She likes to start conversations with Swahili words, mostly for her own practice, but also because she knows I can't understand her and she gets a kick out of that.
Language is not my strength. I'm almost 40 so I can't imagine a point where I will be able to learn a foreign language. I got my first "C" in my first Spanish class in the seventh grade. I took Spanish classes for six years but never reached a point where I could hold a conversation. Interestingly, I found taking Spanish classes improved my English vocabulary, probably through the discovery of common latin roots. American Spanish-language media (Univision on TV, La Gran D on the radio, for example) speaks much more slowly than the typical native Spanish speaker.
Vietnamese, Rosetta stone
As far as bang for the buck I think Rosetta Stone is great.
I took a conversational Spanish class and I think dollar for dollar you get a lot more with Rosetta Stone.
That being said if you are really serious about learning a language you may have to spend some money. Rosetta Stone in combination with formal classes and whatever else you can get your hands on is probably best.
I haven't been able to find a Vietnamese class but if I do I'll be taking it.
I have often wondered about Rosetta Stone, but honestly, when their ads talk about "learning a second language the same way you learned your first" (or something like that), I always think to myself, But I don't WANT to learn that way -- I WANT to understand the grammar, sentence structure, etc. (That to me is the key difference between learning your native language and learning a second language -- with a second language learned as a teenager or adult, you can understand the "rules" of the language instead of just mimicking native speakers.) So I'm not sure Rosetta Stone or programs like it would work for me.
I took Spanish and French throughout high school, then added German in college since that was the only language offered in the evening (I worked full-time during the day). I can still read Spanish and French fairly well but have retained maybe 1% of my German. Hard to retain a language without using it, alas.
One of my closest friends is a Russian woman -- I would love to study that language (have wanted to since I was a teenager living at the height of the Cold War!) but Spanish and French seem more useful.
To those of you who studied a second language: do you remember at what point you started to "think" in that language? Even at my best, I never felt like I was "thinking" in the foreign language -- I was still translating things in my head (sometimes extremely FAST translation, but translation nonetheless).
To those of you who studied a second language: do you remember at what point you started to "think" in that language? Even at my best, I never felt like I was "thinking" in the foreign language -- I was still translating things in my head (sometimes extremely FAST translation, but translation nonetheless).
Just for myself. I never think of another language as needing to be translated. I've always learned with the concept of simply adding vocabulary. Of course it results in my thoughts being an intermingling of words from different languages.
The only languages outside of English I've had formal training in are Darija(Moroccan Arabic), German and French.
I've learned a few others simply from exposure while living in the countries.
oh, learning languages is really my hobby) i know the Russian Language, German and now trying to learn Chenesee. Very diffult as for me( whant to give up, but I still hope torich seccess!!
While no one can really be perfect in a second language, I consider my Spanish to be completely fluent. I understand colloquial speech from many countries, the humor and culture. I can sit down with my girlfriend's family and joke back and forth and talk any subject.
The year I decided to learn Spanish was when I moved to Miami. I guess you could say it gave me an unfair advantage because nobody there speaks English. Either way, I absolutely fell in love with Spanish and nearly everything I did was in Spanish. I met a Colombian girl whose main language was Spanish so I got good there.
I would say after my first year of learning Spanish, I was pretty good. I could hold a conversation on most subjects and be able to get my point across. My second year of Spanish was when I got even better and started being able to just think in it and not have to actually think about what I was saying. Just speaking it naturally. My 3rd/4th year I was really good and had no problems conversing.
Skip ahead and I'm now in my 7th year of it and a part of me actually feels more comfortable speaking Spanish than English. English will, of course always be my native language but I am better at meeting people, interacting with people, conversing and even dating in Spanish. My girlfriend of over a year will be moving in with me next month, and we have still never actually spoken to each other in English.
Tried teaching myself Portuguese as well, and I caught on ok.... but never had that same love for it and I wouldn't consider myself to be anything above an intermediate level. It has gone downhill over the years, but even at my best I would say that I could have a halfway decent conversation.. but I'd never be able to just sit down at a table with Brasilians at a table and joke around.
Tried learning Russian, low amount of time and was quite unsuccessful. I started catching on, but lost track and quickly forgot everything I learned. Chinese had the same fate.
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