Learning A New Language?

[nickyboy]

I think User76 is right about the wiring in the brain, hence we all have different abilities regarding different subjects, being languages, maths, chemistry etc..... I speak fluent French and English but may struggle to learn a third language.
Nickyboy, I do night classes in French and I can assure you that mine are all about conversation because that's what people want. You are welcome to join my classes.

I'd love to but I always seem to encounter a problem with another language. I speak OK-ish Mandarin. I used to be able to speak basic schoolboy French but now, when I try, somehow the Mandarin comes out in the middle of the French. So unless, by a miracle, the French speaker also speaks Mandarin, I sound ridiculous

The problem with learning Mandarin is that there is an assumption that if you can't read it you can't learn to speak it which is completely untrue. You certainly can't become truly fluent without being able to read it well but for day-to-day conversation there is no need. For my work, everyday chat is the level I need so I can't be bothered to learn the 2000 most common characters necessary to read

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Talking about content available, I always found it frustrating finding higher quality soundtracks for Italian.

Since netflix launched in 130 countries and launched slowly on its worldwide licencing strategy there's a fair bit of stuff in French/German/Italian. A while back there was virtually nothing in some languages.

I've always found the audio in films rather difficult. Do you listen to the radio much? There's a cracking radio station in Australia called SBS which broadcasts in 74 languages. It helped me a great deal with my Italian as the speakers enunciate clearly and the programmes are short and interesting. They deal with all sorts of areas, from employment, politics, immigration (and emigration), science, entertainment etc. Go to their Your Languages page and choose your target language. I subscribe to their podcasts too.

GC

 

[Globalti]

French Institute in London does evening classes.

Listen to Sandrine Kiberlain who sings clear French with a cut-glass Parisian accent. Nice songs too.

Go to a French bar and get drunk to lose your inhibitions.

 

[John the Monkey]

I like duolingo as a way to keep ticking over.

If it helps to listen to French, there's a nice short podcast "One Thing in a French Day" and if you're more confident, things like the France Info "One Day, One Question" podcast. Whilst the "French Podclass" only updates infrequently, there is a back catalogue of 99 or so episodes.

 

[Fnaar]

Writing as someone who used to train language teachers in how to teach languages, my twopenn'orth is:
1) If at all possible, find someone you can talk to in the foreign language. Maybe approach local language schools/FE Colleges/Universities and see if any of their English-learning students want to do a language swap (or simply pop in and stick a postacard on their noticeboards, or if you prefer a more modern approach, tweet to them)
2) Listen to radio as much as poss in your target language (e.g. see http://tunein.com/ ; plenty of stations to listen to, obv talk-radio is better, though listening to songs (not instrumentals ) has its place too.
3) Watch foreign TV online... again., there are loads of options.
4) Don't get too hung up on grammar at first. Clearly a basic knowledge will help (parts of speech and so on). But it's important to realise that learning the textbook grammar does not equate with having a functional and useful ability to communicate in the language. In order to communicate better, learn loads of vocabulary (e.g. in English, book, table, car, time etc), and also phrases (e.g. in English what's the time?, can you tell me the way to...? how are you? good to see you, see you later, have you seen my...? nice weather, isn't it? ... and so on). These serve recognisable everyday functions, and will be far more useful, at least initially, than learning (for example) that the Present Perfect in Spanish is called the preterito perfecto and can be used rather differently from how we use the equivalent in English.


Bonne chance, as they say.

 

[marinyork]

I've always found the audio in films rather difficult. Do you listen to the radio much? There's a cracking radio station in Australia called SBS which broadcasts in 74 languages. It helped me a great deal with my Italian as the speakers enunciate clearly and the programmes are short and interesting. They deal with all sorts of areas, from employment, politics, immigration (and emigration), science, entertainment etc. Go to their Your Languages page and choose your target language. I subscribe to their podcasts too.

GC

Never heard of that, interesting, and no I don't listen to radio much, but probably should.

 

[jim55]

Can anybody recommend a free audiobook I can listen to on my phone through earphones in a foreign language ( Spanish ) I just listen to Spanish radio just now but maybe I could follow a book

 

[classic33]

@Blue learned Greek. Mix of books, audio and video as far as I remember.

 

[classic33]

I love languages, but the most difficult one I ever had a go at was British Sign Language. I don't think there's any other way to learn it except from a fluent native sign user, as it requires the learner to abandon all their preconceptions about communicating in spoken languages and start from scratch with new parameters set in space and time. It was fun and really fascinating though, and a very beautiful language. I'd recommend it to anyone who might be wondering what their next challenge should be.

Is there more than one version of sign language in English?

See it, sign language, in use and the ease at which they use it is "annoying".

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Fluencia is quite good for holiday Spanish.

Duolingo is doing its best to make me speak some Swedish.

 

[nickyboy]

[QUOTE="User13710, post: 4251907, member: 13710

I have never found watching a fluent signer "annoying", any more than I find a fluent talker annoying, so I'm not sure what you mean there.[/QUOTE]

Not so sure about that, but that is down to my own inadequacies more than anything else. When I hear a westerner speaking really good Chinese, I want to punch their lights out

 

[Blue]

@Blue learned Greek. Mix of books, audio and video as far as I remember.

That's correct.
What applies to Greek may not apply to other languages but, FWIW I found Pimsleur useful for some basic vocab., but poor on the grammar, whilst Michel Thomas was useful for grammar but poor on vocab. With Michel Thomas some languages (not Greek) have an additional vocab builder course - which increases the cost!

 

[donnydave]

Duolingo has been good for my French (good enough for holidays) but I have recognised that I am useless at self directed learning. I'll be super enthusiastic for a couple of weeks then it will tail off. I don't think you can beat lessons with an actual proper teacher and lots of speaking practice, preferably throughout the day when you're not expecting it. The biggest single step I made was getting over the embarassment factor at being wrong and just saying something that sort of vaguely conveys what you want to say. Pimsleur was ok for Japanese as a start but was soon superseded by lessons with a native speaker. I now look forward to those lessons and will do revision mid week because if I don't, I feel like I'm letting the teacher down, and letting the group with whom I'm studying down. This is way worse than just letting yourself down .

The same has applied to learning the guitar. I've tried to teach myself for years and was ok (to my ears) but reached a level where I couldnt really do any more and started to lose interest. I now have a lesson once a week and I'm playing more than ever before because I don't wan't to look stupid in front of the teacher, so I actually try and it motivates me to do good structured practice rather than just picking up the guitar for an hour every month and twiddling about.

 

[byegad]

Total immersion is the answer. I failed 'O' level on three occasions at worse grades each time.

In my 30s and mad about military history I 'did' the D-day beaches and breakouts from Normandy. I was alone in France for over 3 weeks and my spoken French went from bad and limited to good enough for any holiday use including negotiating repairs to a car and visits with a son to the local A&E and the local GP for my tonsilitis.

My French is, I suspect, still bad but good enough to get by in most situations, including being propositioned by a lady of relaxed virtue one night in a Paris street. I declined politely and got an impromptu lesson in rather rude French for my troubles!