How to learn a new language??

[JS19]

As of right now I have A LOT of time on my hands. So far today has gotten so boring I have decided to try and do something about it. I figure I have always wanted to learn a second language, either spanish or italian. Anyone have any ideas on how to go about doing this? I take it there are some books and such that are out there.

[QuikSand]

I recommend you Tivo Sabado Gigante and watch it every night, all week long. Repeat every week. Not only will you learn Spanish in a flash, but you won't need that Viagra prescroption, either.

[rkmsuf]

I suggest you learn Jive.

[Bee]

Move to another country where you have to speak their language.

[colt45]

Immersion is the easiest way, but if not, get online and find some Italian kid tv shows or news programs... double that with practice/books. Basically, it's just difficult to do on your own if you can't hear the sounds. Community college classes are also a good idea. As for books, I've found Barron's to be the best aide.

[QuikSand]

Honestly, immersion is really the best way to learn to speak another language. You won't become an expert with written construction, but speaking can be surprisinly fluid to pick up.

Your public library is likely to have tapes or CDs that help with spoken Italian or Spanish, and they might prove useful. But being in an environment where you have to use it is really the best way by far. Watching some Spanish-language TV isn't bad (especially if you have some foundation already), and the view isn't awful either, generally speaking.

[JS19]

Thanks for the suggestions. I should have specified however that the reaon I have so much time is bc of an injury, so getting out and about isnt really an option. I'll pick up a few books and some audio stuff, setting the Tivo for Sabado Gigante sounds like a can't lose situation also.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Ugh. I miss Sabado Gigante. I don't get Univision here. :(

[colt45]

Everybody wins with Sabado Gigante! But really, you can't lose with any of the games shows on Telemundo or Univision. Your pants with thank you!

[NoMyths]

I should have specified however that the reaon I have so much time is bc of an injury, so getting out and about isnt really an option.
You've, uh, mentioned it once or twice.

[Daimyo]

The Pimsleur series is pretty good, but I think it's pricey.

[Ryan S]

The Pimsleur series is pretty good, but I think it's pricey.

I second this.

Given the hefty price of the Pimsleur series audio books it would be worth checking your local libraries to see if they have copies.

[MIJB#19]

Posting at a forum in what isn't your native language can also do wonders.

[SackAttack]

Posting at a forum in what isn't your native language can also do wonders.

Yeah, but that's written construction and means bupkis for speaking it.

I was one of the best students in my high school AP French class when it came to *written* French. Spoken? I think the recorded part of the exam consisted of "Uh....well, shit. I mean merde."

We got hardly any verbal instruction for the first three years, and so I could communicate in French if I wrote it down, but couldn't do a damn thing when it came to speaking it.

Same thing for him (and possibly for you). You can understand the language well enough to translate both what you read and what you want to say, but that doesn't mean you can actually *speak* it if you aren't in an environment conducive to doing so.

For you, maybe you have plenty of opportunities to speak English in the Netherlands. Not so much Italian in the US, though, outside of the ubiquitous "Little Italy."

[MIJB#19]

Yeah, but that's written construction and means bupkis for speaking it.

I was one of the best students in my high school AP French class when it came to *written* French. Spoken? I think the recorded part of the exam consisted of "Uh....well, shit. I mean merde."

We got hardly any verbal instruction for the first three years, and so I could communicate in French if I wrote it down, but couldn't do a damn thing when it came to speaking it.

Same thing for him (and possibly for you). You can understand the language well enough to translate both what you read and what you want to say, but that doesn't mean you can actually *speak* it if you aren't in an environment conducive to doing so.

For you, maybe you have plenty of opportunities to speak English in the Netherlands. Not so much Italian in the US, though, outside of the ubiquitous "Little Italy."Well, it sure does help that half of the tv programs shown here are in English, plus I think I actually can speak English too. Still, for my vocabulair writing in English does do the trick. It helps that I actually think in English when I'm in it. But this isn't about me personally, it's about what how one can learn a language. Obivously I already had some knowledge when I started writing in English on a daily base, but I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to write, think and also speak in English as well as I do now if I had never discovered FOFC. And that's what I mean, once you've built a basis, practising is the only way to keep up and improve on a foreign language.

[oykib]

Man, you've just brought up one of my biggest problems. I'm still terrible at Japanese. I had to go through the process of getting an apartment here in Japanese a couple of months ago. Murder...

[-Mojo Jojo-]

There are helpful language tutorials on the internet..

like this one... (hxxp://www.fazed.org/video/?id=270&go)

[Young Drachma]

Esperanto, anyone?

[FrogMan]

Well, it sure does help that half of the tv programs shown here are in English, plus I think I actually can speak English too. Still, for my vocabulair writing in English does do the trick. It helps that I actually think in English when I'm in it. But this isn't about me personally, it's about what how one can learn a language. Obivously I already had some knowledge when I started writing in English on a daily base, but I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to write, think and also speak in English as well as I do now if I had never discovered FOFC. And that's what I mean, once you've built a basis, practising is the only way to keep up and improve on a foreign language.

I tend to agree with this, being in a very similar situation to yours MIJB, with maybe some more help from being so close to the States. My thinking is that building vocabulary is the basis of everythign. The more words you know and know of to use, the better you'll be able to make yourself understood once the chance to speak comes.

I was "lucky" to be offered a job in the States for 18 months so I refined my English then, but prior to that, I had built a good basis of vocabulary by exchanging with friends in the States back and forth by email, mostly about fantasy football. Sure the first few weeks where a bit square when I had to live and work in English all the time but it took me no time to get that self confidence to speak, even in front of groups of employees and such.

As for your case JS19, I understand that your mobility is kind of limited. In your case, watching TV and hearing as much of the new language as you can would be the way to go, in addition to either taking classes or using learning tapes/cds.

FM

[JonInMiddleGA]

MIJB, I think you do a good job with your writing in English, and I've actually noticed several times situations where I thought it improved from what it would have been 4,000+ posts ago. With that said, I hope you won't mind me asking a question about something that I've noticed you doing a few times in the past as well as once in your post in this thread.
(In other words, I'm certainly not picking on your English, I'm just genuinely curious about something)

Once in a while, you will use a word correctly once in a post but then have a minor mistake on the same word later in the post. Something similar happened in this post, so I thought I would ask about it.

Obivously I already had some knowledge when I started writing in English on a daily base, but I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to write, think and also speak in English as well as I do now if I had never discovered FOFC. And that's what I mean, once you've built a basis, practising is the only way to keep up and improve on a foreign language.

Some of the grammar experts here might correct me if I'm wrong, but in conversational English, it appears that you've switched the two words. I would say "on a daily basis" and "built a base" whereas you used them in the opposite way.

It's not something you do all the time but it is something that I've noticed before, at least often enough that I'm aware of it. My question is whether these may simply be typographical errors or if they're caused by either not being sure of the intended word to convey your meaning and/or possibly having two words that are similiar in sound and spelling be difficult to use in close proximity to each other? (I wonder about the last possiblity because it seems to happen more often when you have two similar words in the same post)

To be honest, I believe you probably make the same or fewer errors than a lot of people who have English as a first language, so I hope you aren't offended or anything by my question. I just thought that I would go ahead and ask the question instead of being silently curious.

[FrogMan]

It's not something you do all the time but it is something that I've noticed before, at least often enough that I'm aware of it. My question is whether these may simply be typographical errors or if they're caused by either not being sure of the intended word to convey your meaning and/or possibly having two words that are similiar in sound and spelling be difficult to use in close proximity to each other? (I wonder about the last possiblity because it seems to happen more often when you have two similar words in the same post)

Jon, I can't really speak for MIJB as my knowledge of the Dutch language is pretty limited (well I got none ;)) but I can speak for myself (with the French language) as I could also be prone to these kind of mistakes. In the example you are giving, I could some problems with the way we write the same thing in French. "on a daily basis" could basically translate to "sur une base journalière" and as you can see, we use the word "base" in French where the right English word is "basis". Then again trying to reuse the word in back to back sentence, probably typing rapidly, it's easy for my brain to get mixed up...

FM

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jon, I can't really speak for MIJB as my knowledge of the Dutch language is pretty limited (well I got none ;)) but I can speak for myself (with the French language) as I could also be prone to these kind of mistakes. In the example you are giving, I could some problems with the way we write the same thing in French. "on a daily basis" could basically translate to "sur une base journalière" and as you can see, we use the word "base" in French where the right English word is "basis". Then again trying to reuse the word in back to back sentence, probably typing rapidly, it's easy for my brain to get mixed up...

FM

Thanks FrogMan. It's just sort of interesting (to me at least) to consider the actual processes that take place when switching between languages.

[FrogMan]

Thanks FrogMan. It's just sort of interesting (to me at least) to consider the actual processes that take place when switching between languages.

that's cool, it's actually very interesting when you think about it. I don't speak English much nowadays, although I write it quite often (proof to the point: my average in posts per day here ;)), but I always almost surprise myself whenever the need comes to speak it. Take this morning for example. We had some suppliers here to visit us and although I don't order anything, I often have to deal with them by email. Felt almost weird to go in the meeting and as it kicked in, turned off the "french thinking" and started thinking English (a bit like MIJB mentionned before in the thread) and everything came out as if I'd never stopped practicing...

FM

[FrogMan]

Jon, just remembered another funny one of those where words get mixed up. It happened when I was working down in Pittsfield MA, as the only non American in the place. I was the operations supervisor for a paper sorting facility where we basically collected, sorted, baled, and sold to paper mill different grades of papers from companies around the county. There's this term in French called "organisme" that translates quite directly to "organization", as in "non-profit organization" and "organisme sans but lucratif". Well, I was down on the sorting floor with a couple of my employees and I was talking about places where we could go collected and new places that we could get to recycle their paper and I wanted to point out one particular organization but couldn't for the life of me come up with the translation for "organisme" so I went with "organism" but I mumbled it a bit and it came out like "orgasm". :D The two guys in front of me kind of looked at each other, then at me with big question marks on their foreheads and one of them asked a very simple "a what??", to which I repeated the word and he replied that an "orgasm" can be a very pleasant thing but that he wasn't sure it was the word I was looking for. :D