Learning a foreign language

angelahorn

Have a look at Duolingo - it's a new free online language program and I am storming ahead with French on it. I have become evangelical about it because I'm enjoying it so much, but am nothing to do with the business, honest! You can do Spanish or German too, and apparently other languages are promised. It's fun, especially if you're competitive. See https://www.duolingo.com and also reviews on

http://www.fluentin3months.com/duolingo/

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428330/startup-has-language-learners-translating-the-web/

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402570,00.asp

mynameisclare

For anyone else interested in Spanish, these people have lots of really good (and free) podcasts, at various levels. You can purchase extra materials too, but I've not done so, so can't say if they're worth it.

http://www.notesinspanish.com/

Mistral001

I must admit I really struggled with keeping up my learning of German over the last few months since I started this thread. The big problem was having a chance to use the language.

By the way Youtube is very very good these days. There are 1000's of clips there. I found the Woltersworld series there very good. Also DeutschHappen.

I think for those of us who struggled learning languages at school, there is hope as the great thing about learning a language away from the classroom is that you are free to learn what you want. Formal courses follow a very strict vocabulary. I did French at school for 5 years and as far as I can remember we did not do the past tense. It is maybe not as important when you are younger, but I found that some past tense is very very useful almost from the start.

I have eased off in my learning of a foreign language, but I would not rule it out for the future if only I could get a way of practicing it.

CupOfChai

I'd love to become fluent in another language, but as you say a big problem is if you can't use it all the time then you forget it, and of course I have the same problem with the cost of lessons or materials. The self-study courses, like Michel Thomas and Rosetta Stone, do they teach just the speaking or is it reading and writing as well? From what I see those sorts of courses seem to teach only or mainly speaking, but I want to be able to read and write in the language as well as speak it.

alyth

I've just started Mandarin lessons via skype. I studied out in China for a month last year, and passed my madarin language exams, and have tried to keep it up but it is hard. I live in a rural area and there is no one up here that speaks mandarin, despite posting on gumtree, facebook, uni website.

I get a one hour skype class each week, from my tutor I had in China, and I discipline myself to do at least half an hour a day - via youtube, the BBC website and a couple of other sites I have bookmarked. But it is really hard, mandarin isn't that difficult to learn, no tenses, only tones, but I'm missing the practice that I had whilst I was in China - I was out there for three weeks a couple of months ago and it all came flooding back, to the extent I was asked whether I spoke England at CDG!

You really do have to find someone to practice with from my experience. I speak French as for a month each year since I was a small child we used to holiday in France and I did it at school, and it's just been drummed into me from an early age and I still go to France each year. I'm worried that I won't be able to practice my mandarin and that I will be forced to go back to China - it's a tough life!

Mistral001

CupOfChai wrote: »

I'd love to become fluent in another language, but as you say a big problem is if you can't use it all the time then you forget it, and of course I have the same problem with the cost of lessons or materials. The self-study courses, like Michel Thomas and Rosetta Stone, do they teach just the speaking or is it reading and writing as well? From what I see those sorts of courses seem to teach only or mainly speaking, but I want to be able to read and write in the language as well as speak it.

Most courses that you get in CD form are based on the assumption that you will want to speak it rather than write it.

The German evening class I went to had written homework but it was not compulsary as it was designed for holiday and business trip German. However there are evening classes for learning a language for GCSE and A level and these would be built around written work I would imagine. Also there are calss which teach to international exam bodies rather than UK exams such as GCSE etc and these might be worth looking into.

There might be some computer-based courses where everything is done on the keyboard, but I have not come across any good ones.

uk_american

One additional option to add in. As others have mentioned, gumtree exchanges, etc, if you have the space/time, consider to host guests via free sites like http://www.couchsurfing.org/ or http://www.hospitalityclub.org/

Granted it's more MSE for the guests than you, since they do not pay to stay with you (it's more of a cultural exchange, so you provide meals and a sofa or bed for a few nights.) However, the guests are usually very nice and helpful since they are staying for free, and if you put in your profile that you'd like to practice your German, most will happily oblige. While the books, cds, etc. are a good foundation, having a live native speaker sitting at your table having a cup of tea and correcting/helping your pronunciation will help loads, to reinforce what you learn in the books, online, etc.

I lived in Germany a few years ago so I host German visitors a few times a year for a day or a few days in order to keep up the skills a little. Mainly, I get university students on their summer breaks, but older folks also use the site.

(Any questions about the sites, just ask. There are 'reviews' of the people wanting to be hosted so you do have an element of safety there. You only accept those visitors you would like to have.)

WolfSong2000

Can I just second the suggestion of having a native speaker of the language you're trying to learn around to help. I've upped the anti on my Somali language lessons as it's looking increasingly likely I will be working out there (just awaiting official job confirmation letter which should come end of this week/beginning of next) and as such I have been speaking with Somali friends online...aside from their genuine surprise that I am bothering to learn their language, they've been ssooo helpful and I've learned much more quickly than I do just going through my notes. I am still at the very beginner stage, so most of the conversation is in English, but I throw in the odd Somali word, and when they give me a sentence in Somali I ask them to translate the bits I don't understand. They also correct me when I mess up (which is often at the moment!). Even if I can just learn the language conversationally, it'll be a big help to me, so my friends assistance is invaluable. Somali's are also a nation of poets and are very fond of proverbs and sayings, many of which are beautiful. my favorite to date so far is:

"Aqoon la'aani waa iftin la'aan" which translates as "to be without knowledge is to be without light".

Sjones77

I'm learning French and have got to an intermediate level now so need to work on my writing skills. From what I am reading we all have different methods of learning. For me what has worked is talking to natives so I use the Easy Language Exchange

This one works for me because I can save all my conversations by chat and also speak to native french people. I talk to them at least once a week at a set time and I'm really starting to learn quickly. I've also picked up lots of information from fluent in 3 months

I'll be visiting this site regularly to look for any other tips from other user's.

Rebecca.

I find https://www.memrise.com great for building up your vocabulary.