Learning a foreign language.

Mistral001

GwylimT wrote: »

Personally I think the best way is just to use that language where possible, for exampls watch TV shows or even familiar cartoons in that language such as the Simpsons. .

I would second that. If you have already seen the TV programme a few times in English before watching it in the foreign language I have found that it is less of an ordeal and you can learn more.

WantToBeSE

Sorry to butt in, but where/how can you watch TV shows like The Simpsons in different languages? I am starting to learn French at the moment and think this would really help.

matt-comparison

I think that learning a new language requires both dedication, time and opportunity to practice.

Dedication because it's tough even if you have a feel for languages.
Time because you have to practice a certain amount of hours each and every day at least for the first few years to really master a language.
Opportunity to practice means that you have to find a practice use that will force you to continue develop your lingual skills... if you study German but never use it besides for the purpose of learning, it's bound to fail. Listen to German music, read the German papers, find German friends whom you can speak German to, and it is bound to succeed.

In my case I studied English as an additional language (not my mother tongue) and I am still sharpening my skills every day and every minute.

Mistral001

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Sorry to butt in, but where/how can you watch TV shows like The Simpsons in different languages? I am starting to learn French at the moment and think this would really help.

It is surprising what comes up when you do a search on Youtube substituting "le" for "the" in the English title. I am not sure what you do if there is no "the" in the original title!

PlymouthMaid

I have been learning Spanish for a while. Did two years at evening class but then could not afford the fees so I am using Coffeebreak Spanish when I remember. A lot of dvds have the option to listen in other languages - I am planning to watch Frasier in Spanish sometime.

Mistral001

PlymouthMaid wrote: »

I have been learning Spanish for a while. Did two years at evening class but then could not afford the fees so I am using Coffeebreak Spanish when I remember. A lot of dvds have the option to listen in other languages - I am planning to watch Frasier in Spanish sometime.

I looked at Coffeebreak. I have not heard of it before. You can get quite a lot of free audio clips. The German one has 40 clips, each about 25 minutes long. The clips I listened to do not give you any chance to repeat words and phrases. I think you need practice putting together sentence out loud to learn a language. Or, at least I find that anyway.

PlymouthMaid

The ones I have do give time to plan a response before they give the answers but I dont know if they are all still available as I downloaded them eons ago.

Mistral001

PlymouthMaid wrote: »

The ones I have do give time to plan a response before they give the answers but I dont know if they are all still available as I downloaded them eons ago.

I have looked at the Spanish version of the site and notice that that is the way it is done. Also there seems to be a lot more free clips than with the German version. French seems to be equally well covered as Spanish.

double_mummy

the kids and i are learning hebrew

we watch disney movies in hebrew especially ones with songs that we know in my LO can now sing all the songs in frozen in both languages

on youtube you can find the simpsons in pretty much every language

we are very lucky that we have lots of native speakers in the family so we skype at least once a week

we play games and use it day to day so it can help if you are doing it with someone in the house hold

DaveTheGeordie

Pimsleur is up there with the best.

Also media.

And, I've never done this, as I don't game now but if you game then try joining an e.g. German speaking guild. Explain your situation, they might laugh but I'd imagine one would let you join.