Learning another language

Kitty

So, I've decided to act upon my wish to learn Greek, always wanted to and with my Grandparents living on and off in Cyprus it would be nice to speak it when I go into the village.

Anyone got any recommendations for what to use books wise or software? Is there any that are particularly good?

So far I've just been playing with free ipod apps.

Mynameisdann

I want to learn italian , same question as kittys but replace greek with italian pleaseee , sorry for semi hijack :P

CraigXXL

Best method is to learn the language by a native speaker either in the country of choice or find a willing tutor i.e Greek restaurant waiter. You will learn much faster and what is useful.

BlackSpur

The Rosetta Stone stuff is meant to be quite good.

Splottboy

My Welsh born friend Big Spiro, married a Greek girl. Her family ran the Corfu by Night.

Tried to learn the lingo, But..Momma and Poppa got in the way, big time.

Divorced now.

Whytepeak

Best is to go to a country where the language you want to master is spoken, then you will learn effectively. Failing that, find someone who can teach you, not necessarily a teacher, just someone who knows the language, that way you can ask them for definitions and rules.
Also, don't try and learn it all at once, you can spend all day 'learning' 100 words, but the chances that you will remember them all are slim. Instead just learn a few words a day, then you won't forget them....

I'm guessing you don't have a photographic memory?

welshkev

i learnt spanish by living there, but i guess you don't want to move to cyprus for 3 years

Tartanyak

BlackSpur wrote:

The Rosetta Stone stuff is meant to be quite good.

This. But it's nothing without a teacher. Find one. The rosetta stone stuff'll help you with the vocabulary though.

jpstar

I do French at school, and I must admit, when I go to France it improves no end. The best way really is to immerse yourself in it, you have no other option than to speak what you know, and people normally correct you if your slightly wrong.
Failing that use the multi-language British method: Look at person, point at something, speak loudly and slowly, repeat until accomplished.

jay12

when i moved from Poland to here it was quite easy becasue a) i was young, b) in school everyone spoke englis so that made a lot of the difference. a teacher that speaks it fluently is the next best thing really. also, learning a language takes time. took me about 3 years to speak fluently and i'm still learning words

welshkev

jpstar wrote:

I do French at school, and I must admit, when I go to France it improves no end. The best way really is to immerse yourself in it, you have no other option than to speak what you know, and people normally correct you if your slightly wrong.
Failing that use the multi-language British method: Look at person, point at something, speak loudly and slowly, repeat until accomplished.

yeah i find the shouting loudly and hand signals is the best method for getting them to understand

Kitty

Yeah, I won't be going to Cyprus any time this year and I've not got much time/money to get a teacher so needs to be a book/software for now.

TheNorthernTrain

Nothing beats the " One beeeeer. Si vu play!" The pidgeon french just makes it more authentic! Though for added bonus points the use of "por favor" is recommended. Of course this only really works in France and Spain.

butcher of bakersfield

CraigXXL wrote:

Best method is to learn the language by a native speaker either in the country of choice or find a willing tutor i.e Greek restaurant waiter. You will learn much faster and what is useful.

^ Put up a notice in the local uni. There'll always be someone wanting to improve on their english. Sometimes a shared interest is a far greater currency than money.

Gazlar

or find a part time class? i've tried to teach myself languages and I have a positive start but like people have said its nothing without someone to practice with, and I get into bad habits too. I tried to learn welsh, but Mrs G only speaks a bit of Welsh so that wasn't much good and I ended up learning some kind of North/South hybrid language. Then I tried Dutch which I ended up like Shteeve McClown

Tartanyak

gazderry wrote:

or find a part time class? i've tried to teach myself languages and I have a positive start but like people have said its nothing without someone to practice with, and I get into bad habits too. I tried to learn welsh, but Mrs G only speaks a bit of Welsh so that wasn't much good and I ended up learning some kind of North/South hybrid language. Then I tried Dutch which I ended up like Shteeve McClown

Dutch is almost impossible to practice anyway. Go anywhere, speak Dutch, Dutch person replies in English. Even if you say not to, they tend to. The longest conversation I've ever had in Dutch was with a Turkish guy.

kaytronika

See, you say go to the country and you'll learn it along the way... But there's loads of chavs in England who can't string two words together...


I'm going to Holland in two weeks... 70% of the country has a good conversational knowledge of English apparently... That's probably more than the local yobs.

MissBint37

I need to be able to teach in a second language before I can go for my ISIA in snowboard. (High level instructor qualification.)

I used to be fully conversational in Russian but not sure whether they class that as a 'European' language or not.

I have been thinking about learning German though, would be very useful!

Tartanyak

It's rather useful for taking apart German engine.

Aren't there more snowboardy things in Austria rather than German? If you learn vanilla German, you could have problems there! One of my mates speaks Flemish, not Dutch and both of us can understand him but can't reply. Because we're laughing at his silly Belgian accent. <giggles>

Where you off to Kay? I'm actually gonna be in Holland from Sunday until the end of teh month. Then again in September for a while.

mrfmilo

Learn German

Tartanyak

Ich habe ein wienerschnitzel in mein lederhosen.
Is dein tochter achtien?

mrfmilo

Tartanyak wrote:

Ich habe ein wienerschnitzel in mein lederhosen.
Is dein tochter achtien?

Tartanyak

A shiny gold star to anyone who recognises the film they're from.

MissBint37

Tartanyak wrote:

Ich habe ein wienerschnitzel in mein lederhosen.
Is dein tochter achtien?

Oh dear Even my crappy German is up to that!

I love Switzerland and in Valais they speak German.

kaytronika

Tartanyak wrote:

Where you off to Kay? I'm actually gonna be in Holland from Sunday until the end of teh month. Then again in September for a while.

I'll be spending about 5 nights in Soestduinen apparently
and working in Elst.

Should be interesting

Tartanyak

Amersfoort isn't a bad place if you've not been. You're relatively near there. I'll be in the East, in Zutphen this month, then next month all the way ooop north in Groningen.

If nowt else, it'll be interesting like you say

agg25

Try Livemocha, you can speak to people from the countries that speak the language, use pictures and a variety of media. It's free!
I've also used pimsleur mp3s which are pretty good.

Cleat Eastwood

Rosetta Stone is the one.

I'v ebeen learning Latin, French, Italian and german.

Loads of torrnets out there to get it.

You leearn from it like you learn your first language by repetition and association and the grammar rules are picked up as you go along.

I'm trying to learn Rhyl.

Anonymous

my mum lives there

BlackSpur

Tartanyak wrote:

It's rather useful for taking apart German engine.

Aren't there more snowboardy things in Austria rather than German? If you learn vanilla German, you could have problems there.

A lot of people in the german speaking countries can speak 'Hochdeutsch' as well as their local dialect. You'll struggle to learn a regional dialect without living there for a fair while!

butcher of bakersfield

agg25 wrote:

I've also used pimsleur mp3s which are pretty good.

Yeah pimsleur are pretty much the standard. Agree with all the above though. On it's own a course isn't quite enough. Not for an adult.

Another thing I tried (not for long, I keep getting bored), is using native websites to the country of the language you want to learn. Say if it's japanese, google.jp, or youtube.jp, etc. Once you begin to get it, I'd register on some bike forums or whatever else you're interested in, in that country. Which puts it firmly into your day to day life and gives you a bit of a challenge.

Also, post it notes, all around the house. With the names of everything. If you incorporate it into your life enough, you're going to learn in. I remember a comment from a middle eastern woman, on how she learnt English watching coronation street..