Je suis une croissant

Alain Quay

Has anyone ever used on-line or cd-based language learning and has it been worth the effort?

PS: Yeah yeah, I know the correct introduction is in fact "Je suis un croissant."

secretsam

Nein

My pidgin German/Italian/Spanish/Russian/English all stem from what I've picked up in films, casual evesdropping and my short career at MI6

team47b

stil struglin wiv english

How is Madame Benedict?

Mikey23

Not sure why croissants should be masculine

team47b

they can be feminine too ...

il ya une tendance croissante à manger un croissant pour le petit déjeuner

(there is an increasing tendency to eat a croissant for breakfast)

Mikey23

Ok, I submit!

ballysmate

SecretSam wrote:

Nein

My pidgin German/Italian/Spanish/Russian/English all stem from what I've picked up in films, casual evesdropping and my short career at MI6

I picked up what German I have from their extensive range of porn films. Their range of films may be extensive, but include very little conversation Kraut. :shock:

finchy

I've used Pimsleur and Michel Thomas. Michel Thomas is better for getting you to think about grammatical structures. Pimsleur is quite dull, but gives you a better grasp of the sort of language you might find yourself using on holiday.

capt_slog

^^

I've also used Michel Thomas CDs to learn a bit of Greek. Michel Thomas lessons take the form of a teacher with two pupils who are being taught phrases. You are supposed to listen to what the teacher wants them to do, pause the CD, form your answer, and then re-start to see if this is correct.

You have to be somewhere that you can relax and concentrate, it's no good trying to have the CD on in the car, it just doesn't work (to forestall the smart-arses: the CDs do obviously, the lessons don't :roll: ).

Are they any good? Yes, they work quite well, but you have to stick at it, it's no magic bullet. The little Greek I have learned I've been told is very accurate and sounds like it comes from someone who has family ties with the country, which was quite a compliment to the effort I put in.

seanoconn

+1 for Michel Thomas.

And I'll never forget the goal he scored against Liverpool in the last minute to win the title for Arsenal!

Pross

Tried learning Welsh with from a book and cassette. I was unsuccessful.

secretsam

Pross wrote:

Tried learning Welsh with from a book and cassette. I was unsuccessful.

Tried learning Welsh from my best mate, who is from Cross Keys

Turned out he knew about as much as I do

Guanajuato

When we got taken over by a french firm, we did french lessons for a couple of months, just to get us capable of introductions. Whilst we had a tutor for an hour a week, she recommended the BBC languages site. I'm not great at reading, writing or speaking french, but can just about get by. The problem I have is when I get a reply - its all just noise, with the occasional shrug. I can with the german cope. ;-)

Pituophis

I drove around with the Michel Thomas cd's in my car for a few months and this gave me the confidence to stop the assistants in the Supermarche (sp? :oops: ) in their tracks and explain to them with some clarity that I do not speak French very well. Oh and politely ask for carrier bags

I actually think that if I had taken them a little more seriously rather than just doing 2 x 10 minutes stints a day, they would have been very good.

crescent

I learned all my German from Commando books. "Mein Gott", "Hande Hoch, Englander", "Gott in Himmel", "Donner und Blitzen".
Surprisingly, I've never had the chance to use any of those phrases.

ben@31

Crescent, funnily enough you are not wrong. My dads uncle did national service in the Royal Navy. He was a radio operator / sig int.

As it was at the height of the cold war he learned Russian. Because he learned from tape recordings of Soviet Air Force pilots talking over the radio, he couldn't speak conversational Russian, but only knew the Russian words for "tally ho, Biggles, chocks away. Fighters in your 6 o clock, old chap". He wouldn't be able to order one coffee in Russian but maybe understand Russian air traffic control procedures.

solosuperia

"crescent" you forgot my favourite German phrase:-
Living in Lincolnshire, quite regulary have Spitfires from the Battle of Britain flight overhead.
ACHTUNG SPITFIRE! is a cry I use quiet often..........
The German next door shitz himself.

mallorcajeff

I used the michel thomas ones for spanish but got put off as with good headphones all i could hear was the snot in his throat and stuff its borderline gross.
I had the full linguaphone. Id say linguaphone is better but still not easy. The best way to learn is be in the coutry and have a go as much as you and you pick it up surprisingly quickly and from me who does not learn much but can speak spanish is saying something

4kicks

I speak English (allegedly) French, German, Spanish and some Catalan, spoke only english when I left the UK so I think I know something about learning languages. Honestly, chuck em in the bin, and either find someone near you doing spoken classes or language exchanges or better, go on holiday for a couple of months somewhere where they ONLY speak the language you're trying to learn.

f.e. I spend 6 weeks living with a Spanish-speaking family in Costa Rica, organized through a language school. It
cost, iirc, something like 100 quid a week inc food & board. Its amazing how quickly you learn a language if the alternative is starving to death. I appreciate many wont have the time/cash to go away, but dont bother with the tapes until you can afford it - many of these are very expensive.

finchy

4kicks wrote:

I speak English (allegedly) French, German, Spanish and some Catalan, spoke only english when I left the UK so I think I know something about learning languages. Honestly, chuck em in the bin, and either find someone near you doing spoken classes or language exchanges or better, go on holiday for a couple of months somewhere where they ONLY speak the language you're trying to learn.

f.e. I spend 6 weeks living with a Spanish-speaking family in Costa Rica, organized through a language school. It
cost, iirc, something like 100 quid a week inc food & board. Its amazing how quickly you learn a language if the alternative is starving to death. I appreciate many wont have the time/cash to go away, but dont bother with the tapes until you can afford it - many of these are very expensive.

Just go down to a public library and borrow them. Of the ones I've mentioned above, you could get all three levels of Pimsleur out and the Michel Thomas series for about £20 (most libraries will charge for these courses). Of course it is nowhere near as good as going to the country and enrolling in a language school, but if that option isn't open to you, then for about £20 and 4 months' study (which you can do while washing up or any other tedious daily chore), you can have a fairly good grasp of the language before you leave these shores.

Also don't forget the BBC Talk _________ series and their website and from what I've read the Paul Noble courses are very good as well.