Help Learning foreign languages!

[Raven]

For a few years I have been thinking about learning a foreign language. German of Spanish probably. Spanish because of how many people speak it and its variances and German because the company I work for is German owned. I have a very basic German vocabulary already so German would probably be the best one to start with.

I have seen Rosetta stone advertised, does anyone have any experience with them? I would rather do it in my own time rather than go to classes etc

 

[- English -]

I have been learning Danish for 1-2 years or so (living here for 15months now), but i have been lazy really. I just don't talk it enough, and the gap between what i understand and what i can actually say (well) is getting bigger - since im hearing it everyday, but its too easy to talk English. I seem to hide behind my English barrier too much, and I wish i couldn't.

I have used the rosetta stone CD for a few months. It was very useful at the start, but after a while I got too advanced for it (think it was only level 1 or so though ;p). I found it very good for learning new words, seeing them spelt and pronounced. However, like most languages thats not the only way you learn them (or me anyway). I think theres always going to be a difference when you hear them saying it on the computer and someone saying it in real life who doesn't have a clear voice.

If you are serious about learning it, its worth a shot imo, its the best learning aid i've found - just im not sure what the costs are for it as i downloaded it.

 

[djpringle]

I started the Rosetta Stone Vietnamese course and it's quite good though quite expensive. I can see what they are getting at in terms how you learn things but I found it frustrating in that I was trying to understand the grammar rules for things and how it worked but there was no explanation. I've stepped off the gas so to speak with learning through because I'm lazy to not put too finer point on it but each time I have restarted and gone through the basics again I was surprised how much I had remembered!

The writing / typing exercises are quite bollox though.

 

[Lawnmower]

Raven, I recommend you check out LiveMocha active German course. 10 pounds (19 dollars) per month and it's working out quite well at the moment. I started on Busuu but wasn't that impressed so moved onto this!

 

[pcg79]

I would say have a crack on Busuu cos its free. Also Pimsleur is very good

 

[Helme]

This part comes a bit later but, as someone who had to learn English as a 2nd language - this was what helped me the most. Read books. Sure you don't learn how to pronounce words that way, but you do learn in which order they go.

 

[MrHorus]

I'm self studying German using books atm.

 

[Tom]

Rosetta Stone is very good, I found it very easy to remember words after an hour or two on that.

 

[caLLous]

Rosetta Stone works for some and not for others, I would recommend trying the trial or money back guarantee or whatever they advertise on t'telly to see if it suits you. It's *great* for vocab but (imo) not so fantastic for actual grammatical construction and tenses etc (I only have experience with the French one).

 

[DaGaffer]

Another + fpr Rosetta Stone. NB, if it was me I'd learn Spanish rather than German. Most Germans speak English in business anyway. In the long run you'll get more out of Spanish.

 

[TdC]

tbh you should go on one of those travel holidays that all the hot scandi birds go on. I'm sure you'll learn something!


sorry

another vote for Spanish over German though. /srs

 

[Helme]

Another language to consider I guess is Arabic, it's fairly major and your local pizza guy or whatever would probably be pleasantly surprised with a conversation in it.

 

[Raven]

Thanks all, I will give Rosetta stone a go!

 

[old.Osy]

What Are The Hardest Languages To Learn? [INFOGRAPHIC] | Voxy Blog

 

[ECA]

Tbh the most useful thing you can do to learn a language is actually put effort into it

8 years of learning french at school got me fucking nowhere, a week learning japanese on my own taught me more than 8 years of bullshit.

There is a big difference between thinking it would be nice to learn a language, and actually being motivated to do so.

 

[ford prefect]

I bought my partner Rosetta's level 1 welsh as she needed some Welsh for work, it is pretty good if somewhat basic (in the case of Welsh they only do one level). As ECA says, the only real way to learn though is to put effort in and where possible submerse yourself in the language, as books and courses like Rosetta will only take you so far.

 

[Ormorof]

Danish is easy, even children speak it (I'm suprised no one has made this language joke already)

But as mentioned motivation is important, and some languages are hard to get into but easy once you get the hang of it, others are easy to learn the basics but difficult to master