Phire Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 22 minutes ago, cddolphin said: This is true, but there's also a certain amount of "muscle memory" with languages too, you can knock the rust off very quickly. Yeah whenever I've had occasion to use it, a lot came back to me out of the abyss. I really should start practicing again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DalCowboyzRule Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 I can speak and understand Hebrew almost fluently (I would say like 90% of the words) but can't really read or write Hebrew which sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretgod99 Posted July 18, 2017 Author Share Posted July 18, 2017 5 hours ago, cddolphin said: Yes, German. Read books, starting with children's books. While I was learning, I went through the Harry Potter series, for example. You'll pick up a lot of grammatical nuance that you miss in everyday conversation, and it helps build your vocabulary. If you have a kindle or some other type of e-reader, you can purchase change your language settings and download a dictionary that will translate words you don't know. That's a great tip. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titans0021 Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 15 minutes ago, fretgod99 said: That's a great tip. Thanks! It really is and I never even considered it. Could be particularly useful since I've read the HP series a dozen times and it should help me follow along and pick up on context clues in a way that would be a real struggle otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danger Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 I've taken both German and Spanish in the past, but both are pretty rusty at this point. I keep intending to get back and brush both of them up, but never really get around to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navysaintsfan Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 MrsNSF and I both enjoy cheesy K-Dramas so we are actually studying Korean. Still working on learning the lettering (Hangul), but it is really fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skywindO2 Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 Is there a recommended way to learn a new language? I tried using Duolingo but couldn't stick with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretgod99 Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 47 minutes ago, skywindO2 said: Is there a recommended way to learn a new language? I tried using Duolingo but couldn't stick with it. I'm liking Rosetta Stone. But like Duolingo, you have to be motivated enough to stick with it. Short of complete immersion, whatever method you choose is going to require you to be willing to put the work in. Easier said than done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 On 7/17/2017 at 11:18 PM, fretgod99 said: That's what I'd like to be able to do; get to the point where we can decently converse in Spanish. Plus, if we have kids, it'd be nice to just teach them multiple languages from the jump. i just finished working for a client couple with a two year old where the husband was American and the wife was German. during the day mom talks to her son in German, at night when dad comes home they speak English. lucky kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ET80 Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 5 minutes ago, vike daddy said: On 7/18/2017 at 0:18 AM, fretgod99 said: That's what I'd like to be able to do; get to the point where we can decently converse in Spanish. Plus, if we have kids, it'd be nice to just teach them multiple languages from the jump. i just finished working for a client couple with a two year old where the husband was American and the wife was German. during the day mom talks to her son in German, at night when dad comes home they speak English. lucky kid. My mom speaks Malayalam to my daughter, and my mother in law speaks Spanish to her. She's gonna be tri lingual, gonna be pretty awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretgod99 Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 Yep, that's what I'd like to be able to do if we do have kids. It's only beneficial and setting them up for later in life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeluxx3 Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 I speak fluent Italian. Took about 7 years of obsessive study and practice to reach fluency, but has been the most rewarding thing I've ever done in life Tips tips tips! Listen to music in the language you're studying. Find artists you like and read/sing-along with the lyrics (search for the english translations next to the original language) so you can get used to pronunciation, translation, grammar and sentence structure Duolingo is the exact same thing as Rosetta Stone, but free Read, read, read. Even if you don't understand everything. Have a dictionary handy to look-up the words you don't know Conversation exchanges. There's a large online community of language learners and you can find people online to practice speaking with (ie, you do 30 mins in italian, then 30 in english). A little awkward at first, but it's just people trying to get better at speaking a language Movies with subtitles ONLY speak in that language. THINK in that language. TALK TO YOURSELF in that language. Repetition is key ciao for now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretgod99 Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 24 minutes ago, deeluxx3 said: I speak fluent Italian. Took about 7 years of obsessive study and practice to reach fluency, but has been the most rewarding thing I've ever done in life Tips tips tips! Listen to music in the language you're studying. Find artists you like and read/sing-along with the lyrics (search for the english translations next to the original language) so you can get used to pronunciation, translation, grammar and sentence structure Duolingo is the exact same thing as Rosetta Stone, but free Read, read, read. Even if you don't understand everything. Have a dictionary handy to look-up the words you don't know Conversation exchanges. There's a large online community of language learners and you can find people online to practice speaking with (ie, you do 30 mins in italian, then 30 in english). A little awkward at first, but it's just people trying to get better at speaking a language Movies with subtitles ONLY speak in that language. THINK in that language. TALK TO YOURSELF in that language. Repetition is key ciao for now How long was it before you started feeling marginally confident having conversations and the like in Italian? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeluxx3 Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 10 minutes ago, fretgod99 said: How long was it before you started feeling marginally confident having conversations and the like in Italian? I'd say about three-four years? I learned a ton in school and a lot was self-taught. Totally worth taking a class at a local community school, if offered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dome Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 59 minutes ago, deeluxx3 said: THINK in that language. TALK TO YOURSELF in that language This is very beneficial. When I was trying to learn Spanish so I could talk to my coworkers my whole life was Spanish. Before I said something in English, I'd try to say it in my head in Spanish first. If someone asked my a question I'd try to ask it back to myself in Spanish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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