Anyone interested in learning another language?

[Unclean]

Just curious, how many of you have tried to learn another language? Did it make your head hurt? I'm trying to learn Spanish now, and man... it makes my head feel funny.

 

And do any of you have tips on how to change your brain into thinking in another language? Right now, I think like this:

 

"never" = "nunca"

[concept of the idea "never"] --> "never" --> "nunca"

Then I say "nunca". But there's a huge delay while I mentally translate.

 

I want it to just go from the concept to the word, and not do any mental translation (like this):

[concept of the idea "never"] --> "nunca"

 

Any tips for avoiding mental translation, or at least getting rid of the mental lag when speaking a foreign language? And how did you learn another language?

[boiler]

The only way you can make your brain work through it faster is lots and lots of practice. You can read all the text books and listen to all the tapes you want, but the only way you can really learn it and understand it to the point where you don't have to think about it much at all is to SPEAK it with someone else.

 

I had spanish from 1st grade through 8th grade, and I could barely put three sentences together because they spent all that time hammering vocabulary and other written stuff. We hardly ever had to actually speak it with our teacher.

 

I then took German in high school and the first two years of college, and I learned more and could speak more in the first two years than I could after 8 years of spanish. This is because my teacher had us speaking with him (albeit at an elementary level at first) from day 1 and it made all the difference. Don't worry about having absolutely perfect grammar or anything early on, just make an effort to use the language the best you can - the other "proper" stuff can be picked up later as you get a better grasp of the language.

 

At least for me, I can't say there are any "tricks" to getting your mind to think the other way, you just need to speak it with others a lot until it can become second nature.

 

GLHF!

Edited April 27, 2007 by boilersax

[akaM2]

Any tips for avoiding mental translation, or at least getting rid of the mental lag when speaking a foreign language? And how did you learn another language?

 

I dont think there is a way to do this when your main language is english. Your brain will alway translate it to english imo.

 

Prolly the only way imo would be to be immersed in spanish and only spanish.

[stutters]

me llamo es matt

 

i got the michael thomas series "8 hour spanish course" which imo is a really unique way of learning a language. repetition + cognates + repetition + immersion = speakie new langie. focus is on the logic, not the memorization. i think he's got a french and german series, too.

[Playaa]

it will take probably years before you can "think" in Spanish...just stick with it.

I've tried to teach myself Japanese and was doing ok with it but it's much harder to learn than a language like Spanish (I took 2 years of Spanish in High School and 2 in College) because it isn't even based in the same ideas.

[Shadowman]

I'm four years into Japanese myself, and I have to say its a difficult language. I'm not completely fluent yet, but I can translate a bit and understand what people are saying when speaking to me. I would enjoy learning more Spanish through, as my current level of Spanish is horrible lol.

[JackieChan]

I tried learning Japanese both in High School and using a program on my computer (one of those "trusted" programs, mind you). I probably would get better at it if I didn't get so distracted with other things <_>

[Allanon]

I dunno guys... after going to Salamanca for a month and being immersed in the language, I will often think of what words are in Spanish... and even say them first in Spanish.

 

Unclean.. I'd recommend the Pimsleur Tape collection, I'm using them now for Spanish and though they are expensive, they are very, very good. To be honest, American Language Instruction is terrible. Most public schools require two years of a foreign language in high school, and most of the time as BoilerSax said, is just hammering vocabulary and memorization. If you immerse yourself in the language, say volunteering in a Hispanic community... or taking a trip to a Spanish speaking country... *not in the tourist sections* and try to find a friend who speaks it.

 

The sad thing is, I went over to Spain last summer for almost a month, and after a year with a teacher who rarely uses the language, and a class full of people who are only taking Spanish so they can fill their requirements, I have gotten out of practice. I really wanna learn German also, if I can ever become fluent in Spanish... as it seems like such a cool language, plus there are so many Germanic languages out there.

[Sir Shertown Pimp]

I think I'll give Pimsleur a try.Has anyone used rosetta stone?

 

 

 

I took latin in high school, but I really wish I had learned a language I could use actively.

 

Oh, this may be redundant, but http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_learn_a_language

Edited April 27, 2007 by Sir Shertown Pimp

[stutters]

Oh, this may be redundant, but http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_learn_a_language

redundant, or unreliable?

 

/me rethinks his stance on albion

[Vovik]

I'm fluent in 3 languages and can understand other 1 or 2. The biggest advice is just to watch TV in Spanish. See ppl talk and don't worry too much about translating it right away. Now and then look up key words in the dictionary. It will take time. One thing I learned is that although it's good to have basic classes to study other language they won't teach you everything. I studied English for like 6-8 years before coming to US but only here I started talking and I learned it all in about 6-12 months. Get Univision on your cable and watch soap operas or news or whatever or better yet go to Spanish-speaking country for a year!

[Unclean]

Awesome, thanks guys! What I'm getting from you is:

 

- Avoid just straight memorization, focus on concepts more

- Speak, speak, speak

 

And a few resources:

-michael thomas series "8 hour spanish course" (thanks SJ)

-Pimsleur Tape collection, and volunteering in a Spanish-speaking community (GREAT idea, thanks Allanon)

 

 

Sir Shertown Pimp -- I was trying to decide between Rosetta Stone and TeLL Me More, and went with the latter. On their website, you can try a free demo, and that's what sold me. Have any of you tried Rosetta stone? I'd be curious to see what you thought of it vs. the demo of TeLL Me More.

[Allanon]

Awesome, thanks guys! What I'm getting from you is:

 

- Avoid just straight memorization, focus on concepts more

- Speak, speak, speak

 

And a few resources:

-michael thomas series "8 hour spanish course" (thanks SJ)

-Pimsleur Tape collection, and volunteering in a Spanish-speaking community (GREAT idea, thanks Allanon)

 

 

Sir Shertown Pimp -- I was trying to decide between Rosetta Stone and TeLL Me More, and went with the latter. On their website, you can try a free demo, and that's what sold me. Have any of you tried Rosetta stone? I'd be curious to see what you thought of it vs. the demo of TeLL Me More.

 

 

I wonder... do you think we could maybe meet on Ventrilo and play games speaking in a certain language? Say there were a bunch of us who wanted to speak Spanish, a few nights a week we could log on Ventrilo and play UT2004, CSS, or some other game while speaking in Spanish...

 

Suggestions, comments, feedback?

[farmerisme]

Yet another reason not to be on vent ;p

[stutters]

I wonder... do you think we could maybe meet on Ventrilo and play games speaking in a certain language? Say there were a bunch of us who wanted to speak Spanish, a few nights a week we could log on Ventrilo and play UT2004, CSS, or some other game while speaking in Spanish...

 

Suggestions, comments, feedback?

i thought you bailed for like a month...?

 

wb?

[Allanon]

I still hang around the forums... that's the next step on my GCA program... Gamers Coalitin Anonymous

[Bush]

I used Rosetta Stone before coming to China. It helped but it was based on memorization, and it didn't focus on the pin yin table (english characters with sounds, accents ect.. for mandarin). So it wasn't very helpful in the long run for me, however I've heard a lot of good things about it in other languages.

 

The three things that I did that helped me the most are:

 

- Took a language training course. The course material that I had included a cd that I would up load into my ipod, so I would listen and read along. I also used flash cards at first to memorize the words and sentence structure for commonly used phrases.

 

- Found a Chinese girlfriend that spoke english. (Now she is my fiance)

 

- Listened to Chinese music and watched Chinese movies with english sub titles.

[Thief_Lord]

I am currently taking Spanish 2 in high school with a Puerto Rican teacher that used to play professional baseball. Overall it seems like an easy class but next year the teacher is different and from what I have heard all he does is use memorization. My current teacher often complains and says how much better his spanish 2 class can talk as compared to those in spanish 3.

 

I would greatly love to become fluent in spanish, but I definately think that I will begin watching Univision and may even volunteer for spanish communities. (If I can find any near Akron)

 

Anyone know of a place to volunteer near akron (or better the portage lakes)?