Learning a new language

[confidant 15]

>> i hope to someday live outside of the us, and i'm wondering...what are the best tools and/or techniques (cds, books, etc.) that you would recommend to someone teaching themselves a new language?

[darkanimal 161,619]

You can download some mp3s that will teach you phrases in diff languages. I feel this could be the most effective.

[holly go lightly 10]

besides going there, i've found that television is really important in making the leap from classroom or book learning to real life use. it has made me such a better speaker... it's SO much better than almost anything out there. although people dis tv, it's one of the best ways possible to learn a foreign language!

[azad 330]

all of these are good pointers, but i honestly think the best thing to do is to date someone who speaks a given foreign language. there is so much incentive then, plus youre around your teacher 24/7. that's how i got pretty good in portuguese

toma açaí

[darkanimal 161,619]

so true. I'm trying to communicate with this Spanish girl I've started dating. She speaks little English, I barely speak Spanish so we both help each other out.

[djrajio 97,327]

Agreed. My Japanese drastically improved after dating a Japanese girl. In particular for television, I suggest watching soap opera / dramas; since the dialogue tends to be more realistic. Also, in particular for Asian TV shows, lots of them tend to show sub-titles of what is said. This is great since you can learn how the characters are written. I usually dl my dramas off the net and if I don't understand a phrase, I pause the show and look it up online.

[azad 330]

i took japanese in high school, it's a class i truly miss. my teacher was a beatnik type, who had us making our own films, drawing out own mangas, and all sorts of wild activities. you ever been out to Japan?

toma açaí

[djrajio 97,327]

Live and work in Tokyo. Best intensive class ever.

[azad 330]

thats dope man. i loved it when i was there a few summers ago. i wish i had more time there though, we only had 12 days and we wanted to see so many spots in japan.

toma açaí

Edited by azad on Mar 14, 2006 at 07:53 PM

[holly go lightly 10]

yeah it helps if your sexy foreign sex object speaker doesn't speak English too well... otherwise you won't learn a thing. that's what happens to me!

[mlproject 122,139]

can anyone recommend some starting points for japanese? most of the books and CDs i've seen focus mainly on conversational japanese, but i want to learn how to read it as well.

i know this is a totally insane task to take on, but i've wanted to do this for some time and haven't really gotten any solid direction from anyone aside from 'take a class'

[punyfig 10]

Here's a link I found a while ago [url=" http://maktos.jimmyseal.net/jip.html"] <a href="http://maktos.jimmyseal.net/jip.html" target="_blank">http://maktos.jimmyseal.net/jip.html</a>. 11 lessons in total.

...and to think I actually used to iron denim.

[mlproject 122,139]

nice link