confidant 15 Posted March 14, 2006 >> 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? 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darkanimal 161,619 Posted March 14, 2006 You can download some mp3s that will teach you phrases in diff languages. I feel this could be the most effective. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
holly go lightly 10 Posted March 14, 2006 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! 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azad 330 Posted March 14, 2006 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 açaà 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darkanimal 161,619 Posted March 14, 2006 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. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
djrajio 97,327 Posted March 14, 2006 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. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azad 330 Posted March 15, 2006 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 açaà 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
djrajio 97,327 Posted March 15, 2006 Live and work in Tokyo. Best intensive class ever. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azad 330 Posted March 15, 2006 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 açaà Edited by azad on Mar 14, 2006 at 07:53 PM 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
holly go lightly 10 Posted March 17, 2006 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! 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mlproject 122,139 Posted March 18, 2006 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' 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
punyfig 10 Posted March 18, 2006 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. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mlproject 122,139 Posted March 19, 2006 nice link 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
