• Language Learning - Parlez-Vous français?
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Is there audio learning like Pimsleur but not so painfully slow/boring?
[QUOTE='Rain [Amber];39180331']Is there audio learning like Pimsleur but not so painfully slow/boring?[/QUOTE] pimsleur is one of the faster ones as far as I know
[QUOTE='Rain [Amber];39180331']Is there audio learning like Pimsleur but not so painfully slow/boring?[/QUOTE] As mentioned in the OP, The only other alternative is Michel Thomas. I don't know if it's faster though. If you do end up going to MT, try grabbing the courses recorded by MT himself.
[QUOTE=The Aussie;36550511] [Url=http://www.pimsleur.com/] Pimsleur[/url]-$30-$1,000 (Depends on course) 3/5 or 4/5 stars I'm going to start with the one, glaringly obvious flaw in this program. Here goes. [b]It's audio only. No reading, no writing.[/b] Now, onto the good parts; it's a solid program, and it's especially fantastic for beginners. The program teaches you to recall information at a conversational pace, and it's half an hour lessons once a day is easy to stick to for the more unmotivated of us. Pimsleur, through repetition, gives you a solid and firm grasp in the building blocks of the language. It's lack of writing is a big killer for me though. Honestly, it greatly depends on the language. More phonetic languages like Japanese are better, as you can simply sound out the word, while making minimal mistakes. French, on the other hand is highly fickle. Sometimes you can write what you hear, and others are packed with soundless letters. I'm looking at you Ils and elles. Some programs have a reading/writing section tacked on, but these are different to the course work and are not as good [/QUOTE] I downloaded Pimsleur Swedish and it came with a big PDF and listening exercise to go with it. You read through as they pronounce the words. No writing from what I can see but I found it very helpful to get a general idea of the spelling rather than just they say something and I'm like "Uh shit how on Earth do I spell that?"
If you're using it for Swedish, i say go for it. As far as i know, Swedish is rather easily pronounced and mostly Phonetic. That's off the top of my head though. Swedish people, feel free to correct me. [editline]12th January 2013[/editline] For writing you could try Assimil, Teach yourself or Colloquial . They're all good programs, with writing too.
[QUOTE=The Aussie;39190111]If you're using it for Swedish, i say go for it. As far as i know, Swedish is rather easily pronounced and mostly Phonetic. That's off the top of my head though. Swedish people, feel free to correct me. [editline]12th January 2013[/editline] For writing you could try Assimil, Teach yourself or Colloquial . They're all good programs, with writing too.[/QUOTE] Yeah but what I'm saying is the OP is kind of wrong if it says Pimsleur has absolutely [i]no[/i] reading/writing when it does have some reading
Shit, I'm bumping.
Hey guys first time posting here because I only found out about this thread, I'm nearing the end of my time at Secondary School and I haven't been doing too well at French, but I'm incredibly determined to learn it when I have more time, perhaps when I go to college. Does anyone know a good way to start at learning French on your own? Also, do you believe learning another language to have been worth the effort you spent?
[QUOTE=Tom083;39244672] Also, do you believe learning another language to have been worth the effort you spent?[/QUOTE] Depends on what you want to use it for. I learned German in school, while I wasn't great at it I did okay. (I didn't really want to study it since I knew I would have no use for it, and then later on forget it since I wouldn't use it, and I was right) I could probably speak with a German person right now, although it would be broken. To "answer your question", I did not find German to be worth it, although if I went to study Japanese now I know I would get great use from it since I'd be using it every single day. Music, websites, anime, manga, communicating with other Japanese people etc.
[QUOTE=Daniellynet;39244774][B]Depends on what you want to use it for.[/B] I learned German in school, while I wasn't great at it I did okay. (I didn't really want to study it since I knew I would have no use for it, and then later on forget it since I wouldn't use it, and I was right) I could probably speak with a German person right now, although it would be broken. To "answer your question", I did not find German to be worth it, although if I went to study Japanese now I know I would get great use from it since I'd be using it every single day. Music, websites, anime, manga, communicating with other Japanese people etc.[/QUOTE] My main reason is due to my interest in France and it's culture, along with the bonuses a language can give you in obtaining a job. In that case I'll do a little more research, French may not be very beneficial to me outside of learning the language to speak/write it as Japanese has been to you.
[QUOTE=Tom083;39244899]My main reason is due to my interest in France and it's culture, along with the bonuses a language can give you in obtaining a job. In that case I'll do a little more research, French may not be very beneficial to me outside of learning the language to speak/write it as Japanese has been to you.[/QUOTE] If you're really interested in the language and the culture, I'd say go for it. It never hurts, and as you said, it can help with getting a job. However, if you're still unsure about whether the gains/interest is enough for you to spend a lot of time learning it, then yeah, think about it a bit more. (Hope I am understandable, been spending the past 4 hours writing about NASA and space exploration for a school assignment)
[QUOTE=Daniellynet;39245106]If you're really interested in the language and the culture, I'd say go for it. It never hurts, and as you said, it can help with getting a job. However, if you're still unsure about whether the gains/interest is enough for you to spend a lot of time learning it, then yeah, think about it a bit more. (Hope I am understandable, been spending the past 4 hours writing about NASA and space exploration for a school assignment)[/QUOTE] Alright then, thanks. I'll wait until I move on from my school to see if I should pursue it.
How close is swedish to german? I know some german and i can recognize some swedish words. I was thinking of learning dutch after i finish german but swedish seems a lot more fun.
[QUOTE=MatheusMCardoso;39269487]How close is swedish to german? I know some german and i can recognize some swedish words. I was thinking of learning dutch after i finish german but swedish seems a lot more fun.[/QUOTE] Very similar I hear, germans learn it pretty easily. I don't know for sure, though. But you can grab dutch and swedish real easily if you have german.
[QUOTE=thelurker1234;39269585]Very similar I hear, germans learn it pretty easily. I don't know for sure, though. But you can grab dutch and swedish real easily if you have german.[/QUOTE] Dutch I can understand, but Swedish? The grammar is entirely different, and the vocabulary can be next to not similar.
[QUOTE=Tom083;39244672]Hey guys first time posting here because I only found out about this thread, I'm nearing the end of my time at Secondary School and I haven't been doing too well at French, but I'm incredibly determined to learn it when I have more time, perhaps when I go to college. Does anyone know a good way to start at learning French on your own? Also, do you believe learning another language to have been worth the effort you spent?[/QUOTE] I've been testing out Duolingo and i find it to be incredible for Languages. Granted, Duolingo alone won't get you to fluency. If, however, you need to speak constantly(speak to yourself if you're really shy, i do it myself!). French culture is fascinating, but most Frenchmen speak english. Unlike other languages such as Japanese, Mandarin or Russian. You won't get a huge boost from learning the language in the Job market. Unless you apply for a company that regularly deals with France's main exports, Aircraft, Chemicals, Food, Gypsies etc. You won't get a leg up.
[QUOTE=The Aussie;39288431]I've been testing out Duolingo and i find it to be incredible for Languages. Granted, Duolingo alone won't get you to fluency. If, however, you need to speak constantly(speak to yourself if you're really shy, i do it myself!). French culture is fascinating, but most Frenchmen speak english. Unlike other languages such as Japanese, Mandarin or Russian. You won't get a huge boost from learning the language in the Job market. Unless you apply for a company that regularly deals with France's main exports, Aircraft, Chemicals, Food, Gypsies etc. You won't get a leg up.[/QUOTE] Alright then, thanks for the help. If I decide not to learn French I'll probably give Japanese a try.
[QUOTE=The Aussie;39288431]I've been testing out Duolingo and i find it to be incredible for Languages. Granted, Duolingo alone won't get you to fluency. If, however, you need to speak constantly(speak to yourself if you're really shy, i do it myself!). French culture is fascinating, but most Frenchmen speak english. Unlike other languages such as Japanese, Mandarin or Russian. You won't get a huge boost from learning the language in the Job market. Unless you apply for a company that regularly deals with France's main exports, Aircraft, Chemicals, Food, Gypsies etc. You won't get a leg up.[/QUOTE] My only issue is finding someone to speak with and I'm nearly level 9 for French on Duolingo. The only other activities I do right now is occasionally read french.about.com and French language gaming websites such as eurogamer.fr
[QUOTE=SteveUK;39289154]My only issue is finding someone to speak with[/QUOTE] I know a guy who's first language is French but he's basically 100% fluent at English too now (lives in French-Canada), I can ask if he'd want to talk to someone learning French if you want, no guarantees though. [editline]20th January 2013[/editline] Sent you a message with his Steam ID, Steve. Good luck!
I only know english and I would like to learn german What method would you people suggest?
[QUOTE=SteveUK;39289154]My only issue is finding someone to speak with and I'm nearly level 9 for French on Duolingo. The only other activities I do right now is occasionally read french.about.com and French language gaming websites such as eurogamer.fr[/QUOTE] Those are pretty strong activities IMO. Another thing you can do is simply think in French, as strange as that sorta sounds. It's become something of a curse for me, because virtually everything I think of in English I find myself wanting to translate into and follow up with in French, but it's not bad practice. You just have to have a significant enough foothold that what you're thinking is either correct or you at least know when it is probably not correct.
I'm trying to learn Spanish at the moment, next french, I'm really interested in some of the simetic languages like Hebrew. I'm not very good at learning Spanish though, or at least spanish class. What language should I learn after Spanish and French?
Hey guys, I'm very interested in learning Russian. I did read the OP, but I was wondering, what is the best method as far as a program for the computer goes? That also teaches the alphabet/grammar rules.
[QUOTE=Birdman101;39291530]I only know english and I would like to learn german What method would you people suggest?[/QUOTE] I'm using Duolingo for german Currently. I enjoy it, however back up study is probably needed. One way could be translating some simple text (le Petit Prince, for example) into english and shoving required vocab into Anki. Failing that, a memrise course of 1000 common words or something should suffice for vocab. Cases will need brushing up outside of Duolingo though. [editline]21st January 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Phycosymo;39295883]I'm trying to learn Spanish at the moment, next french, I'm really interested in some of the simetic languages like Hebrew. I'm not very good at learning Spanish though, or at least spanish class. What language should I learn after Spanish and French?[/QUOTE] Telling you what langauge to learn defeats the purpose of wanting to learn it. Ask yourself some questions. Do you have heritage there? Do you plan to travel extensively in that country? Do you have friends or family that speak that language?
[QUOTE=Phycosymo;39295883]I'm trying to learn Spanish at the moment, next french, I'm really interested in some of the simetic languages like Hebrew. I'm not very good at learning Spanish though, or at least spanish class. What language should I learn after Spanish and French?[/QUOTE] I'd say German, Swedish, Russian or Japanese. [editline]21st January 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=The Aussie;39300283] Telling you what langauge to learn defeats the purpose of wanting to learn it. Ask yourself some questions. Do you have heritage there? Do you plan to travel extensively in that country? Do you have friends or family that speak that language?[/QUOTE] It's weird, I got into learning languages just for the sake of doing it (and obviously I found it interesting). When picking a new language to learn I basically think "Will I use this", like 90% of my usage would be on steam/forums etc so I chose ones that I notice are common and I have an interest in.
[QUOTE=Binge le mag;39295939]Hey guys, I'm very interested in learning Russian. I did read the OP, but I was wondering, what is the best method as far as a program for the computer goes? That also teaches the alphabet/grammar rules.[/QUOTE] Learning a language solely on the computer is near impossible. Before you call me a hypocrite for telling people to use Duolingo, realise that i have acknowledged that Duolingo can only provide a solid base to move onto native materials. With that coming translation and the like. [editline]21st January 2013[/editline] [QUOTE='Rain [Amber];39300326']I'd say German, Swedish, Russian or Japanese. [/QUOTE] It's interesting you list those. Comparatively, if he's struggling with Spanish, a Linguistic simple language, it would be interesting you would list Russian and Japanese. Two rather difficult languages.German and Swedish, however, are easy. In terms of Semitic languages, Arabic and Hebrew are your main two choices. The rest, unfortunately, have little speakers and little materials. Both are about the same in a lot of things. Including the practice of leaving out vowels in writing. There are also several different dialects of Arabic, but one of Hebrew. Arabic has more speakers and more choice etc.
[QUOTE=The Aussie;39300374]Learning a language solely on the computer is near impossible.[/QUOTE] I've heard this but I have some hope, I know plenty of people who have (takes a goddamn lot of work though) [QUOTE=The Aussie;39300374]It's interesting you list those.[/QUOTE] I mainly chose them cause I've seen them used a buttload on the internet, which would help with his learning. Hopefully if he isn't bright enough to pick up a more difficult language he'd be able to realise it himself :v:
took spanish in highschool I'd like to go from the basic understanding of words etc to fluency; advice ?
Anybody know any good ways to practice languages on a phone? The Memrise app got taken down because they're working on a new one or something, and I've got like 2 hours to kill every weekday during lunch at school.
[QUOTE=The Aussie;39300374]Learning a language solely on the computer is near impossible. Before you call me a hypocrite for telling people to use Duolingo, realise that i have acknowledged that Duolingo can only provide a solid base to move onto native materials. With that coming translation and the like.[/QUOTE] Oh, well I guess what I'd like to know is if there's any programs available to help me learn the basics of Russian. Alphabet, basic words, very basic grammar possibly. I'm fully aware that a program won't really let me be fluent in the language.
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