Learning Languages

polaroidsredwine

polaroidsredwine

Legacy Member
Anyone out there studying any languages? I'm actually working on Chinese at the moment ... well, I've been at it on and off for a couple of years now. One day I'll be motivated to seriously sit down and get a regular study plan made!

I really need to brush up on my Spanish. I took it for four years in school but I can't say any of the teachers were particularly strict on ensuring we learned anything. Most of what I remember is basic conjugation and survival Spanish.
 
I took French myself for a year! But I haven't revised since my starting course but I would like to be able to start studying it again at a constant pace! I also would like to start learning Chinese and Latin in a few weeks. :) I however only knew basic French and Chinese but would like to take these both further! I'm sure there are many ways to learn languages through the internet, will update you soon!

-Paul
 
I have a bunch of sites bookmarked when it comes to resources for learning languages. I really only use a small group, though, since having too much really is a bad thing, in this case. Lang-8 is one of my favorites because you can get corrected by native speakers. When it comes to learning new words, I do the no English approach and use Anki paired with pictures.
 
polaroidsredwine said:
I have a bunch of sites bookmarked when it comes to resources for learning languages. I really only use a small group, though, since having too much really is a bad thing, in this case. Lang-8 is one of my favorites because you can get corrected by native speakers. When it comes to learning new words, I do the no English approach and use Anki paired with pictures.
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Ooh Lang-8... Sounds very familiar! Must've been a website one of my friends talked to me about. I also have been looking for more websites, if you don't mind I would like to get more websites. I hope you'll be able to help me out! I also have been blessed enough to have been gifted a Rosetta Stone course by my brother, which I do not use too often! :)

-Paul
 
Duolingo is a recent hit, but it's only got a handful of languages (no Chinese yet, how sad). It's really neat because you can help translate works as you learn. Memrise is also a popular one, but I've found it's not as helpful with character-based languages, so I don't really use it that often anymore.

I'm not on my home computer at the moment, but I will definitely post some of the other sites I have bookmarked when I get back.
 
Oh that is fine! Thanks for all the great links. I will surely sign up for them and give them a try after all my exams! I really would like to thank you for the help! polaroidsredwine. You're a lifesaver! :) once again THANKYOU!

-Paul
 
I'm glad to help! Us self-learners need to stick together, after all.

Also, now that I'm back on my home computer, I've got a few more sites to recommend! I used to have more, but my bookmarks are dominated by Chinese-focused learning sites.

Check out some Wikimedia projects: Wikiversity has a lot of language courses (many unfinished) that can guide you through the basics of a language, while Wikibooks offers a lot of the similar, if not a little more intensive. BBC has an archived site with over thirty languages you can learn. I need to actually use Verbling, but I've heard a lot of good things about the site so far, so I'm going to give it a shot in the future.
 
I'm a self learner as well, and I'm currently studying German. After checking out the websites mentioned, I see that the current one I use falls short of those. Thanks for sharing! Maybe I'll be able to learn a little faster now :P
 
polaroidsredwine said:
Anyone out there studying any languages? I'm actually working on Chinese at the moment ... well, I've been at it on and off for a couple of years now. One day I'll be motivated to seriously sit down and get a regular study plan made!

I really need to brush up on my Spanish. I took it for four years in school but I can't say any of the teachers were particularly strict on ensuring we learned anything. Most of what I remember is basic conjugation and survival Spanish.
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I am planning to enroll in a class and study Korean. I taught English for Korean students so I already know some phrases, but I'd love to learn the language (or any language for that matter. I am, unfortunately, fluent in two languages only). Do you guys have online resources for Korean language, too?
 
I have been studying french for a few years. It does take a great deal of discipline and effort to learn a new language. But it is worth it. Pimsleur.com gives one free lesson in most languages. And BBC (the British news channel) on BBClanguages.com gives a few free language lessons on their website also.
This helped me with learning a little bit with several languages I looked into.
 
I took 3 years of Spanish in high school. I wanted to take 4 years but there wasn't enough students interested so I was just a teacher's assistant for the Spanish teacher. I even made it into the National Spanish Honor Society and was a part of the Spanish club for 3 years I believe. I'm still debating whether or not I should take the placement test for Spanish and take whatever class in college for my humanities credit or another language(or even another class). I have a lot of friends from Latin American, mainly Mexico and Guatemala and I've learned more from them than the 3 years. Actually what I learned from friends is why I made such high grades in all 3 classes. One of the reasons I want to take it in college because I feel it will be easy and I'm really interested in hopefully learning more but then again I have people telling me to take another language. I just feel that Spanish will be of most use to me in the future. I know Mandarin probably could be as well but I just don't think I'm ready to attempt to learn it. I will say that because of the Spanish I do know I have been able to understand a few of the other Latin-based languages such as French and especially Italian.
 
How's the Chinese learning experience? It's not easy because it has a lot of strokes in which you have to write them in order. I assume you're learning Mandarin, am I correct? I am trying to learn French, which is very difficult for me since I dropped of the class when I learned it in high school. I try to find good sources that will teach me to learn French more effectively and efficiently. I am hoping I am able to learn French without giving it up again, which I think it is quite useful in some countries now.
 
I am fluent in English (obviously:P). Other than that, I took 5 years of German in high school (which is an equivalent to a year in university, lets face it) and then a year of French and Spanish in university, and few months of Japanese with Rosetta Stone and few books on my own.
Basically, English excluded, I don't really know much of the other languages because I haven't had that much chance to practice them. I love Rosetta Stone and Duolingo, they are my type of studying. Also I like mixing it up, so for every language I like to combine actual books, online resources, computer programs, movies, music...I never heard of Lang-8, but I'll check it out, thanks:)
 
I studied spanish for 2 years in high school but sadly have forgotten mostly everything. I am planning to add a course in Spanish next semester if it fits into my schedule. I can't speak mandarin but can understand it since my grandmother is Chinese. But reading and writing is another story. The characters are quite complicated and need a lot of dedication to learn.
 
polaroidsredwine said:
Anyone out there studying any languages? I'm actually working on Chinese at the moment ... well, I've been at it on and off for a couple of years now. One day I'll be motivated to seriously sit down and get a regular study plan made!

I really need to brush up on my Spanish. I took it for four years in school but I can't say any of the teachers were particularly strict on ensuring we learned anything. Most of what I remember is basic conjugation and survival Spanish.
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I'm doing Arabic. What attracts me to it is how the words have such amazing and rich root words. The root words/original root forms of the words have amazing and rich meanings that really help in understanding the normal word itself.

Its extremely rich and not given it's due right nowadays.
 
Qraqq said:
I'm doing Arabic. What attracts me to it is how the words have such amazing and rich root words. The root words/original root forms of the words have amazing and rich meanings that really help in understanding the normal word itself.

Its extremely rich and not given it's due right nowadays.
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That's interesting. Maybe I'll try learning it. How hard would you say Arabic is on a scale of 1 to 10 compared to learning other languages? I've always been fascinated by the script and the way it sounds.
 
cookiesandcreamshake said:
That's interesting. Maybe I'll try learning it. How hard would you say Arabic is on a scale of 1 to 10 compared to learning other languages? I've always been fascinated by the script and the way it sounds.
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I'm really sorry but I just can't give you even a rough number on that scale because this is the first language I'm learning because I want to and its therefore pretty interesting ---> easy. Below 5 I guess then.

It's very beautiful and very sometimes can be very different from English. It truly is a very under appreciated Language.
 
I have been studying Spanish and Italian for the past year and i have to say it has been a great experience. I think when you learn a language, you can appreciate the culture from which the language comes from.[DOUBLEPOST=1391887353][/DOUBLEPOST]
thestoryteller1 said:
I am fluent in English (obviously:p). Other than that, I took 5 years of German in high school (which is an equivalent to a year in university, lets face it) and then a year of French and Spanish in university, and few months of Japanese with Rosetta Stone and few books on my own.
Basically, English excluded, I don't really know much of the other languages because I haven't had that much chance to practice them. I love Rosetta Stone and Duolingo, they are my type of studying. Also I like mixing it up, so for every language I like to combine actual books, online resources, computer programs, movies, music...I never heard of Lang-8, but I'll check it out, thanks:)
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Studying languages in university is a good way to go. There are many different books and resources you can use to learn and understand the languages.
 
I am so jealous of anyone that can communicate well in french! There's something about it that I just find beautiful with the language. As for myself, I have learn Mandarin, English, and Malay throughout the years and even though I am not great, I can at least engage in casual conversations with these languages.
 
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