Are You Bilingual? How Did you Learn?

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I took all dead languages (Latin, Greek, Biblical Hebrew, and Ugaritic) because you don't have to learn to speak any of them...haha.

I took three years of Arabic in college...Modern Standard...a year of Egyptian, and a year of Levantine. To be FLUENT in Arabic, my Arabic prof (he is FANTASTIC...specialist in pre-Islamic poetry, from Egypt, and is also on staff at the American University in Cairo) it takes native English speakers many years. NYU is going to have a campus in Abu Dhabi...they're off and running with an undergraduate program but the grad program is years in the works. I'd LOVE to do my PhD over there in Museum Studies while learning Arabic "the right way"...meaning immersion...I need immersion to be able to speak well.

I'd love to learn Persian...it's MUCH EASIER than Arabic.

 
Spanish and English
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I learned Spanish at school.

My next endeavors are to learn Latin and Romanian. I cannot WAIT to get started on those. I'm way psyched. I'll be taking classes in Latin. Romanian, I'll learn on my own.

 
Hey y'all;

I just wanted to bump this thread to suggest this website someone told me about; very similar to Rosetta Stone's program but it is FREE and yes, it is immersion, yes you can record yourself practicing your new language but what they have that RS does not is native speakers who can give feedback on your submissions and YOU can critique people learning your native language- language buddy system.

The have English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Icelandic (limited), Italian, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin and Russian and their blog says they added Farsi and Korean but I don't see them on the site, so I don't understand what's up with that.

You can enroll in as many languages that you want- again, for free.

It may have already been mentioned but I couldn't find it in the search.

Anyway, here's the address;

Livemocha: Learn Languages Online - English, Spanish, French, Italian, Mandarin, ????

Check it out and have fun!

 
thanks Jinx! I'm already a member on there! I totally agree with you, it's really quite good!

 
I speak English and French. I learned French in school from grades 7 to 12. I haven't spoke french for awhile so I'm probably a bit rusty, lol.

My dad is part Métis (french canadian and native canadian) and he spoke both english and french while growing up. The area he grew up in was a mix of english and french speaking. Back then there was a lot of racism towards french and native people,so he spoke more english and didn't let on that he was part Métis.

My mom has some Portuguese in her ethnic background and that is a language I would like to learn.

 
I'll check out that link Jinx, i'm supposed to take up a second language for uni, and i haven't spoken a work of spanish for 6 years, so i bet i'm really rusty. Not really motivated though...

 
I am American, but currently live in France. Talk about a great motivator for learning a language!
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I took intensive French (total immersion) once here and had only had 1 semester of French before (grant it, in France) movng, so I can't really help you.

Perhaps you could search for an intensive class before you go?

 
It is never too late to start learning. People always say it is best when one is a kid but since that is just not an option now...

A few years ago I started studying French. I used books, Internet, and audio CDs. My levels - I don't know what "levels" but -

I read with few problems. I write it well enough to get my point across but there are mistakes. I speak it somewhat, OK accent but I speak slow. Hearing it tho, I still struggle. That is part due to my laziness.

To learn ANYthing the quickest here is what to do -

Be honest with yourself and ask what your best learning method is.

Some people MUST go to a class and others like me learn on their own.

I don't take classes cause for the $225, I would already know everthing a "class" would have to offer. Je m'apelle Erin, j'ai 33 ans, j'habit à Indianapolis, je suis marié, j'ai un fils, ma voiture est belle, mes voisons sont des énc [oops can't say that one,bad Erin ]...

If you want to home school yourself -

Find interesting study material. Most of it is really boring, even at advanced levels. Try to find interesting reads and what not. Yes the beginner stage you will have to pay your dues and suffer the boring junk but beyond that it is time to have fun.

How long does it take? I would say in the 7 months you have left, you could learn enough to just get by day to day. However, that is assuming you have a genuine interest.

ODDITIES ABOUT OTHER LANGS -

You will run into some things about other languages that are going to seem REAL strange. Like they have TONS of masculine and feminine nouns, and those nouns effect the verbs and adjectives. And of course there is seldom a rhyme or reason as to WHY a noun is masculine ore feminine.

Like in French, the nouns tree, desk, office, pencil, pen, pantyhose they are all masculine but no one knows why. Car and house are feminine.

Like our language, the context determines the meaning of words spoken. Think of the difference between "I read a book yesterday" and "My car is red". No one will ever think someone "read" your car... yeah anyways...

Since you are a true beginner in Italian, it will probably be next to impossible to hold a conversation, written or spoken, however, if you want to PM me I can send you a link to a couple language sites that you can get started with at least how to learn more. I don't know what the rule is for posting links in threads so until I get around to reading the rules I will assume it is not allowed.

On the site you could use the Italian room and maybe talk to other English speakers learning Italien and find out what worked for them.

Erin

 
English is my first language as i was born in the US. I also speak dutch. I moved to Holland at 14 and stayed for a couple years. I was placed into an international school so I was able to learn the language very quickly. within three months I was able to go to a dutch school. after about 7 months i got to the point where i started to think in dutch. I've been back in the US for a couple years and I am already losing alot.

 
Originally Posted by pinksugar /img/forum/go_quote.gif thanks Jinx! I'm already a member on there! I totally agree with you, it's really quite good! Only crudd thing is that the voice feature of livemocha is really pitiful, like when you want to do the spoken exercises, IF it works at all. For some reason a lot of the members at livemocha seem shy.

Unlike me, I am not capable of being shy.

Also pinksugar, I use the French lessons and I have noticed there are a lot of programming flaws in the written parts where you have to write or put words in order. I don't know if the Italien courses are like that. Point is if it keeps coming back saying you made errors but you KNOW you did not, it might be a program glitch.

 
yes, I have seen a few glitches... but it's better than most of the other sites I've seen, it's a nice place to start at least!

I was watching the italian news the other day and the main problem is that they speak SO FAST! Lol!

 
I saw on the Live Mocha blog they have noted some known issues, so as long as they are told by the users of stuff, they take steps to improve it; which is one of the big draws of the site- user participation.

Also, they have the "submit ideas" section that you can post things you want to see added or whatever and they appreciate the suggestions and a lot of times they add them to the system.

It is always growing, it looks like.

 
I speak Arabic (maternal language) and studying a foreign language is compulsory in our schools and the school I was in taught English only (no other option) .. so yeah, we had to learn it in the 1st grade (alphabets in KG, hehe).. by the 10th grade I took French and Spanish classes but since I didn't practice, I've forgotten both.

I don't think learning any language is hard.. if you really want to learn a language, say French.. take classes to get the basics (grammar and all) and then it all comes down to practicing.. watch as many movies as you can, read as much as you can.. and then it gets easier. the discipline part is "Practicing"
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and I believe that there shouldn't be stress, just fun and enjoyment
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I speak French. I studied it for 9 years. I should really keep it up. I love going to France on holiday and hopefully I'll go back soon.

 
I speak English and Brasilian Portuguese. I grew up with it at my dad's house but am losing it pretty quickly and trying to keep up with it with books and online chats and movies. I took two years of french and plan on taking more. I know a few phrases in German and can pretty much understand Spanish but I'm can't speak it.

Ideally, I'd love to learn seven languages and be a U.N. interpreter. I love learning new languages and culture.

I think that it depends on how immersed you are into the language and how quickly you catch onto it. Anything's possible!

 
It won't take years, especially if you're going to live in that country!! They say maybe 3months tops with total immersion and you'll pick up the language!

English is my first language, and am quite fluent in speaking/listening (not reading...haaaa) Japanese. Took a 2hr class every week for 4yrs, and did a study abroad for 1 month in Japan. I learned the most in that, cuz it was total immersion --- we were put in the rice fields, literally, so the families didn't know any English besides, "are you ok?" and "A UFO!!!" I also liked to watch japanese dramas (and practiced without the subs) and read manga to increase vocabulary....and of course Karaoke!!! I think that's the best way to learn a new language!!

So yeah, it took 4yrs for me but 2hrs/week is not very much at all - you could probably learn it in at least half the time. But Japanese is also very easy to learn, I think XD. It's at the point now that I quit Japanese school, because it's too boring now, and it feels like the only thing left to learn is more vocabulary....which can be done for free on my own!

 
Obviously I speak Spanish.

I speak a bit of english too, but I understand and write it better than I speak it

(Am I understood?)

 
Hello,im from south america, venezuela and one thing that work for me was waching tv and surrounding my self with people that spoke english , that is how i learn to speak english. Esol really didn't help me that much with the speaking part but it did help me with the writing. Now one thing to remenber is if you do go overseas you can still practice whetever language they speak before you go, but you will speake it more when ever you hear people talking the language you are trying to learn. Another thing will be, make yourself some flash cards with the basics, like how to say hello, goodnigth, good morning etc... And don't be shy if the words that are coming out of your mouth sound funny at first just keep practicing until you know how to pronounce some of them, thats what alots of teachers will tell you too. I hope this help you a little bit.

 

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