Picking Up a Language - Experiences, Courses & Levels

  • Context: Lingusitics 
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around participants' experiences and insights on learning languages from scratch through university courses. The focus includes various languages such as French, German, Cantonese, Hebrew, and Japanese, as well as the effectiveness of different teaching methods and the importance of practice outside the classroom.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants share their experiences with university language courses, noting that proficiency often requires practice outside of class.
  • One participant mentions that after 30 lessons of Pimsleur's audio series, one could be quite fluent in speaking Cantonese.
  • Another participant suggests that the effectiveness of language learning depends heavily on the quality of instruction and the teaching methods used.
  • Some argue that German may be easier for native English speakers due to similarities, while others challenge this notion, citing differing expert opinions.
  • A participant reflects on their own journey of learning languages, emphasizing the necessity of immersion and practice outside the classroom for fluency.
  • Several participants express that without speaking the language outside of the classroom, achieving fluency is unlikely.
  • One participant recounts their struggles with learning Mandarin despite classroom instruction, highlighting the challenges of language acquisition without immersion.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that practice outside the classroom is crucial for achieving fluency. However, there are competing views on the ease of learning different languages and the effectiveness of various teaching methods, leaving the discussion unresolved on these points.

Contextual Notes

Some participants note that the effectiveness of language courses can vary widely based on instructional quality and methods, and that personal experiences with language learning can differ significantly.

  • #31
You language learners check out http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/".

And if you like to learn Chinese like myself you got the world greatest language learning website http://chinesepod.com/" .
 
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  • #32
Does anyone know of a website for English speaking people to correspond with German speaking people? That would be interesting and might motivate me to finish the Pimsleur German course. I couldn't really find anything with Google. :-(

Ratzinger said:
You language learners check out http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/".

Looks very useful, thanks.
 
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  • #33
There are numerous forums on languages, including German.

For example - http://www.phrasebase.com/forum/

This might be of interest -
http://www.fredriley.org.uk/call/langsite/german.html

See also - German Studies-Related Discussion Forums - at bottom of page
http://www.swan.ac.uk/german/links/maillist.htm
 
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  • #34
Best thread in awhile!
 
  • #35
Vielen dank. I find the more i read about the anomilies of german the more i understand. But my speech is still somewhat textbook styled. I completely got something wrong, it was more or less a english to german word for word translation before. And my host sister corrected me and it was something i completely didnt expect. The words used just to what i wanted to say confused the pants off me for a few minutes. But i can't remember what i said, just remember being baffled.
 
  • #36
Aren't there many different German dialects?

If so, which one or ones should you learn?
 
  • #37
it depends on the country. Switzerland from what I've experienced by being there is that they just sound different. I think but not sure but Austria the language actually changes slightly or they use different words for somethings. But most younger generation german speaking people from whatever country can speak high german. Being in germany, i notice accents change dramatically From major city to small town and even from being in the Ruhr were the cities just join onto each other, there accents can change. I struggle alittle with the köln-düsseldorf accent.
 
  • #38
JasonRox said:
Aren't there many different German dialects?

If so, which one or ones should you learn?
Most definitely.

In English countries, one would learn Hochdeutsch.
See - http://www.omniglot.com/writing/german.htm
Look toward the bottom of the page for additional links.

Schweizer Deutsch is different from dialects in Germany, and within Germany there are various dialects from e.g. Schwaben, Bayern, Baden, Norddeutschland. And Austrian is yet different as well.

See - http://www.woxikon.com/wort/Schwaben.php :biggrin:

I took a summer class in German during high school. One teacher used the formal Hochdeutsch, but his assistant mixed it with Austrian, where she lived for a year.

It's a bit like English variations on tap, faucet, spigot, cock, valve. Just pick up an English thesaurus.

See also - http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/index.htm
 
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  • #39
Astronuc said:
Richtig. Es war komisch, und es gehört in der deutschen Sprache nicht

...nicht in die deutsche Sprache.. :wink:

whitay said:
So, kann ich noch fragen euch über die Aussprache.

"Euch" comes before "noch".

whitay said:
Aber mit was mache ich hier, kann man nicht von buch lernen.

"ich hier" comes before "mache". And replace "von" with "aus dem". :smile:
 
  • #40
radou said:
...nicht in die deutsche Sprache.. :wink:
Ja, thanks. I meant to correct, but got distracted. :rolleyes:
 
  • #41
thanks. didnt know i made mistakes. Going to wuppertal today.

Bis übermorgen.
 
  • #42
WOW Astronuc, you got some great German skills there man.

BRAVO

marlon
 
  • #43
marlon said:
WOW Astronuc, you got some great German skills there man.
It's gotten rusty without practice.
 
  • #44
What do you guys think about learning two languages at once?

I was thinking of Cantonese and Italian right now. Later on I'll try Japanese and Spanish (Spanish in school).

I can already speak French, so I would assume my pronunciation skills from French and English as well as some grammar skills from French will help a long way with Italian and Spanish. I heard there were similar in some grammar aspects.
 
  • #45
Any tips on finding where I can learn how to write Cantonese using simplified characters? (The common writing style.) I'm aware that's totally different than speaking Cantonese.
 
  • #46
JasonRox said:
Any tips on finding where I can learn how to write Cantonese using simplified characters? (The common writing style.) I'm aware that's totally different than speaking Cantonese.

I found all the information regarding this.

Anyways, so I met someone who will be able to teach me Mandarin and the simplified characters in exchange for teaching English. Cute girl too! :-p
 
  • #47
good deal, ahaha
 
  • #48
Just to throw it out there...
Since I've been trying to learn arabic, I found a few videos on youtube.com that were helpful. Some people created a couple of series that teach it. I don't know that there'd be videos for every language, and most are pretty basic, but it really helped me. Oh, also, you can find all sorts of shows in other languages on youtube as well. So once you have some proficiency, that could be useful too.
 
  • #49
Gale said:
Just to throw it out there...
Since I've been trying to learn arabic, I found a few videos on youtube.com that were helpful. Some people created a couple of series that teach it. I don't know that there'd be videos for every language, and most are pretty basic, but it really helped me. Oh, also, you can find all sorts of shows in other languages on youtube as well. So once you have some proficiency, that could be useful too.

I'm a long way from that. :cry:

I just found a chinese tutor in the area, which is awesome.
 
  • #50
heh, I'm not at that level either. But I still like to listen, even if I don't understand yet.

Also, like I said there's loads of begininer vids. I checked, and there's a lot for mandarin. You should check them out.
 
  • #51
Gale said:
heh, I'm not at that level either. But I still like to listen, even if I don't understand yet.

Also, like I said there's loads of begininer vids. I checked, and there's a lot for mandarin. You should check them out.

BONUS!

I'll definitely check it out. The only problem is that the computer is in the open public at my house. Could be embarrasing. :bugeye:
 
  • #52
it would only be embarassing if the person doing the video is a cute chinese girl and you enjoy the lesson too much...


Otherwise I'm pretty sure that watching educational videos isn't much to get excited about...
 
  • #53
Gale said:
it would only be embarassing if the person doing the video is a cute chinese girl and you enjoy the lesson too much...


Otherwise I'm pretty sure that watching educational videos isn't much to get excited about...

Around here it is. They think learning chinese is dumb. Well, learning anything around here is considered dumb.
 

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