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chipdouglas · 08-08-2009, 06:18 PM

I thought I'd chime in on the language learning topic. I live near Montreal, and am a native speaker of French--although I wish English had been taught to me as a first language, but anyway ths is beside the point.

I've learned to write speak and understand English but integrating TV watching, going to the U.S. building my vocabulary by mainly reading from the web, and emailing people. I find learning a language can be easier of one has a true passion--mine is about overall health, which no doubt is quite an extensive topic. My ultimate goal was (and still is) for my English skills to top that of my mother tongue. It goes without saying that I'm getting there, though some have been telling me that I'm already there. Admittedly, I have very high standard and am known to be failrly demanding to myself and of others as well.

I've looked at language learning sytems like Rosetta Stone, and quite frankly, they're very basic, and I'm not sure how effective it is for most people.

I've been learning how to photoread, which basically means that I'm ready to give this system an honest whack. If it works, and I think it can work if one believes that it can, then THIS would be a superhighway to learning a new language in no time through building up needed vocabulary, idioms and the likes.

Getting back to having a passion : I found it to be easier for me to learn given the passion I've had about overall health. I've read a heck of a lot about it, and MOST ESPECIALLY have built a network of people sharing the very same passion for health, and ever since have exchanged a zillion emails, have posted on various boards and so on. This in turn has allowed me to learn to think in English, which I found to be rather hard at first, but over time paid huge dividends.

Strangely, I wouldn't describe myself as being ''into languages''. For some reason, I'm only into English as a second language, but I've been wanting to get as proficient at it as humanly possible in it. My perspective is : it's best to get a near complete mastery of a single language than learning bits and pieces of many. Having said that, that's only one of the many likely point of views.

Come to think of it, I guess my being HIGHLY inquisitive has played a large part in the learning process as well.

Ok, so that was my two cents

Hope it helps

08-08-2009, 06:18 PM	#38 (permalink)
chipdouglas Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 23	I thought I'd chime in on the language learning topic. I live near Montreal, and am a native speaker of French--although I wish English had been taught to me as a first language, but anyway ths is beside the point. I've learned to write speak and understand English but integrating TV watching, going to the U.S. building my vocabulary by mainly reading from the web, and emailing people. I find learning a language can be easier of one has a true passion--mine is about overall health, which no doubt is quite an extensive topic. My ultimate goal was (and still is) for my English skills to top that of my mother tongue. It goes without saying that I'm getting there, though some have been telling me that I'm already there. Admittedly, I have very high standard and am known to be failrly demanding to myself and of others as well. I've looked at language learning sytems like Rosetta Stone, and quite frankly, they're very basic, and I'm not sure how effective it is for most people. I've been learning how to photoread, which basically means that I'm ready to give this system an honest whack. If it works, and I think it can work if one believes that it can, then THIS would be a superhighway to learning a new language in no time through building up needed vocabulary, idioms and the likes. Getting back to having a passion : I found it to be easier for me to learn given the passion I've had about overall health. I've read a heck of a lot about it, and MOST ESPECIALLY have built a network of people sharing the very same passion for health, and ever since have exchanged a zillion emails, have posted on various boards and so on. This in turn has allowed me to learn to think in English, which I found to be rather hard at first, but over time paid huge dividends. Strangely, I wouldn't describe myself as being ''into languages''. For some reason, I'm only into English as a second language, but I've been wanting to get as proficient at it as humanly possible in it. My perspective is : it's best to get a near complete mastery of a single language than learning bits and pieces of many. Having said that, that's only one of the many likely point of views. Come to think of it, I guess my being HIGHLY inquisitive has played a large part in the learning process as well. Ok, so that was my two cents Hope it helps