Wanting to Learn a Language

[Liveformx64]

it has really been a goal of mine lately to learn a foreign language.

American English being my native, I would like to learn a language for fun, and possibly future business ventures.

My job has me dealing with many people in Europe now, and sometimes wishing I could communicate more effectively with them.

My question I have for everyone is.

What languages have you learned / enjoyed?

What language aside from English is most widely spoken in civilized countries?

What methods did you use?

Any shared experience is greatly appreciated.

[Brutha]

What language aside from English is most widely spoken in civilized countries?

Top Ten Internet Languages - World Internet Statistics should give you an overview

[crescive]

Awesome! I speak three of the world's most widely used languages! English, Chinese and Spanish. Chinese was my native language, spoken to me since birth by my family, English could also be considered a native language since I was born in the States and thus learned very quickly on my own. It's easy to pick up languages when you're a kid!

Spanish, however, I learned solely by living there for half a year through a study abroad program. Sure, I took three years of classes in high school but that DID NOT prepare me in conversation or interacting in spanish. I think the best and possibly ONLY way to learn a foreign language is full immersion. This means living in a place that speaks that language so that you will be forced to switch your brain completely from your native language to the other. I was reading signs that are in spanish, watching spanish television/movies, grocery shopping in spanish, and of course, going out and meeting people in spanish! I constantly engaged myself in conversation with spaniards and made lots of friends. Many were interested in learning english too so that helps when you can do a sort of language exchange when you can ask questions about how to say certain things and such.

Also, I should stress it is extremely helpful to be simultaneously enrolled in a language class in that country, for instance, my knowledge of spanish would not have grown as fast as it did without being in class for a couple hours a day learning it and then using what I learned as soon as I left the classroom. I'm sure you could also self teach with a decent grammar book though!

Good luck! Being able to joke and laugh with friends and build memories in a different language is so amazing and rewarding that it's worth the hard work!

[Liveformx64]

Thanks for the replies.

That is exactly what I was hoping for.

Crescive, Have you revisited Spain since your time studying there?

Would you consider yourself fluent?

[Thoreau]

I am learning French and it is very relaxing yet challenging

[fainaent]

To me, there are two different aspects to learning a language.

1- Learning *how* to learn a new language.

2- Actually learning a language.

I tried a lot of things to learn some languages growing up, in high school, etc... but it wasnt until I spent a year in Brazil and really learned portuguese that I learned *how* to learn a new language.

-Zachary

[AlwaysLearning]

To take this a step more in the concrete, practical direction, look up spaced repetition software. I use Mnemosyne, which is free, there are lots of them though. Basically it's a flashcard program where you enter your flashcards on the computer, then review them on the computer. And when you review them, you rate how easy they were. The program uses your ratings to determine which cards you should see for optimal learning

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Liveformx64

it has really been a goal of mine lately to learn a foreign language.

American English being my native, I would like to learn a language for fun, and possibly future business ventures.

My job has me dealing with many people in Europe now, and sometimes wishing I could communicate more effectively with them.

My question I have for everyone is.

What languages have you learned / enjoyed?

What language aside from English is most widely spoken in civilized countries?

What methods did you use?

Any shared experience is greatly appreciated.

Why don't you learn British English Then you will know a proper language

No seriously. How about Mandarin or Hindi?

[shalom]

I believe in starting easy. If English is the language you are most familiar with, why not try learning a language that will have familiar aspects to it, ie one that shares some common semantic roots like some of the European languages which may also be useful in your work - French, Spanish, Italian or even German ? All of these have many words and sentence structures which are familiar to English speakers.
Also, consider which aspect of language learning is most important to you - speaking or writing. Each of these require different skills, although I suppose it is artificial to isolate one from the other to acquire a solid grasp.
There are lots of basic, free online language courses available that you can learn at your own pace which combine both reading and speaking skills.
Thennnn...if you really want a challenge, try learning a language which has a non-Latin alphabet like Arabic , Russian or Hebrew. The first two have squillions of speakers and are definitely useful. And, because the culture behind the langauge in these latter ones are so different to the one you know, it may even give insight into how a great chunk of the rest of the world thinks. Definitely recommended for Americans ( sorry!)
Good luck.

[Rose of Cairo]

Originally Posted by Thoreau

I am learning French and it is very relaxing yet challenging

Exactly like the French people themselves!

Why don't you learn French? Half of English words are French anyway

No but seriously, listen to your heart. When you're in love with a language/country/culture, it's much easier.

Still thinking about your question though...

[Liveformx64]

I think I have settled on Spanish or French. Or Both

From a business standpoint, I would think less Americans speak French, than Spanish so that may give me an edge.

Spanish English and French are so similar, has anyone learned all 3?

I am afraid they will all mesh together, and when I speak it will be an inaudible mess.

[Rose of Cairo]

Originally Posted by Liveformx64

Spanish English and French are so similar, has anyone learned all 3?

Yes, I have.

I'd recommend you start with either Spanish or French. You really could get confused if you start to learn both at the same time. Once you have a solid feeling for the first one, you can add the second one.

[Liveformx64]

Originally Posted by Rose of Cairo

Yes, I have.

I'd recommend you start with either Spanish or French. You really could get confused if you start to learn both at the same time. Once you have a solid feeling for the first one, you can add the second one.

Okay, that is what I thought.

Would you consider yourself conversationally fluent in both?

[Rose of Cairo]

Originally Posted by Liveformx64

Would you consider yourself conversationally fluent in both?

Not anymore unfortunately. I'm fluent in French. I was fluent in Spanish a few years ago, but I've had no opportunity to speak/write Spanish for years now, and forgot most of it I'm quite sure it'd come back quickly if I lived in a Spanish speaking country though. I'll take care not to make the same mistake with German and keep practicing it as much as possible in order to remain fluent.

[Cultivate]

Learning Languages

Has a blurb on a lot of popular languages. The forums are very useful for finding out specific programs and techniques people are using to learn languages. Have fun while you're learning and try to come up with things that will motivate you to learn the language i.e. books that you will be able to read when you're more fluent or movies to watch etc.

[dbstraight]

I've learned German, and I'm learning Spanish now. After that, I want to tackle Mandarin. For me, the most useful site of all has been All Japanese All The Time Dot Com: How to learn Japanese. On your own, having fun and to fluency. » About. The author even makes frequent reference to Steve.

[seasoned]

Originally Posted by Liveformx64

I think I have settled on Spanish or French. Or Both

From a business standpoint, I would think less Americans speak French, than Spanish so that may give me an edge.

Spanish English and French are so similar, has anyone learned all 3?

I am afraid they will all mesh together, and when I speak it will be an inaudible mess.

I learned all three, to a degree anyway. My three best are probably English, German, and Danish, in that order and with danish being so good simply because of the ease and my accent. I plan to get a lot better by this time next year.

USUALLY you don't get things mixed up. It IS interesting how you can kind of isolate everything.

BTW knowing English and German make a lot of the germanic languages easier. Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, etc... are pretty similar. I even spoke to a norwegian person once in danish. She spoke norwegian. Of course, I DID speak to several danes in danish as well.

Steve