Learning a foreign language - Page 3

tarheeljks · #21 06-09-2007, 03:30 AM

chinese is very hard. i took it b/c i wanted to learn a non romance, non germanic language. i can't imagine learning how to speak chinese via a computer program. some of the sounds don't exist in english and you are essentially learning how to speak again. it was hard enough to learn w/an instructor saying exactly what i was doing incorrectly. i don't think learning the reading/writing would be that bad. most introductory books have "romanized" versions of the chinese characters (pinyin) so that you can ease your way into it. learning to speak would be tough though.

hanster · #22 06-09-2007, 09:35 AM

[ QUOTE ]
chinese is very hard. i took it b/c i wanted to learn a non romance, non germanic language. i can't imagine learning how to speak chinese via a computer program. some of the sounds don't exist in english and you are essentially learning how to speak again. it was hard enough to learn w/an instructor saying exactly what i was doing incorrectly. i don't think learning the reading/writing would be that bad. most introductory books have "romanized" versions of the chinese characters (pinyin) so that you can ease your way into it. learning to speak would be tough though.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm going to completely disagree with you. Learning to read and write is going to be very very hard. Conversational Chinese wouldn't be bad if you first learn enough basics and surround yourself with native speakers, like every language that you want to pick up. (I have a friend whose gf is Korean and his parents forced her to learn Chinese. In 6 months she could do daily conversation and in about a year she could sing in Chinese. But then again, she had to hang out with him everyday and getting yelled at by his parents. Now after about 3 years she is fluent and can recognize few characters. She was 21 at the time) Being in LA, this shouldn't be that big of a problem, for it's probably the most populated Mandarin-speaking city in the US (You can also watch the news on LA Channel 18 every night at 6 and Chinese soap opera afterwards to "listen" to Chinese).

I've heard from different people saying that Chinese and German are the two hardest languages to learn from scratch.

/threadjack
PJ Have you seen Exiled? I just saw it tonight and thought this is easily Johnny's best work so far.
/endthreadjack

fatgirl_lover · #23 06-09-2007, 10:56 AM

i've heard from a lot of people german is one of the easiest

derek luv · #24 06-09-2007, 12:43 PM

I learned Latin in high school and it helped a lot in numerous other subjects.
I recommend it.

private joker · #25 06-09-2007, 04:16 PM

[ QUOTE ]

/threadjack
PJ Have you seen Exiled? I just saw it tonight and thought this is easily Johnny's best work so far.
/endthreadjack

[/ QUOTE ]

OMG. I loved Exiled. It's this brilliant modern-day Western, blows away everything Peckinpah and Leone did back in the day by concentrating on like 5 setpiece sequences for the whole film, building up really likable characters, and paying everything off. Ridiculously entertaining, and yes it's easily among To's best work to date.

magoo · #26 06-09-2007, 04:49 PM

Total immersion---something like winding up in prison, down in Mexico or Thailand---you will learn.

in48092 · #27 06-09-2007, 06:53 PM

find a private tutor who is a native speaker of the language you wish to learn. this is the best way. try and have 3-5 1.5 hour sessions each week. If you live in a city or a college town you should have no trouble finding a native speaker. start out on a trial basis to see if they are a decent teacher. i've studied foreign languages on my own, in classroom settings and with tutors, and if you can find an effective tutor it is by far the best option. this is even more the case if you wish to become proficient in speaking.

tarheeljks · #28 06-09-2007, 07:47 PM

i think this is true if you are being taught chinese, but i think it would be easier to teach yourself to read/write it, than to speak it.

IggyWH · #29 06-09-2007, 07:57 PM

I mention this in every thread that I see mention Rosetta Stone :

1)They have a web based version of their software that's the exact same as their hard copy that you can preview online. When you inter it, it says you have 10 minutes to use it. When I did it though, I went through a first lesson in an hour or so and never got booted off. It's pretty much fully functional but there are some lessons that you can't access.

2)They offer a 6 month money back no questions asked guarantee on their software. I ende dup sending mine back since I didn't really have time to use it and wasn't even asked why I wanted to return it. I just called them up, they gave me a reference number and address to send my software back and I had my refund within 2 weeks.

TheMetetron · #30 06-09-2007, 08:24 PM

I don't think you've answered yet when/where/for what you are going to use Chinese. That's important.