Learning a New Language

[LiddyRules]

I'm thinking of learning a new language (don't worry baggers, it's not Spanish) and I'm doing it because I want to and not because I feel this country should be a multi-language haven. Just because I think it would be a good skill to have. I'm debating between German and Japanese right now.

Anyway, what are suggestions some people have to go about expanding my knowledge? Any good books can people recommend? Or any other ways to go about doing this?

[d0uche_n0zzle]

You should learn Klingon to fit in with all the 'cool' kids.

[LiddyRules]

You should learn Klingon to fit in with all the 'cool' kids. I was seriously just about to edit my original post to read "don't worry baggers, it's not Spanish or Klingon" before I reloaded and saw your post.

[B54]

Can't go wrong with Russian :action-sm

If it is between German and Japanese, go with German. Most everyone in Europe speaks a decent amount of German, and just about everyone in central Europe is fluent. German is more practical, it is much eaiser to find someone that speaks German compared to that of Japan.

[HerkyJerkyLiz]

i heard japanese is really difficult to learn.

[City View]

I agree with Russian. I took French (ughhhhh) in school for 5 years and decided I wanted to learn something else. Because I was driving a lot during the time I had an interest in Russian, I picked up the Learn In Your Car Series for Russian. It's made by Penton Overseas, Inc. I liked it a lot and it does work/help. There are different levels you can get once you've mastered the basics. They also have more than Russian.

A friend of mine took Mandarin, Chinese for a few years. I don't know how he did it. That shit is hard.


Good Luck Bro......

[FAZ8218]

I'm a Foreign Language Ed. major. Between the two languages, obviously German would be much easier. I don't know much about Japanese, but its obviously much more difficult. As far as learning the language itself, you can get a lot out of reading and listening. Hearing the language used as often as possible is one of the most important strategies to learning a language. Nothing beats going to the place where the language is spoken and getting the full experience... but obviously cost and time does not permit everyone to do it. As for practicing at home, try to find videos and tapes in the target language as well as publications or simple texts. You will learn a lot from reading and listening but you will never fully improve your proficiency without authentic practice... In other words, you will have to speak and practice every chance you get. I hope this helps you some... PM me if you have any specific questions.

[MrBogey]

For an English native speaker German is a class 2 language and can be learned with about 3hrs per week for about 25-30 weeks for a basic fluency. Russian is a class 3 language and can be learned with about 5 hours per week across the same time. Japanese/Chinese are class 4 and take about 7hr/week.

Spanish and french are relatively easy to learn.

[CM Mark]

Learn German so you can understand teh Chicken Fucker audio

[Sanjay]

There's this filipino chick at my job I want to sex, so learning Tagalog...if this ish don't help me get the pusc in a month..the hell with learning a new language.......because a brother don't do "CHARITY WORK"

[Sanjay]

For an English native speaker German is a class 2 language and can be learned with about 3hrs per week for about 25-30 weeks for a basic fluency. Russian is a class 3 language and can be learned with about 5 hours per week across the same time. Japanese/Chinese are class 4 and take about 7hr/week.

Spanish and french are relatively easy to learn.
so what class is Filipino

[B54]

i heard japanese is really difficult to learn.

Russian is actually the hardest language to learn. The only reason Japanese and Chinese are higher class is because of the writing. The hardest to speak is Russian. Mispronoucing one word usually give you another word.

[yellowstonesteve]

There's this filipino chick at my job I want to sex, so learning Tagalog...if this ish don't help me get the pusc in a month..the hell with learning a new language.......because a brother don't do "CHARITY WORK"

holy shit, learn some form of English first

[MrBogey]

Russian is actually the hardest language to learn. The only reason Japanese and Chinese are higher class is because of the writing. The hardest to speak is Russian. Mispronoucing one word usually give you another word.

Na, try Vietnamese. I have no problem speaking Russian. In Vietnamese it's mainly tonal. The difference between the word for mother and grandfather (IIRC) was where one placed the inflection.

It's why when you see VN written anywhere you see all the crazy accents. They all play a very important part in the language.

[B54]

Na, try Vietnamese. I have no problem speaking Russian. In Vietnamese it's mainly tonal. The difference between the word for mother and grandfather (IIRC) was where one placed the inflection.

It's why when you see VN written anywhere you see all the crazy accents. They all play a very important part in the language.

I actually tried to learn Vietnamese in Russia. There is an area called (translated to English) "Narrow Eye Valley". All the Viet's that came to Moscow mostly live there (trust me, there are more than you would think, they are Russia's Mexicans). I do admit it is pretty difficult, but people born outside of Russia usually do not speak clean Russian, even if they begin talking around 4 or 5. There is always an obvious accent. I had a friend in grade school that came from France when he was 6. I see him almost every time I go to visit Russia, and he still can not speak Russian without an accent. Russian's tounge's develop different due to the anuncations. Anyone that learn's it as a second language has a very difficult time getting it properly. If I heard your Russian Bogey, I am sure I could understand you for the most part, but your prouncation would sound a little off. If you learn Cryillic language and you originally learned a language that used the standard alphabet, there is very little chance you anuncate properly.

[jpc165]

check out http://www2.rosettastone.com/en/offer/googlepage

i am using it to learn french for all of my quebec travels.

[MetalSign]

My g/f uses Pimsleur Spanish and I do the German. I also have Japanese and Russian. Russian seems the hardest so far...

[FAZ8218]

I actually tried to learn Vietnamese in Russia. There is an area called (translated to English) "Narrow Eye Valley". All the Viet's that came to Moscow mostly live there (trust me, there are more than you would think, they are Russia's Mexicans).

Hahahahaha, that's terrific, that's terrific. :clap:

[mascan42]

All of the so-called "romance" languages, like Spanish, Italian and French, are relatively easy to learn. But you need to keep in practice afterwards, or it'll fly right out of your head. I took 3 years of Italian in high school, and now all I can do is translate a menu.

[LiddyRules]

All of the so-called "romance" languages, like Spanish, Italian and French, are relatively easy to learn. But you need to keep in practice afterwards, or it'll fly right out of your head. I took 3 years of Italian in high school, and now all I can do is translate a menu. I think that's happened to all of us. We all had to take Spanish or Italian or Fernch in high school because we needed to. I always felt that if you needed to learn a language, against your will, you won't remember it save for a few terms that it shocks you even to remember. If everyone who took a language in high school remembered it, there'd be a lot more multi-tongued people out there. Yo tenia Espanol y ahora yo recuerdo nada.

[mascan42]

Yo tenia Espanol y ahora yo recuerdo nada.
According to Babelfish:

I Espanol tapeworm and now I remember nothing

Which I guess proves your point. :action-sm

[FAZ8218]

Its true, no one remembers from their language classes in school. That's because those teachers never gave a shit whether their students actually learned or not. It was about meeting department guidelines and making sure the kid passes the state requirements. Your high school class was a grammar drill, remember the rules for your test and pass. Remember how to put words in the right order and you can say "I like to play football with my friends". The truth of the matter is, if you don't remember, then you never actually learned the language. And the problem isn't you, it's the fact that you can't learn a language in a 42 minute class period. Unfortunately for us who wish to learn a language (and those of us who want students to have fun learning it) find it almost impossible to do. Especially since school districts could give a shit about their language programs... they're just there because they have to be.

[MrBogey]

If you learn Cryillic language and you originally learned a language that used the standard alphabet, there is very little chance you anuncate properly.

Haven't spoke it in years so it stinks. My teacher was quite good. We learned like kids. We spent days on end writing the cyrillic alphabet the way a Russian would. We were then taught the letters as a school kid would. Then we moved up to pronouncing basic words, audio-tape assists, etc. Grammar and conjugation followed along with an expanding vocabulary.

But yea, I know what you mean. Non-Russian speakers can't get it quite right. Even I picked that up.

Russian makes a lot of sense... Except for "playing chess". It's a board game yet it isn't. ;)

Oh, and for the curious I took French in 3rd grade, Spanish in high school, and Russian in college. Can't speak any of them now but still have enough of a knack to get by if need be.

[B54]

Haven't spoke it in years so it stinks. My teacher was quite good. We learned like kids. We spent days on end writing the cyrillic alphabet the way a Russian would. We were then taught the letters as a school kid would. Then we moved up to pronouncing basic words, audio-tape assists, etc. Grammar and conjugation followed along with an expanding vocabulary.


Thats how I was taught English, German, French, and Belarussian back in Russia. I also picked up a little Turkish, Vietnamese, Polish, Dutch, and Arabic. Of course, I can not speak all of them now, but I have Russian, Belarussian, English, German, and French down fluently. I am almost fluent in Arabic but I have no intent on learning how to write it.

[abudabit]

Asian languages are easy to learn unless you have trouble picking up tones. Also they are tough as shit to learn the written language.

Nothing wrong with Spanish, I would learn that over any other language. Like it or not, it's the most practical in the US. Second most practical would be Mandarin.

[Tommy Ceez]

I'm thinking of learning a new language (don't worry baggers, it's not Spanish) and I'm doing it because I want to and not because I feel this country should be a multi-language haven. Just because I think it would be a good skill to have. I'm debating between German and Japanese right now.

Anyway, what are suggestions some people have to go about expanding my knowledge? Any good books can people recommend? Or any other ways to go about doing this?
BARRON'S MASTERING GERMAN...hands down...more expensive than the rest, but it teaches you to think in terms of the other language, rather than translating in your head.

Its the program that the US Government gives to Foerign Service employees heading to thier jobs overseas.

And German is SOOOO similar to English that its actually pretty easy...only problem, if you go to Germany, everyone speaks english, so if your lazy, its easy to get frustrated and just start talking to everyone in English

[WaddleDoodle]

I'm learning from Treffpunkt Deutsch. A decent text, and they have an online component which helps.

Unfortunatly, I don't think that it would be as useful without a good teacher. Mine was a little old West German lady who really taught us her own method that she had developed over the years.

And I have to agree with Tommy Cez on this one. German is a root language for English, so it's much easier to learn than Japanese. The only reason I'd learn Japanese is to try and translate anime :)

And besides, if you don't know a word in German, you can just run around it, smashing other nouns into one long descriptive one, and people know what you are talking about.

[grail]

I've taken a little of both. They follow similar rules on words as well. Just as waddle doodle said just smashing other words together till you get the jist. However I found japanese easier because of the lack of silent letters and the words are spoken more phonetically. Writing is a different story, the japanese have 3 different alphabets, and even most adults there can not read everything that is written in kanji. Most of the time for mass communication its printed in a phonetic script. German is much easier considering the letters are the same as english. However, I can't really communicate effectively in either langauge. I do think one of the best ways to learn a language is to saturate yourself in it. If it's all you hear, then eventually you'll begin to think in that language, not just thinking in your language and translating.

[al885]

Я зн*ю *лф*вит.

[MrBogey]

Я зн*ю *лф*вит.

Yea, me too.

[B54]

Yea, me too.

Я т*кже зн*ю Кр*йиллик. Вы зн*ете русский язык х*р*ш*? Эт* удивляет меня, чт* кт* - т* зн*ть русский язык н* эт*м ф*ерм.

:action-sm

[aromain]

I was listening to Pimsler Japanese CD's for a couple months.
All i remember is
DOMO arigato gozaimasu - thank you, thank you very much
Watshiwa amerikajin des ka- are you american
Genki des...its all starting to fade now. Maybe its all the ecstasy I'm taking for my diabetes. But the sounds really stay in your head. That was 2 years ago and O&A came back on a few monthes later.

[Cunt Smasher]

I speak fluent spanish,learned one word at a time from working with mexicans.You gotta practice with people that speak the language and get used to being laughed at.Took maybe 2 years the way I did it,but now can actually pass for mexican sometimes.My personal opinion,shared by others I've talked to is that your really starting to get it when you dream in the second language.

[MrBogey]

Я т*кже зн*ю Кр*йиллик. Вы зн*ете русский язык х*р*ш*? Эт* удивляет меня, чт* кт* - т* зн*ть русский язык н* эт*м ф*ерм.

:action-sm

Well I know enough to read it but I need a little help on a few words because it's been 5 years since I did any sort of translation. So I do not know it too well. In terms of creating sentences I'd be very poor at it. But it's alwways easier to translate when I know the context; it's quite obvious in terms of structure.

[Kid Brock]

Learn Latin. It will help if you ever run into a ancient Roman Emperor down the road.

[chiefo104]

Im thinking of learning spanish. I live in california and it only seems logical. Plus my grandpa is from mexico and i always wanted to speak a third language.(I already speak Japanese). Are their any suggestions on any good books to learn from?