Learning a second language?

[Aikman666]

I've always wanted to learn a second language - I done French in school but had absolutely no interest in it at all with more pressing subjects on my plate.

Nowadays I have quite a desire to have a second language - And I have Italian routes that I'd like to follow and I would love to learn the language.

What is the easiest most casual way to start learning? Doing night classes/moving to Italy are a bit out of the question at the moment! Has anyone done self teaching methods before?
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[fredsredhat]

pimsleur are very good.

https://www.torrentreactor.net/torrents/1628283/Pimsleur-Italian-1-3-(Complete)

[Ichy]

Audio or online is fine but Its worth finding Evening classes if only for the chance to interact with a person. Try to find a couple of movies in the language you want to learn.


Nothing beats being stuck in a country for a few months. I speak English and German but, simply due to exposure,know enough French, Italian, Greek, Croatian and Dutch to get by. The biggest obstacle for many people is self imposed embarrassment. Get used to be corrected and you will learn a lot faster.
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[fredsredhat]

i agree. i only know very basic french but when i go to france the people respond VERY well to my trying and i feel more confident to try harder

[Nope.]

I found rosetta stone great when starting to learn russian. Unfortunately, with languages that use a different alphabet etc. you really need a proper russian tutor. Im still trying to find one...
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[621andy]

Find yourself a foreign woman Worked for me!

Seriously, nothing beats being in a country to learn the lingo.

I do German( fluentish) and French and can understand Cloggy. A smattering of Turkish and Burmese helps too

I tried learning German at night school but didn't get on with it.
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[mistergixer]

[Imonster]

Another vote for the Rosetta Stone; it's expensive but there are normally a few "mislaid" copies lying around cyberspace.
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[Visitor Q]

I always considered myself functionally retarded with language learning. Always tried to pick up Greek/Polish/German/Spanish/Italian from friends... but the 'whats the word for X' approach is pretty pointless. I could just about bluff my way through portuguese by the end of 4 months there, as I had to boss the staff about sometimes and most spoke little english. And ordering a beer in (basically) spanish is awesome (una cerveza por favor).

However, getting stranded in Thailand where no one speaks English, I started to pick it up very quickly, and after a year could have quite good conversations (and never spoke any English really/had white friends). But I never had any good teachers, and most of the struggle was pronounciation and getting over the 'oooh, speaking with an accent is weird... I must say this british as possible'.

Now I've been in Vietnam a month, and I can have simple conversations/make simple sentences. Listening is harder, but getting there. Everyone else here is adamant you don't need to learn Vietnamese

But, certainly, the first language is the bastard. After that, it's easier. And immersion is the way forward. If you have a degree, go get a TEFL and teach english in Italy (after you learn the basics here).
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[Lottie]

Im a teacher of English as a foreign language and speak Spanish pretty well too, the most important thing is to get to know English first (seriously). as soon as i started teaching I learnt and understood more spanish as i had to learn how english worked. Brush up on nouns/adjectives/verbs and how they are used and then it will make sense. I did learn most of my spanish when working in Argentina but picked up a lot more when teaching english there It is hard work doing at home as you get lazy well l i do, theres a mountain of books you can get i would go to college then practice at home.For me the teachyourself (thats a brand name) books are great, and they can supplement what you have learned but there are loads to choose from, when getting a book try to get someone who knows the language to go with you as half the time the books focus too much on irrelevant things at beginner level (in my opinion) if you do get listening CD make sure you get a book that complements it. try your library if its any good.
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[Visitor Q]

[mistergixer]

[Lottie]

I didnt say i was good ha ha! Nope not teaching paragraphing to my students and the present. Maybe i should take my text in and get them to correct it, considering im teaching pre intermediates at the moment i dont think we'd get past the first sentence........
What i said about the teach yourself books is true though, they are really useful.
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[Chinaboy]

I find it very difficult to learn my wife's language. She speaks Tagalog (Philippine) Luckily she speaks english very well. When we are together I try to learn a few words each day and try to slot them into sentences, many people do this and it is called taglish. But tagalog is a very fast language, and even after being together for 3 years, I am still very poor.
I looked at rosetta stone but SO expensive.

[mistergixer]

I used to have a Filipino girlfriend, i only learnt 2 bits of Tagalog: 'Hello', and 'you fucking bitch' - rather apt, as that's what she was.


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[Pete.]

[Ichy]

Aye, tis' the norm in Brummy land Thankfully the only language I've not used in the UK is Dutch. I have yet to meet one that didn't speak very good English.

I started to learn Chinese some years ago but didn't get very far. I'd like to learn a bit of Arabic, might have a go now I've found Rosetta Stone.
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[Jenks]

ive done german now.. (Got certificates and everything - including money from the government! woop!!)

bloody hard to start off with.

tryed pimsleur, and i thought it was utter tosh.. and another one from torrents.

Tryed rosetta stone, but hated it. didnt find it very good...

Luckily, living in germany, i was picking it up by hearing it (allbeit, i live right down south, where they dont speak proper german anyway (Bayrish - kind of a slangy dialect))

ended up going to a 4 hour a day school where all that was spoken was German... and picked it up very fast...

then you have to get over the huge huge hurdle of 'not being bothered' if you get it wrong, or sound like a tw*t, when speaking it......

Once your past that, its all upwards....

Id suggest booking a holiday to a place where they speak the language you want to learn... try to only speak that language as soon as you know a little bit... or if your a little slower to pick it up... listen to a conversation... work out the words you know and then translate it back to english... (if that makes sense!!)

dont worry about spellings and things, learn to speak it first i say!!
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[Ichy]

[Chinaboy]

[Jenks]

[621andy]

When I speak German they think I'm a Cloggy, due to my Bristol accent

But then the cloggies think I'm Australian

..and they speak Fränkisch round our way...a bastardisation of Bayerisch and Hessich..
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[Skudd]

When at school i always wanted to learn german, but i was in the half of the year that did french, the other half did German. by some flook I ended up in the top set for french so was allowed to do german for a year. I learnt more German in that one year than the five I did French for.
I did feel let down by the school.

Now I'm of the opinion that if you have a German, Frenchman, Italian, japanese, Polish, and an Indian all in the same room they would probably speak English to each other as that would be the most common second language.
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