Good ways to learn a Language?

[Thunder Bolt]

Its a bit late for me but we have put both our children in a Bilingual primary school in Hove so as they have a better chance of becoming fluent https://bilingualprimaryschool.org.uk/brighton-hove/primary/bilingualprimaryschool

There aren't many of these types of schools in England so we are very lucky to have one in this area.

Is that the one Calde's wife worked at?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I find this presenter and her series of YouTube videos enjoyable and beneficial. The wife is a little suspicious of my motives though.

https://youtu.be/IzugQ-xIJrE

https://youtu.be/1_-AVqJh-5Y

 

[Is it PotG?]

Aaah what the heck. Any chance......

 

[Half Time Pies]

Is that the one Calde's wife worked at?

If she did then we never heard about it, but I don't think there are any other Spanish/ English schools in the Brighton area.

 

[Mexican Seagull]

After miserably failing both O level French (several times) as well as Latin, I have ended up trilingual - nothing beats pillow talk!!!!

 

[indy3050]

My daughter has signed up for mandarin next year, that's going to be interesting.

 

[5ways]

My daughter has signed up for mandarin next year, that's going to be interesting.

if she has an Ipad get her Skritter.

 

[Notters]

Be very careful with Duolingo for spanish as it's Mexican spanish. Many different words and different pronunciation. I recommend listening to Coffee Break Spanish podcasts first. They teach all the grammar like [MENTION=33306]Salty_Seagull[/MENTION] 's course.

Had a couple of embarrassing moments asking for jugo (juice in Mexico, gravy in spain ) rather than zumo and Caffè negro rather than Caffè solo thanks to Duo.

 

[aftershavedave]

Starting young is a very good idea. Something that amazes me is hearing groups of teens here in Berlin switching between English and German fluidly like they're one language. They'll be talking, say German, and something will trigger them switching to English, like an English quote or a common English phrase, and they'll stick with English until something switches the conversation back to German. Crazy.

if you learn a language under the age of 4 you are native, 4-8 fluent/competent, after that you can never be native, so....do the best you can, and that can easily approach fluent

 

[Gwylan]

if you learn a language under the age of 4 you are native, 4-8 fluent/competent, after that you can never be native, so....do the best you can, and that can easily approach fluent

I was once in a hotel with a Dutch family on the next table: the kids were about 6 and 4, the father (who was speaking nothing but English) was asking the kids what everything was in English by pointing at it (a fork .... a knife ... a napkin etc). If the kids answered in Dutch, he'd keep on pointing until they remembered it.

No wonder the Dutch all speak good English if that's the process they go through

 

[Dick Head]

I'm in a similar boat. My spoken German is well behind my level of writing and reading. I wouldn't say I panic when someone speaks to me...but I do give up quickly and easily. The wife found a "tandem partner" to practice spoken German with. A tandem is someone wanting to practice the reverse ie a German wanting to practice English. They would meet for 30 mins and spend half he time speaking English and half Deutsch. It took some time to find a suitable partner...both in language levels (you don't neccessary have to be at the same level) and also getting on with each other. She feels this has helped a lot and really progressed her spoken language. This will be my next step. Maybe you could find a Spaniard in Brighton to help you and vice versa?



Good luck.

That's a good way to learn a musical instrument as well. If you want, for instance, to learn the fiddle and you can find an accordionist at a similar level you'll sound like a couple of vieux gitans in no time!

 

[W.C.]

There's no real secret, just work hard at it, whatever method, and don't give up. Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Our new columbian friend stuck post it notes on everything from his phone to the walls. Maybe try that?

There was more to it than that. He realised that he had to commit totally so he changed the language on his phone, laptop and all his tech to English. You can't always be translating back into your mother tongue, you have to try to think in the target language. Difficult if you're not in the country where they speak it, though.

 

[Scotchegg]

If it's available, keep spanish TV on in the background whilst you're doing other things. I found this really really helpful for listening and getting a good grasp of tempo and flow. I sub to Japanese cable TV and stream it when I'm doing housework. It's been invaluable over the years and I think my pronunciation and listening ability has really benefitted. It's more of a secondary thing alongside books and classes but it's a small and easy thing to do for the benefits you can gain. The Japanese one I sub to is quite expensive but i wonder if spanish might be more available?

 

[pasty]

It also helps to watch tv/films and listen to music. Take a look at All 4, Walter Presents, and start watching some Spanish stuff - it helps to get your ear in.

I lived in Rotterdam for a while back in the mid-80's and learnt Dutch that way. Unlike many European tv companies, the Dutch leave all their English and American tv programmes in English and put Dutch subtitles up. It was a brilliant way to learn the language. Listen and read, and as you say, really helped on the pronunciation.

 

[Tokyohands]

Japanese TV and music is shite so I don't really bother with any of it but going to the pub and chatting to locals helped a lot initially, plus there was usually helpful young ladies around who'd be willing to do some extra curricula activities which helped even more.

 

[PoG]

Try Pimsleur, I learnt basic Spanish within a few weeks. Within a few months I was comfortable enough to give it a whirl with the locals in Spain.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

I lived in Rotterdam for a while back in the mid-80's and learnt Dutch that way. Unlike many European tv companies, the Dutch leave all their English and American tv programmes in English and put Dutch subtitles up. It was a brilliant way to learn the language. Listen and read, and as you say, really helped on the pronunciation.

When I was learning Spanish, I managed to get hold of dubbed videos of some of my favourite movies - e.g. Casablanca and The Godfather. I already knew what they were saying, but I was hearing it in Spanish. Le hare una oferta lo que no puede rechazar ...

 

[pearl]

Google translator app is very good and useful.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

For online courses I use the Udemy web site. These are thousands of courses to choose from, on any subject and learning languages is a popular topic on there. I have done a number of courses on the site, though not a language one. Because anyone can upload courses you get a real variety of teachers, so you can choose one that has an approach that you like, and learn at your own pace. The courses I have done have been really good - one on impressionist oil painting, for example.

I know there is a discount offer at the moment, I think it is $10 for many of their courses, but that offer finishes at the end of the month, i.e. today. It a bit sneaky, i admit, but I have a course on there for learning to write Android Apps, called "The Android Developers Journey" and that is included in the discount at the moment.