Learning a new language?

[Grant Lamontagne]

Has anyone tried things like Rosetta Stone to learn a language?  I am interested in re-learning French and I could use all of the help I can get.  :-)

Def

[spudley112]

Def,

I have used a Mango Languages that our local library provides access to online for free. I just started the course on Cherokee. It goes into language structure, nuances of the language etc. The Cherokee course starts much like a class would...with greetings, goodbyes etc. Mango provides many languages to learn.

[Don Pablo]

Def,

I have used a Mango Languages that our local library provides access to online for free. I just started the course on Cherokee. It goes into language structure, nuances of the language etc. The Cherokee course starts much like a class would...with greetings, goodbyes etc. Mango provides many languages to learn.

I've used Mango for Spanish too.
It was also a free service from my local library.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Thanks, I will look into that.  The price is certainly right!

Def

[Gerhard Gerber]

Can't make any recommendations, just wanted to add it's a very worthwhile thing to do.

It's bloody shameful that I haven't made the effort to learn German properly  ......I'm at least 40% there....

[enki_ck]

Re-learn as in you knew it before? How fluent were you? I'd recommend passive and/or active immersion into the language. I assume you have french speaking media available to you in Canada. Watch cartoons in french. Watch shows on TV that are french speaking, if necessary with english subtitles. Try to read newspapers and magazines, ... if you have french speaking friends and colleagues, try speaking to them in french so they can correct you if necessary and you feel more relaxed than with strangers. Then gradually start going to french speaking neighborhoods, shops and such, and try ordering something in french, ... gradually increasing the difficulty level.

I find such ways of re-learning a language will do you more good than sitting at home repeating after a computer app. Especially as you have better options available to you in your part of the world.

[Aloha]

Pretty much how my grandma learned English ^^

I was attempting to learn American Sign Language.  I need to resume.   

[ThundahBeagle]

Re-learn as in you knew it before? How fluent were you? I'd recommend passive and/or active immersion into the language. I assume you have french speaking media available to you in Canada. Watch cartoons in french. Watch shows on TV that are french speaking, if necessary with english subtitles. Try to read newspapers and magazines, ... if you have french speaking friends and colleagues, try speaking to them in french so they can correct you if necessary and you feel more relaxed than with strangers. Then gradually start going to french speaking neighborhoods, shops and such, and try ordering something in french, ... gradually increasing the difficulty level.

I find such ways of re-learning a language will do you more good than sitting at home repeating after a computer app. Especially as you have better options available to you in your part of the world.

^^^^   THIS

Immersion is they best way, especially if you already have had some base experience with the language. Most important phrase in French is : quest que c'est?

Dont know if I wrote it correctly but if you can ask a native-speaker "what's this?" Or "whats this called?" Then all else falls into place I guess.

[spudley112]

Or "Je ne sais pas." Or add to that and just say "Je ne sais parler Francais." Haha,..I jest of course.

[Dutch_Tooler]

Pour une immersion plus efficace, on pourrait décider de n'écrire qu' en Français au forum.

[AimlessWanderer]

Pretty much how my grandma learned English ^^

I was attempting to learn American Sign Language.  I need to resume.   

How I learned British Sign Language too. Evening classes at college, and teacher was profoundly deaf. In at the deep end - just get on with it! Spent a night at a deaf social club talking to various deaf people whose dialects (yes, sign has those) I didn't know, and who were using a myriad of signs I'd not encountered. Still managed to (mostly) understand one another. Examiner was deaf too. Forgotten most of it now. Never had call to use/practice it.

[Aloha]

Very interesting.  Thank you for sharing. 

[spudley112]

That is supremely interesting. I never thought of sign as having dialects, but it makes sense. If you think about it, even texting has dialect types based on sex, generation, region etc. I one had a friend whose daughter tried sending a prank text on her mother's phone. There was not much to the message, but I could tell right away it was not her.

[AimlessWanderer]

That is supremely interesting. I never thought of sign as having dialects, but it makes sense. If you think about it, even texting has dialect types based on sex, generation, region etc. I one had a friend whose daughter tried sending a prank text on her mother's phone. There was not much to the message, but I could tell right away it was not her.

Yup. The examiner was from Nottingham I think, which is not that far from me, really. About an hours drive. She asked me as one of her questions, whether I had a ... then she used a sign which is very similar to the sign I'd learned for "red" - but I knew it wasn't red because of the lip pattern and context...

Her: "Have you got a (obscure sign)?"
Me: "Have I got a what??"
Her: (obscure sign)
Me: "I don't know that sign. Fingerspell please"
Her: "S.O.N"
Me: "Oh, son. No" (using the totally different sign I'd been taught)
Her: "Sorry, yes. Son" (using my sign) "My fault"
Me: "No problem. Which sign is best to use for that"
Her: "Either. Both are good"
Me: "Does that happen often?"
Her: "Yes" looking slightly embarrassed "All the time"

I passed with flying colours

[AimlessWanderer]

Oh, another day, during the lesson, the fire alarm went off in the college. That's when I learned that fire alarm is one of the most important signs to learn! We all reacted, but couldn't tell the teacher what was happening. I've taught that sign to several people since, just in case. Just one of the things we take for granted.

[Aloha]

This just got more interesting. 

[SirVicaLot]

Can't make any recommendations, just wanted to add it's a very worthwhile thing to do.

It's bloody shameful that I haven't made the effort to learn German properly  ......I'm at least 40% there....

Wir können jederzeit ein neues Thema aufmachen und dort nur Deutsch reden. Zumindest könntest du so schreiben üben 

[SirVicaLot]

This thread makes me wanna learn a new language too. Thinking about Swedish or Gaelic. Maybe if I force myself to set aside like half an hour each day I could get somewhere...eventually 

[lister]

Programs I used to start learning English were point an click games. Later, torrents and being to lazy to look for subtitles for pirated movies. Still later, mp3 players and pirated audio books...

For German I used duolingo. I failed due to switching from commuting to work by train to driving a car. I don't know if I would succeed if I continued to use the program?

For C++ I am trying to use all sorts of programs. I am not doing well... 

[enki_ck]

Wir können jederzeit ein neues Thema aufmachen und dort nur Deutsch reden. Zumindest könntest du so schreiben üben 

No need, we already have one, feel free to bump it
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,51198.0.html

[spudley112]

Igpay Atinlay

[Don Pablo]

Igpay Atinlay

Ihay Pudleysay!

[Alan K.]

Oh, another day, during the lesson, the fire alarm went off in the college. That's when I learned that fire alarm is one of the most important signs to learn! We all reacted, but couldn't tell the teacher what was happening. I've taught that sign to several people since, just in case. Just one of the things we take for granted.

That is precisely why fire alarms have strobe lights to accompany the sounds.

[SirVicaLot]

No need, we already have one, feel free to bump it
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,51198.0.html

I had not seen that one yet, thanks for the heads-up 

[Dutch_Tooler]

BTT, what about opening a French topic? Or is there one already?

Sadly, no experience yet with learning languages through apps, although I use Google Translate whenever necessary (last time in Spain).

[enki_ck]

BTT, what about opening a French topic? Or is there one already?

Sadly, no experience yet with learning languages through apps, although I use Google Translate whenever necessary (last time in Spain).

Not sure about french, but maybe there is, someone will probably chime in if there is. I was a bit absent from the forum for a few years so a lot has happened since that I missed.

The rule was to have at least one mod or admin who spoke the language so we could monitor the foreign language thread, but I think there was even a Greek speaking thread and we don't have any Greek speaking mods as far as I know.

[Mechanickal]

Here you go:

https://forum.multitool.org/index.php?topic=80419.0

[Grant Lamontagne]

French was always my best subject by far in school, but that was a long time ago.  I have a hard time understanding local French speakers (called Acadians) because their accent is really weird.  Being in Ottawa for the last few years has made me think my French isn't as bad as it used to be, but still has lots of room for improvement.  I did still manage to sell a kayak to a French person, so I can't be that bad! 

Still, I would like to be somewhat more fluent.  There are French channels here, but I would have to watch actual French programming, not dubbed as I have a bit of a hearing disability as well and I rely a lot more on lip reading than I thought I did.   

Immersion is indeed the best method, but I was hoping to do some kind of lesson that would help me advance a little faster.

Def

[pfrsantos]

This thread makes me wanna learn a new language too. Thinking about Swedish or Gaelic. Maybe if I force myself to set aside like half an hour each day I could get somewhere...eventually 

I looked into Gaelic some time ago. I particularly like the sound of it. Awlso Esperanto. I found some sites to start but never gotten very far. If you don't have a daily contact with a foreign language, it's very hard to learn it.

[Steinar]

The grammar is the "easy" part of a new language, the tricky part is learning the 3000 new words you need to look up in a dictionary for that language instead of having to rely on native-language/foreign-language dictionary. And then the next few thousand words you need to avoid having to do look-ups all the time. Courses are great at grammar, but immersion  works better (at least for me) for vocabulary. I learned English only partly from school, large parts of my vocabulary is thanks to science-fiction novels and computer manuals. IMHO the smart thing to do is find something you're curious about and do it in that language. (On the other hand, irregular verb conjugations is all rote learning back in school.)