Learning a foreign language

I decided to go ahead and order the Rosetta Stone... it was like $230... however, there is a six-month guarantee and you can return it for any reason within six months for a full refund. So if I don't like it or I get everything I need out of it, I will just return it.

 

I know a bit of Spanish, but its not words you'd want to repeat unless you want to get shot by the Latin Kings. Its just not Atlanta, there are parts of Boston, or any other large Northeast city where you can hear spanish. How much would being bilingual help in getting a new job? Its gotta account for something? NO?

I too am suprised at how much I can "read" the French in Montreal. I can basically tell what's going on by looking at it for a few minutes. Its just the whole conversation thing gets me.

 

The Army pays damn good money to those who are proficient in other languages. One of my lieutenant buddies gets paid extra for speaking Japanese -- he's stationed in Germany -- while another gets extra for Russian.

Yeah. It counts for something.

 

You might also try poking around iTunes for free podcasts. I found one for Italian that was pretty good for the basics, and I never got past about the third 10-minute podcast of more than two dozen.

 

I had a chance to go to DLI and skipped it. I'm kicking myself every day.

 

Spanish is easier to learn than French if that's any help.

As far as Quebec, goes. yeah a lot of people in Montreal and Quebec City are bilingual but in the outlying areas, particularly the rural parts, it's French patois only.

If you're travelling in Europe, French is probably more practical.

German's good too.

 

Webby, let me know how that Rosetta Stone stuff helps you. I'd like to learn Spanish and Chinese and have been mulling over Rosetta.

 

Reading it, I find, is a lot easier than listening to it. I have bilingual friends and when they go off on tangents in French, I'm usually lost, picking up the odd word here and there.

But translation through reading, I'm usually pretty good.

 

I'm interested in learning Gibberish or whatever that language is that's being spoken by the folks who answer the phones at the government offices/bank/phone company/etc. I don't expect any of them to be out of work any time soon.

 

If you know any Mormons, try to find somebody who was on a mission in a Spanish-speaking country. A lot of Mormons know a second language because they were in other countries and they make an effort to learn. The best thing would be to ask how they learned.

I learned more Spanish in four days in a Mexican border town than I did in two years of high school Spanish. I know enough Spanish from visiting Mexico to ask about food and try to exchange greetings. I can pretty much understand what my in-laws are saying if I am face-to-face, but I have a lot harder time on the telephone.

There is no way I could do business dealings (involved with Finance) in Spanish. That is an entirely different thing.

Webby, if I were you, I would learn basic stuff, like Please (por favor) and Thank You (Gracias) and You're Welcome (de nada). If you make an effort and are polite, I have found you generally can get through. What I also did was to write some phrases down each day and try to learn them, adding thing each day.

The problem frequently is that you might say something, and a response comes back faster than you can process it and you end up getting nervous. Understanding something in a language and having confidence are two different things. The second part is much harder. Also, learning a language is like learning math or history - some people have an easier time than other people.

 

I was going to start this same post last night. I was thinking about the kid I was working with this spring. Neither of his parents spoke English. I really want to help him, but I need to be able to communicate with his parents. They don't seem likely to learn English, so I might have to learn to speak Spanish, which will help me in many other situations.

I took French in high school and hated all but that first year. The only reason I stayed in the class was to be in the company of a certain girl. She was a year younger and French class was the only way I could be in the same classroom with her outside of flunking a grade.

 

Pimsleur is the way to go.

It's 99 percent audio based and you'll retain a great deal. I've learned some basic Russian, Dutch and Croatian this way. It seems once you understand the system of teaching, everything comes fairly easy.

And no I didn't pay for any of it.