Learning a New Language
by Me & my husband decided we want to learn Italian & Spanish.
And Before we have our child so he can be tri-lingual.
Since they are pretty similar it shouldn't be hard if we pick up one to pick up the other one.
Any suggestions on the best way to do this?
AI Summary
59 Comments
go back to high school, tell everyone your seniors and then take language classes
like josie grosie! Never been Kissed!
but i'm not josie grosie anymore!!!!
borrow Pimsleur from the library. Supposedly the Best program for learning languages. I'm currently learning spanish this way. My uncle learned french. They also have italian and many other languages. Very expensive, but it really really really works. (no reading to learn, either, it's all on cd)
Some links:
http://www.pimsleur.info/?referrer=45
I think this might be a crazy good price, but I'll have to check:
http://www.cheappimsleur.com/?xtr=GoogleAdwordsPimsleur&wcw=google
holy moly thats alot. is it working?
do they have dialects, cause spanish has a few, im sure italian does to.
italian dialects are mostly going away. if you speak straight italian, everyone will understand you. whereas some local expressions would not be understood by everyone.
you learn "castillian" or "castillano" spanish. It's a very proper form of spanish, close to that used in Spain. Most people will understand you when you speak it. I got to meet 2 sisters from Madrid, and spoke with them in spanish. I understood everything they said, and they understood me quite well. TRUE, I haven't gotten far with them, and True you don't learn SPAIN spanish exactly (they have a nasty lisp), but it's excellent. I never learned any grammar, and yet, I can tell when somethings sound right or not.
my wife told me the word they use for cake in Puerto Rico means "prostitute" in Spain. I think. or the other way around. I can't remember. Safest bet is never to offer cake to a spanish speaking person.
lol, I'll keep that in mind. I wouldn't want to ask a sister if she wants cake, but accidently asking her if she's a prostitute. That does NOT go over big.
I have the Pimsluer Norwegian course. It's grand
wow these are very cool!
Go to Italy. That's where I learned Italian. And have a Puerto Rican aunt and take 3 and a half years of Spanish in school. That's how I learned Spanish.
Hahaha....I actually think taking classes might help. And if you know any Spanish speaking brothers or sisters, it always helps to have them teach you a little as well.
I work with a really sweet girl who is from Venezuela, and she spoke ZERO English when she moved here 4 years ago. She still has a very heavy accent, but her English is really good, but she wants to learn more, since she gets confused with some of the words and stuff sometimes. We made an agreement...she's gonna "refresh" my Spanish memory, and I'm gonna help her where she needs it with the English. It's always nice to know people who can help you out. :)
focus on learning one first. i studied (am studying) spanish for about 6 years now. as a result, i understand when people speak italian cuz a lot of the words are similar. i also have to learn how to speak it. i feel going to italy for the summer is the best solution. wanna come?
I want to take up spanish and my husband wants to take up Italian, and hopefully we can just learn off each other. ha. We would LOVE to go to italy, it's one of our want to trips. My mom is puerto rican so i have grown up around spanish speaking people but not enough to pick it up, I hope when we go to costa rica i will be able to pic some up. That would be so nice! I always wanted to go to puerto rico for a month just to pic up the language, I think I could do it, i dont think it would be that hard cause I'd HAVE to learn to speak it.
You'd be surprised. I went to costa rica with 3 guys who pretty much only spoke english, and so I only spoke english with them. It would have been better if the guys I went with knew as much spanish as me, because then we could have been practicing all day everyday as we found our way around. I picked up some new stuff, but not much. It might be a good idea for both of you to focus on just one language so that you can practice together. Then, like Julie said, worry about the other language.
well, if you're intrested, i'm plannning a trip to italy for this summer. planning on renting a house or an apartment. there's a few of us going. boys house and girls house. for about 3 weeks or a month. haven't decided yet or worked out all the details cuz people are still decieding if they wanna come. lemme know if you're interested.
My husband got a language CD when he was in college to help him in French class. He found one that actually has voice recognition, so you speak into the microphone on your computer or laptop and the program can actually correct your pronunciation, which is the most difficult part of learning a langauge from a book.
When in the summer? I doubt we'd be maken it this usmmer cause we have alot going on but it would be nice to keep in mind just in case
I'm trilingual - I spoke only Polish for the first 11 years of my life, then I learned English, and then I started taking Spanish from 7th grade till college. So for a while there I spoke fluent Polish, English and Spanish. Now, i'm forgetting a LOT of Spanish. I can understand a lot of it but speaking is hard. Polish also is getting tougher to speak, because I dont' use it as much. It's just easier to speak English. I can understand Polish perfectly but forming sentences is hard..
So basically for me, the best way to learn a language is to be around it as much as possible. If you can't actually GO to Italy or a spanish-speaking country, listen to the language as mush as possible so you get accustomed to it.
WOW I want to learn a slovick language...Polish, Russian, ukrainian, or ALL. No preferance because basically I LUV the accents the native speakers have. Every explaination of ANYTHING, must be exactly whatever they say 'cause they sound so wise and powerful. (note: guys with this accent: SOoo HOT!)
I really want to learn Japanese or one of the most common Chinese dialects like Cantonese.. I really have such an interest in that but I know that I don't really have the time to devote to it right now.
I started learning mandarin...I think that's the most common, then cantonese. Chinese has that very crisp sound, and you actually have to say things at different pitches to make sure you're expressing your thought properly, FUN.
ahh yes Mandarin. I couldn't think of it. Yeah I really want to learn that.
I really wanted to learn Japanese but its always offered on a tuesday night at my school. Maybe when I transfer.
oh and by the way, Polish, Russian and Slovakian languages are all COMPLETELY different. Russian even has a completley different alphabet. I never knew how to read/speak or understand any russian at all... and I used to know this Slovak brother and I could not undrestand him AT ALL when he spoke in his language haha.. it was funny because he would just keep talking and my sister and I would just stare at each other not having any idea what he's saying
at the same time they sound so similar
yeah, but only to the untrained ear! haha
Spanish is actually more closely related to Polish than Russian for example. Knowing Polish really helped in learning Spanish, and certain words are identical!
Certain words are similar in Russian and Polish but.. it's just a completely differnet ballgame
I've got two very untrained ears.
Very interesting, see I just like the accents I have no opinion on whether or not the actual languages sound similar...the accent's are very strong, very (ah hem rhymes with rexy).
I'm tossing around the idea of moving to costa rica. They have an english congregation in need. There's a division of my company there. I'd have to learn spanish, but I could maintain my english, too! And, it's beautiful there!
GO FOR IT, Once in a life time chance, and your young with no attatchments, do it!
You're sooo adorable ;-)
oh also - it's EXTREMELY easy for small children to learn other languages. It's awesome. You probably don't even need to speak the language fluently and you can teach a child to communicate in that language. That amazes me about how humans are created. Imagine having that power to absorb and learn new things quickly and use your whole brain your whole life :) Can't wait.
This is what the pimsleur Courses are designed off of. The way we learn language, when we first learn language.
oh that's pretty cool... i'll hafta check em out
yes. i like the pimslur cd's. i've been so busy though that i haven't even finished the second one yet. so frustrated with myself. i'll get to the end evuantally.
lol, pathetic!
hey mister!!! did you finish either?? i don't think so.
you know what they say when you "assume"?
i didn't assume, i mearly asked a question.
I'm going to make my kids quadruple-lingual.
oh yeah if i ever have kids they're gonna be infinity-lingual
mine aren't going to speak ANY languages at all. just some basic hand signs and grunts.
ha ha ha,WOW, now thats something scary!
my kids and i will speak in eye movements and tonally varied grunts indicative of different inflections and situational intensity. it'll be a riot.
that it will be, and perhaps a difus offense I would think.
mine will talk in airplane signals
mine will do faggy interpretive dances for everything.
mine will speak in binary by taking their shorts on and off, on for 1, off for 0
[MAD FUNNY] mine will communicate in gas emissions, exercising a new and unprecedented control of his and/or her sphincter muscle.
i hear they speak hebrew in hawii
i love me some nice cookies and hebrew hawaiians
nothing like a nice cold glass of hebrew hawians to go with your cookies
i learned a new language once.
it was called english.
now i'm really good at it...
so... try it
