Learning a new Language (spinoff of MommaU4's post)

[Diva of Dragons]

Hi!

Have any of you learned a new language, in a short amount of timem, using a particular system (ie. Rosetta Stone) ? If so, which system and what are your pros, cons, and recommendations? Thanks!!!!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

 

[RachelEllen]

I think Pimsleur is great.

Pros:
It's broken down in easy, graded lessons. Half hour per day. Plus, it relies 75% on making you turn English into the new lanugage, and 25% on comprehension. Many other programs focus on vocabulary. I find other language to English vocabulary drilling almost useless. It gets too easy.

It also incorporates reviews into lessons. So you never have to go back once you pass a lesson.

Cons:
It's not cheap. (no language programs are) So, I bought my sets from lingoshop (online) as I found their prices were the best. You can return your sets to them. Or, if you ebay, I found they resell really well.

Pro or Con: (depending on your needs)
It's almost all tapes, so it won't help with reading and writing, but if you are an aural learner, it's just fantastic.
Plus, it's not very vocabulary rich You'll end up with about 500 words at the end. What it is, is grammar rich. So you'll be able to construct very sophisitacted sentences, and then you can standarize what vocabulary you learn later. (Like concentraing on medical vocabulary).

 

[Freyja]

I took a 4 week VERY intensive spanish course in Spain 5 years ago. Worked fine for me!!!

 

[Rajah]

The *best* way to learn, hands down, is to visit the country where it's taught.

For me, the next best has been to take a class from a native speaker.

Other than that, I'm interested as well, as I may be required to learn Russian soon.

 

[Diva of Dragons]

 

[Cindyluwho]

The *best* way to learn, hands down, is to visit the country where it's taught.

For me, the next best has been to take a class from a native speaker.

Other than that, I'm interested as well, as I may be required to learn Russian soon.

Rajah, I've tried so many tapes, books, etc but so far the best Russian learning course I've tried is the workbook "Russian in 10 minutes a day". It runs about $20, very cheap for a language program and has worked better than the other programs. Another great way to learn Russian is to host a Chernobyl child or translator for 6 weeks in the summer (hint,hint). We started 3 years ago and learned more Russian in the first summer than you can imagine! Our little host child picked up English almost immediately! Check out http:www.forworldschildren.org