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Human language.
Another method is to learn through a teacher supplmented by the radio, tv, karaoke, reading etc.
Some believe talking to yourself in that language then looking up words you did not know, remembering them etc.
A mix of all the above would be wonderful and remember the younger you are the easier it is. Good luck.
remember the younger you are the easier it is
especially when it comes to learning new phonemes...
Best way is a member of the opposite sex who you are attracted to and want to converse with, preferably while living in the culture and country.
This certainly works. I have also heard that one method which rapidly leads to a high level of competency requires living in the country and spending four hours every day studying and learning and four hours every day conversing and communicating. At that rate (which requires a lot of dedication) anyone with some language learning proficiency (ie. anyone who can speak at least three languages already) can go from zero to completely fluent in about four months.
In order of difficulty:
1. Reading - the easiest to learn.
2. Speaking - you can get by using the words you know.
3. Writing - you can use a dictionary and grammer and do it in your own time.
4. Listening - by far the hardest. Unlike written text, people do not put spaces between words, they run into each other. You have to train you subconscious to recognize the sound groups. Also people usually speak a lot faster than a teacher or friend who is making allowances because you are a learner.
Essentially "you" (the conscious you) do not learn the language - it is your subconscious that does that. The trick is to pesuade your subconscious to do it, which can only be done by exposure and repetition.
I was taught that courses with set texts, vocanularies, etc., are fine, but it is essential to migrate to the real written and spoken language as quickly as possible. Living in the country is of course ideal.
Essentially "you" (the conscious you) do not learn the language - it is your subconscious that does that.
This is one reason some people listen to (or at leave on) their self-teaching tapes or the radio at very low levels when they sleep.
[edited by: Visit_Thailand at 10:42 am (utc) on July 18, 2007]
Best way is a member of the opposite sex who you are attracted to and want to converse with, preferably while living in the culture and country
I agree. After a while you find yourself thinking and dreaming in the language.
Matt
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you need a purpose, something to make it easier and keep you going
it helps with your accent too, and the pronunciation of words. people rarely speak in real life like they do on the learning tapes. it's like learning english i suppose. all the people on the tapes probably speak like the queen. whereas in real life they speak like john lennon and rab c nesbitt.
In 6 months there you should be relativly fluent.
I'm considered completely bilingual English/French (oral and written), but it took a very long time for me to get to that point. I studied French for four years at university (with one year in a university in France), and have lived in a francophone environment (France, Switerland, Québec) for nearly ten years. For spoken French, I was barely capable of communicating until I first went to live in France, I became functional in six weeks and reasonably fluent in six months. Oh, and yes, marrying someone who speaks the language helps too. ;)
some people listen to (or at leave on) their self-teaching tapes or the radio at very low levels when they sleep.
That absolutely does not work
Absolutely! There's nothing paying attention - its just background noise.
I like to think of the mind as a PC, with the subconscous as a set of sub-routines which are running in the background. Some of these subroutines are responsible for sorting, understanding, and storing information in memory. But they are selective and only process and store information which they consider important (otherwise memory would fill up with junk). You can't order these subroutines to store anything, but you can trigger the event by repetition. It also helps if you are taking an interest in the process. If you do a thing often enough in a focussed way, something decides "Hey! This is important to the organism! I must understand this and memorize it!".
Anybody can be taught to drive a car in five minutes. We are told to turn the steering wheel left to go left, etc., and we can wobble down the highway using our rational mind. But it isn't until we have had a few lessons that the subroutines get the message that driving a car is sufficiently important to understand the process. After a few more lessons (repetition) we can drive without thinking about it and the subroutines do all the work - and they are much better at it than the rational mind. It works the same for learning a language.
IMHO :)
That absolutely does not work, for language or anything else. I'm not expressing my personal opinion when I say this. That's the scientific verdict after a lot of investigation.
Sorry but I have to disagree. Scientists may claim to know all but....
When learning a language every bit helps.
maybe you could try that.
Scientists may claim to know all
Actually, scientists don't claim to know all. That's what makes them scientists.</offtopic>
I have been learning Ukrainian this year. Two hours once a week on a Thursday evening. I went along more the fun of it than anything else.
Having learned several other languages in the past I can state with near-certainty that if I'd been living in L'viv and doing some self-study at home, I would have learned more in two weeks than I did on this course in a year. Still, it will give me a running start if I decide to head off to Galicia next year. (I had been planning on living in Kyiv for a bit, but it's almost all Russian-speaking there... if I want to speak Russian, I'll go to St. Petersburg...)
Verdict: Move to the language environment at the earliest opportunity.
Actually, scientists don't claim to know all. That's what makes them scientists.
True but my point was the listening to the radio at very low levels while sleeping can help.
A lot is not understood about the human subconcious but I have found this one method helped me while learning some languages (not English) to such an extent that it was impossible to tell me apart from a local.
Of course, by itself may do nothing, but mixed with everything discussed above cannot do any harm unless of course you are an extremely light sleeper.
(I seem to remember Rab got on OK when he went to Spain on holiday. He even met a kindred spirit.)
I think immersion must be the answer. I took some Spanish lessons a few years ago and I find that it all starts to come back to me even when only there for a week or two. I even know how to pronounce paella.;)
If I lived there I think I could become reasonably fluent in two or three months. (Even at my advanced years!)
Hasta luego hombre.
for example german gramar is similar to greek and to ancient greek gramar
You get to hear a lot of different speakers (as opposed to language tapes where you usually just hear 1 speaker) with different speaking speeds and accents. You can easily backup and re-listen to something you didn't understand. The dialogue is usually the colloquial language that most people speak. Plus the visual clues and context add an additional association to the language part. And of course, you can get insight into the culture as well through movies.
And as an added bonus, when you meet and talk with native speakers, it gives you something different to talk about, instead of the standard "Where are you from?" and "What is your job" questions.
The article includes how she picked up more than a dozen languages. She thought that one should have interest and motivation to learn a language. Then instead of buying coursebooks she used materials from the real life, like novels and such.
"So we don't really need even a dictionary: it only spoils our mood from the joy of reading and discovering the texts. In any case, what we can remember is what we have figured out ourselves."
