Learning a new language.

[ArcNatural]

Just have a couple of questions for trying to learn a new language. Say I'm an English speaker, and I want to learn Korean.

1. Is it better to try to not think in terms of your own language? (Like don't think of "Babo" meaning "Idiot" but try to think of "Babo" meaning "Babo")? Or is it faster to use your own language as a focus to learn the new one?

2. Is it better to learn the letters and sounds incredibly well before trying to move on to words? I found that in classes this seems to move fast, but I've been curious to whether really practicing constants and vowels and sound groups (like double "ll" in spanish) to be more important than moving on to words and learn the sound groups on the way.

3. Personally have you found it easier to learn the written language or to learn to speak it with romanization (If I used the right term it's just using english letters rather than symbols). This isn't that important for say Spanish or French as it's basically already in that form, but for Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, etc. this is kind of important. I know that some languages may be easier to learn (I know that the Japanese written language is apparently really hard) but for someone with experience learning 1-2+ more languages I would be interested to know your experiences.

4. For someone who knows 3 languages, and English wasn't your first language. Did you think English was harder to learn than the other one? I understand this question would be greatly opinionated but I'm just curious.

Thanks for answering anything you can.

 

[M@v]

it really does depend on what language. Are you trying to learn Korean?

 

[ArcNatural]

I understand that most of this will be opinionated, but since no one is going to know how to speak/write every single language I'm asking for personal experiences. So if you learned Spanish or Japanese or w/e just go from there using your own experience as an example.

 

[M@v]

Well Im minoring in Spanish, so yeah most of my learning comes from usual classroom work. Memorization is one part of it. When Im improving, I think of the english 1st, then register the spanish. By the time Im done with my minor, I want to try to get myself to think in spanish; ill be able to talk a lot faster.

On a side note in korean know how to count to 59, and a few basic sentences thanks to my martial arts classes. :D

 

[Che_Lab]

I'm learning Japanese, and writing it in Japanese is a lot easier than romanization.
As for the thinking of the word as english or whatever, I think I tended to do that more towards the beginning of my studies, and it kind of mixed into me actually thinking of the japanese word as the japanese word as my studies progressed. Hope this helps, and btw I am in year 3 of Japanese at a high school level.

 

[Crimson King]

Not sure about you, but my library has a language service. It teaches French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Italian, Russian, and ESL. It's free if you have a library card. Basically, it has 100 lessons per language, each about 100 slides. Each slide teaches you a phrase by using context, breaks it down, and repeats it over and over again. These programs are a great way to get your feet wet.

Also, I suggest Esperanto. It's an easy language to learn, and it'll help you understand others quicker.

 

[KoreanDJ111]

There's a program called

"Kwonmatae Korean"

Which is a Speed learning DVD/Booklet that they claim you will learn Korean in 10 days.

Website is www.kwonmatae.com if you want to check it out.

 

[PB&J]

my friends are teaching me korean,bu ill check that out too

 

[Amide]

1. That's really important! When I hear something in Spanish, then try to translate into my English, I get REALLY SLOW. It's really hard to change your habits though, so get it right the first time.

2. Well, sometimes it can be better to learn words and recognize the pronunciation patterns.

3. Writing is easier, because speaking can be slowish when you start up. Korean I'll bet is hard to write though.

 

[Proverbs]

I learned French decently well, and I don't translate French back into English in my mind. I just hear it and understand.

I wanted to learn Japanese, but I didn't get into the school I was looking for, and the one I'm at doesn't really...do foreign languages Great school, but not for foreign language.

 

[1048576]

When I learned Spanish way back in high school, I would write/speak really sloppily and haphazardly, but quickly, and then I would correct myself (or when speaking, the professor would correct me). It caused my grades to suffer, but I actually learned a lot more than my classmates.

Although I don't remember much of it now... so it may not be a good long term strategy.

 

[slave1]

Not sure about you, but my library has a language service. It teaches French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Italian, Russian, and ESL. It's free if you have a library card. Basically, it has 100 lessons per language, each about 100 slides. Each slide teaches you a phrase by using context, breaks it down, and repeats it over and over again. These programs are a great way to get your feet wet.

Also, I suggest Esperanto. It's an easy language to learn, and it'll help you understand others quicker.

thats way cool. i know the libraries around here dont do that. stupid government and not providing enough money for random crap like that... i guess it would only be a one time thing. so once the language program is set up, it would be relatively cheap.

 

[ArcNatural]

There's a program called

"Kwonmatae Korean"

Which is a Speed learning DVD/Booklet that they claim you will learn Korean in 10 days.

Website is www.kwonmatae.com if you want to check it out.

Too bad I can't read the first page to figure out where it is.

 

[Frown]

4. For someone who knows 3 languages, and English wasn't your first language. Did you think English was harder to learn than the other one? I understand this question would be greatly opinionated but I'm just curious.

Thanks for answering anything you can.

I speak five languages. Six if you count my German for Dummies skills.

4. English is BY FAR the easiest language I've learned. There is no language with easier grammar.

 

[ArcNatural]

I speak five languages. Six if you count my German for Dummies skills.

4. English is BY FAR the easiest language I've learned. There is no language with easier grammar.

I'd appreciate if you answer the other questions, as most of the people who have answered them on the majority are learning the languages themselves. General thoughts on how you learned, tips on thinking and studying would be nice as well.

 

[Eor]

English is in no way the language with the easiest grammar. Mandarin Chinese has it much easier.

 

[Frown]

1. Is it better to try to not think in terms of your own language? (Like don't think of "Babo" meaning "Idiot" but try to think of "Babo" meaning "Babo")? Or is it faster to use your own language as a focus to learn the new one?

You will eventually reach that stage. Until then, translate the words in your head.

2. Is it better to learn the letters and sounds incredibly well before trying to move on to words? I found that in classes this seems to move fast, but I've been curious to whether really practicing constants and vowels and sound groups (like double "ll" in spanish) to be more important than moving on to words and learn the sound groups on the way.

Yes, stick to phrases like "Hello" and "Where can I find the train station?" until you've learned how to pronounce every letter. Otherwise, you will have to read every word twice before you understand.

Don't expect yourself to speak fluently until you've studied the language for years. People will hear your broken Korean, and will not disrespect you for it.

3. Personally have you found it easier to learn the written language or to learn to speak it with romanization (If I used the right term it's just using english letters rather than symbols). This isn't that important for say Spanish or French as it's basically already in that form, but for Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, etc. this is kind of important. I know that some languages may be easier to learn (I know that the Japanese written language is apparently really hard) but for someone with experience learning 1-2+ more languages I would be interested to know your experiences.

I haven't studied any languages without the Latin alphabet.

 

[DtJ Jungle]

I'm starting japanese next school year!

I'm ****ed

 

[=)@MePlz]

There is no language with easier grammar.

English has the weirdest grammar. It's the most difficult language to learn.

 

[=)@MePlz]

I'm starting japanese next school year!

I'm ****ed

That's gonna be fun

First school year?

 

[Frown]

English has the weirdest grammar. It's the most difficult language to learn.

Let's use an example. I want to say "I put the cat in the kettle", in Italian. First, I have to decide whether it's the imperfect or perfect tense and I also need to add the suffix "o" to the Italian word for "have", which doesn't make sense, but hey, it's Italian. And then I have to add the correct preposition... God, I hate Italian prepositions... In English, it all makes sense. IN the kettle. Oh, and I also have to know if the cat is male or female.

Ho messo il gatto nel bollitore.

 

[Thino]

4. For someone who knows 3 languages, and English wasn't your first language. Did you think English was harder to learn than the other one? I understand this question would be greatly opinionated but I'm just curious.

Thanks for answering anything you can.

my native language is french , I know italian and spanish , I found english easier to learn , mainly because of the verbs tenses , compared to other latin languages where theres 15654 tenses you gotta learn

grammar isnt that different between all those languages , though I still think french grammar can be a ***** sometimes

 

[ArcNatural]

Thanks for all the responses guys. I've definitely been reading the responses. Any tips on memorization? Would you recommend flash cards or baby books or something that people may not realize that helps?

 

[황미영]

Personally I think it's better if you had some basic knowledge of the language and then you go live in the country for a while. Because you get to use it everyday and speak it with other people. This is what I did with English. I learned English when I was in third grade in Puerto Rico. Then I moved to America in 1999 and after a while of using the language everyday, I was able to speak it fluently. I'm currently learning Japanese, I learn so much in the class but since I don't use it everyday it makes it hard for me to speak it fluently...

 

[finalark]

I don't know about Korean, but here's some tips from the fair amount of Japanese I know.

When I hear Japanese phrases or words (I don't know if this is just a gift I have or what) I hear their English translation. For instance, I hear "watashi wa kami-sama desu!" as "I am God!"

As for memorization, flash cards are good if you're trying to learn to speak whatever language fluently. It's also a good idea to speak the language out load to yourself (you probably want to do this in private) or to use the language when speaking to yourself in your head.

 

[Seagull Joe]

hebrew has easy grammer.spanish is so easy to learn and speak and read