Languages

Cheese for three?

Fromage!

JT said:

Should I ask permission from my fiancee first

Well, menage a trois is French isn't it?

Should I ask permission from my fiancee first?

The best possible immersive solution - get yourself a partner who is a native speaker of the other language and alternate days of speaking the others language so you both get a chance to develop.

I’d say you should speak to a speaker of the language.. embarrass yourself a bit..

I tried learning French but wasn't good enough to learn it.

If at first you don't succeed......... (you know the rest)

Ben

JT, I found them a great help in brushing up and adding to what I had previously learned.

His method suited me. He has two students with him on the recordings; you write nothing down, just speak, as do the students.

I hope you find a method that works for you.

Bonne chance, viel Glück

Ben

Is that the method of repeating what the tutor says and not reading the words?

I saw a method a while back someone recommended but still don't feel it sticks that well for me

Thanks all

No, the Italian on Duolingo is very simple but I still enjoy it. I think I enjoy it mainly because of the way the app is structured, the lessons are very short and interactive and therefore very motivating.

 I definitely agree that Duolingo is much more appropriate for basic conversation skills. 

I used it to brush up on my French - also for conversational Welsh. I would use it again if I needed to. 

As you have an A level in Italian, are you still learning new things from Duolingo? I don't know at what learning level it would no longer be useful.

They have videos on YouTube to learn new languages.

I tried learning French but wasn't good enough to learn it.

If they're still available, Michael Thomas CD courses are excellent. They may be found  in libraries or on a certain internet auction site.

Ben

JT said:

Does anyone know a full proof way to learn a language without moving to the country?

Moving there does not mean you learn it more easily. I moved to Brazil for 3 years and still struggled using conventional book / tape learning.

As Pegg suggests, Duolingo worked well for me - at least up to a basic conversational level. After that it was a combination of immersion in the enviroment and regular revisits of the books that took it up a notch.

For me the issues are largely round the "rules" of the language which are often inconsistent and make trying to build the conversational responses in my head so difficult, but with practice I stopped doing this conciously and trusted my subconcious to do this for me.

There is also an app called iTalki which I use that lets you book sessions with a teacher (from a very large pool of teachers) to cover whatever subject matter you want. For me I had to manage a team of poorly educated building labourers at one stage and needed to understand a lot of the phrases they used (think "I wanna cuppa, innit" sort of level and the app enabled me to find someone who could work through this with me.

I pay about US$10 per lesson there but you get a range of prices depending on the teacher.

Good luck with the learning process.

I really like Duolingo too! It’s very interactive.

What language did you learn with it?

 I am learning Italian, even though I have an A level in the subject.

Hi JT

There's an app called Duolingo which you may find helpful. It can help to learn the basics of most languages and might be a good place to start. 

It's been a while since I used it but seem to remember it being quite easy to navigate.