Learning New Languages

[miss matcha]

@Tindy: Oh, I wasn't saying he could learn the entire language from a book... I was just saying it's a lot easier to pick up enough of the Japanese language to be able to converse from books and self-study than with a tonal language like Vietnamese.  Fluent Japanese is quite different from what businessmen and students usually learn to get by (I like your Sen to Chihiro example, I always point that out to my friends who have watched the film in America).  Are you Japanese/half-Japanese, too?

And yes, OS, if you're going to learn from listening/repeating... some anime dialogue is often very unlike real life (especially for women, we don't talk like that, haha).  There are plenty of programs you could find on youtube where the dialogue is a lot more like normal Japanese.

 

[Tindy]

@miss matcha: That wasn't directed at you ^_^''''' 

And, Oh, nononononno.  100% whitebread.  No, I've just been taking Japanese for 6 years and I've been to Japan before (and will go again, probably next year).  I basically imbibe the language like a sponge O_O; It's seriously like my natural second language.

 

[united washcloth express]

The best way to learn Japanese is to take a class with a dedicated, native speaking teacher and then staying in Japan for a couple of months. Really, it's like that with most languages. Text books and classrooms can only do so much. You need that first person interaction with native speakers in order to get a better understanding of a language.

 

[miss matcha]

And, Oh, nononononno.  100% whitebread.  No, I've just been taking Japanese for 6 years and I've been to Japan before (and will go again, probably next year).  I basically imbibe the language like a sponge O_O; It's seriously like my natural second language.

That's so cool... my mom's just like that!  She's Caucasian, but studied Japanese and lived there for a bit.  It was really natural for her.  Maybe that's why she ended up marrying a Japanese man, hehe   Which parts of Japan have you visited?

 

[4StarGeneral]

I say once you learn latin, thats pretty much all you need to learn (for most the western languages), IF you're one of the 1/10000 that has common sense AND logic to implement it. Meaning how it's possible to infer that "Scaletta gigante" means "Giant Ladder" because scaletta can be deduced to scale, which is what you do on a ladder and etta is most likely an additive to make it an object, meaning scaling object = Ladder. You're on your own with any oriental language. (I wouldn't know the difficulty of learning these, sorry)

If not, this really can't be taught to you, and you'll be better off learning the language by listening to native speakers and studying books very intensively. Self teaching is the most difficult way to learn a language, so that I wouldn't recommend that. If you really want to learn this many languages (and it is DEFINITELY a brain overload), the best way would be to travel the world, though I don't know anyone with this kind of money. Otherwise, there are some pretty good CDs out there to learn a certain language, I have a few that are actually not silly, politically correct, make-you-sound-like-a-child CD language programs, though good luck finding them. [EDIT] Scratch that, I wouldn't suggest a CD, I just popped one in and....just no...

As for the Gaelic, I have been looking for a long time for anyone that knows it and could teach it, still nothing. If you find one, then :thumb: :thumb:!

 

[Tindy]

@miss matcha: I've been to Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuchiyama, and smaller places around Kyotango City (3 hours Northwest of Kyoto).  I lived in Kyotango (just for a few months , with a host family):D  Half hour away from the beach, gosh I miss it....

And I need a new phone card to call my host mommy ><

 

[shiroun]

If it really is easy, shiroun, I guess I'm spending the 44 bucks! Anything to get me fluent fast. I like the way this one sounds, but I was waiting for someone to say they tried it before I considered it further (I don't want to get ripped off or become a brainless zombie drone).

nahchito, that is basically the way I am going now, although I am using Online Dictionaries when I need to (a lot cheaper than buying twelve new dictionaries).

It has a slightly retarded voice to it, and it over complicates words (domoitkuatsu instead of domo. But either way, simplification isn't always necessary)

Anyway it works.

 

[OS]

Alright, so according to my sources here (you people) I should still plan on going to Japan. That's good for me to hear. When I was younger I had planned on living in Japan for a year, but I've been told left and right that it isn't easy just transferring over to a new country, especially when you are young.

I guess this means I will keep using these online lessons to speak basic Japanese, and use it whenever I can (several of my friends will want to learn with me), and then when I can, I should go to Japan for a while. Maybe not a whole year, but definitely long enough to have some fun.

Also, I've decided I want to know Japanese so I can watch more Anime.

As for Latin, I am having an easy time so far, but my vocabulary is very limited. All I can remember is "Marcus Brutus Caesarem occidit". Well, I keep working on it.

I have found a friend who is really into Gaelic, so we might try to find a teacher in town.

Now, what I want to know next: what languages do you all know, and how did you learn them?

 

[miss matcha]

@Tindy:  Oh that must have been so fun!  The last time I was there, I had to travel around a lot because my relatives all live in different places... Machida, Sendai, Ibaraki-ken, etc.  Tokyo is so much fun; just wish it wasn't so expensive :P  And that's nice that you still keep in touch with your host mom, I'm sure she loves hearing from you

 

[Tindy]

@OS:  Obviously, I know Japanese ^_^;   But I also took Latin, French, and Spanish for a few weeks in primary school (yeah I don't remember anything except "Salve, magistra!", "pomme d'terre," and "Soy Inigo Montoya.  Tu mataste a mi padre. Preparate a morir."  Japanese I've been taking since those few short weeks in primary school (it was 7th grade) and now I'm a sophomore in college.  Still taking it.  (What do ya do with a BA in Japanese?)

@Miss Matcha: It was fun, but next time I go I'm going to try to actually get out and visit more places. I was only in Tokyo for 2 days, so all I saw was the Tower and the interior of the Tokyo Prince hotel XD Oh, and a really nice park.  But I didn't see any of the districts... And as for Kyoto, all I saw was the interior of the train station!  So next time I'm going to try to see a few more places in and around Kyoto and/or Tokyo, and try to make my way down to Hiroshima.

 

[Thundergod]

I speak Japanese and a little Chinese as well.  Keep this in mind:

Learning a new language is like going up a steep hill on skates.  If you stop, you're going to roll right back to where you started and all your effort will be pointless.

Einstien said it best.  "If you use it, you won't lose it"

 

[OS]

Yeah, yeah.I've tried Jap before, and stopped. I start over each time. But this time I practice every chance I get (though I rushed through the lessons the first time through, I am reading each lesson slowly, and practicing each new word and sentence.)