Self-taught language?

[La Presse]

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I was wondering whether any of you have ever taught yourselves a language without taking a formal course. I ask this because I want to learn a new language myself.

If so, what was it and what level are you currently proficient in? Thanks guys!

 

[lobo.solo]

Do it!! I did a bit of Italian when I was working at this italian restaurant. Take into account that you need people around who know the language you're learning, so that you can practice.

 

[BABSstudent]

Without having someone to listen to you speak it, you will never become proficient or fluent. At best, I think you would learn the vocabulary but never successfully put it together in a grammatically correct sentence.

 

[Palam]

I've heard great things about Pimsleur. I have the French lessons in my car but I haven't been using it.

 

[Goobs]

I've heard great things about Pimsleur. I have the French lessons in my car but I haven't been using it.

It's all audio, which can be tough. I actually looked into this a lot and decided to test out duolingo since it was free. Personally I'm looking for a memory refresher sort of program so this was fine as it assumes you have basic skills already, though so if you're starting from scratch it might be more daunting. People generally agree that although Pimsleur is good and available at most local libraries, it's a little dated and not too effective for visual learners.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[neurotroph]

I self-taught myself Japanese for like a year or two. In that time I learned 2 of the 3 writing systems and gained a lot of vocab. If I had taken it seriously I would probably be at least conversational by now. One of the best ways to learn/maintain is to watch TV shows or movies in the language. It can be hard to motivate yourself to learn though if you don't have an incentive like a grade in a class,

 

[AlongWay]

I was wondering whether any of you have ever taught yourselves a language without taking a formal course. I ask this because I want to learn a new language myself.

If so, what was it and what level are you currently proficient in? Thanks guys!

Im actually looking into learning a few languages myself. At the outset my goal is to learn Spanish, and once I've mastered that somewhat I want to move on to French and Hindi.

If you have iTunes, there are some great French and Spanish podcasts that you can listen too and of course watch a lot of movies, and talk to people. Rosetta Stone is currently the best language learning tool as you can learn live from language instructors and talk to people throughout the world - its just insanely expensive.

 

[doorner]

I self-taught myself Haitian Creole before spending a year there. It helps to find people to chat with while you're learning. I'm fluent now. Go for it!

 

[911 Turbo]

I taught myself Klingon by watching star trek.

Gonna list it on AMCAS

 

[BABSstudent]

I taught myself Klingon by watching star trek.

Gonna list it on AMCAS

You know, if I were an ADCOM I would love to see that. I would want to hear them speak it and ask them questions for 2-3 minutes about it. Definitely would only be a positive in my book.

 

[starsworld]

I self-taught myself Haitian Creole before spending a year there. It helps to find people to chat with while you're learning. I'm fluent now. Go for it!

OMG, I'm Haitian and I speak that!!!

Anyways, I have tried learning languages on my own and honestly, if you are very self-motivated, you can probably do it, though it might vary depending on the language. Honestly, though what worked for me was sitting down with a textbook and learning vocabulary and grammar, and then listening to songs (with subtitles) to get used to the sound of the language and then shows to gain understanding. Finding someone to practice with will be invaluable because I know so many people who can write/ read, but can't speak or understand because they didn't practice those skills.

I noticed that someone mentioned Rosetta Stone and I personally hated it and most of the language softwares because they just taught you random verbs and they never taught grammar and grammar is my favorite part of learning a language 😀

That said and done, good luck!

 

[cherahla]

Do it!! I did a bit of Italian when I was working at this italian restaurant. Take into account that you need people around who know the language you're learning, so that you can practice.

Agreed. I learned Farsi working at a Persian restaurant. Not only was it more fun to learn and use a language concurrently, but it really augmented proficiency!

 

[amad01]

I was wondering whether any of you have ever taught yourselves a language without taking a formal course. I ask this because I want to learn a new language myself.

If so, what was it and what level are you currently proficient in? Thanks guys!

I served as an LDS (Mormon) missionary for two years in southern Argentina... basically I was just dumped in a foreign country and expected to pick up the language. It didn't take long for me to be able to say what I wanted, but to understand what people were saying to me took about 4 months for things to start clicking in my brain. It's crazy how it works but you just slowly are able to understand more and more everyday. I remember my first day there I got in a taxi and this guy was just rambling to me about who knows what... I felt so screwed. But then one day I was sitting in some tiny mud house having a full conversation with this family eating cow stomach thinking, "I totally understand everything these people are saying.. and I have no idea how."

I had some grammar books and some verb lists and a pocket dictionary. Whenever I heard a word that I didn't understand I would write it down, then go home and look it up. I would add this word to my vocab list (which grew to be like 10,000 words long) and would study it and try to use it the next day. After 730 days, you can learn a lot of words.

1. You learn faster when you have NO CHOICE but to learn or just be clueless to everything going on around you. This is the best motivation. If you just kinda want to learn, you will probably learn colors and "I like pizza" then be done with it.

2. You will most likely never be able to fully understand what people are saying to you unless you are fully submerged in the language. Honestly, I don't think just listening to radio or watching TV is enough. And things like Rosetta stone, will do little to nothing for you when it comes to comprehension.

 

[AlongWay]

I served as an LDS (Mormon) missionary for two years in southern Argentina... basically I was just dumped in a foreign country and expected to pick up the language. It didn't take long for me to be able to say what I wanted, but to understand what people were saying to me took about 4 months for things to start clicking in my brain. It's crazy how it works but you just slowly are able to understand more and more everyday. I remember my first day there I got in a taxi and this guy was just rambling to me about who knows what... I felt so screwed. But then one day I was sitting in some tiny mud house having a full conversation with this family eating cow stomach thinking, "I totally understand everything these people are saying.. and I have no idea how."

I had some grammar books and some verb lists and a pocket dictionary. Whenever I heard a word that I didn't understand I would write it down, then go home and look it up. I would add this word to my vocab list (which grew to be like 10,000 words long) and would study it and try to use it the next day. After 730 days, you can learn a lot of words.

1. You learn faster when you have NO CHOICE but to learn or just be clueless to everything going on around you. This is the best motivation. If you just kinda want to learn, you will probably learn colors and "I like pizza" then be done with it.

2. You will most likely never be able to fully understand what people are saying to you unless you are fully submerged in the language. Honestly, I don't think just listening to radio or watching TV is enough. And things like Rosetta stone, will do little to nothing for you when it comes to comprehension.

Mmmmmm cow stomach.......lol

 

[Yonko Shanks]

I am a spanish speaker and learned french and english. English was self taught, french was learned in high school and college.

 

[DrOMG]

A site not many people have heard of, but I recommend is duolingo.com

 

[AlongWay]

I want to teach myself the bushmen click language. That **** looks crazy fun.

 

[La Presse]

I want to teach myself the bushmen click language. That **** looks crazy fun.

Is that similar to Jungle Language? I learned this overseas.

In the language, each consonant is followed by an "a", whereas each vowel is designated a number:

A-1
E-2
I-3
O-4
U-5

Exceptions of the letter "y" to act as a vowel are never considered. You must pronounce the number as well.

So Let me use my username as an example:

La Presse would be

La1 Para2sasa2 OR La (one) Para (two) sasa (two)

Simple enough.

 

[AlongWay]

Is that similar to Jungle Language? I learned this overseas.

In the language, each consonant is followed by an "a", whereas each vowel is designated a number:

A-1
E-2
I-3
O-4
U-5

Exceptions of the letter "y" to act as a vowel are never considered. You must pronounce the number as well.

So Let me use my username as an example:

La Presse would be

La1 Para2sasa2 OR La (one) Para (two) sasa (two)

Simple enough.

Im not sure what jungle language is, but I'm talking about the bushmen click language like in the gods must be crazy movie. This girl from south africa I know speaks it and it just sounds CRAZY FUN.

 

[Praefectus]

Im actually looking into learning a few languages myself. At the outset my goal is to learn Spanish, and once I've mastered that somewhat I want to move on to French and Hindi.

If you have iTunes, there are some great French and Spanish podcasts that you can listen too and of course watch a lot of movies, and talk to people. Rosetta Stone is currently the best language learning tool as you can learn live from language instructors and talk to people throughout the world - its just insanely expensive.

I'd shy away from Rosetta Stone if you don't know grammar and have some primer beforehand. On iTunes, there's some Peace Corps. podcasts that teach you colloquial phrases for that specific country. I'd definitely recommend watching TV in the foreign language (ex. Telemundo) because it gives you an ear for the language.

 

[pkwraith]

You might get a kick out of this video (turn on subtitles):


[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITzFRlVhMVs[/YOUTUBE]

A pair of self-taught polyglots hitting the mall.

 

[Cardinals]

I always liked this site for learning languages.

http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php