Cossiep

Just wondering if anyone has tried/ suceeded to learn another language to a good level i.e. fluent ?

Just bought myself the Michel Thomas Spanish dvd set to give it a go, as I would like to be bilingual (sp) to possibly help with my work (self employed surveyor) as there's plenty of oppurtunities in Spain and obviously speaking the lingo would be a massive advantage.

Anyone done this with any language for any reasons ?

bad boy rs

iTrader: (7)

Im no means fluent, but my girlfriend of 3 years is italian so ive been trying my best, its very very hard though, im sure i"ll get there.

c.fogarty

Age makes a huge differance in the ability to learn multiple languages, so much easier for young 'uns....

German is the easiest, as it's very similar to English. Also found that without regular use/interaction, the ability to speak a second/third language quickly fades.

Cossiep

Nice one m8, keep at it................ in theory you should pick it up easy if you have such exposure (I she decides to speak Italian on a regular basis)

I have worked with a lot of eastern europeans over the last couple of years who have all good great english, and nearly all of them had absolutely NO English prior to arriving in the country

One Romanian guy (who was 33 before he came to London) said him and his mates used to pitch up in a quite(ish) pub every night and spin out their drinks and do nothing buy listen to peoples conversations and try and hold their own................ in a matter of months with that kind of level of exposure their English was VERY good

We get spoilt to a degree what with every other country taking on English.

Cossiep

I was told that German was particularly hard as the majority of the pronounciation (sp) comes from the throat etc.

I'm told that French is generally the easiest as a lot of their worlds are basically English.

Defo agree about the exposure thing though

Diamonds.

iTrader: (2)

i learnt German at school and carried it on after i left.

Cossiep

and did you find it easy to remember (presuming you don't use it everyday etc) and has it proved useful ?

Diamonds.

iTrader: (2)

i carried on just for something else i can say i can do. ive never used it for a job or anything. though i have had a few convo's when out on the piss lol.

but 8yrs on yeh still can remember a fair bit of it. i think if i had a convo it might start kicking back in.

i would love to learn a few other languages to if im being honest. think once i get sorted out i might try Italian

Cossiep

Sounds like it's been beneficial in its own way then, go for the Italian m8 as if you can learn one language you must have a good chance with another. I've chose Spanish as my ''grandplan'' in years to come is to retire out there and also the large geographic area that speaks it i.e. South America etc.

XRT_si

iTrader: (2)

French is pretty easy to pick up imo.

Regarding age and learning, my mother (55) has self taught French, Italian and Greek (EXTREMELY hard-different alphabet with more letters!) all in the last 10 years or so.
She's learning Chinese and knows Russian too!

My father (60 odd) has self taught French and learning Greek now.

foreigneRS

not really - the pronunciation can be quite difficult, and the grammar is fucking difficult compared to english.

english does have some germanic roots, but it also has norse, latin and many others from all the times that we have been invaded in the past. in future centuries, god knows what it will be like

c.fogarty

Get what your saying mate, but I found German by far the quickest to grasp (Was very fluent in German, & fair in French) Dabbled with Spanish, & made a half-arsed attempt at Italian but found all far more complex than German.

Italian would be my choice if I had the motivation to learn just one other tounge. A fluid language where the spoken word has a natural flow, hence even the dullest/offensive words/sentence spoken in Italian can sound romantic......

Wardy257

English and German grammar is quite similar as are some of the words. English grammar is so simple, especially if you start young. The problem in the UK is we don’t start young, and don’t have enough lessons in 2nd languages.

I have been learning Portuguese for 2 years which is quite similar to Spanish. The issues with Spanish is the pronunciation can be crazy. Learning to read it and write it is not too bad but to listen to it, when spoken at 100 mph (standard) is so hard. There is also all that masculine, feminine verb ending stuff which is OK with regular verbs but the irregulars are crazy.

My top tip is watch films with Spanish subtitles on. You can learn while having fun

Good luck

foreigneRS

except that in english we do not the masculine, feminine and nuetral forms of words like german does which is what speaking it properly involves

it's very easy to speak it without paying attention to those details, and you will easily be understood (and be able to understand) without knowing which should be used.

for example: 'eine kleine scheisse katze' could easily be said 'ein klein scheiss katze' and people would know what you meant, but it would easily give you away as not being a native speaker (which could have got Michel Thomas and many others killed during the war )