Anybody learning a new language??

I am brushing up on my Spanish and my German, and I am going to challenge myself to learn French, (Mind you, I do not expect to be fluent in French,)

I will be using the Pimsleur audios, I will be getting them from my Public Library, (As most people know I rave about my Library,)


Has anyone ever used the Rosetta Stone langauge courses, I am curious about those.

Rosetta Stone looks like an interesting programme, but it's so expensive that I don't think I'm going to try it out anytime soon.

Last year, I took a refresher course in French on babbel.com. It was recommended to me by a colleague, but I didn't like it much. The approach was very same-ish: You'd learn a couple of words, match the words to pictures, spell them etc., then you'd learn some phrases. I'd have preferred something with more of a system, e.g. a revision of the different times, one after the other. The best thing about the website is that the subscription is rather cheap. Still, if you really want to learn something, rather than just pick up a few words and phrases, I cannot recommend it.

Lady Godiva, if you need someone to practice your German with, let me know!

Josephine wrote:Rosetta Stone looks like an interesting programme, but it's so expensive that I don't think I'm going to try it out anytime soon.

Last year, I took a refresher course in French on babbel.com. It was recommended to me by a colleague, but I didn't like it much. The approach was very same-ish: You'd learn a couple of words, match the words to pictures, spell them etc., then you'd learn some phrases. I'd have preferred something with more of a system, e.g. a revision of the different times, one after the other. The best thing about the website is that the subscription is rather cheap. Still, if you really want to learn something, rather than just pick up a few words and phrases, I cannot recommend it.

Lady Godiva, if you need someone to practice your German with, let me know!

I might take you up on the offer, it helps to keep in practice, Ich bin Ihnen sehr dankbar

I tried Rosetta Stone for a bit a few years ago when I started studying Arabic. It's an interesting idea - by matching the pictures with the words, it tries to teach you, rather than translation, the concept of the object. You mind doesn't see a book, think "book = kitaab," instead it thinks "this item = kitaab." It's a good idea to keep people from using their own language as a crutch when learning a new language, and consequently, inhibiting them from learning it as well as they could.

I've always been the kind to prefer learning by reading a book rather than the interactive learning though, so I didn't explore with it much beyond the first level.

ladygodiva wrote:
I might take you up on the offer, it helps to keep in practice, Ich bin Ihnen sehr dankbar

Kein Problem!

Dia dhuit, Conás átá tú ? Morleigh is anim don.

I'm trying to learn Irish myself. The problem is there are so few actual speakers, there are not too many people to practice with.

I need to brush up on my Spanish. Took four years in high school, barely used it in college, then used it off and on for two years at work. I'm also strongly considering picking up one of the Arabic dialects too. We'll see!

I spent the summer trying to teach myself French using all different kinds of programs: Pimsleur, Michel Thomas, Rosetta Stone, et cetera. Not to mention the mass amount of French learning books I now own. I was getting pretty decent at it, but I haven't had a chance to keep up for about a month now that school has started up again. It's unfortunate really...

If anyone wants to practice some written Spanish, we could open a topic!