Learning new languages

[SapphireStar]

So, I want to learn Japanese and Chinese as I want to visit both Japan and China someday. So can anyone give some good teaching sites for beginners?

Also, what languages are you studying? Are they difficult or just plain old easy??

 

[SaShman]

I tried to learn Italian in high school about 4 years ago and I was terrible at it.

But anyway; my Linguistics professor said that with most languages you generally need to know a minimum of about 500 words before you can speak it fluently. He said that he has taught himself a few languages just by reading dictionaries for the languages he wanted to learn. Apparently he would read (and memorise) two pages per night and he eventually he picked it up.

He also said that grammar generally comes naturally after listening to a language for a while. So my advise is to buy a Japanese/Chinese to English dictionary and read a few pages per night over and over again so you memorise what everything means. Then when you feel confident maybe watch some Japanese/Chinese shows to get a hand on the grammar.

It's probably the cheapest method to learning a new language

 

[Fusilli]

Hmm well I have never tried learning either of those languages but I guess the first step would be learning the alphabet?

I've been learning French, German and Italian and I generally seem to pick up languages quite well. I learned German and French at school, though I picked up French as a beginner in a Higher class so I had to catch up really quick.. I started by using textbooks and going through phrases and vocabulary to get used to the language. I had one-on-one lessons with a teacher though and she explained some of the grammar rules as we went along, having a teacher really helped. But it is possible to teach yourself, I've been teaching myself Italian and the best way for me was to start with a book aimed at beginners which taught phrases and vocabularly which would get you around Italy, which helped to get me into the language. It's also pretty necessary to have a grammar book too though so that you know how to put sentences together. >_> I've never been particularly good at just learning foreign phrases unless I know the grammar.
As I said, I find it kind of easy to pick up languages but the ones I am learning are quite similar to English and a lot of the words are related anyway, I'm guessing it would be completely different with an Asian language and a lot more difficult. >_>

Oh, another thing, when you get quite good at a language a great way to practice it (I find) without actually being in the country is to watch films, read books, listen to music in that language. That way you can pick up vocab as well and see how native speakers use the language. And going on websites in that language is also really helpful, whenever I'm searching for something French on youtube I always read all of the comments and translate them in my head and reply in French too.

 

[Warbsywoo]

No, there is no alphabet for Chinese, not sure about Japanese, but I'm sure Addle could give you more information on that since he's taking that.

I'm currently taking Chinese and I can give you a few tips and things to watch for if you want:

Heck, I'll give it anyway...

1.) Chinese is a tonal language. That means that tones are used to such an extent that it changes the meaning of a word at the slightest tone change. There are 4 tones: neutral, rising, rising-falling, falling. I'm not sure where you can get audio samples for Chinese, but it's highly recommended that you take an actual class in it instead of an online course. In fact, it would probably be bad if you took it online as it might develop bad Chinese learning habits in you. Try and get a class first.

2.) As I said above, there is no Chinese alphabet. Each character stands for a unique meaning and each has it's own pronunciation. That being said, there are many words that have the same spelling in pinyin (or the romanized version of Chinese) and have the same tone. The only way for sure you'll know for sure what word they mean is if you can identify the character or if you can deduce it from context clues.

Example:
mā - mother
má - bath (??)
mǎ - horse
mà - cursing someone

3.) I'm having problems pronouncing the Chinese 'r'. I've heard lots of learners are too. Just a heads up.

4.) Character writing is fun yet essential. Maybe you could scour your local bookstore for Chinese learners' textbooks or something? There has to be some kind of material for people like you who want to learn it. Usually there'll be some kind of writing-helper apparatus or something that comes along too.

Should be those for beginners tips.

I'm also learning German. I'm making good progress too. I think.

Also, what Jane said. If reading stuff in different languages isn't your thing, try listening to music. It'll get you used to pronunciation to an extent.

I usually learn languages by starting with the heavy stuff first (i.e. grammar). Then it's all about learning a lot of vocabulary and applying it or at least hearing it. Learning languages really isn't all that hard (as you might be led to believe) if you approach it with an optimistic attitude. Then it's all about how fast you get to visit the country you learned the language for maybe. xD

 

[Kei]

I'm taking:

English - It's quite easy in our country, nothing to mention, the teacher themselves are not quite good in it so that explains why.

Arabic - Well it's my country language, it's really hard it's my weak point

 

[Warbsywoo]

Also, for those of you interested, this is a good program to use. It's safe, I have it on my computer and it's working fine.

http://www.byki.com/

Download whatever language pack you want, install the program, then it's all about lessons.

 

[Sabriel]

i am learning/ learnt:

chinese- both mandarin and cantonese- mother lang.
english- since i was little but i still suck
french- learnt it since y5 and ditto
german- learnt- learnt since y8, ditto
and a bit of japanese and latin (for GCSE)

oh and btw, the 2nd ma isnt bath...

 

[Warbsywoo]

What is it? I don't remember.

I'm pretty sure I got the rest right...especially since I'm using two of the three in class.

 

[SapphireStar]

Thanks guys, those are useful tips. Im going to look into classes in my local area as hearing like you said is better then just reading.

 

[Fusilli]

Yeah, doing some listening work is a big part of learning a language, and probably one of the most difficult too in my opinion. If you have iTunes, podcasts are a godsend! And if you don't I would recommend getting iTunes just for them, there is quite a decent selection of all different types of podcasts for languages in a wide range of levels, and they're free to download which is a bonus. There are lots of different types of beginner ones, you could download a few of them for some variation. Obviously it's not a good idea to rely on them completely but they can be a huge help.
There's a French one which I like called One Thing in a French Day, and it's a French woman just talking about her day. It's a bit advanced for me yet as I don't manage to keep up with everything she says, but I can pick up some things and usually get the general idea. It's very useful even just to listen to as you pick things up without really realising it, and it does improve your listening skills.

 

[One-winged Demon]

I learnt Greek and English(I am still doing lessons but I believe that there is nothing more that I have to learn) and I am learning German.Although I learnt English easily German is very difficult.That happened because English was everywhere(movies,video games,etc) but German was nowhere.

 

[F.S.B.]

I've been taking weekly Japanese on and off for a year or so. I'm nowhere near fluent in it yet, but it's not terribly difficult: Pronounciation is easy as cake, grammar's not complicated, and learning words is no worse than it is in many other languages. The biggest obstacle, in my opinion, is the written side of things. A lot of people are able to learn the two basic alphabets really quickly, but if you, like me, are, err... easily distracted, then memorizing every single one of 'em can be a bit of a pain.

There are loads of places to check out hiragana and katakana on the web, but I found the most effective tool to learn characters from to be via a program for the cellphone called KanaQ. You can download it--free and legally, I should add--at http://languagebug.com/kana_q/index.htm. I think it may also have some stuff about kanji. Oh, and there's "Chinese Language Product" on that site, too, but I know nothing about Chinese, so I couldn't tell you if it's any good. I'd imagine learning Japanese and Chinese simultaneously would be hard work, though.

 

[Mikko]

I'm learning both Japanese and Chinese at the moment, too!
5 years with Japanese (it's like a second language to me now), 1 year of serious study with Chinese, but I have been dabbling with for a while now...

If it hasn't been mentioned already, I recommend thejapanesepage.com, it has a great forum for reference, discussion and enquiries.

 

[Shahab]

So, I want to learn Japanese and Chinese as I want to visit both Japan and China someday. So can anyone give some good teaching sites for beginners?

Japanese is easy to learn! Easy grammar and easy pronunciation. Just need some training and practice!
Here are some websites!

Japanese site 1 A nice site for beginners, free
Japanese site 2 Some free lessons and the rest should be bought!
Read-write series plus Japanese dictionary These are very good stuff and learn you to learn how to read and write in Kanji- Hiragana and Katakana in a very nice method! these are free versions which have some lessons free. I'm sure you'll like them. Buy them after viewing free versions and in no time learn Japanese!


Just remember, Practice is the key. Good luck

 

[dark blade cloud]

well i have been to china and i felt really weird there it was alot different but im really glad i went
i used to speak fluent chinese but it was a year ago since i went and i have forgot all about it lol
i no one word niou which is hello (niii hoowww) sorry im random