So I figure it might be an interesting thing to learn another language. I already took five years of Spanish in high school and college, so that's out. I'm thinking something that would just be interesting, not necessarily practical here, like Italian or Finnish. Everyone recommends Rosetta Stone, but I wasn't all that impressed when I took a crack at their Spanish software. I've heard some decent arguments against it from critics who say that learning like a child learns (how Rosetta presents their software) is less efficient and so on etc... What is another good language learning software that's out there? I've searched for a definitive list but have so far turned up empty
Mandarin for when our communist overlords take over the lease.
I picked up a set of German CDs from a military buddy who gets the govt. issue stuff from "work". I haven't tried them yet - thanks for reminding me to put them in the car. They are pretty cheap from the PX though so if you have a "guy" (or are one) its worth a shot.
$99 one way to cancun from texas would do it nicely. :)
It's pretty easy to get immersion in Texas, at least in some Spanish, Czech, German, and assorted Asian dialects.
If you want to learn Finnish, you cant just drop yourself in Finland. (Immersion style) I was in Oulu a few years ago (200 km from Russia & 500 km south of arctic circle). Pretty desolate I thought, but EVERYONE spoke english. Its a requirement in school & every major corporation chooses english as their primary language.
It was probably the coolest gig I had. I worked for Nokia @ one of their tech centers. I was giving a class to 500 employees & I was the only one NOT in flip flops (or Birkenstocks), jeans, & a t-shirt. And, BTW, the Finns love to drink.
Kendall
Autolex wrote:
$99 one way to cancun from texas would do it nicely. :)
I went to Cancun years ago. Actually spent quite a bit of time polishing up on my Spanish. No one spoke Spanish the entire time. When I was in the airport waiting to leave, I saw somebody and asked her, in Spanish, for directions. She responded in English. So that's the extent of my experience with Spanish in Cancun. More people speak Spanish here than there.
Since I have a little background in this (BA in Linguistics) I can tell you that the best way to learn a language has already been mentioned; Total Immersion. This isn't a very practical approach since you probably can't just quit your job and move to Finland or Italy for a year or two.
The best alternative I would say is to get a few good books, start learning basic vocabular and grammar (check out books required for a 101-104 level college class), and if you are near a big city or a University, find a native speaker of the language and see if they or someone they know would be willing to tutor you on pronunciation, dialect, and to check out your work on the grammar and vocab from the books.
It is true that quite a few foreign countries have many English speakers, but this is because English is the language of business and tourism. If you were to go a little off the beaten path, the number of English speakers may dry up quickly.
Good luck, and have fun!
I hear the Finns like to shoot too.
You will probably find that when you are in out of the way parts of the world, if they don't speak English, they will likely speak Spanish.
Oh, and about 2-3 beers really help you understand the local language.
