I learned to speak French starting from scratch in my 30s, while living in the US. I speak it well enough to enroll in an easy college-level course intended for native speakers[a] or to work professionally[b], although either experience would be painful at first. For me, the process occurred in three phases: 1. Bootstrapping to the point where I could kinda-sorta read books and kinda-sorta carry on conversations. I p…
What French TV shows did you enjoy? I've been looking for some to watch to improve my listening skills.
Scènes de ménages, very funny, lots of slang and real-life usage.
I'm fluent in German, English. I'm living in Japan and am almost fluent in Japanese and quarter fluent in Korean. I also recently started Hungarian and Spanish. The most important part in my opinion is to live in a country that speaks the language you want to learn. You have to immerse yourself as much as possible with the culture and language. Also very important that you aren't afraid to try to use what you learned…
> The most important part in my opinion is to live in a country that speaks the language you want to learn. You have to immerse yourself as much as possible with the culture and language. Also very important that you aren't afraid to try to use what you learned.
I cannot agree with this more. Coincidentally, I'm also fluent in German and English, and am learning Japanese.
At school, I took French, but I hated it. It only clicked when I went on an exchange, although I never kept it up. With English it was easier to pick up because of TV, films and games. But I only got good at it when I moved to the UK. The same with Japanese. Made almost no (real) progress until I went to Japan, and started using what I'd learned. Sure, learning the alphabet first helps, but language relies on being spoken IMO.
If you can, take a chance and just move to a country that speaks the language you want to learn.
I'm surprised to see no mention of Kindles / ebook readers. I tried reading novels to improve my German, but the physical effort of switching to a dictionary (either physical or web-based) was enough to make reading a chore. With my Kindle, I've downloaded an English-German dictionary and some novels, and now when I don't know a word I just tap it (well, kinda hold my finger down in a ZX81 fashion) and a translation appears. Makes the reading process that much more fluent and therefore enjoyable. If the ease of looking up words makes them a tad less "sticky" in my memory, the quantity of text I'm consuming makes the language-learning experience, on balance, more efficient (for me).
I'm fluent in German, English. I'm living in Japan and am almost fluent in Japanese and quarter fluent in Korean. I also recently started Hungarian and Spanish. The most important part in my opinion is to live in a country that speaks the language you want to learn. You have to immerse yourself as much as possible with the culture and language. Also very important that you aren't afraid to try to use what you learned…
Can I ask respectfully what you mean by fluent? Only because...the textbook definition and the colloquial definition differ. I think generally when people say 'fluent' they mean 'native speaker level at reading, writing and speaking language X', whereas fluent actually means you can speak without hesitation on a range of topics. Just a clarification, not an attack! Edit: Plus, I wouldn't knock wordlists. I started tr…
I also have a problem with the word "fluent". Ok you say you're fluent, here's a simple self-check: Explain to someone in the language you claim to be fluent in how you'd go about making a fire without any matches. (hint: you need to use words like tinder, kindling, flint, etc.). If you can't do this, or grapple with the fact that you don't have a repertoire of these words in your vocabulary, you might want to reconsider your definition of "fluent".
Strongly agree that wordlists are useless (beyond the first few hundred that you are going to see constantly anyway) and making connections is key to retaining vocabulary. Another tip is to pull vocabulary lists from reading material, and then to review them you just re-read that text until it becomes easy.
I think wordlists and learning tons of vocabulary through deliberate study are generally underrated. However, I do agree that once you've got a good foundation, pulling words from texts is a great idea. I think the ideal thing to do is to get a list of words from a text before you read it, then prime yourself on them, and then really solidify them by reading the text. I think it makes the text a lot more enjoyable. I…
Can I ask respectfully what you mean by fluent? Only because...the textbook definition and the colloquial definition differ. I think generally when people say 'fluent' they mean 'native speaker level at reading, writing and speaking language X', whereas fluent actually means you can speak without hesitation on a range of topics. Just a clarification, not an attack! Edit: Plus, I wouldn't knock wordlists. I started tr…
I also have a problem with the word "fluent". Ok you say you're fluent, here's a simple self-check: Explain to someone in the language you claim to be fluent in how you'd go about making a fire without any matches. (hint: you need to use words like tinder, kindling, flint, etc.). If you can't do this, or grapple with the fact that you don't have a repertoire of these words in your vocabulary, you might want to recons…
There are different fluencies, all context dependent. A woodsman who knows all about kindling and flint would be bemused in an office environment where KPIs and stakeholder deliverables are core terms. In a programming environment they'd be utterly lost regarding the detail, even if they grasp basics like who's in charge. Or a chemistry lab, a surgical theatre, etc.
This is why there are courses in "business" versions of languages, for example.
So someone can be functionally fluent in the contexts they typically encounter, while being non-fluent outside them. I doubt any native speaker can be fully fluent in all possible contexts.
I'm surprised to see no mention of Kindles / ebook readers. I tried reading novels to improve my German, but the physical effort of switching to a dictionary (either physical or web-based) was enough to make reading a chore. With my Kindle, I've downloaded an English-German dictionary and some novels, and now when I don't know a word I just tap it (well, kinda hold my finger down in a ZX81 fashion) and a translation…
Similarly, OSX can be configured so that a triple click does a dictionary look-up, which I find extremely useful for reading material online in German.
Can't for the life of me remember where, but I read a study a few years ago which really helped me understand how social interactions contribute to language learning. Apparently, when children are learning a second language (the study focused on children who spoke one language at home and another at school, or who had recently immigrated), the children who advance the most are not the brightest or most studious, but those who manage to get their entire group of friends/peers/surrounding adults to feel implicated in their learning of the language. The group as a whole works together to help the child learn, group cohesion happens, the child learns better and everyone feels happy for them and proud to have contributed.
As an adult, I've definately found that asking one person in a group a question on, for example, the meaning of a word, can lead to a big group discussion where either everyone contributes to explaining it to you (and you get five explanations rather than just one), or everyone realising that they're not entirely sure and looking it up online, discussing it amongst themselves, and then explaining it to you until you have no choice but to have understood. Repeat this process as many times as is socially acceptable.
Worked for a while in a friendly lebanese snack bar. Some of the (non Arabic speaking) regulars would often ask my bosses for explanations of the meanings of words, or to explain the lyrics of the song. He would explain, and any Arabic speaking regulars (there were a lot) that happened to be around would inevitably offer their own explanation. Basic Arabic was picked up, falafel eaten, and some friendships happened. Find somewhere you can become a regular of!