Learning a language online

[Redfire]

Having learned English on my own (through videogames, tv shows, reading, web browsing, etc), I was thinking I could do the same with other language. I'm specifically interested in German right now. However, I do think I need some software or website to start with, since my knowledge of German is nil.

Can anyone recommend any specific software? Can anyone share any language learning experiences?

 

[Words]

Just talk to Google Translate. >: )

 

[John_Mann]

Skype with native germans who speak english too.

 

[Valentas]

Michel Thomas courses. They cost, but I learnt basic german without even trying in one month slowly. No homework, you just repeat what he says. He repeats stuff and you just remember it.

 

[Echolalia]

busuu.com is very good. Most of the material is available for free, and you are instantly connected to native speakers who will edit your work, provide comments, and are available to chat/Skype. Usually, they are learning your native language or another that you speak, so it is a mutually beneficial environment.

 

[Cafih]

Disclaimer: I never actually learned a third language.

Reading guide:
italics:rambling
rest:subject to readers opinion

I always kinda wanted to, but also wanted it to be a logical, strategical decision...800 hours and all that, yanno. Nevertheless, I actually managed to get some links bookmarked, and did'nt stop at making fancy-fancy maps, and spreadsheets with arbitary calculations supposeda give me a 'yes' or 'no' answer for the 'shall I learn a language' question, and if so, which one.

[1] http://www.fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php
[2] http://www.duolingo.com/

#1, I had bookmarked with intentions of replacing immersement. Chances of my moving out of country in the near future are pretty slim, and language-exchange programs never really worked out [I shall note, last time I actually tried was when I was 10]: not many people want to speak bulungian, and those who do, want to because it is hard, and how smart they'd be deemed shall they succeed learning it...Such tries tend to end with failure. Also, I am not your typical social butterfly [figure], so casual speaking does'nt play.

#2, I've only heard of second-hand, seems better than when I tried to use 'memrise' for german words. Busuu may, or may not be better. No clue.

Of utmost importance is that you sit down, and think about why you want to learn a language. I obviously want to, hence all the research, discarding the idea, then without a month passing, doing it all again, ad infinitum.

800 hours is not something to be taken lightly. Decide your goals: do you want to be able to read the german news, to speak with the germans, or just to tick it off your list, and add to your CV.

It shall be noted, that INTPs tend to like collecting skills...and also, that no skill is inherently more useful than others. You could even make a living with sufficent language skills, or drawing, or singing, or whatever, or could spend all your life without ever cooking [at some places, eating constantly at restaurant is'nt unheard of[think more of bar, and less of red tablecloth]. On the other hand, it would be a shame if you only used your newfound language prowesses when looking up an error code your computer threw at you, if at all. It is good practise to do the like in english.

I got a headstart learning english from videogames, but the kind which was really useful for this, I no longer play, and sitting down, connecting words and pictures is'nt high on my list.

Also, I may not actually care too much about apples. When it comes to the kitchen, I could hardly name half of the things, with all'em fancy pots.

So, one shall try to get to the good part pretty fast, to not abandon the project altogether. For that, I recommend you start with the function words. With rommance languages you already have a pretty good understanding of what is being written. Unfortunately, german is not in that group. Also, try to fill up your vocablury: a most frequent words list may come handy, but try to make it systematic[the word list, that is], it'll be hella easier that way.

 

[Redfire]

Thanks for the replies. Busuu sounds good to start with. I'm a native spanish speaker so I'm sure I can also help some people.

 

[LightOfAnima]

Hmm... I am not sure how to advise, but I learned German as a third language when I was five (English is my fourth), from basically watching television in German. It was incomprehensible at first, but soon I began understanding it. However, this route by itself may be inefficient, since it might take a few weeks to begin understanding things, you won't learn how to read/write in the language and you may forget it easier (I had to re-learn it later at school).

Anyhow, that was my experience... German seems reasonably easy once you get a natural feel for the suffixes or whatever you call them. For that, I think it would be essential to actually listen to German or read in it at some stage. At school, many people had profound difficulties because the teacher decided to teach the exact rules of grammar instead of developing the students' feel for the language ^-^Indeed, many could not perform simple reading tasks after five years of relaxed study, and I would suspect this to be the reason ^_^

 

[TwinkleBat]

The Pimsleur series is a pretty good starting point to help you start conversing.

On the topic of studying multiple languages, are you planning on laddering them? (i.e. natural language to English, English to German, German to ?) That method generally produces the best results and keeps you from getting confused. I wish I knew about it when I started learning second, third, fourth, etc languages.