Learning on the fly (how I learn foreign languages)

I'm a very busy person, so I don't have a ton of time to sit down and study foreign languages for hours at a desk (that time is for my medical studies), so I use my time at the gym, walking to the grocery store, walking the dog, cleaning, etc to listen to language learning audio or radio.
Many people dislike Pimsleur for being boring and dry (it is), but if you go through all 90 lessons you will make great progress. This is only fun and do-able if you listen while doing other things, repeating along with the tape and actively listening to acquire vocabulary and practice your pronunciation.

I LOVE RADIOLINGUA! Great for French and Spanish, I think its a great program made by some (seemingly) very friendly people. I highly suggest going through their CoffeebreakSpanish or CoffeebreakFrench for complete biginners
http://radiolingua.com/

Category:

Education

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• Language learning
• polyglot
• Pismleur
• School
• Learning
• Student
• radiolingua
• Education
• How
• to
• learn
• any
• language
• too
• busy
• study

[mh89488]

Languages I learned at school, I suck at them. Languages I learned by my own, I'm awesome at them. (ok, a tiny bit of exaggeration there, but still.. I don't suck at them). Not taking a position here, that's just how things are in my case :)

[AnAmericanlinguist]

@mh89488 I don't believe in extremes and I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water, there are a lot of great things about classes. My knowledge of Russian grammar is very good, and it was thanks to a good teacher. French is the language that I studied at school, and I speak it well and I know how it is constructed (which then helped me with Spanish and Italian. However in general, I agree that nothing beats self-motivation, if you strictly follow a class, it will slow you down.

[g1981c]

i'm using a similar approach to yours. i don't believe in classes and especially books - i think that shit is like 20th century and stuff. i try to make use of computer resources as much as possible and when away from computer i listen on the iphone.

[AnAmericanlinguist]

@g1981c Right on, keep up the good work!

[stefomate]

my mother is italian. i learn fluent italian in 2 years. tho right now im pretty rustly because theres not many people i can speak it with, i live in northern ireland. my girlfriend is filipino. she said that she learnt english by reading newpapers and stuff like that. i want to learn her language for her, i think its gonna be hard, with italian it was different kuz alot of the words are similar to english but with filipino/tagalog it will be a challenge.

[AnAmericanlinguist]

@stefomate My advice is to enjoy the learning language process, then it won't matter how fast you're learning the language, and as long as you continue to work at it bit by bit, soon enough you'll be able to communicate in the new language. Best of luck to you!

[IdiomaSprachler]

Thank you for this information - I'm very much in agreement with you, especially in regard to classroom (and non-classroom) learning. I will check out some of these resources for my own language learning :)

[g1981c]

listening *IS* key. between iPhone and Bose QC15 noise canceling headphones you can listen just about anywhere - even noisy places like the subway. people DO look at me strange for having big headphones on my head ... Sennheiser IE8 are better in that respect, and certainly for gym, but QC15 beats them hands down for long term wearing comfort. Just don't get run over by a taxi !

[sarah2cute1]

tres beau monsieur ;) parle de moi asap :)

[AnAmericanlinguist]

@Vacher12 Yes, I try to find more advanced material at that point. The basic material is only good for about 3-6 months, then I need something more authentic (native speakers, radio, movies, etc). Especially finding a native speaker is good, because in order to learn how to speak a language well, you need plenty of conversational practice. I wouldn't do Pimsleur if I were you. It's good only if you use it from the beginning. You'd get bored with it already having a strong base in the language.