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Learning a new language for free?

post #1 of 21
11/18/09 at 1:16am
Thread Starter 
Or at most a small fee. I think it is technically doable on one's own using Skype for conversation exchange, but honestly I know myself and I need some structure to keep my focused.

Most of the institutes in NY are pretty expensive. Vocab/reading is easy and can be done using free resources online. Basic conversation can be learned with Rosetta Stone / Pimsleur for free, but talking to a tape will only take you so far.

Any good recommendations for learning grammar/conversation for a small fee? Anyone have good experience using informal learning via Skype/online voicechat? Should I just shell out the money for a real course at Columbia or NYU?

So anyone with experience learning a language after college graduation, I'm all ears. Thanks.
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post #2 of 21
11/18/09 at 1:57am
All these questions and more can be answered using THE INTERNET!!!

If you're not seeking out this stuff for yourself, what does that say about how deep your motivation runs?


I'd give a more helpful answer but I'm buried in work.
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post #3 of 21
11/18/09 at 2:14am
Technically, he is seeking the answer out for himself using THE INTERNET!
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post #4 of 21
11/18/09 at 2:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroStyles View Post
Or at most a small fee. I think it is technically doable on one's own using Skype for conversation exchange, but honestly I know myself and I need some structure to keep my focused.

Most of the institutes in NY are pretty expensive. Vocab/reading is easy and can be done using free resources online. Basic conversation can be learned with Rosetta Stone / Pimsleur for free, but talking to a tape will only take you so far.

Any good recommendations for learning grammar/conversation for a small fee? Anyone have good experience using informal learning via Skype/online voicechat? Should I just shell out the money for a real course at Columbia or NYU?

So anyone with experience learning a language after college graduation, I'm all ears. Thanks.

You won't learn using Skype unless you know a good deal first. You would do better to buy a couple movies in your target language and watch them over and over. Neither way would work very well, but at least with the movies you get some entertainment.

You did not mention what language you want to learn? If it is French of Spanish, you are in big luck as there are FREE programs that are VERY good. French In Action may be the best way to learn, but you should get the book that goes with it as it will reduce the time it takes to absorb the videos by at least a third of the time. Spanish has Destinos which is also free. Both of those programs are the equivalent of the first two years of college study. AFTER you do a program like that then Skype might help. But unless you have a good working knowledge of a 1000 or 2000 words, I doubt Skype will do anything for you.

If it is another language, look up courses at the community college. They will be much cheaper than private classes.
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post #5 of 21
11/18/09 at 2:16am
Best advice for free language learning you'll ever get:

Get a girlfriend that speaks the language you want to learn. Studies have shown you will learn the language faster that way.
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post #6 of 21
11/18/09 at 2:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milhouse View Post
Best advice for free language learning you'll ever get:

Get a girlfriend that speaks the language you want to learn. Studies have shown you will learn the language faster that way.

No dinner until you conjugate these five verbs. lol. I can see how a hungry guy would learn quick that way.
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post #7 of 21
11/18/09 at 2:18am
Post exactly what you want on Craigslist. I'm pretty sure you can find anything you're looking for in NYC on Craigslist.
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post #8 of 21
11/18/09 at 2:21am
Best option: immersion.

2nd best: combine some formal studies with reading newspapers & watching movies in your new language and try to meet friends that are native speakers. It depends on the language, but this is often an under-utilized resource. As a teen I learned some Vietnamese while teaching English in exchange. Great fun and a chance to meet some interesting people.
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post #9 of 21
11/18/09 at 2:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by baseball_guy View Post
No dinner until you conjugate these five verbs. lol. I can see how a hungry guy would learn quick that way.

I don't think that witholding dinner is exactly the motivation behind this situation.
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post #10 of 21
11/18/09 at 2:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by baseball_guy View Post
No dinner until you conjugate these five verbs. lol. I can see how a hungry guy would learn quick that way.

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post #11 of 21
11/18/09 at 2:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kwilkinson View Post
Technically, he is seeking the answer out for himself using THE INTERNET!
Technically, you can suck my dick. Metro there are a ton of websites (easily found with google) with listings for language exchange via skype, email, aim, etc. You practice English with them for half the time and then practice their language for the other half.
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post #12 of 21
11/18/09 at 2:52am
Thread Starter 
Thanks, d00ds. It's tough because I want to learn Spanish and Mandarin. Spanish is so much easier (since I already know Italian) - but at the cost of losing my Italian (already happened once when I learned Italian and forgot French since they are too similar).

On the other hand, I would much rather learn Chinese, but the fact that the entire writing system is different seems to make the task exponentially more difficult and perhaps one destined for failure given I have little spare time to begin with.

All you kids reading out there - take Chinese in college. Easy to pick up a romance language later down the line.
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post #13 of 21
11/18/09 at 4:45am
I taught myself French, Italian and Portuguese by reading and watching tv in those languages. If you want to learn Spanish I suggest you tune in to a spanish station at least a half hour a day until things start making sense. Read articles in Spanish too. You should also make an effort to study the grammatical rules. These three are probably the next best thing to visiting a spanish speaking country. Another tip is to disengage your english thinking brain when trying to figure out Spanish as much as possible. Spanish has its own rules and you have to resist the temptation of putting everything in the same order as English. This fucked me up tons until I realized what I was doing. That idea about a skype language exchange sounds awesome too.
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post #14 of 21
11/18/09 at 10:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroStyles View Post
Thanks, d00ds. It's tough because I want to learn Spanish and Mandarin. Spanish is so much easier (since I already know Italian) - but at the cost of losing my Italian (already happened once when I learned Italian and forgot French since they are too similar).

On the other hand, I would much rather learn Chinese, but the fact that the entire writing system is different seems to make the task exponentially more difficult and perhaps one destined for failure given I have little spare time to begin with.

All you kids reading out there - take Chinese in college. Easy to pick up a romance language later down the line.

You might want to start at http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/index.html They have a forum where you can get much more help than here.
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post #15 of 21
11/18/09 at 10:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroStyles View Post
Thanks, d00ds. It's tough because I want to learn Spanish and Mandarin. Spanish is so much easier (since I already know Italian) - but at the cost of losing my Italian (already happened once when I learned Italian and forgot French since they are too similar).

On the other hand, I would much rather learn Chinese, but the fact that the entire writing system is different seems to make the task exponentially more difficult and perhaps one destined for failure given I have little spare time to begin with.

All you kids reading out there - take Chinese in college. Easy to pick up a romance language later down the line.

Learning additional languages becomes easier, not harder. Unless you don't actually know the languages. A lot of Spanish words can be approximated from vocalizing consonants (amico > amigo), the grammar is pretty much the same, etc. Even learning two languages on the opposite ends of English (German and Italian, or if you can Low German and Italian) makes understanding linguistics a lot easier despite the large grammatical and morphological differences. The idioms are always the hardest part, but a lot can be sorted out through understanding prepositions (which Spanish, French, Romanian, and Italian are all very similar).

Learning more languages might sometimes be more confusing when a less-often-used language is suddenly used, but if anything additional languages reinforce each other through similarities instead of vandalize each other through tension.

I have no clue about Mandarin. Supposedly it's simple due to a lack of verb endings and some such, but that's a linguistic simplicity and not indicative of its comprehension facility.

Learn the grammar and fill the language in with vocabulary. Idioms will need to be memorized.
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