polybus

There is a frequency dictionary of Chinese characters here: http://lingua.mtsu.edu/chinese-computing/statistics/char/list.php?Which=MO. I have had mixed results trying to learn this way. In one way it makes perfect sense to learn the most common characters first, rather than characters you never see. I have found it difficult to learn from big lists like this though. Maybe it'll help someone else.

I really like learning 成语 and I find it one of the most interested and fun parts of learning Chinese. I have heard 爱屋及乌 translated as "Love me, love my dog". Do you think this is a good English translation?

I wish Spanish was more useful in my daily life. I am pretty fluent in Spanish but I live in Canada and although there are a lot of Spanish speakers here, in my daily life I don't meet too many. It would be nice if I had more opportunities to speak Spanish everyday, but right now I mostly only use it when I travel.

I've wanted to learn Japanese since even before I learned Chinese. I have never had the opportunity to travel to Japan and every time I start learning I hit a wall and have to stop. It is frustrating. I already know Chinese so recognizing the kanji is easy for me, but pronouncing them is another story! I would love to learn Japanese. I have less time these days to study like back in my Chinese learning days. Maybe some day I will get the right opportunity to learn Japanese. Let's hope.

I have never really studied in a larger group of students, except for French classes in school but I am not counting that since I didn't really learn much. I have studied on my own and had one-on-one lessons with native speaking teachers. When I was living in Taiwan I liked to do language exchanges with native speakers who wanted to learn English. But I have never studied a language in a larger group of students. I tend to learn best on my own.

I started learning Chinese in Taiwan and in Taiwan they use traditional characters so that is what I started with. After I left Taiwan I realized that simplified characters were more useful overall. I think it was easier to go from traditional characters to simplified because besides some exceptions, the simplified characters are often parts of the traditional characters. If you plan on learning both I would say start with traditional. If not just focus on simplified, it's easier and more practical.

A great link for all the Chinese language learners http://english.cntv.cn/learnchinese/ It is the Chinese government's site for learning Chinese. Check out Growing Up Chinese, Happy Chinese, and for intermediate to advance students 听新闻 学汉语. Audio and video for beginners, intermediate and advanced students. One of the best free resources I have seen.

I grew up in Canada and we start learning French when we are about 9 years old. The truth is I really did not like my French class and I didn't really do that well. I really don't consider that I started learning other languages until I was about 18 and for various reasons decided to learn Spanish. I found it very enjoyable and much easier than French in school. After that I went back to French on my own and found I could do a lot better and enjoy it just as much.

I live in Canada which is an officially bilingual country. I have traveled to Quebec several times. The problem is that in Quebec you will most likely be spoken to in English, at least in the big cities. I have been to France twice for about a week each time. I found that even these short trips helped my French a lot, but it was really not enough time to see much improvement.

For some reason I have found Spanish literature a little harder to find online than some other languages. Another good resource is http://librivox.org/. If you do a search for Spanish you will find some good resources. The best part of librivox is that they have a team of volunteers that read the texts. So for a lot of books you can find audio as well, which is very helpful.

I have used the Pimsleur method for several different languages in the past and I would say there are both real positives and negatives with the method. I really like that it is all audio and you start off speaking relatively simple but important sentences really quickly. It is a great way to start a new language you know nothing about in my opinion. You learn how the language is pronounced and how it sounds right off the bat. I think that is important. If I was going to start a brand new language that I knew nothing about right now, the first few lessons of Pimsleur would be a good start. All that being said it will not make you fluent in a language. I especially find the levels 2 and 3 kind of a waste of time because the way it works never changes. After you get sick of Pimsleur you definitely need to move on to something else. Something that will fill in the gaps. There was a time I knew how to say "I want to drink wine" in like 6 languages!