JessiFox

Yes, I would have to agree that French makes the most sense in terms of studying with Canada in mind specifically. I think it would end up being more useful to you than Spanish.

Well hopefully you being friends should make it a little easier, if he's sensitive about that kind of thing just make sure to put it gently and explain that you understand he's really eager to learn, so you want him to learn properly. Sometimes you could just repeat the word/phrase that he pronounced improperly, in the correct way...like how you sometimes repeat or rephrase something to indicate that you're listening? Or add your own thought to the end of it? That way he hears the correct way to pronounce it without feeling like he's being corrected.

I don't think that paid schooling is the only way to go. There are some surprisingly good online resources for beginners, and once he gets a little further along with it you can go a little "immersive" with it and do things like conversational teaching, movies/tv and music and audiobooks are great ways to get regular exposure to it as well. There are plenty of resources out there and formal schooling isn't a necessity anymore =).

Wow, talking about learning something new all the time, what an educational thread this has been! Apart from the examples you mentioned, I didn't realize there were so many other ones as well. Fascinating .

That's kind of a weird thing for the teacher to be so nit-picky about, perhaps it was a power trip situation? That's always been my understanding as well, that they are more or less interchangeable. With perhaps being on the more formal side and maybe being more casual.

I don't really think we should 'close' or turn our backs on languages- they grow and evolve and all the steps of that are interesting. I have always been drawn to Latin and hope to learn it fluently some day. I actually took a year of it in high school but it ended up being more of a history lesson kind of class with just a few vocabulary words and phrases thrown in. Very disappointing .

This reminds me of a graphic I saw on Pinterest, paraphrased a bit but the essence of it was "It's BEFORE, not b4. We speak English, not bingo." Apparently it really gets on some peoples' nerves . I don't text all that often compared to a lot of people, so maybe that's part of why it doesn't bother me/really come up on my radar that often at all. When I do text, I try to text in full sentences with proper punctuation, but occasionally if I'm in a hurry I'll use shorthand. Appropriate shorthand, though, like you would taking notes or something- not speaking in bingo .

I think that shows a pretty solid, developing grasp on the language to have recognition like that just from writing. I get that sometimes but not as often as it sounds like you do. I also sometimes get it in inappropriate situations- sometimes I will write a word perfectly but for some reason it just doesn't look right at all to me. So I don't really rely on that kind of perception alone very often.

I feel your pain here and as an American I've often wondered the same thing. As you mentioned, we're already behind on math and sciences, and it seems such a shame that we don't put more emphasis on language learning and such. I feel like there are so many ways we could do a lot better in terms of our educational system here, languages being just one facet of that, and I've known a lot of teachers and school administrators who agree. It's unfortunate .

I have noticed the same thing in terms of learning a language and what teachers choose to use in their teaching, and I definitely tend to agree with you that etymology makes learning the language easier and a bit more interesting too, as it adds another "layer" to your understanding. I find it helpful, though as another person mentioned it can get a little confusing on occasion when it completely clashes with what you might have been expecting.

That's kind of funny that you ended up getting censored on here just in your explanation of it, too . Glad you cleared up which one it was though, so we won't have to wonder forever.

I think the whole concept of "bad" words is just a little ridiculous...they're just words, they shouldn't have that much power (not to mention saying some pseudo-swear in place of it still has the exact same meaning). I think it matters a lot more the intent behind your words...you can string together some perfectly acceptable words that are a lot nastier and more cruel than just throwing out a swear or two. I just find the whole thing really ridiculous and silly.

I sure would! I love being a student and learning more, I don't think that will ever change, and I was most successful at learning a language and really integrating it into my daily life when it was presented in a classroom setting with that extra structure and accountability that it offered.

That sounds really promising, as there is definitely something to the method that works for most children. I haven't heard of the Michel Thomas Method before, but I'd definitely be interested in a demo to check into it a little more. It could be worthwhile .

Well first off, I think it's really commendable of you to do that, there are a lot of people who will be eager to earn and offering it for free is very generous. It would be even better if you were able to get your own website and generate some income for yourself with it to help your endeavor. I'm not always comfortable with where semicolons are appropriate, otherwise I would be happy to help. It sounds like you've got some people interested though, happy to hear it .

Hm, well I haven't tried to learn French yet, but I definitely think Spanish has been a helpful foundation for learning Italian, as they do have a lot of similarities. Sometimes I get tripped up on it though, because I'll instinctively go with the Spanish term where there are definitely some key differences between the two. But overall I do think it's helpful.

Great information for those just starting out...sometimes things that seem daunting initially aren't so bad when broken down like that. I prefer "Can I...?" to "May I...?" in most situations, though I have had some teachers in the past who were a little old school on that and felt that "May I...?" is the only proper way to go.

That sounds like a fantastic idea to keep students engaged and interested! Not to mention, creating little stories like that is one kind of mnemonic device to help cement things better in our memory to begin with. I love this idea and will try using it soon, thank you for sharing it with us .

I find it really interesting that you would say that- I've never really considered it. I can see how that could be the case, though, and a non-native speaker could relate a little better to someone learning it as a second (or third, etc.) language. They might be better able to address the issues of a non-native speaker. I suppose if they had a fair amount of experience with the language, and were comfortable with it, there's no reason that learning from a non-native speaker couldn't be just as well, if not better.

I think just keep a good variety of things in your mix- TV and movies can be quite helpful, along with podcasts, radio, audiobooks and things like that. In general I don't think I'd listen to the same ones on loop too much, but switch them up. That's one thing that TV series can help with, you can get a feel for the same kind of dialect and speech patterns without having to listen to the same exact audio over and over.

Nope, I can't explain it really, but it is a good question. There are TONS of examples of this in English...we just sort of stole bits and pieces from other languages and mashed them altogether . I hate all the silent "g's" floating around.

This is a pretty popular question, huh? Lol. I've just always wanted to- for as long as I can remember. When I was little I wanted to learn literally every language imaginable...but I've limited it down to just a few for now . There are other reasons, and they're all valid, but that's the heart of it for me. I just really wanted to, so I did.

I have a few different motivators, I guess. I do think it can open up some doors in terms of work opportunities, meaningful friendships and travel experiences, and all that- and that's definitely part of my reasoning, but ultimately just because I've always desired to. I've always wanted to speak many, many languages...when I was little I liked to imagine I could learn every single one .

Hmm...the premise sounds really nice and interesting, but I wonder if it would be a lot more complicated in practice. How exactly would you get paid and at what rate, for instance? Would you do it through a company that basically sets it all up between tutors and clients, or would you be trying to freelance it? If there were a reliable company to facilitate it, with a good track record of ensuring payments and being reasonable to their tutors, it would be a very tempting opportunity, for sure.

Going to have to agree with the general consensus here- it seems to work reasonably well for languages like Italian, French, Spanish, etc. but Asian ones are a bit harder to pin down. I don't really know about plenty of others, either, like Arabic for instance. I imagine some are just harder for an app like that to translate properly than others.

To me I think there isn't really one single "best" motivator but more what is best for each person which can vary quite a bit- just like anything else in life, people can have largely different motivators but if it works for you and it's strong enough to keep you dedicated than there's nothing wrong with that. I think all the things you mentioned could be strong motivators...along with perhaps wanting to learn to better connect with family and friends and heritage, wanting to feel like a bit more of a 'global citizen' so to speak, etc.