ArchaeRogue

I consider myself a fast reader, only because I tend to skip words that you don't really need to understand a sentence, or you already know from context. For example, if I were reading a dog training guide and saw the sentence, "A dog likes to play with a ball," I read, "Dog likes ball." If I actually want to try and actually comprehend something instead of skimming it, though, I'm a pretty slow reader, especially when reading aloud.

The hardest for me would be listening and speaking. Unless it is a specific phrase I have memorized for several weeks, I always stutter in a casual French conversation. Usually, I have to ask my AP French friends to slow down when talking so I could understand and reply. My replies are also horrendously slow, takes me several moments to make sure I'm using correct grammar. Easiest would be writing, for some reason. I just happen to be better at writing it down and reading it in my head.

I would love to learn Japanese or Korean next. I think Asian languages are really beautiful and the fact that their writing system is pretty much art.

I guess English is pretty easy to learn, but then again, I was born and raised in the US, so it might be different to foreigners. I think languages are easy to learn depending on what your first language was, or when you are learning the language (for example, babies learn languages pretty easily). So if your first language was Japanese, it might be easy to learn Chinese (or vice versa), because of the preexisting knowledge of kanji/symbols/whatever.

Has anyone tried the spaced repetition system for vocabulary learning? Or any other language learning in general? I've personally seen some great results with it (English vocabulary, I've yet to try using it for supplementing my French studies). If you guys don't know what SRS is, it is basically a system in which you place vocabulary you know the best, in the back and the vocabulary you're shaky on, in the front. There is more detailed information on SRS online, but that is the gist of it. To practice SRS, you can try using the free program, Anki. What I did was I went on dictionary.com and took the last 30 "word of the day's" to get started. Now, whenever I come across a word I don't know, I'll just put it into my Anki deck and go a couple of rounds before continuing my day.

I really like British accents. British just sounds so formal to me, I feel like whenever I hear it, I'm wearing a $500 tuxedo and drinking a $100 wine. Does the Morgan Freeman accent count as an accent? Morgan Freeman's accent sounds like heaven to me.

I don't get stressed for exams, nor do I study for them. I personally think school is a place for learning; I come to school to learn, not take standardized exams that apparently measure my competence with a particular subject. Needless to say, even if I don't study, the lowest grade I'll get is a B. On the other hand, I think it is pretty impossible to get anything below a C unless you completely guess on the test. I mean if it was short answers, then I could understand, but if it's multiple choice, just do elimination and go with your best judgement.

I think a good way to learn is immersion. Change your computer and phone's language to French would be your first step. Taking a long vacation to a French city would also really help. In any case, on weekends, I would join a French skype gaming group and just listen to them talk. It's a great way to learn casual French.

I began French because at my school: 1. The Spanish teachers are all horrid and some of my Spanish speaking friends could teach better. 2. Vietnamese was a boring class and all you did was copy notes. 3. And as for Chinese, you had to be a native speaker or you'll terribly fail the class. And I began self-teaching myself French over the summer for some reason, so I thought I should just take French. Best decision of my life, teachers are great and homework load isn't killing my shoulders.

I think the best way to learn French (or any other language) is immersion. Before I enrolled into a French course, what I did was: In the morning, I would listen to French radio for an hour. Then, I would watch a French TV show for about an hour after getting home from school. At night, I listen to a Primselur CD before sleeping. This has really helped me prior to taking French, and right now, I'm completely breezing through pronunciation and basic grammar.

Honestly, I've tried My French Coach for the DS, and it's a really great supplement. If you're a self-learner, MFC might not help you that much since it is really only aimed towards learning vocabulary. However, if you are taking a French course in high school or at a university, definitely pick it up if you've got a few spare bucks and a DS.