Chris_A

I think that is true, as well. I think, through the influx of English from everywhere I look, in my country, it has become something like a second native tongue. But not just for me, but also for many of my friends. We constantly use quotes from popular TV shows, video games and the Internet in general, when talking or making jokes. This just goes to show that the media can actually help you learn a new language.

The same thing is true for me, as well. Many people approached me and asked me to teach them Hungarian or German, for example. And they came all prepared with books and crash courses and stuff. And I just told them to take their time, learn at their own pace and just be relaxed about it. No handbook will teach you a new language in a month, that is for sure.

I got a few freelancing jobs as a translator, because I know German well. And they paid really well. For example, I had to translate two A4 pages of content from Romanian to German, and I earned 25 euros by doing so. And the best thing is, that I was able to do the job in about 3 hours or so. Really good money for the time invested.

This game sounds really cool. I love gaming and if I could combine that with language learning, it would be a really nice bonus. I will definitely check that game out and see what it is all about.

I love listening to music, and, while I have not tried it yet, I think it could help you learn a new language for sure. At least, you could have a solid foundation from where to start getting a good grip on the language. You can easily translate songs from their native language to your own, and thus, you learn new words and memorize them.

Learning a third language after the second you have learned, totally depends on the third language that you are attempting to learn. For example, if you are a native English speaker, learning German would be pretty hard but then learning Chinese would be even harder, because it is totally different from English or German. German, at least, is in the same language family that English is.

It most definitely helped me a ton. I also started learning English by watching cartoons with subtitles. And since I loved watching cartoons and could never have enough of them, I started to get a good grasp on the English language at a young age. Later, I perfected it in school and high school, but watching movies and shows with subtitles definitely helps when starting out on learning a new language, for sure.

I have personally never heard of Mind Mapping before. It would be cool to learn this technique, as it might help in other areas of life as well, besides learning another language. Thanks for the info on this.

It can also be really hard for a translator sometimes. I currently have a project to translate a juridical document from Romanian to German, and certain words and expressions don`t even exist in the other language. Putting the translation into context so that the document can be viable and official, can be really hard.

Using children`s books as a way to start learning a new language is actually a really good idea. I have never thought about this before, but I might try this method for sure. Thanks for the suggestion.

I think it has to do with the fact that we are so exposed to English swearing words through TV and the Internet, that it has become like a second nature to us and just comes automatically. And when you are angry or emotional, you usually say the first things that come to mind. Which in this case, are words like "Damn" or others.

That is true. Better let someone learn and study at their own pace and in their own time and he or she will be much more successful then being forced to study X hours/day. Also, language learning at once own pace is more fun, for sure.

I didn`t know that Netflix had such bad translations to its foreign language movies and series. Watching a movie or a show in a language that you are trying to learn, is a great idea, but it requires perfect subtitles for this method to work. Weird that Netflix does not provide those.

Some words are really hard to translate from one language to the other, so that it might make perfect sense. Translators often use notes to make you understand what the meaning of certain sentences are. In my opinion, notes from translators makes the document more professional, because it shows that the translator went out of his or her way to make the best possible translation.

I don`t think such a Search Engine exists currently. Most automated translating programs work from a pre-programed database, and they translate the words as they are, without giving you any sentence context. Take Google Translate for example. It translates everything you wish it too, but what comes out of it is a garbled mess if gibberish.

I think both movies and books are a great way to learn a new language. Books can be a little trickier, though, because you are required to actually have a pretty firm grasp on a language, before you start reading books. With movies it is easier, because you can watch them with subtitles, and thus associating each word you hear with a translation.

Wow, Esperanto was really a cool project and have not seen it being mentioned before around here. I had great interest in that language when I first found out about it, but I don`t know if there are any resources to study it, available. It would be really cool to learn it, though, as it is as rare as Latin nowadays.

I think audio books are a good way to start memorizing words. You just have to keep at it and repeat what you have learned. Eventually, the words that you learned and memorized will just come to you naturally.

I think the hardest for me, was French. I have studied it for at least 4 years in school and high school,and I am still not able to speak it well, nor am I able to understand every word or sentence in French. I am far away of speaking and reading it fluently, and, while I can generally understand someone speaking French, most of the time, I don`t think that I will ever master it. Really frustrating.

My main reason is to widen my horizons. You never know when your language skills are going to help you in different situations. And you also never know when you are going to visit a country which speaks a language that you know or when you will meet people speaking a language you know. The more languages you know, the better, in my opinion.

Pressure to do anything is always a bad thing, much more so when you are pressured to learn something. Studying anything is hard enough as it is, and if you are set under pressure, it is even harder. I have to agree with @anna3101 that I also tend to do exactly the opposite, if someone pressures me to do anything.

I think German is pretty easy to learn for a native English speaker, since the two languages are related. I would also say French, because you can find a ton of French inspired words in the English language.

I would also, without doubt, learn a language from a country that I don`t plan to visit. I don`t think it has anything to do with the fact that you plan to visit a country or not, and more like how much you like how the language you plan to learn sounds and how much you like it in general. For example, I always loved how Chinese sounds, but the chances that I am ever going to visit China are really slim. I still would love to learn it though.

I definitely had many such experiences. But the funny thing is, I`m reverting back to English when I am angry and overly emotional and what to put my point across. Even though my native tongues are Hungarian and Romanian, I cannot help but use English words and sentences when I`m really really angry and talking with somebody else. Weird I know.

I`m doing it mostly for fun. I have had the opportunity to be in touch with many languages throughout my life, so learning a new one, or even more then one, comes naturally. And as they say, the more languages you know the more accomplished person you are. Or so the saying goes.