RedRose

It's interesting, but learning over 2,000 kanji within three months would be difficult. Also, the author makes a good point: even if you learn all of the kanji within three months, it doesn't mean you'll be good at or proficient in Japanese. I could imagine that trying to learn twenty-three different characters per day would be strenuous, especially when you have to retain the memory of the other characters you learn every single day. I wouldn't try it, but if you're really good at learning languages, why not? It can't really hurt to try. Just remember that while learning kanji is essential to learning Japanese, there are other grammar rules and vocabulary that need to be studied as well if you wish to become fluent in Japanese. Studying Japanese culture is crucial as well in order to achieve fluency.

Jeez, yes, way too often. My parents like to do this to me. My dad will put on the Spanish channel and try to make me translate what the actors are saying. I can't translate that fast! I can translate texts and readings better, but even with reading I probably won't translate everything perfectly. One time someone tried to get me to do her Spanish homework for her, to which I said no. She then accused me of not being 'that good' at Spanish. What annoys me is everyone expects me to be fluent in Spanish, and people don't realize that it can take years to learn a language. Ugh. :/

This is a cool thread! I'm studying Swedish right, so here some expressions in Swedish: Good afternoon. ----> God eftermiddag. Where do you live? ---> Var bor du någonstans? What is your nationality? ---> Vilken nationalitet har ni? (This might not be completely correct) What is your job? ---> Vad jobbar du med? (This translates to 'What do you do for a living?', but it's not a big difference from the original question.)

I guess it's pretty good, at least average. I got around a 620 out of 800 on the SAT for the reading section, if that means anything. I like to read a lot, too, so I would hope that my reading skills are somewhat decent. However, I tend to read very quickly, and sometimes I end up missing vital information, and then I have to read over a few paragraphs again. I'm learning Spanish, though, and my reading skills are much better than my speaking skills.

When this happens, usually I apologize or say that I don't know the answer. Usually the person you're talking to will try to help you with what they're saying/asking. It's best not to pretend that you know what they're talking about, though- one time a student was speaking to me in Spanish and asked me about something. I didn't what she was talking about because she was speaking too quickly, and after a few times I still didn't understand her, so I said 'yes' to her question, and I ended up shocking her. I still have no idea what she was asking me. Usually, though, people will help you out, and if you still don't get it, you can try to move on to a different topic. I wouldn't suggest walking away from the person because that can come off as being rude.

'Simplicity' rolls off the tongue. I like the 's' sound, and the smooth 'c' sound. It all comes together nicely when spoken. I'm just weird, I guess. :-)

It depends. I've been studying Spanish for five years, and I'm still not fluent. However, for the first three years, I wasn't too serious about learning the language. During the past two years, I've learned more Spanish than I have during those first three years because I began to take more time to study. How long it takes you to learn a language depends on how quickly you can learn, how determined you are, the complexity of the language, and several more factors. Age is even a factor- the older you get, the longer is takes to learn a new language. Just take your time, and don't frustrate yourself. Learning a language takes a lot of patience.

There are several differences between the Spanish used in Spain and the Spanish used in Mexico. Someone mentioned that vosotros is only used in Spain, which is correct. Usted (used when speaking to older people or those in higher positions of power) and tú (used among friends) is used in other countries that speak Spanish, including Mexico. Also, the vocabulary used in Spain and Mexico is very different. For example, the word car has two different words in Spanish: In Spain, it's called el coche. In Mexico, car is translated to el carro. For the word cake, in Spain it is called la tarta or el bizcocho. In Mexico, I believe that el pastel is more common. Hopefully, this will give you an idea on what to study. Good luck to you and your son!

I still have a lot of major weaknesses with my Spanish. It takes me awhile to process sentences in my brain, so it's difficult for me to speak with natives. I'm also self-conscious, so that doesn't help, either. When it comes to reading and writing, I'm not very good with grammar. When I write a paper in Spanish, I often create sentences that would be considered very extensive and confusing by native Spanish-speakers. Spanish is much more simpler in the sense that you don't need to use so many verbs or words to describe something, but, as an English speaker, it's difficult for me to remember that.

This is amazing! For me, my biggest issue when speaking Spanish to others is not being able to understand what they are saying! This website definitely has a lot of potential. I'd recommend that, at least, for the Spanish section, that you have a small toolbar to add accents to words that need them. I could imagine that for many other languages, like Swedish, some of them would need a toolbar like that, too. Otherwise, I hope that this website becomes more popular in the near future.

Duolingo is adding Swedish to one of their language courses? :-D Thank you for sharing this! I'm really excited to hear that they're almost complete with creating the course. I have just started learning Swedish, and this is such great timing. Now I have something to look forward to! Duolingo really is expanding its borders, and it's serving them pretty well.

I'm sure that there are apps to help you learn more vocabulary, but reading is the best way to do so, in my opinion. You don't have to read the classics in order to do so. I would recommend Slaughterhouse-Five, Lord of the Flies, and Brave New World. Not only will the books help you with your vocabulary, but they will help engage your mind and open your eyes to the issues humanity has struggled with, and still struggles to deal with today. Also, I noticed that someone mentioned The Count of Monte Cristo. I would recommend it, but I haven't finished the book yet since I'm currently reading it myself, but it's been terrific so far. Overall, reading is the best thing you can do to expand your vocabulary. Sorry if I'm sounding cliche, but books are considered food for the brain for a reason. :-)

While studying Spanish in high school, using Google Translate was heavily discouraged, as Google Translate is not very reliable, and often produces incorrect translations in English. Also, you do not learn anything by using it. Google Translate isn't the only poor translator, though- many others are unreliable. It's better to translate sentences yourself. It will be much more work, but you will learn much more from it. However, WordReference is a good, reliable dictionary that produces correct translations for words and simple phrases. Additionally (If you're studying Spanish), for Spanish vocabulary, WordReference shows which word is used in each Spanish-speaking country. I recommend WordReference to help you with your translations, and I think that you'll learn a lot more vocabulary by using it.

Watching movies and television shows in Spanish helped me learn the language better. Watching movies/shows definitely taught me useful phrases that are used in Spanish society. If anyone else is learning Spanish, I'd recommend watching Pan's Labyrinth. It's heartbreaking, but if you can handle it, you should watch the movie...providing that you haven't seen it yet, because I'm sure that most people have. Also, there are websites that have several shows available for you to watch in Spanish.

My favorite accent is the British accent. My grandmother has an British accent, and she always sounds so formal and relaxed. Most of my friends swoon when they hear a British accent, but I just like how nice the accent is. I also like German accents.

I went to Stockholm about a month ago and I quickly became very attached to the city. I don't like the cold, and it was pretty chilly when I went last month, but it was extremely clean and beautiful. I'd like to visit Sweden more often, so I think learning some Swedish would come in handy. When I went into a grocery store at one point during my vacation in Sweden, everything was labelled in Swedish (obviously), and I left the store with only bread, butter, and apple juice Whenever I come back to Sweden, I want to be a bit more prepared the next time I go into a grocery store, haha. I'd also love to live in Stockholm, but it's very expensive to live there. It's understandable, since it's a very nice city, but I can dream...

Hi, everyone. I'm pretty new to learning Swedish, and I haven't gotten very far yet. I haven't been able to find textbooks or workbooks for studying Swedish, so I was wondering if there are any good online resources that could help teach me? I looked into Babbel.com, and it seems fine so far, but I just realized that if you want to study more of the language, you have to pay. I don't know if there any sites/resources online that anyone wants to recommend to me? I'd appreciate it! Thanks again!

I started studying Spanish seriously when I was about seventeen, when I realized how many opportunities could be opened to me if I became fluent in a foreign language. The fact that so many people know two or more languages made me realize that I could do it, too. I also enjoy learning Spanish so, either way, learning a different language made a good difference in my life. I want to teach English in Spain now, so now I'm determined to become fluent in Spanish.

Spanish was introduced to students in elementary school upon reaching fourth grade, and it really didn't work out well with a lot of students because a lot of kids complaining that they weren't interested in Spanish and/or that they had trouble learning it. in middle school, Spanish was required up until high school, where students could continue taking Spanish (like I did), or begin taking Italian or Latin. The only thing that has changed about the current system is that students start learning Spanish in kindergarten, so that's a start. I'm happy that my younger brother and sister have a chance to learn a second language, but there definitely needs to be more reinforcement in teaching young children/teens the importance of a second language.

It shouldn't be too difficult for you to relearn Spanish again. You mentioned that you're better at reading and writing in Spanish rather than speaking it, so try to start out easy so you don't get discouraged, and try reading articles online (such as BBC Mundo). See if you can buy a workbook to practice your Spanish with as well, or just look for worksheets online to help you with your grammar/spelling. Also, make flashcards for vocabulary and quiz yourself on a regular basis. If you want to improve speaking in Spanish, try using websites where you can chat with native speakers via webcam, if you're comfortable doing that. If you practice on a daily basis, you should be able to relearn Spanish again, but just remember that it takes time, especially if you remember nothing. Good luck!

Hi, everyone! I have been fortunate to take advantage of Spanish during high school. I'm continuing to learn Spanish in college, but I also want to teach myself German, even though it was a miracle that I managed to grasp Spanish in the first place. I have started using Duolinguo and it's helped me out, but I was curious if Rosetta Stone is any better? Considering Rosetta Stone is quite expensive, I'm just wondering if it's worth buying, especially for beginners like me? What are the pros/cons to it? The only issue I've heard people mention is that Rosetta Stone is good for beginners, yet doesn't offer much for people who know the basics. Other than that problem, I haven't heard much negativity regarding Rosetta Stone, but I want to hear a few more opinions before I make a decision. Thanks for the help!

I haven't completely mastered rolling my R's yet, but my Spanish teacher back in high school taught me an interesting method: She said she learned how to roll her R's by repeating the word 'butter' repeatedly, and then, she would try to say a word in Spanish that had double R's, like perro. The method is helpful because when you say the word 'butter', your tongue hits the roof of your mouth, which is what you're suppose to do when you roll your R's. This method has helped me, a native English speaker, immensely. It takes practice, though, especially if you don't have the gene that supposedly lets you roll your R's with ease...I can definitely admit that I don't have that gene.

I've used Google Translate to help me with Spanish homework assignments when I was younger, but for the most part, it's not the best translation tool to use. I've typed in sentences in English, only to get a completely messed up translation in Spanish. I don't even try to use Google Translate when trying to talk to someone in Spanish online. WordReference is a lot more reliable.

I like both Spanish and Japanese. I like Spanish because it's a language spoken all over the world, so it's definitely useful in any situation, especially for work purposes. It's also a relatively easy language to learn, in comparison to a lot of other difficult-to-learn languages out there. Additionally, Japanese, to me, is a unique language with an interesting history behind it. While it's a lot of work to learn the language(The Japanese language has three different writing systems) and it's only spoken in Japan, there's just something about Japanese that really captivates me. I don't really hate any language, but Icelandic is really annoying. "Reykjavik", the capital of Iceland, is difficult enough to pronounce. I remember reading an article about Europe and it was talking about all these towns in Iceland, and I was dumbfounded at how long and complicated the names were.