gmckee1985

I used to be horrified that I'd be called out to speak during Spanish class in high school. It was pretty embarrassing not being able to speak the language properly. And especially the way I sounded rolling my R's. Pretty goofy and embarrassing. Not a fun situation at all. The bad part about it is that I haven't really gotten any better at doing it over time. Unfortunate.

No, I'm not afraid to fail in learning a new language. As I've grown up I've kind of gotten over my fear of failure. I'm not as afraid to try new things as I used to be. In addition to that I've gained a lot of confidence in myself and what I'm capable of doing. I feel like if I put the effort in I can learn just about anything. That doesn't mean learning a new language is going to be without it's bumps in the road and challenges. I've just learned to persevere through those and do what needs to be done to get the job done.

I don't know if I, and all of my other class mates would have responded to well to learning a completely different language other than English at an early age. On one hand, you do want children to learn as much as they can, and to be worldly, so to speak, especially in this globalized economy we're living in. On the other hand you have to be realistic at throwing too much at them at such an early age. I had a hard enough time learning basic spanish in high school, and I'm a pretty smart individual, so I'm not so sure how well young kids would pick it up. It couldn't hurt to try, though. None of the schools here really taught in depth Spanish, French, etc in elementary school.

I'm not even sure what the first sentence we learned in school was. I'm 29 years old so that's been a while ago for me. I don't have kids so I couldn't tell you about it. I'm sure it was something simple regarding a cat or dog, just to get us started. I have a vague memory of it but can't quite remember the whole sentence. I think children today are probably more advanced than we were at that time so they can probably learn a little more complex stuff quicker today.

I really like the British take on English, so to speak. At the least the type that is popularized in movies and culture in general. I think it's very sophisticated and pretty sounding. I think Margaret Thatcher kind of epitomizes the accent that I'm talking about. I'm from the southern united states, and I'd much rather hear that accent on the language rather that the, shall we say not so sophisticated way some people speak the language in the United States. :bored:

Kind of been wondering the same thing myself, in regards where to go online to get tips on learning a new language. I think there are some pretty useful youtube video clips that can be of a big help. Otherwise, I'm not so sure. Haven't really found anywhere that did a really good job of having a step by step process of learning a new language.

What is your most effective process for going about the task of learning a new language? What are some study keys you would say really helped you to pick up a new language in the fastest pace possible? What are some books or audio help that you found valuable?

I too have trouble rolling my R's. I've had trouble doing it since high school and haven't really had any success in trying to overcome my lack of ability in doing so. I think it has something to do with the shape of my tongue. No matter how much I practice it, or want to do it. There just isn't a way for me to do so successfully.

No, unfortunately I'm not fluent in anything but English at the moment but I'm working on learning a couple of different languages. Not sure what I would be interested in learning when it comes to "rare" languages. Nothing really comes to mind and that's why I haven't done so thus far.

My desire to learn other languages is mostly derived from the fact that I want to do a lot of traveling. And I figure if I do get to travel all of the world I'd like to learn a couple of languages so I can have proper conversations in the language of whatever country I'm visiting. Plus I'd like to understand what people are saying and be able to follow directions properly. I don't want to be the "ugly American" so to speak. And I don't want to be taken advantage of for not knowing another langauge.