DancingLady

I have not yet, but I am considering getting into skype English tutoring.  I've heard it is pretty simple you just chat with someone who is learning English so they can practice conversation.

I do not know why it is not taught like it should be.  I use cursive all the time if I am not thinking about it, but I have encountered so many young people in the work place who can hardly read it at all and this just shocks me.  I am not much older than them and I was required to write entire essays in cursive for the practice in 5-6th grade.

I think it is useful if you are really stuck and need a hand translating something because you need to know what it means, but it doesn't seem to get the grammar quite right all the time, so it isn't a great tool for learning.

I've not tried it primarily because it is a lot of money.  I am kind of skeptical of those programs because it seems like I need the human interaction so much to learn language.

I used to think one day I would travel a bit, and I don't like to look like an obvious tourist if I can help it.  I wanted to visit Austria and Germany and be able to communicate fairly well if possible.

Lots of practice and immerse yourself as much as possible in the language and accent you are learning.  Really get the sound of it in your head by listening to audio books, radio broadcasts, whatever is available to you and keep practicing repeating what you are hearing, trying to make it sound just like what you heard.

I have not.  I think generally people understand that if it is not your first language you are still learning and mistakes happen sometimes.  I did have a situation at work though where a coworker was repeatedly told not to speak Spanish to another coworker in a different department.  I believe they were the only Spanish speakers currently on staff at the time and the supervisor did not like that she didn't understand much of what they were saying.

You definitely get out of practice, but the neural pathways are still there.  If you really learned it well in the first place, it will come back once you get back into practice.  I have had little opportunity to practice my German since finishing second year in college, but each time I've had a chance to practice it comes right back one I get my brain back to using that information.

Hello all, I am an American.  I studied German for two years but have not had much opportunity to practice it since then.  I am hoping to refresh my memory and learn some more words here.