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Ooh too many to mention! I like word in Italian with the 'zz' sound, as in ragazzi- boys ragazze- girls Piazza- public square Pizza- pizza canzonetta- small musical piece I also like the diminutive derivatives like for piccolo- little/ piccolino- little one

@clair02....you make a very good point! When I was doing my Linguistics degree, I learnt that young kids have the capacity to learn various languages simultaneously without the struggles or hurdles that hinder grown ups. Which is why I always laugh when people maintain that it's too much pressure for children to be taught more than one language at a go. I wish my parents had exposed me to more languages at a much younger age. I hope to have 1 or 2 kids of my own in the future, and really hope I'll be able to afford them this opportunity With the world now being a global village, I think it's one of the best gifts you could give a child as it broadens their horizon.

@GaeilgeGirl.....I can totally relate to how you're feeling because that's me all over! I don't know why, but I too feel a little intimidated to speak my target language with the native speakers, yet it's naturally the best learning tool IMHO. I believe it's important to know the culture, but different people learn languages for different reasons and may not see this as a plus. I love Italian and French because I'm interested not only in the languages, but the people, history and culture. If I could afford it, I'd travel to France and Italy and spend maybe a year in each country, immersing myself so as to expedite my learning process. Immersion is in fact my favourite way of learning. I was lucky enough to spend 3 months in France and Italy at different stages of my life, and was amazed at how much quicker I learnt. Plus for someone like me who's shy to speak their target language, if you go where the people speak very little English, you're forced to speak your target language, shy or not LOL So if you can go to Ireland, I'd encourage you to do so.

Hmm...that's pretty WEIRD! The guy on the video clip you've attached sounds creepy too, LOL Almost like he's trying to subliminally brainwash people hehe Clearly, whoever came up with that theory must have a one track mind. I'm not even sure where the rationale has come from. But hey, if he believes it, then he'll find a justification for it. It'd be interesting to see what other members here think. Maybe I'm just not able to get my head around it

Wow, that's an eye opener @Countryhalli! I never would have thought German was easier than Spanish at all. I've always had it in my head that German was one of the most difficult languages out there, mainly because of the pronunciation. Even with that belief, I've always heard that German is quite similar to English because they come from the same family of languages, even though I can quite honestly say I can't fathom that one out. Having said that, I think I'd also struggle with pronouncing Spanish words. There's a certain sound the Spanish make that sounds very much like a lisp to me, and that to me sounds vey difficult to incorporate into speech if you don't have that speech impediment!

I'm probably in the minority here, but another frustrating problem I struggle with is the confidence to speak the language, especially with the native speakers. IDK, I just come over all shy and timid and feel too intimidated to speak in their presence. I mean, this is how silly it is, even back at university when it was just me, our lecturer and my peers, I remember dreading the speaking lessons. I was one of the top performers, but then I'd clam up when it got to my turn to stand up and speak or present something in French. It's a problem I certainly wish I didn't have because it will only hamper my progression in the future. I often nail the grammar and te written aspect, long before I can speak a single sentence. It's just so weird. Does anyone else struggle with this?!

I think it was last year or maybe the year before that I asked a similar question, which provoked very interesting responses. In my opinion, it's always good to try to learn the language as it's spoken. Obviously, this is not always easy because your mother tongue will influence how you speak any subsequent language you learn. I think it's especially difficult for those with heavy accents to adapt them to different languages, but the least you can do is try. Not only does that allow you to articulate your words better, it also makes it easier for others including the native speakers, to understand you better. The idea here isn't to change your own accent to the point of sounding fake, but rather to speak the language as it should to be understood LOL So for me it's a no-brainer, you simply have to give it your all.

@clair02.....you make a very valid point there, actually LOL You could be carrying on and on and all the while not actually learning the correct thing. Now, that combined with the loopiness of the whole thing=not a very good combination!! I guess like you say, different things do work for different people, and if it's working for them then why not, right? Like Rooks57, I can relate to practicing out loud, that makes more sense to me. So I doubt I could full carry on a one-way conversation as practice hehe.

I agree with those who say there's benefits to both, so that combining the two would probably be the best route to go down. The thing I like about the classroom setup is the fact that you have structure and guidance from the teacher. Plus if there are others in your class who are as equally driven, it can really spur you on to push yourself harder and do better. You can gauge your progress against theirs and the class presents a great platform through which to learn from each other. I definitely couldn't rely solely on learning on my own. It probably works for some, but being the sort of person I am, I'd probably lose my motivation too.

You're most welcome, Cyrup.....I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we were all more than happy to chip in I do hope it goes some way to helping you with your decision. Something tells me whatever you do, you'll be just fine. I totally agree with carrying on with French for a while, seeing as you've already started with that. But in all honesty, you should be fine because I've heard French and Spanish have some similarities. I can't say to what degree that's true because I've never tried to learn Spanish. I have to say someone told me Italian and French were similar, but I still not that convinced. I wish you the very best of luck, whichever way you take it, I'm sure you'll soar

These are very interesting responses, thanks for that everyone! I think we all agree dedication, hard work, persistence and interest in the language definitely count more over the level of intelligence. I noticed in the past that some of my more intelligent friends weren't so interested in learning foreign languages, and were more about the Sciences and Maths. It was so weird at the time, because you could literally tell who would excel at languages, mainly based on what they were studying at the time. It could have been partly coincidental, but the students who did the arts seemed more keen to learn and master their foreign language skills than the Science and Maths students It was almost like they were bored in class. Very interesting indeed.

I have never thought to try learning Russian simply because I doubt I'll ever set foot in the country and also because I get the feeling it's one of the most difficult languages to learn. Of course, I could very well be wrong. But growing up, a friend of mine had this Russian female friend, and listening to her speak it sounded like music to my ears LOL I don't know if it was partly because she was drop dead gorgeous hehe -and BTW, I don't bat for the other team! Plus I just love accents and to hear a Russian speaking English is something I enjoy. Anyway, once in a while we'd ask her to teach us some Russian words and I always struggled with the pronunciation. So I don't know, I don't think I'd ever try to learn Russian.

The thing I enjoy the most is being able to gauge the level and speed at which I progress through the different stages of the learning process. I love it when I add to my vocabulary, learning new phrases and words. Knowing that I could go to these countries and be able to comfortably hold my own in a conversation in my target language is very rewarding to me. I'm not going to lie, I also like being complimented on how far I've come. It's especially rewarding when it's coming from native speakers.

No, I don't carry a dictionary with me anymore. I used to back carry my French/English one when I was in university, but only when I was going for my lessons. If I were learning now, I doubt very much I would because of advances in modern technology. I've never looked into it, but I remember being in college in England where we had a lot of Chinese students who were there to learn English. They never carried these bog standard dictionaries, and always seemed in possession of all these sleek, cute, digital devices of all types! -and this was about 7 years ago! So i'd be looking to get my hands on stuff like that.

@Lingua Franca.....Thanks so much for your response It was just a quick visit to get a feel of how the site works. My audio is always on, so that wasn't a problem. I don't know if it could have been my Java, everything gets updated automatically. Or should I say everything is up to date, and if anything needs updating, the system sends notifications. I wouldn't be surprised if it was internet playing up, though. It's very temperamental and I find speed can be an issue, which obviously thows everything else off. But it's such a neat site, I'll persevere with it :)