lushlala

Wow, @YeahImOriginal, kudos to you for tackling Slovak, Russian and Arabic....that to me sounds like a mammoth task! I have no real first hand experience of any of those languages, but I too would have assumed Arabic would be the hardest out of them all. I mean, it's one of the oldest languages and also known to be extremely hard to learn. When I used to work with schools, not many students chose it, and the feedback was that out of all the other foreign languages, it's very hard. I agree that it would also depend on your background and the other languages you already speak. But I bet you're just the person to take it on, if you're learning all these other difficult languages

In my country it's even worse, I think! because my chosen languages are both very popular, you'd think I wouldn't struggle to find textbooks! Well, I do and when I do find some, the prices are extortionate. The staff often suggest I place a special order, but then that means more money. I don't know whether it's because foreign language learning is not all that popular here or whatever, but it's a nightmare. That's why I've resorted to scouring the net for free learning aids. I think I'll also buy any books I need from Amazon, get some eBooks. It's quicker and cheaper, so why not ?

Very enlightening article, thanks I've been aware of this situation for a while now, but I had no idea just how grave it is! The figures really don't bode well, and I can see why this would have a negative impact on the economy. But I have a feeling that the lack of language skills in the UK will soon change because when I worked for arguably the biggest UK exam board Pearson, it was abundantly clear that the acquisition of Modern Foreign Languages was on the up, especially among the young. The most popular options were always Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese), French, Spanish, Hindi, Urdu and Italian. I think this is a good development because with the world now being a global village, these language skills will stand these young children in good stead, not only in terms of playing a role in growing their local economy but also in affording them the opportunities they might otherwise never have been able to access right across the world.

It's a pleasure, @czarina84 I've been feeling my way around the site, and I feel that it's a very good tool with which to get back into it. I like how it goes back to basics, and gives you the chance to build you confidence without all the pressure; a really good way of easing your way back into your learning process after so long. You have the same problem as me, I live where English is the most spoken language, and I actually don't know of any one native French speaker around me, so I'm on my own. Well, I hope you'll find the site to your liking and that it actually helps

I know, @anna3101! I was saying just the other day that I don't know how we ever coped without the internet. We obviously did, but now that we've had it so long, I just couldn't live without it. Imagine that we can now teach ourselves so much without having to pay a penny, something we could not have done before. The internet is truly a thing of beauty LOL

@Wanda Kaishin....It would appear it's crammed full of links to useful resources more than anything else. I too am in the process of checking it out properly. I was on another of my favourite discussion forums where the site came in highly recommended. My hope's that some Linguaholic members have used it and can give us some first hand feedback. @kurdapia.....it's a pleasure I think i'm going to do exactly what you're doing too. I'm a little reluctant to click on some of the links, too. I guess it's a case of better safe than sorry. I do hope you find something on there that works for you!

It's a pleasure, @anna3101 I've been scouring the net for free language learning tools, and I'm amazed at just how much's out there! With my French and Italian having gone beyond rusty ( *hides face* LOL), I think this site will come in very handy for me, and those in my situation. The important thing for me is that it looks like something that I can use to slowly ease myself back into it, without too much pressure. I don't want to be overwhelmed the minute I step back into it LOL

When I started learning languages, I relied solely on the traditional classroom set up and immersion, which both worked great for me. I've never actually used any learning aids or programs, but will be going forward because money's a little too tight for me to go for lessons or travel to France or Italy. Plus I've now discovered a whole host of very handy and free online resources that I'll be looking into. So I'm watching this thread with great interest, in case I can pick something up

I too don't believe being an extrovert or introvert has any sort of bearing on a person's aptitude in terms of learning foreign languages. Introverts are much less likely to shout about it from the roof tops. But introverts are quite often very smart, smarter than average, so it wouldn't surprise me if they stand just as good if not slightly better chance of excelling at learning new languages.

There are 2 main languages spoken in my country; English (the official language) and Setswana (the national language). It pays to be fluent in English as it's the main medium of instruction and communication. We don't really have a use for any foreign languages here. But there's a very small handful of people who speak French and Portuguese, who hold vey lucrative diplomatic posts.

I have been looking to re-cultivate my French by giving myself refresher lessons, with a view to getting prepared to get back into my language lessons gun blazing. I know a lot of the Linguaholic members are far beyond the basic stage, but for the few who might be starting out or in the same boat as me, I found a very good site for this sort of thing. It covers a ridiculous amount of languages and is a great resource for basic phrases, idioms, colours, grammar and handy links. Here's a link for those who might be interested: http://www.omniglot.com/index.htm I hope you find it as useful as I am J

I’m asking the question because scouring the net recently for language learning resources, it hit me and absolutely blew me away just how much free stuff is out there! I realised that I could probably learn on my own using all the free online materials. Ideally I would prefer to also attend an actual, physical class for the interaction. That’s the only time I’d consider paying for lessons, knowing what I now know. Do you pay for your lessons? If yes, given the amount of free online learning resources, what are the reasons you've opted to pay?

The acquisition of foreign language skills is known to open many doors across the globe for those who are lucky to have acquired knowledge of more than 1 language. To those of you here who are polygots, can you share how speaking a few languages has so far enriched your life, whether it be socially or professionally. TIA

Anyone heard of or ever used this site? I’ve been casually searching for a collection of free online language learning resources and happened upon this site. I found it very interesting and thought I’d share it with the Linguaholic community J It’s free as far as I can tell, and covers 48 languages. What’s more, it even has a wealth of free online materials like eBooks, textbooks, movies, audio books, among others. I hope it proves handy to some if not everyone here. Any feedback would be appreciated Below is the link, for anyone who's interested: http://www.openculture.com/freelanguagelessons

I did notice that because I was thinking, that's definitely NOT how I write or even think. It was just weird, but trust me, It wasn't my doing. Something funky happened here and I even wrote in to admin, because I certainly didn't do it. Anyway, it's not such big of a deal, these things happen!

I agree you'll forget a few expressions and words, but forgetting to the point where you can't communicate in your own language LOL?! Would you say you totally forgot your own language and couldn't converse with your non-english speaking friends and relatives? -and how's about something extra to stew you noodle....what of those people who claim to have forgotten their own language, claiming they can only speak English, yet don't even have a very good grasp of the language that they claim is the only one they can now speak? Very curious indeed.

This is my worst nightmare in language learning, and I suspect that's what holds me back more than anything. I always learn how to write way faster than I can speak a language. No matter what I do, I just clam up and become shy and tongue tied, even if I know what to say. It doesn't even matter how friendly and accommodating the people around me are. I think it stems from some of the people here's attitudes. When I was at university learning French, my class mates derived great pleasure from poking fun at people speaking poor French and making mistakes, ribbing them for days on end and I hated it as it put me under the spotlight. It gave me a complex, and I think that stuck!

Hello Jorge, and welcome onboard Liguaholic. Interesting to see you're currently studying French and Italian, my two favourite languages, which I hope to one day master Good for you! I too never heard of InterLingua, let alone tried to learn it. But it does sound very interesting, like some sort of universal language bringing together all the languages. I don't even think I know anyone who speaks it. I'll do a search on Google and see if I can maybe get an audio clip, as I'm interested in hearing the accent in which it's spoken too.

When I saw dark I understood it to mean bad, but from what you're saying it's simply words that are not commonly used or all that well known. Usually, like someone else said, it could be made up language maybe for poetic license or even street language or slang. I find that even if I may not be familiar with some words, more often than not, I can deduce the meaning from the context. The Urban dictionary can also come in handy for this sort of thing. Maybe you could give a couple of examples to give us a bit more clarity, because i'm not entirely sure I understand the question.

Someone mentioned that it could be stressful learning all those languages all at once, and that would be me right there. I think the most I could do is two simultaneously, and I'd opt for two distinctly different ones to avoid any confusion. Even then I'd struggle, so that's why I take my hat off to those who can pull it off

I've looked at the Rosetta Stone language tool in the past, but I remember I wasn't best pleased with the fees, as I thought they were set too high. So I'm glad I stumbled across this thread, and found some people's comments very useful. I guess me not having any native French or Italian speakers around me also rules it out. Duolingo has really piqued my interest, so I think I'll try that as someone here suggested Thanks all!

I'd never actually been on the site, and I just checked it out! It looks like a really fun site, and I'm guessing it already had my languages anyway, Italiano and Francais Those never seem to be left out anywhere, so I'm blessed like that! I've bookmarked the site because I really do need to get my back into it in the very near future. -and what better way to start that Duolingo, a site everyone who uses it sings its praises?!

I don't speak any tonal languages, so you're probably better placed to pick them out. I'm hardly in a position to claim otherwise. He does have a soothing voice, that much I know LOL I don't think any amount of listening will help me, because I'm absolutely clueless. I don't think I've ever heard anything akin to what's on the audio clip. I wish someone would come along and put us out of our misery, because I'm dying to know exactly what language it is!

Italian is a great language, and one that if I can learn I think most people stand a good chance of learning. I actually found Italian easier to learn compared to French, although it'll obviously differ from person to person. Wow, you have quite a few languages to get through yet! But maybe Hungarian being so hard, stands you in very good stead. All the best achieving all your language learning dreams

Aren't we blessed to have the benefit of modern technology!? I'm sure you won't struggle to find a Skype teacher for your chosen languages. Good luck