Wanda Kaishin

I would say if you elect to learn a language in a classroom, then the teacher is very important. I've taken some excellent classes that were, quite frankly, excellent because of the teachers. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with learning a language on your own. Depending on your circumstances, this might actually be your most efficient option. For the most part I learn languages completely on my own, except for conversation. For conversation I just need someone who is patient, willing to write down words for me when I ask them, and doesn't over-correct. It doesn't take an experienced teacher to do this, and in fact I've met a lot of teachers who can't resist the urge to sharply correct even the smallest mistake.

I've heard this site is very helpful.

Ok, I googled it for you.

It looks great, and I think you should continue; I'll use it a lot if you get some members. I'll be interested in how well the audio works when you get it installed.

I can't imagine living in another country and not learning the language. I know many people do this, but it's not for me. I would feel a lot of pressure if I was constantly surrounded by people and media that I didn't understand.

The question is meaningless without defining what is meant by "mastering". Please use CEFR levels for clarity. Other unknowns (L2, L1, the learner's background, etc) have already been pointed out by others here.

Interesting that no one has mentioned artificial languages like esperanto. Some of them are incredibly easy. As far as natural languages, I would guess that Spanish or French would be easiest for native english speakers.

Yeah it happens here too, but the fires usually start accidentally.

TPR

"fire-fueled haze" isn't an idiom; you can figure it out by understanding each word individually. And in theory it could have figurative meanings too, so it's alway good to give a lot of context, but I'll tell you what it most likely means. In Thailand farmers often set huge fires in the countryside to quickly and easily clear land for future cultivation. The smoke from the fires makes the air hazy for miles around. This is a form of pollution, and causes health problems in humans. It can also cause health problems for livestock, and could negatively impact other agriculture. The fire is what creates and sustains, or "fuels", the haze, so you can call it "fire-fueled haze".

Should Language Apps be your primary tool for learning a language? My personal opinion is that they are better suited as supplementary tools, like anki for example, rather than the main source of one's studies. They can certainly teach you some information, but leave you well short of where a good, more traditional text with audio, class, etc would leave you. And although most users of more traditional methods are well aware of their limitations, well aware that it will take a lot of additional work and exposure to a language to reach a high level in it, it seems like many of the app users here think all they need is the app. What are your thoughts on this? Is an app all you're using to learn a language? Do you need anything else?

At a very low level, Japanese is pretty easy because of it's pronunciation. But for a serious native english speaker who wants to reach a high level, Japanese is one of the hardest. In the Philippines you get a lot more exposure to Japanese than in most native english speaking countries, so it doesn't surprise me that lots of Filipinos don't consider it to be terribly hard.

Definitely. My ex is Panamanian.

I don't speak it, and I apologize for not having any links for you, but I believe you can get the best tools for learning Esperanto online for free. Esperantists are very enthusiastic, to the point of being practically desperate, about trying to get people to learn it and grow their numbers. There are many benefits to learning this language. Good luck.

Is the US system really "broken"? Show me a country that gets better results, and I'll show you students who spend enough time outside the classroom to really learn the language. The biggest benefit of starting in grade school is that it adds time. That being said, it's usually still not enough to get really good at a language. So using the language, reading, listening, talking, writing or whatever, outside the classroom is almost always necessary. Are students of non-US countries more motivated to use their languages outside of class than American students? For many reasons, yes, this is usually the case.

Yes. You might want to google it - it's pretty interesting.

My number one reason to learn languages is to talk to people in person. And I don't come into contact with many non-native english speakers where I live in the US. So no, I wouldn't learn a language if I have no plans to visit the country.

I have a different method. I study languages instead of playing video games.

I agree with this, but just wanted to add that it's necessary to check and memorize the pronunciation of practically every word that contains kanji.

This can be explained by Krashen's Affective Filter Hypothesis

How do I study? Very carefully I've written over 100 pages on this, so let me summarize. Basically, I'm a big believer in well rounded study methods. I'm saying you shouldn't neglect studying any skills, but that doesn't mean I advocate spending equal time on each aspect. So here are my basic steps: 1) Learn orthography & pronunciation 2) Learn everything else (reading, writing, listening, conversing, grammar, vocabulary, etc) 3) Use the language, all 4 skills (conversation, reading, writing, listening), until you reach your goal

If you're using the method outlined in that post, expect a challenge. It routinely falls into disfavor by it's followers after a year or two. What I'm looking at is basically the old AJATT method. There are some critical flaws with it, the main one being that it requires too much anki work. Almost every successful self-learner radically changes her learning style at some point along the way, so don't be afraid of doing that if you feel it's necessary. That being said, a small percentage of the people who start it take it all the way to their goal. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

I think you said it right - it changes my personality a little. It makes sense, because you are basically adapting to another culture when you speak another language.

This is a false stereotype, as most stereotypes are. I'm good at math, physics, chemistry and languages. Math is often called a language. The stereotype makes no sense, but I've heard it before.

It's a good dictionary and forum. The forum is not fun and games though - very serious learners and strict moderation. The dictionary used to be much better before one of it's main sources (Oxford I think) pulled out. It's still pretty good though. I generally use Google Translate; it's pretty good for French/English, and bulk translate can't be beat as far as I've noticed. But when it fails me I use wordreference. For Russian/English, I tend to use it a a higher percentage of the time than French/English.