John Snort

You can learn Chinese online free. Don't know whether you'll want to learn all three dialects: Mandarin, Cantonese and Taiwanese or whether you'd rather learn standard Chinese known as Putonghua/modern Standard Mandarin which is the official spoken language of mainland China. Whichever you choose, it's the attitude that does make a difference. If you believe learning the language is easy, it most certainly will make learning it easier. All the best!

It's a strategy that can work but there's one problem — you still won't know how to pronounce some words correctly which is why it's better to find someone a native speaker preferably and chat with them. There are lots of people who are lonely and will be more than happy to talk to anyone on the net. And there also numerous sites where anyone can find a language exchange partner if they so desire.

People can fall in love with anyone. I have a friend who is deaf and uses only sign language to communicate and he though he isn't that good looking he dates lots of girls. That's why I believe even if your love interest doesn't speak your language it isn't an obstacle that can stand in the way of love. Even if someone doesn't know the language you speak, they can learn the language or you can learn their language to make communicating easier but in the meantime (whilst you are learning the new language) you could use sign language.

There was a time I lived in a place where a dialect of Spanish was spoken by most of the people who lived there. Thing though is everyone living in that town was bilingual so even if you didn't know Spanish communication wouldn't be a problem. I'd initially planned to and had actually started learning the language before moving but once I got there and realized that there was no need for it I gave up trying to learn that Spanish dialect.

I learned French when I was a kid. Was almost fluent by the time I was 9 but never did speak the language from then on. From time to time however, I did dream in French. In the dreams I could understand every French word that was spoken though at the time I was learning the language I hadn't mastered it that well. Strange if you ask me.

For me the reason I'd want to learn a language isn't because there are many people who speak the language. I'd learn the language or at the very least enough to permit me to get by asking for directions because I do travel a lot (solo) and getting lost is almost a given as I try to find my way around. So I always choose to learn the language spoken in the country I'll be visiting.

I know three languages and can read books in languages other than English but I'm yet to find really great fiction that I'd want to read. The last time I tried to read a translation of Tom Sawyer it was so horrible that for a while I stopped reading non-English fiction. Occasionally though when I stumble into a good short story written in a language I know, even if it's not English, I'll read it but something longer? No.

There this woman I know who got a job as a nanny. She had to care for her employers three children. At that time she got hired, she could hardly speak English but she spent a lot of time with the children and within a year she was fluent. I learned from her that the kids wouldn't let her say that English was hard. Hard? If they (the kids) could speak it well, they wouldn't believe that it would be hard for an adult. And because they were confident their nanny would speak English well, in the end she didn't disappoint them. Have any of you here tried learning a new language from a child you know? How would you say it compares to learning from an adult?

Technology never will render the learning of new languages obsolete. While yes I've heard of these new ear buds which can allegedly translate languages in real time, at the present the best you can hope for is word by word translation provided the speaker enunciates their words clearly. That said, if you want to read something written in a language you don't know machine translations won't do because there'll be something lost in translation. That's why people will still have to learn new languages that interest them.

I don't think reading aloud will help with diction. Enunciation always is a problem for most people who are learning a new language which is why it's always better these days to find a language exchange partner online. Nonetheless I do agree that reading aloud can speed up your learning.

What I know about textbooks is that some aren't written by native speakers of the language the students are learning and some basic rules and more complex ones are obfuscated by the author(s) which makes it hard for the students to learn the language. That's why I say they should be used as some sort of "road map". The teacher must know what the students should learn and textbooks will provide that but teacher should provide the material that will be used to teach the students.

Hello, Peter, [You need to have a comma after any salutation and for a business letter, a comma after the name of the person the letter is addressed to ( always recommended)]. While surfing the internet, I accidentally found your website. It's got some interesting information [or some other variation. Information is an uncountable noun] and for that reason doesn't have a plural form]. I think that skydiving must be fantastic . . . would you mind answering some questions? [mind always is followed by -ing when it is followed by a verb]. That's about it.

The easiest way to improve your grammar is by reading more books but it shouldn't be just any books. Since anyone can write and publish a book these days the probability of finding a well-written book on Amazon or elsewhere on the net is quite hard. That is why if you want to improve your grammar, you should read books written before 1970. At that time for a writer's manuscript to be published their grammar had to be perfect. If you go back further, the quality of writing gets to be even better. I suggest that you visit gutenberg.org. They have thousands of free books on the site. Read as many as you can and I can assure you that after a few months you'll notice a change.

An excuse I often hear why people don't try hard enough to learn new langauges — it's too hard. Wrong. Nothing is too hard. A positive attitude and a good reason why you need to get something hard would make a huge difference. And actually one great way to stay motivated when learning a new language is having a good reason why you are learning it. For example if someone wants to read the bible in it's original form in Greek or another language then they wouldn't give up that easily [if they thought learning Greek was hard]. Got more tips? How can one stay motivated when learning a new language that may seem be hard to learn?

I prefer to learn from other Native speakers. My goal when I start learning initially is to know how it's spoken then afterwards I could start learning how the words are spelled, etc, etc, because I always learn new language so that I when I travel abroad, communication won't be a problem. That said, if I don't have a friend who is a native speaker [of the language I want to learn], free youtube language lessons and online courses is how I prefer to learn a new language.

I don't prefer either. Fact is many people nowadays prefer American English for some reason. I think it has to be the many American TV shows which have made people believe American English is better. I've always found British English to be a little harder when it comes to spelling some words. Could be it's because I'm used to American English. So spelling wise I prefer American English. But when it comes to listening to someone speak, I'd rather have them speak British English. The enunciation is great.

The last emotional book I read which is free in the public domain if any of you want to try it is called, "Old Yeller." The story is set in the days of the pioneers. A boy adopts a stray a dog which gets to be a great companion that eventually sacrifices its life to save the boy's family. If you love dogs then this is a great book and as the story is interesting I think it's worth reading even though it will leave you feeling sad at the end.

Many people often wonder why kids learn languages fast? The answer is simple. Children practice what they learn a lot. I was listening to a child who is learning to talk and she'd repeat the same words over and over until she got the pronunciation right. And when kids see something they don't know, they'll ask their parent, sibling or someone to trust to tell them what it is. And when they've heard the word they'll repeat it until the parent, says "yeah, you've got it right." To learn a languge well and fast be proactive about learning. Ask questions and practice speaking the words you learn until you get them right. That's how kids do it and you have to admit they certainly do learn new languages really fast.

@prettylittleliar, you'll have to watch a lot of videos. It took me 10 hours, 5 days a week to start picking up words and accurately guessing what they meant. If I didn't understand a new word I would ask the native speakers to tell me what the word meant. Same way you could hear words and look up their meaning in the right dictionary. As with everything else though, it can take time to learn but as I said, this coupled with regular lessons give you an edge . . .

I don't think Chinese will be the most widely spoken language any time soon. Sure as China invests overseas there are numerous people who'll want to learn Chinese so they can be hired by Chinese companies [since being bilingual is always an advantage in the workplace. So in the near future there'll be more people speaking Chinese but they won't be more than those who speak English. But by 2080 . . . things might be different.

It is said that RP English is the easiest to understand. Anyone who knows English even those who are just starting to learn it, will understand RP English. And the easiest way to learn it is by listening to BBC news as it has already been suggested. First just listen to what they [the BBC reporters] say. Then start practising what you hear. I can assure you that your diction will be much improved after a couple of months.

The reason I was unable to learn French in school is because the teacher [a Native French speaker] made the assumption that by speaking only French in French class we [kids back then] would learn French the way he did. Unfortunately though that strategy didn't work because most of us didn't learn anything. He had to leave for some reason and the new teacher who was a non-native speaker was much better [at teaching] though the accent was a little off. Learn the basics from non-native speakers but spend some time learning how the language is spoken by native speakers. That way you get "the best of both worlds."

Hi, I'm one of those people who love traveling and never visit a place unless I know enough of the language that's spoken by the locals so in case of anything I could not only buy whatever I want or get directions to any place I want to get to. That is the reason why I'm always learning new languages. Right now my interest is Chinese. I've heard it said Chinese is a hard language to learn but I don't want to believe those who'd stop me from learning the language. You'll be seeing me around!

Over the past few months I've had to spend most of my time with a number of people [I've had to work with] who don't speak English that well and for that reason had to use their native tongue. And as we worked, they'd always be conversing in their language and was surprised to find out a week later that without even trying to learn the language I was beginning to understand some of the things they said. So if you want to learn a language fast, find youtube videos made by native speakers and watch them even if you initially don't understand a thing. After a while you'll get to know what some words mean and as you also learn the language. If you are also learning the language chances are that you'll learn it faster than someone who is relying solely on the lessons they get.