Anyone ever self tought themself a foreign language?

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TheSiege

Diamond Member
Jun 5, 2004
3,918
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I have rosetta stone, teach yourself spanish cds, convertered to mp3 on my phone and I just bought 2 books and a dictionary.

I have a 1.5 hour drive each way to work, I ride a bus so I can use the books and audio, and I am going to use rosetta stone and the books while at work, I work 12 hours a day. should be able to get at least 2 hours in a day at work ontop of the bus ride.

I am hoping I can learn spanish in 3 months more or less doing this, I also work with a guy I can ask questions to if I need to.
Anyway do I have a chance? And has anyone here taught themself a foreign language without school or a real teacher. I am 29.
 
Miramonti

Miramonti

Lifer
Aug 26, 2000
28,653
100
106
3 months is quick. It took me 9 months for decent french. It was back in the day, and I studied with lots of cassettes and a fast paced berlitz book. I wrote out additional vocabulary on sheets and studied it aggressively as well. I had numerous french aupair friends I could talk with, which helped a lot. The difficulty which takes the longest is understanding the language spoken in return because of the wider array of vocabulary and understanding of spoken vs. book words (ie in english, going to vs. gonna)
 
D

DaWhim

Lifer
Feb 3, 2003
12,985
1
81
what do you mean by self taught? like not taking classes?

i went through TRS cd1 and half of the cd2 before heading off to travel in south america for 6 months. what you don't learn with TRS is the grammar. I took 2 weeks of private lessons when I arrived in peru. it made so much sense after I learned some grammar.

I also tried fluenz and preferred it a lot better than TRS. this is just my opinion. you can learn a lot of vocabs with TRS, that's about it.
 
Colt45

Colt45

Lifer
Apr 18, 2001
19,720
1
0
A bit of German and various Slav. (mostly from extended vacations in Austria and the Balkans, some from Russian datasheets and stuff like that... don't ask).

I can read French half decent (from cereal boxes / osmosis), but I'm useless with spoken.
 
Colt45

Colt45

Lifer
Apr 18, 2001
19,720
1
0
Sweet, we have double posts with this software too. Bring on the timewarps. :awe:
 
Perknose

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
46,892
10,713
147
spaceman did it. And trust me, there was no commercially available CD for the language he taught himself.

spaceman: I am in awe.
 
Albatross

Albatross

Platinum Member
Jul 17, 2001
2,344
8
81
I can easily understand Italian without any formal training.Of course my native language and Italian are closely related.
 
Imp

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,828
184
106
6 years of French and I can kinda read and write half-assed. I bought some grammar and fiction books, which have helped my reading/writing, but zip on speaking, which is where it counts. Listening/speaking is shit though. I probably speak like a 4-year old. It's hard to learn when you don't have someone correcting you and/or yelling at all your screw ups.
 
luv2liv

luv2liv

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 2001
3,505
95
91
the best way to learn a language is through repetition, writing or speaking.
i picked up some Pimsleur cds for Mandarin. 2 hrs driving a day so i spent 1 hr listening and repeating after the mentor on cd. after 3 months, i was able to speak/listen the basics. not bad.
 
Zeze

Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
11,395
1,189
126
themself

You should finish English first.

/standard asshole ATOT reply
 
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