Learning another language as an adult..

Deeba1234 · January 14, 2012, 2:34pm

Anyone tried this and if so how did you get on?

What did you use to help you?

KKF · January 14, 2012, 2:44pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

i learned Faarsii…it wasn’t too bad since the vocabularies and the methodologies to make derivative words were the same as in Urdu. it’s funny to note that when i was learning Faarsii, i used to think that those Faarsii words were borrowed from Urdu… the fact is, Urdu borrowed from Faarsii lol

Deeba1234 · January 14, 2012, 2:49pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

^What did you use to learn?

ninja_hattori · January 14, 2012, 3:06pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

is classical farsi and farsi used by iranian is same?

KKF · January 14, 2012, 3:13pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

in class and at home...since my father was a Faarsii_daaN and i was already good in Urdu, it helped me a great deal. u can't be good in Urdu if you don't have the 'working' knowledge of Faarsii and 'Arabii.

i met a few Iranians and i noticed a great deal of difference. apart from hard to follow Iranian [Faarsii speaking people] accent, their modern Faarsii [Faarsii-e-jadeed] is quite different from the classical Faarsii. i guess, same could be said about any other language. now, Urdu is much different that it used to e...even my father's Urdu was way more classical than mine. :)

ninja_hattori · January 14, 2012, 3:20pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

i love urdu though mine is not good.....

but urdu is our cultural symbol....

KKF · January 14, 2012, 3:25pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

you can always improve upon your Urdu. :) Urdu is a now, unfortunately, a religious symbol, at least in India. Non Muslims associate Urdu with Muslims which is NOT true...there have been a great number of people in India who are/were a great Urdu scholar/poet and they were non-Muslims. :)

McPendo · January 14, 2012, 3:58pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

I used Rosetta stone and got a pretty firm understanding of Farsi (Persian). I'm now learning french and its really easy because of the structure that Rosetta stone uses. I think it should take me around 6 months to fully understand it using Rosetta's curriculum.

TeenDabbyWala · January 14, 2012, 4:24pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

I will say the most controversial thing in this thread, and there will be so many pissed off people, and people are going to egg me..... but I want to learn...........

hindi

Pronunciation and accent isn't going to be an issue, just have to learn how to read it, which is the hardest part.

u_ahmed · January 14, 2012, 4:47pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

Decide why you're learning it. (Are you trying to converse, read, or both).
Movies, songs, and tv shows are your friend (better yet, good movies, songs and tv shows).
Flash cards are your friend (google anki too, it's useful)
Interaction with native speakers

Basically, depending on the language you're trying to learn, you'll face different issues. Script can be a problem, or the type of language (in contrast to the language(s) you know). Also, how popular a language is can help or hurt you in finding resources and other speakers on-line.

Lastly, learning to read and write, unlike as said above, is not the most difficult thing. Being able to speak adequately is way harder (without sounding too much like a foreigner). As you get older, the harder it gets to pick up the accent of that particular lingo.

Deeba1234 · January 14, 2012, 5:03pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

I was wondering about Rosetta Stone.. anyone else used it?

Deeba1234 · January 14, 2012, 5:06pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

Mandarin or Cantonese, which one should I go for?

aurchaepiyo · January 16, 2012, 1:38pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

Mandarin. Fewer tones, and more widely spoken. Good luck to you!

Deeba1234 · January 16, 2012, 2:09pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

^Thanks.. Mandarin is the one others seem to think might be more useful as well (it's work-related)..

Simply_Seema · January 16, 2012, 5:28pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

I started learning french from Alliance Francaise, then the rest I did on my own. Initially it was v confusing coz the letters are the same as english but the phonetics are different, so the reading part was difficult.
The key is 2 practice ur conversation skills, the more u practice the more u learn so I started attending french cultural events, u get to speak a lot in these events.
Now I am planning to learn italian coz it's easier to learn a second romance language if u already know one

KKF · January 16, 2012, 5:31pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

oh wow ... vous savez français ... Je sais seulement un peu français. peut-être vous pouvez me montrer comment sonversate au couramment le français! :)

McPendo · January 16, 2012, 6:46pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

I've used it and in my opinion it is the best language learning tool out there. It is expensive but there are ways to acquire it for free. If you are looking for the easiest and most effective way to learn a language go with Rosetta Stone.

McPendo · January 16, 2012, 6:48pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

Mon ami vous savez excellent francais!

Niksik · January 16, 2012, 6:52pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

Moi aussi. KKF, Pends, ca va, ca va bien?

I'm starting to learn to Arabic now.

McPendo · January 16, 2012, 6:57pm

Re: Learning another language as an adult..

^tres bon nikkeh, which program are you using to learn arabic? Im assuming you're learning the speaking version and not the Quranic reading one.