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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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sava
Learned french 1on1 with a tutor but it was still hard, speak German well enough
Sasha speaks Russian, Italian, Lithuanian, Albanian, Polish and Belarussian.
Both a bit shaky with English. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Got to AS level for French a few years ago, when I had the ambition to work in French/Belgium and retire in France eventually.
Much is forgotten now after a few life changing events! 
However, I can still work my way round a menu for certain!  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I only speak Yorkshirish...but my hubby speaks fluent French, German, Swiss German, Italian and has working knowledge of Russian and some others..but lucky him went to school abroad and had to learn |
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By *umpkinMan
over a year ago
near the sounds of the wimborne quarter jack! |
I`m in awe of my friend`s son-in-law. He is Belgian, speaks French, Flemmish, Dutch and German and is fluent enough in English to be able to tell jokes! 
Conversly, I know a guy who regularly camps in a German village about a mile from the French border and every last one refuses to even learn French, let alone speak it! |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Also trying to learn French, got a book with 4 cd's, so it helps to hear it spoken.
Also trying to learn a little czech, only know about one word so far..and no it's not that.
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Speaking from experience, the best way to learn to speak it is to live in the country of the language you're learning - even if it's just for a 2-week holiday.
I was fortunate enough to get a job in France when I was young, which is how I managed to learn it. I went there only having GCSE-level French, but made an effort to not spend all my time with English-speakers, and insisted that the natives spoke to me in French. I picked up more in a couple of months than I did during 6 years of schooling.
It's amazing how resourceful you become when you're forced to... you either learn the lingo or you go hungry, or can't see the doctor when you're ill, or can't rent a flat, etc...
There's only so much you can learn from reading books. How many times do you want to order a ham sandwich and a beer? That's not to say that books aren't useful - I found I learnt the rules of grammar best by reading textbooks, especially a book published by Schaum's and written by Mary Coffman Crocker called French Grammar... highly recommended for those of you wanting to learn French.
If you don't have the opportunity to visit your chosen country then I'd recommend listening to the radio in the language of your choice. The internet makes this very easy - it was much more difficult when I was younger. For French (and undoubtedly for other languages), it's also possible to get French-speaking channels on satellite television.
At first, it seems like they're all speaking at a hundred words per minute and you can't tell where one word stops and the next begins, but the more accustomed you get to it, the easier it becomes.
Also check which DVDs you have contain your chosen language, either as the soundtrack or as subtitles. Try watching the film in English with foreign subtitles, then watch it in foreign with English subtitles, before watching it a third time in the foreign language and with the foreign subtitles. You'll be bored of the film by then, but you'll be increasing your knowledge.
College courses can also be good for leaning a language at conversational level, which is a good starter for ten.
Hope that helps some of you. |
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well done you for doing it
