Does he know any languages besides English? Because if not, deciding to learn three all of a sudden is quite unrealistic. Oh and I took a year of German and all I remember is "sprachen zie deutsch?" "Nein, inch kernel deutsch". Ok a few more words than that, but it was 20 years ago. I just don't think you can easily learn a language you don't hear and practice in your daily life.
Does he know any languages besides English? Because if not, deciding to learn three all of a sudden is quite unrealistic. Oh and I took a year of German and all I remember is "sprachen zie deutsch?" "Nein, inch kernel deutsch". Ok a few more words than that, but it was 20 years ago. I just don't think you can easily learn a language you don't hear and practice in your daily life.
He grew up listening to Spanish being spoken (his dad, grandma and grandpa) from Mexico City and he heard it a lot.
Like I said, this is just something he wants to do as a sort of hobby. He loves to learn new things and wants to learn a language.
Eta: he wouldn't do them all at once. He sees this as a long term thing. One at a time.
I would imagine that spanish would be much more practical to learn first.
Totally depends on his job. I work for a French company - French would be more practical than Spanish. DH just started work for a British company in the US and they also want him to know French (he only knows Mandarin, Italian, Spanish and English).
Besides, it's a Christmas present and something he wants to do for fun. Who cares what is practical?
Well I would venture to say that most people don't work for a French or German company in Texas, not all, clearly, so I would say his proximity to Mexico and apparently his Mexican heritage would lead me to believe that Spanish would be more practical.
Well I would venture to say that most people don't work for a French or German company in Texas, not all, clearly, so I would say his proximity to Mexico and apparently his Mexican heritage would lead me to believe that Spanish would be more practical.
This is why he's going with Spanish first. I think he realized that he could use it to his advantage to know SOME things in Spanish. Not full, formal conversations but just to get by.
I mean, learning languages is a fun hobby. If there are any universities or colleges nearby, look to see if they have any conversation groups that meet often. they're an easy way to get immersion for free, but they won't teach him anything. If he really wants to learn a language, he's going to have to put in hundreds of hours. If he just wants to learn a few phrases, etc, buy him a phrase book and help him meet people. Some language programs offer language exchanges where a student who wants to improve their English will have conversation practice with someone who wants to learn their native language.
Oh, this is a good idea! What about MeetUp groups, skips?
There is a website called conversation exchange. I don't know much about it, but it couldn't hurt to look into it.
Well I don't know if that is true or not, but I still think it sucks. And from the people I know who have tried to use it and actually learned the language, they agree with me.
Your money is better spent taking a class at a community college or hiring a tutor.
EDIT: Googling "Rosetta Stone sucks" shows me that I am certainly not alone in this opinion.
It is true. H has access to Rosetta Stone classes for free through the military.
LOL- what a thing to invent @jalepenomel. I am pro-Rosetta stone because it's the best, not because I sell it on commission or something. Learning a language takes time. If someone really wants to do it $250 is a small investment relative to the time commitment.
German is quite close to English and is a good confidence booster for people just starting out with learning languages because a lot of it is intuitive. Genders are tough to learn though.
I think it is more practical to start with Spanish. We spoke 2 languages in my house growing up and language learning now is impossible for me. I wish your H best of luck! It's a lot to take on.
Lol. No. German is not easy. I mean it isn't Mandarin or anything, but it is not easy, especially compared to Spanish. It is very closely related to English but the grammar is a million times more fucked up.
And definitely wordreference.com (and/or app for iPad or phone). It has translations for words but they also have a forum where people can ask questions so you can get a lot of expressions that way.
I love learnfrenchbypodcast . I go in spurts with it. There for a while my Dd wanted to listen to is as well (she speaks a fair amount of French already). It is free but you can buy the accompanying PDF which I finally did. They have all levels and it is all conversational with topics that are useful. I have no experience with the German one because, well, I hate German but I figure if the French one is good the German must be good as well.
We also go to a monthly meetup group for French and I would imagine that he would be able to find something for any of those languages.
Learning a language is so much easier when you can be immersed, even if that is only occasionally. I already knew a lot of French but lost a lot of it as well over the years. I'm brushing up on it now that I'm teaching DD French.
I've been using the duolingo app to learn french and absolutely love it. I tried Rosetta Stone in the past and am having much more success with duolingo.
I don't know where you live, but some school districts offer language classes at night. Or, if there is a large concentration of Spanish speakers, a community organization might offer conversational classes at a low cost. I've done both.