Posted: 1/7/2007 11:16:58 PM EDT
| I want to learn a foreign language, for work (PO right now) and maybe a future job. I would like to be fluent. The thing that bothers me is the little spanish I learned in high school does me no good because it is proper spanish, nothing like what I hear working. At this point I am not even sure I want to learn Spanish. I have been thinking about Russian. My question is how does one go about learning a language usefully without going to the country of origin? Should I try college, online courses, computer programs? When I was in college I never bothered with spanish because I thought it would be like high school, all proper and no really world use unless I went to Spain. Just figured I would ask. |
|
I've had 14 years of formal spanish training in school and college, and I use it regularly at work (PO also). I would suggest that you would be very hard pressed to ever reach "fluent" status in a language without being fully immersed in the language and having to use it daily for everything. Russian seems to be a popular language, and certainly Arabic and your other central asian languages would be profitable. As far as day to day usefulness, I think spanish is the key. Good luck! |
|
Immersion is key. Use the language and listen to it on the radio watch it on TV. I watched the TV shows geared towards kids when I was stationed in Spain, they spoke clearly, slowly and distintcly and I learned quite a bit. I also spoke spanish only to anyone who spoke spanish, even other Americans in an effort to gain fluency. I dreamt in spanish one night and that morning it was odd, I could speak spanish. Before the dream I fell all over my self and was very poor in the fluency department. After the dream I could make a joke in spanish that made no sense in english. As to Russian I don't know how you would immerse yourself here in the States. Satellite Radio and TV and eating at a restuarant that caters to the Russian Immigrant community perhaps. |