Comments on: The Complete Guide to Self-Studying a Foreign Language

By: Celine's Plans for 2010: Continued Progress – webworkerdaily

Celine's Plans for 2010: Continued Progress – webworkerdaily — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:32:29 +0000

[...] also an avid language learner. This tends to be fun, especially when I try to communicate with my friendlier clients who speak [...]

By: Celine’s Plans for 2010: Continued Progress

Celine’s Plans for 2010: Continued Progress — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:16:57 +0000

[...] also an avid language learner. This tends to be fun, especially when I try to communicate with my friendlier clients who speak [...]

By: Anton Kunin

Anton Kunin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:54:11 +0000

I very much liked your idea about immersion, I totally support it!
Speaking of study guides, I would also add one more section: Functions. That is to say, conversational clichés, such as “How can I get to … ?”, or “If I were you, I would rather …”. I find it practical to learn these as set expressions (because they are set expressions, aren’t they?). It helps a lot for the communication when you have them ready.

@John Fotheringham: I can’t possibly agree with you on the idea that we should not talk to native speakers until we reach a certain level. Of course, beginners will not be able to understand fluent conversations that native speakers hold when they communicate naturally between themselves. But, a learner can always find a native speaker who will take into account their basic level and adapt their speech to the learner.
Otherwise, speaking skills will not be developing, and the learner will not be gaining self-confidence.

By: Mindy

Mindy — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:13:26 +0000

Thanks so much for this article! I’ve been attempting to brush up on my French for years, but haven’t found a self-learning system that works. I just signed up with LiveMocha and am really enjoying it.
And you’re right about practicing daily being the key. It’s such a basic piece of advice, but one often forgotten, so thanks for the reminder.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:17:47 +0000

I agree with most of what you have to say… although when you’re learning a language that’s not Spanish, German, Japanese or any of the other popular Western European languages, it becomes much more difficult to source CDs, DVDs e.g. Live Mocha doesn’t have Indonesian … a language spoken by almost 200 million people.

For some Indigenous languages, even written sources are scarce, thus far more creative (or desperate) measures are needed.

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:40:52 +0000

Thanks for mentioning my no English policy! Although I was talking about not using English when abroad (i.e. not falling into the typical trap of only socialising with other expats, or just with locals that want to use you to practise their English). If you can extend it to your hometown, that's great! Although if your hometown is in an English speaking country you can't stop speaking English entirely so my suggestion can't work so well... in that case it's a good idea to communicate at a particular place or with a particular person just in your target language and never allow English to be spoken, although I haven't tried that myself. I highly promote the practicality of self-studying. I've never tried any of those courses; usually a grammar and vocabulary book is all I use and just go straight to practising it with locals, but when you can't travel you need the extra boost.

By: bogs

bogs — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:17:57 +0000

Pimsleur is really very effective. I’ve already finished the first level (about 30 lessons per level). You might chide me for being such a hack, but I downloaded all my language material via torrent. I’m also studying Spanish and hopefully I will also want to have fluency in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Hebrew, Russian, Mandarin, Arabic and Farsi (with the exception of Hebrew, Farsi, Italian, and Arabic I already downloaded Pimsleur audio of these languages). If you want to know how I downloaded these, just try to email me. Good luck in our language learning efforts!!!

By: Liliana

Liliana — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:58:14 +0000

Celine
¿Cómo estas? Me gusto mucho tu artículo. I think that setting goals is key to learn a second language. There are also great products out there. Have u ever tried SpanishPod.com They have both Latin American Spanish and Spanish from Spain. They have culture shows, music shows even a cooking show. Have you tried it? Espero te guste, me gustaría que criticaras nuestro producto y saber si te gusta.
SLDS

By: Hodge Bois

Hodge Bois — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:07:17 +0000

You could have spent 20 seconds on the web to find out the actual price of rosetta stone. It has NEVER been $400-$700 for the 3 level set.

By: Min Min (Learn Chinese Everyday)

Min Min (Learn Chinese Everyday) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:42:40 +0000

Great article. Good tips that I should include into my Chinese learning website.