General Self-Improvement Thread

[The_J]

I've always wondered how people learn foreign languages outside of school and cheezy software programs.

Partially the same reason as for everything else: To widen your mind.
You might also get more interesting job opportunities.
Edit: See azzaman below .

The big thing I was told with regard to New Years' Resolutions, which I think applies to everything, is that anything to the tune of 'do more ____' is doomed to fail unless you currently spend an hour of your day staring at a wall. If you want to add time doing one thing, you need to cut it doing something else.

While true, motivation is the bigger problem.
Currently I could cut some time at several points (mainly internet usage ), but well...obviously I don't ^^ :/.

 

[azzaman333]

Partially the same reason as for everything else: To widen your mind.
You might also get more interesting job opportunities.

He said how, not why.

 

[Borachio]

Motivation is key, is it not? What couldn't I do if only I was motivated enough. The only progress I have made in anything seems to have been in those activities that I undertook almost as if my life depended on them.

But perhaps, progress could be made better in a more relaxed manner.

 

[The_J]

He said how, not why.

oops.
-> Next thing on the list: Improve reading comprehension in English .

 

[Thedrin]

I've always wondered how people learn foreign languages outside of school and cheezy software programs.

Exposure. I arrived in Austria with no German. After two months I could speak it better than I could ever speak French (studied for 5 years in school).

 

[madviking]

Exposure. I arrived in Austria with no German. After two months I could speak it better than I could ever speak French (studied for 5 years in school).

That's certainly a radical way to learn a language.

 

[IdiotsOpposite]

There's a website that explained a good method for this. I'll link you to it when I'm back home.

 

[brennan]

Why should I change when the rest of the world has so much room for improvement? I'm already way ahead of the curve.

 

[Borachio]

@Thedrin Trouble is, I think you have to do the work as well. It's not just a matter of taking up residence, though this gives you lots of motivation and opportunity for practice.

It would be nice if there was some easy way of acquiring a foreign language but there doesn't seem to be.

There are IIRC some radical changes that take place in the brain in the first few years, during which time you are laying down the basis for your mother tongue. So that acquiring another language after, say, five/six is going to be very nearly impossible in terms of passing as a native speaker. I'm not saying it cannot be done by anyone, but that people who do are very unusual.

Isn't there some research to show that, for example, Japanese adult speakers have physiological reasons why they can't* pronounce, or even hear, certain English sounds?

*or rather have some great difficulty doing so.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

Well, I got home, then slept.

Here's a base vocabulary, culled from the most common of english words.

http://www.towerofbabelfish.com/Tower_of_Babelfish/Base_Vocabulary_List.html

Learn those, and I've heard the anki method is preferred.

 

[Borachio]

This is good stuff, and with so many languages out there, there's no time to lose.

I have heard though that learning word lists is not such a good idea. Better, they say, to learn phrases.