Discussions

Have you learned a foreign language on your own?

Posted by volleypc • 2/27/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: foreign language

I hear about these learn a foreign language programs online and on TV but I am wondering how many people learn to speak a foreign language outside of a classroom or without living in the country for a while. If any of you have learned a foreign language on your own, I would like to know how you did it and what language it was. Any tips or suggestions?

User Comments

2/27/09

AnEnglishManAbroad

I've been lucky enough to live in a lot of different countries and have managed to learn five languages so far. It is much easier when you live in a country where the language is spoken and so have a real communicative need to use it. When I was in Korea I bought 10 Korean courses and attended two different classes, but the most helpful thing was having a Korean girlfriend.

[reply]
2/27/09

ezyville

I learned English through Archie comics and video games. True story, a few years ago, I meant one of the writers of Archie at San Diego Comic Con and all I told him was, "thank you for teaching me English." That got a laugh...

[reply]
2/27/09

Stillthinking

I am Korean, but raised in the US. My initial language was Korean until I came to the US at the age of 3. I immediately began absorbing English until it usurped Korean as my primary language. By the time I was 5, I had forgotten almost all of my Korean language skills and did not have a trace of an accent. You could say the first foreign language that I learned on my own was English. Then when I was 8, I began relearning Korean. That would be the second language I learned on my own. My Korean is woefully pathetic though. I have an terrible American accent when I speak. It makes my relatives wince.

[reply]
2/27/09

ArsenicCookies

I have learned Pennsylvania dutch on my own, which was HARD as it is mostly a spoken language. I basically compared German to the PA Dutch, found that it was most similar to Western German dialects, but had some english mixed in (think spanglish). I then studied some Amish records and put 2 and 2 together. The kicker? After my grandfather figured out what I was doing, he said "Princess, I speak it, why didn't you just ask".. ARGH!

[reply]