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It seems to be where my talent lies. I'm a native English speaker who lives in Oklahoma, and I taught myself the basics of Swedish via a few online sources (trust me, there aren't many ), then just learnt through trial-and-error, asking Yahoo! Answers questions, and looking up words and memorizing pluralization, ect.

I also know the basics to many languages from just reading online. There're a lot of Mexicans here in the South, so I hear Spanish every time I go out. I took a year and a month (before transferring schools) of it, but I didn't learn much, since I taught myself the basics with a high school text book from a Puerto Rican high school when I was 7.

I took a year of German in the 8th grade, although I didn't pay attention. It was mainly a blow off class, although I did learn the fundamentals. I also learnt a lot just from reading questions / answers on Yahoo! Answers' language section and watching movies in German (such as Der Untergang, Das Leben Der Anderen, ect). German is also very similar to Swedish (mainly in vocabulary, but some pronounciation such as ö, y (German: ü), ect that would otherwise be difficult for a monolingual English speaker were easy because of the similarities), so that helped.

I'm taking French, but I can honestly say that I hate it with a burning passion. First off, the only 'silent letters' that are ever in Swedish are really the final 'g' in adjectives (a lot of adjectives end in 'g', ie. ljuvlig - lovely, smutsig - dirty, regnig - rainy, snöig - snowy, ect) and even then, you can pronounce the 'g' if you want. Sometimes words like något (something) or någon (someone) are pronounced as nåt or nån, but that's informal. In French, it's safe to assume that only like 1/4 of the letters in the word will be pronounced. It's so unnecessary. I know I can't talk, because my native language, English, has a lot of silent letters as well, but it isn't nearly as bad as French.

All in all, I really like learning about languages. I might even enjoy learning the language itself. For instance, most people think I'm pulling their leg when I say Greenlandic is spoken in Greenland, but I'm not. I just love sitting down and reading Wikipedia pages for hours at a time, constantly reading the "related articles" on each page, ect.

Wow, this was long :p

I am terrible in foreign languages, I suck in Spanish. I just can't seem to find interest in. Do you have any tips on how I can be interested in learning Spanish because I'm failing that class...

(12-20-2009, 09:07 PM)NaK Wrote: [ -> ]I am terrible in foreign languages, I suck in Spanish. I just can't seem to find interest in. Do you have any tips on how I can be interested in learning Spanish because I'm failing that class...

Well, first you should acknowledge that Spanish is not that different from English. English is sort of a 'hybrid' between Germanic languages and Romance languages. Spanish is a romance language, and is one of the more simple languages an English speaker can learn. I think that you should go to studyspanish.com and go through the lessons. However, you should also take an assignment for example, look at a problem which you don't understand, and then ask about it on vark.com or answers.yahoo.com. Have the answerer explain it to you, and write down the explanation and study it. For example, if you are confused as to when you should use los instead of las, you can easily learn the difference from studyspanish OR from another person on Yahoo! Answers.

I also think you should try to make yourself be interested in it. For example, try to find some bands that sing the genre of msuic which yo uenjoy, or find a movie that is in Spanish but also a genre that you enjoy. I found "El Laberinto del Fauno" (Pan's Labyrinth) to be really interesting. This helps a lot with pronunciation and listening skills.

Another thing you should do is, even if you're not required to by the class, make a vocabulary list of 20 words per week and study them. Write them down, write the definition, use them in sentences (in Spanish!) and study anything 'challenging', such as accent marks. Make a new list every week. The reason you want to do this is because as you progress in foreign language classes, you'll eventually have to start reading. If you are familiar with the words and their pronunciation, it'll be a breeze and you'll get a good grade.

This especially helps when you are required to write essays or about yourself in the language.

Sorry, I have to go now. If I think of anything else, I'll edit it in.

I'm taking 4 years of Spanish in High school. Last year is AP.
Also taking 2 of French.

Then I think I have to take another in college.

(12-20-2009, 09:14 PM)Elektrisk Wrote: [ -> ]Well, first you should acknowledge that Spanish is not that different from English. English is sort of a 'hybrid' between Germanic languages and Romance languages. Spanish is a romance language, and is one of the more simple languages an English speaker can learn. I think that you should go to studyspanish.com and go through the lessons. However, you should also take an assignment for example, look at a problem which you don't understand, and then ask about it on vark.com or answers.yahoo.com. Have the answerer explain it to you, and write down the explanation and study it. For example, if you are confused as to when you should use los instead of las, you can easily learn the difference from studyspanish OR from another person on Yahoo! Answers.

I also think you should try to make yourself be interested in it. For example, try to find some bands that sing the genre of msuic which yo uenjoy, or find a movie that is in Spanish but also a genre that you enjoy. I found "El Laberinto del Fauno" (Pan's Labyrinth) to be really interesting. This helps a lot with pronunciation and listening skills.

Another thing you should do is, even if you're not required to by the class, make a vocabulary list of 20 words per week and study them. Write them down, write the definition, use them in sentences (in Spanish!) and study anything 'challenging', such as accent marks. Make a new list every week. The reason you want to do this is because as you progress in foreign language classes, you'll eventually have to start reading. If you are familiar with the words and their pronunciation, it'll be a breeze and you'll get a good grade.

This especially helps when you are required to write essays or about yourself in the language.

Sorry, I have to go now. If I think of anything else, I'll edit it in.

Yeah, but the thing is I find Spanish soo boring, I can't even spend a few minutes on my Spanish classwork or homework. I just have absolute no interest in it. I can't stay awake when doing Spanish homework T.T

I'm native english and I am learning German, I couldnt watch a film in German, but I can listen to German tapes and get the general idea of what is going on.

I'm a native English and Spansih speaker. I am learning French right now, but soon I am moving on to Japanese.

I love foreign languages. I have only had the chance to study in depth spanish... I would love, however, to learn:
German
Greek
Arabic
Russian
Hebrew

I speak fluent English and Spanish, and I took French through school. Italian and Portuguese, I understand those as they are sister languages lol.

I know what you mean, I also seem to NOT have the problem to learn a language... not even a coding lanuage
I speak 3 Languages (with my Native one) fluent, I know few words in some other languages and I'm able to understand but not really speak most of the Balkan languages.

In my whole life I hated to read lines of text while in school or even write it, and while at home I had better things to do than working with languages...
I've been reading few books but I wouldn't say I like to read, well I do but I don't want to do it!
And still somehow I've menaged to learn so much languages.....

I learned english by watching TV, playing Games and lastly using the Internet, the speaking part was simple, I just love saying words in English... they just sound better sometimes.
German was easy to learn, beacause I've stayed in germany for time periods, and had to be able to communicate.... educational reasons...
In about a month, almost 2, I could already work as a translator..

The other languages are just those with which I came into contact, but Spanish was a TV thiing.....

And I seem to have an Universal Accent... I speak all languages as if I was born in that country....