Learning a foreign language

[scottsins]

what's the best system, not involving in-person classes?

Is there one particualr series or something that's innovative, or in some way better.

 

[baseballhorn]

UT correspondence...thats the way im doing it. i think its easier and you get to take a practice exam in the exact format of the actual test. if you bust your *** you can complete each class in 2 months.

 

[scottsins]

what about software and tapes?

 

[hornimal]

dude, are you trying to learn spanish? best way would be for you to move to cuba and stay in my little air conditioned room at the partagas factory. you'll be speaking cubanese in no time.

 

[YChang]

best software out there:

Rosetta Stone Spanish Level 1 & 2

The bad thing...not cheap, $299 not cheap.

 

[scottsins]

Oh, I should clarify...I want to learn Italian.

 

[YChang]

Rosetta Italian

Try their free online demo to see what it's like

 

[wolfman]

I have had good luck with the Pimsleur language courses on tape. They are a little expensive but effective.

 

[SuperHero]

What worked for me was watching US films dubbed in the foreign language. You know what the movie is about, what the actors are supposedly saying, and then you just learn phrases that way. Of course a lot of it could be absolutely useless, I mean after all, who asks about which wire to cut, the green or red, or a daily basis?

But my first year living in Germany, I had difficulty with the language, but watching reruns of Moonlighting in German really helped me pick up the language.

 

[chuychanga]

I second the Rosetta Stone software. I fly to Mexico a lot and everyone I work with has used that and has had succes with it. It's total immersion, and it teaches and evaluates all four aspects of communication: writing, reading, hearing, and speaking.