Learning A New Language

Has anyone or does anyone on here tried to learn a new language while driving? If so what is the best one to look into? I figure I may as well learn while driving rather than just listening to music.

Having been a language major in college, I can attest to the fact that there's no replacement for total immersion. Having said that, I've heard that Rosetta Stone does a decent job. You'll wanna study the grammar of a language, and talk colloquially with foreign language speakers. Get down and dirty with your grammar, and don't be afraid to make mistakes with the 'spoken language.' This was my practice while learning German and dabbling in Russian.

If you want to learn "just any" modern language, learn to speak Chinese. (Wait for laughter to die down.)

The grammar (subject verb object) is like English. There is no conjugation of verbs ("ride, rides, rode, ridden"), no genders ("la plume", "le basketball").

The hard part is the written language but that is actually barely connected to the spoken language for historical reasons. Spoken Chinese Mandarin is really easy.

(I have a BA in Chinese from UCLA. This has gotten me to where I am today.)

(I have a BA in Chinese from UCLA. This has gotten me to where I am today.)

...ans it was a long hard journey!

Errol, you're cracking me up this morning!

If you drive reefer and want to learn Spanish you will have plenty of opportunities to practice when you make deliveries. The office people all speak English but a lot of dock workers only speak Spanish.

Try Language101.com. It's make you repeat common phrases and sentences and times them to repeat based on how you did the last time. You won't learn how to write it but it's great for retaining information. Also, YouTube videos are amazing. I watch German sitcom's with German subtitles so I can see what they are saying. They I watch the same one with English subtitles. Music videos with subtitles are great too. I actually learned a lot of German by watching Ramstein videos with German subtitles. Even if you don't know what they are saying you are hearing it spoken and will eventually pick up on it.

If you drive reefer and want to learn Spanish you will have plenty of opportunities to practice when you make deliveries. The office people all speak English but a lot of dock workers only speak Spanish.

But in the dock you learn words you don't get in a lesson book, like pinche chingaso. (Brett's censor probably won't catch these!)

Thanks for all the replies. I'm wanting to start with German and go on from their. I like the movie idea.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm wanting to start with German and go on from their. I like the movie idea.

Good for you! German is easier to learn as a native English speaker.

Viel spass!

Some great info here.

Since you mentioned German, I wanted to add in that I have a buddy who learned German from Duolingo. He really liked their setup.

https://www.duolingo.com/course/de/en/Learn-German-Online

I like the YouTube idea. That would be a nice supplement to "book learning".

Check around (Google). There are various websites where you can hook up with people who natively speak the language you want to learn. You basically become a pen pal, writing back and forth and chatting on voip/Skype. They help you learn their language while you help them work on English. There is no shortage of people out there who are trying to improve their English and are looking for some way to do it without paying a tutor. Great opportunity to not only get better at a language, but to get the tips that you won't find in books or language courses.