User:Fitzwilliam/Language learning

Introduction:

I’m planning to learn some languages. But as you would understand, time is limited and life can be short. So language learning must be efficient. I’ve been experimenting with different kinds of methods.

I’ve started studying language learning since May 2005. At first, not having enough motivation, I just flirted with German and Japanese. Later, I enrolled on a German course and learnt some basics. Yet, my progress hasn’t been quick.

So far, the greatest achievement I’ve ever made was to master the trill consonants within 2 weeks.

Since March 2005, I started reading posts at this forum. It was totally surprising to see so many users (mostly from the US, Canada or European countries) are learning so many languages. I don’t know what a young guy did to speak Spanish fluently after taking an FSI Language Course (search it on the web!) for six months. But, I can understand how good someone’s Mandarin is after 1 or 2 years of learning. The texts this person types are generally OK, just with some minor mistakes. Such progress is something not even some Chinese speakers can make.

One interesting question (especially for readers from Hong Kong): How to speak two languages fluently (e.g. French and German) without ever going abroad?

Reminder: Please always put comments at the bottom. Thanks.