I have used RS to learn my wife's native language of Tagalog (Filipino)IMO I think it is a an excellent way to learn a second language even for an old guy like me. Still working on it but it works.
Took French in high school. Used it in Quebec in the 80's but didn't get to France till last summer. I was surprised by how much I was able to dredge up. I wasn't a conversationalist but I could get by. As far as what language to take up. Depends on where you want to go. German will get you nowhere in France and likewise French goes nowhere in Germany. I just think your wife doesn't want you going to Octoberfest every year.
It's a broken version of the true high German. But not the same, most words are similar but there has been a lot of English mixed into it, just changed slightly. I can understand German if they don't talk too fast. Also when we were in in Africa I picked up a lot of that. Their langue is similar, version of German with English mixed in.
Being that my situation at work has me working with a whole company of Germans, I know which way I'd go.
Shes not against me learning German what I meant was shes against learning it. This is something that we will be doing together so that we can help each other learn. She is afraid that she wont be able to get the hang of the accent and speak it fluently. Were still discussing it I have got her to look more into German.
I didn't think I'd get it either but I now can make sounds I never thought of using before. I can pronounce written words reasonably well but still can't put sentences together. Stickstoff is a fun one to say Sauerstoff is another
Whatever language you pick you're going to end up sounding like an American speaking it because that's what you are. If I were you I'd pick the language that's spoken in the particular European nation/culture that I find most interesting. For me that would be German followed by Norwegian or Swedish.
We havent bought one yet were going to look around online this weekend and see if theres any deals. Ive got it narrowed down to two if they dont go on sale this weekend Ill order one next week.
Weve narrowed it down to German or French both have good points for us. German is commonly spoken throughout the world as Germans are some of the biggest travelers out there. French is also commonly spoken and from what Ive been told pretty easy to learn. There is also a larger number of native French speakers around the world than most other languages. I have a feeling were going to go with French and then depending on how that goes we could look into another language in the future.
Are they so different as to not be understandable or would I be able to communicate well in Quebec after having learned Parisian French?
I also started learning Spanish a year ago. At first I wanted to learn the language on my own. Then he realized that it would be hard and went to courses. I sometimes missed classes because I was often late for work. A personal tutor is, of course, very cool, but if you have a lot of free time and money. For me, online lessons with a native speaker have become a great option
I've been learning German on and off for 10+ years now. I started with books, then used Rosetta Stone, as of recently YouTube and the free app Duolingo. As with anything, consistency is key and I'm consistently inconsistent LOL. I'm at the point now where I can follow 1/2 a spoken conversation and 3/4 if I'm watching something with German subtitles. Pretty pathetic. Realistically I think I need to make a commitment and most of all stick with it. Just being around native speakers and hearing the language helps. In 2010 I spent 3 weeks in Germany on vacation and became a sponge while I was there. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've heard German in the USA though. When I was at Niagara Falls last year I was next to a group of Amish and was actually surprised how much I could understand Pennsylvania Dutch. I mean, it was a really unfamiliar dialect, but I could recognize a lot of the words even though the pronunciation was off.
I have a hard time believing that. I speak German, took classes from ⁶th grade all through college and even spent a couple of months in Germany as an exchange student. Spanish has to be more prevalent. English is probably up there too in Europe. Now worldwide, Spanish is what you want to know. Look up Duolingo on Google play or apple app store. It's free and very good. I've been learning Spanish with Duolingo.
