Foreign language practicing

[luizfar]

Hello, guys!
Well, I'm brazilian, studying English..
I don't post too much in the forums but I'm always around just reading it..

I like studying other languages, but I can only speak Brazilian Portuguese and some English, although I plan to learn another language in the future.
I was thinking of a way to find native English speakers, to practice, since this seems to be one of the best ways to learn a language.

It made me wonder if I could find people here to talk!
No only in the forums, but also through IMs, as MSN, and specially Skype, which would be great because of VoIP.

I'd like this thread to be useful for people to try exchanging information about foreign languages learning and get in touch via IMs to practice!

I don't know if there's another thread like this around. If so, forgive me please, I just didn't know what to look for to find one.

Well, my MSN is luizfar @ gmail com and skype ID is luizfar
Add me, please!

[userundefine]

Good idea. I'd be willing to do it with you. I know what it's like to study language. If it's possible, I suggest you attempt to study in an English-speaking country. You'll learn more by doing that than you ever will studying in your own country.

If any francophone wants to practice their English, I'd also be willing. I just got back from living in France for four months (studying, in fact) and am sad to hear only English now in the States...

[userundefine]

Bump for more people to see and enjoy !

[matthew]

I'm a native English speaker and have studied (in order of fluency) Moroccan Dialectical Arabic, Spanish, Modern Standard Arabic, and a little French. As far as I'm concerned the most important necessity for a person to learn a new language is desire. You have to be motivated because it's hard work. That doesn't mean it can't be fun, personally I enjoy it, but it is not easy.

Some random tips:

-find native speakers to practice with and eavesdrop on their conversations. This will help you with phrasing, accent, and learning to make your communication sound less like it's from a book and more like a "normal" person. Television can be good, but only if the show uses idiomatic modes of speech--soap operas are excellent resources for this, even though I can't stand the melodrama...

-create specific, measurable goals for yourself that are realistic and attainable. "I will learn one new vocabulary word each day and find a way to use it in a conversation" is a good example. I remember when I needed/wanted to learn how to ask for and understand directions in Moroccan Arabic. I asked a friend (native speaker) to help me with some common phrases like "how do I get to X from here?" as well as the most basic things like "turn left" or "go straight." I practiced them with my friend until I could say them intelligibly from memory. Then I went out on the streets in Casablanca for several hours a day over two days and asked dozens of people how to get to places I already knew while listening intently to the different ways to phrase the answer. Then I intentionally got lost (in a city of six million people that's a bit scary) and asked people to help me find known landmarks. I did this over and over until it became second nature. I did it with telling time and asking what time it is.

I'll probably add more tips later, but I don't want to overpower the thread. This should be an interesting discussion. Please contribute if you have anything you can share!

Oh, here's a link that is appropriate: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_learn_a_language

[seijuro]

believe it or not I learned enough Chinese to get around as a tourist from reading fortune cookies because they had the words written in chinese and spelled out phonetically I would practice them and then talk to the waiters at the restaurant to see if I was doing it right they were really polite and quite forgiving when I butchered things. I think most native speakers are forgiving when they know you are doing your best to try to learn their language. I'm also learning Japanese but I am having a hard time finding native speakers watching anime in its original Japanese helps but not as much as a real person who can give you feedback.

[macogw]

せいじゅろ、時々中国語で漢字を知ったは日本語で同じだ。

一例
漢字：電話
中国語: dien hua
日本語: den wa
意味: telephone

分かる？

[cloudedbrainster]

Hi, just a quick tip. If you are watching a movie (DVD) set the language and the subtitles to english so you can associate the spoken with the written words.

[luizfar]

Thanks, guys!
I do many of those things you have talked about.
Like watching DVDs with english subtitles and try to find native speakers to practice.

And this is the main purpose of this thread.
userundefined and I have changed some words some days ago.
Are there any French guy willing to practice some french with him?

Anyone else willing to practice another language?

[saulgoode]

Don't forget that Linux generally has excellent international support and that you can run many apps in a foreign language by setting the LANG environment variable. This can easily be done by invoking from BASH:

LANG=en gimp

or

LANG=fr gedit