Whats the best way to learn another language?

I want to learn french but it seems like whenever I learn a new word or sentence, an hour later I don't remember anything I learned. What's the best way to learn a new language? Just lots of practice?

 

music..

 

Je ne sais pas si la musique est le meilleur moyen d'apprendre le français, ce que je sais c'est que ça a bien marché pour moi avec l'anglais...
I don't know if music is the best way to learn french, all i know is that i managed to understand english with it...

Is there a thread here, where we can speak only french?

 

to me the best way to learn a language is to put what your learn in daily life situations, very close to your experience. I studied various languages this way, with customized lessons and a patient teacher

 

I agree with Sunflower2009. But the best way of all is to live in that country. I speak read and write fluent Japanese--after living there. I can understand and speak Tagalog pretty good after living in the Philippines. I studied Russian through junior high and high school and got pretty good at it but never as good as the other two (partly because I did not have any native speakers to listen too---so when I did meet them in my travels, I felt lost at hearing them talk---if I was able to get over their speed and true accent, I may have been better than I thought I was, but....)

Another trick is to try to think in the foreign language---at first it may seem awkward and very beginner-simplistic (this is a chair. this is water...) but it is training the neurons of your mind to think in that language. As you get better, try to replay significant conversations in your head, only in the foreign language. My favorite was the things I should have said, in a fight or when someone was telling me off. My favorite place to do this was in the shower.

If that is too complicated, then replay simpler conversations. I would also draw vocabulary flash cards with a picture of something on one side and the foreign word on the back (I didn't have any English on it). But you also have to be patient and keep at it.

 

i agree with you too, MVWolf. it's a whole combination of real but simple things. My teacher showed me all this and I realised I could easily express myself in everyday situations. No need to have tonnes of books , to me I was lucky I found a good teacher , really open minded

 

You should often read, write and listen, French newspaper, music, movie, and radio are helpful.

You can take advantage of the free text-to-speech freeware panopreter, if you install it and a french voice engine (here is french voice: http://www.acapela-group.com/infovox-desktop-for-windows-3-speech-solutions.html), then you can often hear french on the computer. Let it teach you how to read and pronounce in French.

 

La MEILLEURE façon d'apprendre une langue c'est que ton conjoint/conjointe la parle. Ainsi tu pourra la pratiquer chaque jour. Les bandes dessinées sont bonne aussi car le personnage dit ce qu'il fait et tu voit aussi l'action. Je crois que le plus difficile dans une langue ce sont les verbes - il y en a toujours des irréguliers.

P!erre!

 

I would say that, indeed, it is best to think in that lanuage, and even write in note-form. I know I write my notes in spanish, simply because I can write faster in spanish than I can in english (I'm english, by the way), por ejemplo y = and, much faster writing one letter than three, and do what I just did, interject random spanish words into a english sentance!

To learn spanish, I reccomend listening to D'Nash, they are my favourite spanish boy band, and have helped me in lots of vocabulary. If you can find any people of your level to speak with over msn or e-mail, so you are using your language every day, it will eventually become second nature. I love speaking to my classmate in spanish!

I often use phrases like por ejemplo, par exemple, je suppose que, quel suprise! por lo tanto, et cetera (in both spanish and french!), just little words that you can get used to using without sounding stupid and don't fumble yourself by trying to speak fluently as you begin learning a language, no one can do it! It gets hard before it gets easy, I'm afraid.

Then you should begin to string sentances together... Estoy cansada! (I'm tired!) Je crois que ils ont le droit d'avoir le meme respect (I think that have the right (or diserve to) to have the same respect.... it won't be too bad.

I reccomend listening to Donde Estas (where are you?) by D'Nash, it's a nice and slow song to start out with, but don't look up any lyrics! Just get into the rhythm, like the song, and then begin looking up words you here, there's also a video on youtube with the lyrics in both spanish and english, so you can compare.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICcglhBbH44&feature=related

 

The Rosetta Stone

http://www.rosettastone.com/

If you look, you will find a torrent for it

 

you need to be around it 24/7. like you have no choice, but to speak that language even if you know nothing.
people will guide you..
My friend didn't know any spanish and moved to argentina for a year. She lived with a family, and they talked it to her and they put lil sticky notes on like the fridge or table, what it is in spanish so she could learn better.
I'd try that. If you cant be in the language speaking community, id still try the second one gl..

 

Visite la France (ou peut-etre le sud de Belgique ou la Suisse).

 

C'est vrai. J'ai etudié le français pour 6 ans au lycée et a l'université aux États-Unis, mais sans l'opportunité à practiquer la langue quotidiennement. Aujourd-hui, c’est difficile parce que j’ai oublié beaucoup.

 

Use online courses. I'm a foreign language teacher and I have well over 5,000 students most of which excelled using online software. I tried it out myself and learned quite a few new things. The site below is the one I think most of my students were using because rosetta stone was too expensive.

http://www.learn-french-now.com/

Hope this helps

 

best way, and only way unless you're a genius, is to travel, put yourself in the situation where you have no choice but to speak with the people there. and be curious, always ask, never think iys stupid not to get it.

 

I have learned some Spanish and French by myself. I started off with the grammar and learned all the things that you just learn by heart. Then I started repeating words and having like a list of words in my pocket which I could read if I was waiting for something or so on. After a while with French music I realized that I could understand the lyrics and make sentences.

So basically, just have the language around you all the time to not forget it and also soak it up. Learn the culture in France or Congo.

 

Ok I'm a francophone. So I can critise my "language"

Learning french is hard. Not because the grammar is hard. In french all you really need to do is learn the conjugaison rule, word order and figure out how to spot most of the masculine and feminine (super easy) . French can actually be easier than english to learn.

French is hard becaue francophones would rather switch to english than deal with an accent. In fact, finding a french dictionary with the "pronounciation" is extremly difficut. Also good luck getting a francophone to take the time to correct your pronounciation of the words and vowels. We would rather teach you the difference between mots soutenus and mots courants.

 

Je pense que la mise au point et d'apprendre le mot langue autre sont ont un grand effet d'apprendre une autre langue facilement.

 

Going to the country and living there for awhile! That's what I wanna do

 

torture