Welcome to the TravelPod forums

[heatherhbl]

I'm looking to chat to avid travel bloggers who are interested in learning the language before they go / when they get to a new country. Evening classes can be such a bore. Has anyone tried online language learning? More importantly, would anyone be up for trying it?

[ScottWoz]

There are a lot of resources out there. I'd be up for trying it..

[irax]

I'm looking to chat to avid travel bloggers who are interested in learning the language before they go / when they get to a new country. Evening classes can be such a bore. Has anyone tried online language learning? More importantly, would anyone be up for trying it?

You can't beat having someone in front of you that speaks the language. On-line resources are great but you'll not make real progress unless you have the person....

If you're serious about learning a language then 2 hours at a night school per week is very worthwhile, back this up with another few hours of self study during the week.

[outdoors2213]

I'm looking to chat to avid travel bloggers who are interested in learning the language before they go / when they get to a new country. Evening classes can be such a bore. Has anyone tried online language learning? More importantly, would anyone be up for trying it?

You can't beat having someone in front of you that speaks the language. On-line resources are great but you'll not make real progress unless you have the person....

If you're serious about learning a language then 2 hours at a night school per week is very worthwhile, back this up with another few hours of self study during the week.

I am learning Mandarin online and it seems to be working.

[rbisset]

I've started learning mandarin as well. Have you tried Chinesepod.com? It's a great idea.

[ScottWoz]

That's great info lindar0, thanks for sharing..

[Paul]

Although I agree that learning with a teacher is great, often it just can't be fitted in. So online is a good option.

This is a great site for learning Thai, it also has links to lots of other info, including travel info and a forum to ask questions:

http://www.learningthai.com/

[ScottWoz]

That's a great website Paul. I think the forum aspect is the real kicker as you get to clarify your concerns and misunderstandings..

[rbisset]

That Thai site looks pretty good.

I mentioned the Chinese language site Chinesepodabove and it is really good. Hundreds of daily podcasts for all levels.

They have a sister site for learning Japanese Japanesepod101 which I haven't used but also looks pretty good.

Anyone know a good site for learning Spanish?

[uncle_davros]

Scott

Could you please tell Rich how good the disks are. It would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

[Paul]

Summary so far:

Thai: http://www.learningthai.com/

Chinese: http://www.chinesepod.com/

Japanese: http://www.japanesepod101.com/



Still after a good site for learning Spanish, and I would also like help in finding a good site for learning English for non - English speakers. I know of a few but would be interested in discovering more.

[rbisset]

I know its a bit random but I've heard this is a good site for learning Bahasa Indonesian. Supposed to be an easy language to learn and is basically the same language as Bahasa Malaysian.

[ScottWoz]

Some excellent websites there, this is turning in to a decent list.

Paul, I found this one to be quite useful for Spanish. Let me know what you think..

[Paul]

Summary now is at:

Thai: http://www.learningthai.com/

Chinese: http://www.chinesepod.com/

Japanese: http://www.japanesepod101.com/

Spanish: http://www.studyspanish.com/index.htm

Indonesian: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/indonesian/


Starting to look pretty good. I had a bit of a quick look at the Spanish one. It was good, at least at the bit I saw. I noticed as you got more advanced you had to join and pay which seems common to most sites. Free is my favourite price though.

Oh, why is Bahasa "random"? It is spoken in both Indonesia and Malaysia, so very useful.

See ya

[wakingdream]

I'm going to try the Spanish one. Maybe I can learn something in the next 3 weeks. Beats waving my hands around like a maniac!

[rbisset]

I said random because it's not really a language that you'd think of learning but it could be very useful as it's used in both Malaysia and Indonesia. I will try to learn it sometime as it's supped to be really easy. I mean one of the topics on the site says, "learn Bahasa in 7 days".

[cobi]

I've found the best way besides proper immersion that I learn is using interactive CDs which, like someone else mentioned, work in immersion-style ways by integrating pictures, words and audio.

I learnt Italian this way before moving there for a year, and it gave me better language skills than a lot of the other exchange students who'd done two years of high school Italian.

I've since gone through a French course and I'm confident enough with my French, now I'm starting Spanish.

The only problem is I tend to skip over the detailed grammar and just amass a lot of vocabulary and phrases and things, because immersion does not help grammar much! But for speaking and reading it's great.

Don't pay for these CD's - go to your local library and borrow them. In the four countries I've lived in all have had language training CD's you can borrow for free at your public library.

I also came across a CD called something like, 'a spy's tips for learning languages', which would be really useful for beginners to learning other languages. Though once you've learnt a couple of languages you've absorbed most of those tips naturally, at least from my experience, so only get that too if it's your first second (you know what I mean).

Another thing I'm finding helpful now is language podcasts. I listen to the French Podclass on the way to work and pick up new vocabulary and phrases every time. There are podcasts for most popular languages now so I'd look into that too.

[rbisset]

We've got podcasts for Japanese and Chinese listed here and they are both very good. Whats the address for the French one? I reckon you should be able to pick up Spanish pretty quickly as it is very similar to Italian.

[rbisset]

OK heres the mother load!!

FSI Language Tapes - The original FSI courses available for free (and legally) online. This is a goldmine for quickly learning languages and there are countless versions of the tapes repackaged in the shops for £50+! Enjoy

Languages available on the FSI Site:

• Arabic
• Cambodian
• Cantonese
• Mandarin
• Finnish
• French
• German
• Greek
• Hebrew
• Hungarian
• Korean
• Portuguese
• Spanish
• Swedish
• Turkish
• Vietnamese

And from this page more podcast links:

Notes In Spanish

Learn French By Podcast

Learn Italian Pod

Spoonfull of Russian

Pinoy Podcast - Tagalog

That should keep everyone busy for a while!!

[cobi]

The French one I use is this:

http://www.frenchpodclass.com/

The guy's English is not perfect, which I think adds to the appeal, and he's got a very heavy accent, which is good practice for when you're in France, speaking English or French!