Best way to learn a Language

What is the best way for a homeschooler/unschooler to learn a new language (especially Spanish)?

 

What kind of learner is the student? I would suggest combining a book+tape or software program with live conversation. Find spanish speakers in your area to have a regular gettogether with or, host an exchange student for the summer or school year.
H

 

at your age? total immersion. Go stay with a spanish speaking family for a week or two and insist they not use any English with you. You'll pick it up suprisingly fast. Some public libraries offer language courses, our local library has the Rosetta Stone language learning software online free to anyone with a library card. It is not unschooling-like, but it's not a bad course all in all. Nothing will teach you the language better than hearing it all day every day and having no choice but to speak it, though.

 

MUZZY!!! And a workbook of course. Immersion helps quite a lot.

 

Get a tutor.

Using workbooks, tapes, movies, etc. do not work except in very rare cases where children or adults have very keen sense of foreign language. The only people who I know who have been able to make use of those programs are people who spoke fluent Spanish and used Portuguese software programs. Since the languages are so close, you just have to learn the different nuances in pronunciation, grammar, spelling, etc.

Full immersion is good as well, but not unless you have some basics of grammar and vocabulary first. Many homestay programs are reluctant on taking anyone who has had less than 2 or 3 years of a language study for that reason.

 

i might suggest one first learns an easy language . like music is an easy language , like some conlangs are easy . then learning any language of your choice is easier .

 

learning a new language is hard ...............took me quite a while to learn english

 

I agree with total immersion. If that's not possible, I'd go with an interactive computer or DVD program. Check your library, mine has about 3 different programs that we can borrow for FREE
love,
mom

 

Pick a topic you're interested in, then get a book in Spanish about it. If possible, also get the same book in a language you already know.

If you already know French, the workbook may work for you. French is 2 to 3 times as different from Spanish as Portuguese is, and a fair number of words are the same in Portuguese and French and different in Spanish.

Have you had any exposure to Spanish when you were little? My mom speaks both French and Spanish, so I've been exposed to them all my life.

 

The type of learning that a person is most facile is a big help. I was self taught German, but at age 10 and 12 I was learning from books at were printed in the 1880s.

Audio lingual method for Spanish was the standard when I was learning it in junior high school. This included a textbook with vocabulary first, a brief dialogue, a general grammatical theme, the use of previous vocabulary and then some questions for understanding. Workbooks supplement what has been learned and gives cues as to where weakness exists. In high school we read short stories. You might try children's books. You can also listen to radio stations (on the web). We also sang songs on Fridays. You can get lyrics online and then find the songs online. Computers do a lot more now than they did when I was in grade school
I've been thinking about learning a new language (toss up between Latin and Icelandic) and at age 47 I have confidence that I can still do it. I've tackled the learning of eight or nine languages. While I have fluency in only three of them, I can still read most of them and generally figure out the meaning of words based on similarities, context, etimology or good guessing

 

If you're social and can afford it. Go live in Spain for the summer. Also Rosetta Stone is real good, but there's nothing like life for lessons.

 

Go to find resources at your local library. It will be a basic start. Try watching tv in spanish. Then you should interact with people that speak the language. For me, that would be the best way. If that interaction is not possible try online resources such as forums or take an online course

This will help because will be chatting with them from home leaving you time for homeschooling.

Don't give up

Kim

 

lots of libraries have Rosetta Stone software available online for free (with a library card) If your local library does not have it, you can pay around $30 for a library card from a different library and use their software for free. this is a program that normally costs hundreds of dollars, and has dozens of different languages available.

 

Get a Tutor

 

The CD's are very good. I recon that going to the place of choice would be the best way to learn a foreign language

 

Couldn't agree more with you. Immersion is the most effective way with any new learners... this is why TEFL is so effective.

 

I'm learning Japanese right now and with all the programs out there and on the net for free, I just immerse myself in it. Music, movies, CD, talking to people, reading. Luckily Spanish is easier to learn than Japanese.

 

It's the best way. I learnt to read, write and speak Japanese at an elementary level whilst living in Japan and having to communicate solely in Japanese. I'm doing the same in Czech, but I must admit... Czech is way more difficult than Japanese.

 

there's a universal language that is also philosophy for children . i can accept some students . it's easy . it presents the root of language , thus all of language becomes more accessible . the foundation is natural .

 

study really really hard, and preferably do it in a native speaking country where you even have to use it to live.