Do you speak a second language?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Watch tv, soap operas are great. Seriously. My mom learned korean from watching soap operas. And my non-english speaking friends learned english watching soaps.

[nick__45]

I speak Spanish very well because all janitors here are guest workers and they don't speak English. Spanish is very easy to learn to speak but writing is something I don't care so much for. Yes, I can read Spanish because the language writes like it sounds; therefore, it is not difficult to just read short sentences and figure out what they are. About fifteen to twenty percents of basic communication Spanish is really just English words used differently. The main reason many Spanish speakers don't learn English here is because they don't have to. Some folks call that lazy but I call it learning how to make the system works for you. I am glad the janitors don't speak English because we can keep cost extremely low for what is essentially very easy and relaxing jobs that we shouldn't pay some inner city folks 10-15 dollars an hour on top of benefits and all kind of employment taxes for. With the money saved both from low overhead cost as well as tax breaks, my company gives scholarships and provide paid internship opportunities for local kids that want to do well.

[SnoopyCool]

Excuse me stewardess. I speak Jive.

Sorry but that's the first thing that popped into my head when I saw this thread.

LOL

I took 4 years of Spanish in high school and 2 semesters in college. Did not work for me.

I have friends from Tehran and learned more of Farsi by them then all the Spanish sitting in a classroom. I think that I would have to be immeresed in the language by native speakers to learn anything. But that might be just me.

[AccountantSalary]

The problem with a lot of language programs is that they require that you set up a specific period of time during the day consistently for success. I use Pimsleur Audio, which we play in our commute, which takes no additional time and is very effective.

We've used it to learn Italian, French, Japanese and now Spanish. Mind you, we're not discussing Voltaire or opera with the locals. But we can speak the language at a tourist level, read signs, make friends and order from menus in local restaurants.

I have a review on HubPages about Pimsleur that I can forward to anybody who PMs me. I don't think we're allowed to put links to our own stuff in the forums.

[SLemon]

English is already a second language for me, and I speak Spanish and some German and Dutch as well. Wanting to learn French next. My experience is that the way to learn, by far, is to speak with natives, although audiotapes can provide some good basics. If you live in a big city language exchange meet-ups are quite regular, either one-on-one or in groups, exchanging Spanish for English for example. And once you learn these meet-ups are great for maintaining your skills. I can really recommend this (and it's free too!)

[kv968]

Excuse me stewardess. I speak Jive.

"Would you gentlemen care to order your dinners?"

"Bet, babe. Slide a piece o' da' porter. Drinks, I run da' java."
(I would like the steak please.)

"Lookie here. I can dig grease 'n chompin' on some buns and draggin' through the garden."
(I'll have the fish.)