The best way to learn a foreign language, short of living in that country

[Zac Smith]

For German...listen to RAMMSTEIN

 

[evilneko]

I'll tell ya one thing... avoid Rosetta Stone. It's horrible. Yeah, you might pick up some words and phrases from it, but it does next to nothing to help you understand the mechanics of a language.

 

[holy_secret]

I've recently decided that I'm going to work at learning both Russian and German, starting with German. And I was wondering; what is the best way to get started on that, short of actually moving to or living in that country?

Play videogames in German (I've done so with Assassin's Creed 2, Mass Effect 2 and Final Fantasy XIII), make German friends who are interested in languages (Important that they like languages, or else they'll be annoyed by the questions about the language). A way I've found to used to the German language is to watch Let's Plays in German. If it interests you, you could check it out!

I'm a teacher-to-be of Swedish and German. I'd love to teach you German. I so happen to be one of those people that love languages and to teach stuff

 

[Hosker]

I started learning French not too long ago. The way I do it is through books, independently and at my own pace. The only problem with books is pronunciation, but the internet can help with that.

 

[uttaku]

I'm going to put forward the advice of sir Harry Flashman, the best way to learn a foreign language is to find a native speaking bed partner....

 

[ExileNZ]

First of all, if you haven't done a foreign language before, start with one. Russian and German work very differently, and beside the basic alphabet Russian is probably actually easier.

German will introduce you to two parts of language that don't even exist in English - conjugation and declination. In a nutshell it means that every verb is different depending on who does it, while every noun is different depending on context. You're looking at long nights revising charts just to be able to tell the difference between "I'm going to the store" and "He's going to the store".

So start with Russian. Learning a new alphabet is at least vaguely fun and the grammar is comparatively simple - "My brother is a lawyer" is just "My brother lawyer". I'm sure it gets more complicated later but you'll make far more progress in a much shorter time, which in turn should encourage you to continue.

Anyhoo, once you've started learning your language, give yourself frequent exposure to it - watch TV, read articles, listen to music - check out YouTube. It's a slow process, but it essentially works like osmosis. It won't teach you many words, but it'll eventually give you a feel for what 'sounds right'.

Finding a native speaker helps too - that way you can ask them not only for words, but the answers to little questions that pop up as you learn them.

EDIT: And as Creator said, if you're doing German, learn the gender for all your nouns. It sucks now but it'll be even more work to catch up later.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Short lessons(from books or whatever) then reinforce the lesson with un-subbed movies or better yet cartoons(cartoons are usually aimed at kids so the language is clear and easy to understand)

And watch the cartoons several times over, while looking up words that aren't familiar until things really start to make sense, you soon learn to build up your own vocabulary and the language structure.
Alot of people will suggest you read 15.000 page manuals on language structure but that is pushing your head through a wall, you didn't learn your native language with an instruction manual but by observing and learning, use the rules as reinforcement but those do not provide the natural language flow you really need.

 

[Dyme]

I learned English because (pop) music, computer games and the internet are English.
And English is the most simple language in the world I guess.

German will introduce you to two parts of language that don't even exist in English - conjugation and declination. In a nutshell it means that every verb is different depending on who does it, while every noun is different depending on context. You're looking at long nights revising charts just to be able to tell the difference between "I'm going to the store" and "He's going to the store".

I got excited when we did in Shakespeare in school, because I felt like his English was very German. "What hast thou?" sounds sooo much more like "Was hast du?" than "What do you have?".

It was interesting to see that English doesn't have to be the simple, stupid, efficient language you see in games/music/interwebz.

EDIT: And as Creator said, if you're doing German, learn the gender for all your nouns. It sucks now but it'll be even more work to catch up later.

But if learning German is anything like you say it is, it is like learning Latin, and I learned Latin, and it was the hell.

And to contribute: Sensibel doesn't mean sensible, gift is not Gift.
Die Ärzte, Farin Urlaub and Die Toten Hosen make good German music.

 

[Grubnar]

I've recently decided that I'm going to work at learning both Russian and German, starting with German. And I was wondering; what is the best way to get started on that, short of actually moving to or living in that country?

Get a "mail-order bride" from that country!

I am only half joking.

 

[Richard Eis]

For german which has a lot of english crossover the best language CD's i've seen were by "Michelle Thomas". I haven't done the russian one so can't comment. It goes through the grammar, rather than words and phrases so makes a good complement to the other activities suggested here. It is relatively expensive, but you can probably find it 2nd hand or whatever.

 

[ExileNZ]

I learned English because (pop) music, computer games and the internet are English.
And English is the most simple language in the world I guess.

German will introduce you to two parts of language that don't even exist in English - conjugation and declination. In a nutshell it means that every verb is different depending on who does it, while every noun is different depending on context. You're looking at long nights revising charts just to be able to tell the difference between "I'm going to the store" and "He's going to the store".

I got excited when we did in Shakespeare in school, because I felt like his English was very German. "What hast thou?" sounds sooo much more like "Was hast du?" than "What do you have?".

It was interesting to see that English doesn't have to be the simple, stupid, efficient language you see in games/music/interwebz.

EDIT: And as Creator said, if you're doing German, learn the gender for all your nouns. It sucks now but it'll be even more work to catch up later.

But if learning German is anything like you say it is, it is like learning Latin, and I learned Latin, and it was the hell.

And to contribute: Sensibel doesn't mean sensible, gift is not Gift.
Die Ärzte, Farin Urlaub and Die Toten Hosen make good German music.

Quite, there are a lot of words which are similar or identical but very different in meaning. I'm an English teacher and sometimes I devote an entire lesson to these words. Some of them are funny, others necessary - and some are both

As for Latin, if you've already learned that then German won't have anything new for you, just more of the same - but you've got an idea of just how much more.

English has its own complications (we just looove phrasal verbs) but most of them are necessary. In any language with pronouns (like French) conjugation is utterly useless. It's just extra effort for nothing.