<p>Classes? Self-taught?</p>
<p>Live in a country that speaks the language.</p>
<p>Also, the advantages of classes is that you have a chance to practice speaking the language.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend being self taught… Obviously going abroad would be the best way, but classes are good too.</p>
<p>If you can’t go abroad, the best, fastest and easiest way is definitely self-taught. Just go to <a href=“http://how-to-learn-any-language.com%5B/url%5D”>http://how-to-learn-any-language.com</a>; I’d end up repeating that whole site if I broke down the methods here.</p>
<p>if you really want to learn a language and can’t go abroad. your best bet is to watch TV!</p>
<p>seriously. watch korean dramas. spanish novellas. japanese game shows. french cooking shows. etc etc etc whatever you can get your virtual hands on!</p>
<p>this should probably be done in conjunction with perhaps something like a text book or some program like rosetta stone. but it’s hard to learn a language if you don’t apply it by interacting with other speakers. at least with tv you can get start to understand a little culture and context and slang you wouldn’t pick up in a book or program.</p>
<p>watching shows/movies in a foreign language can be difficult… sometimes even boring</p>
<p>you should take some classes. and travel abroad too if possible.</p>
<p>languages are so fun to learn, i’d totally major in a language if i could…</p>
<p>My only worry about taking a class for it is that sometimes I can get too caught up in getting a good grade. Is there a correlation between getting a good grade in the class and really learning/understanding the language?</p>
<p>I think there is. Even if you’re caught up in getting a good grade, you should be attentively learning the material. I know if I really want to work for my grade, I make sure I understand it and not just on paper. I think about if my dad or someone asks me “what did you learn” then i should be able to explain it thoroughly. This worked more in high school when he actually used to help me when I asked lol. And I wanted to “sound” smart haha. </p>
<p>But I don’t know if going to the country helps before you’ve learned it…</p>
<p>Idk i’d just be really lost. lol for me, I have to see it written down to speak it or it doesn’t make sense. Like my grandma…she says some words but she doesn’t know how to spell, so she’s not even saying them correctly. but i guess that’s not the point…anywayyy lol I’d say to get a textbook and write stuff down and then see if it has answers somewhere or something. Then speak it while you are doing it or afterwards.</p>
<p>Take a language course at Berkeley. You’ll amaze yourself at how quickly you can learn a language. Grading is fair. The general consensus among language courses at Cal is that they require a lot of work, but if you simply do the work, you should get an A. That changes a little bit once you get into the advanced courses (language levels 3 and 4, for example).</p>
<p>But I can’t recommend taking a language class enough. They’re so much fun and so fulfilling. All of Berkeley’s language departments are top-notch.</p>
<p>I’ve done all three. Took a class, and recieved and A, went to another country (Chile), and tried the rosetta stone. I would have to say that real immersion in a country is the best and fastest way to learn a language. The 2 days I spent in Chile, I learned more spanish than I did my entire semester of spanish. Although without the semester, I wouldn’t have survived a lick in Chile and would probably been robbed blind. Take a course, visit a country for a year, and then continue with self study through textbooks/audio tapes/rosetta stone.</p>
<p>See, I took my language in high school for 3 years, and then i took it at Berkeley. I feel like I learned way more in high school. No offense to you berkeley language lovers. but I felt like it wasn’t that great here and I wished I had taken another language or something. Maybe it was the way it was taught again. ANd maybe i just have OCD. but even going to that country for 4 days was hard for me to learn from them speaking because everyone kind of talks under their breath. </p>
<p>This makes me want to learn another language! lol</p>
<p>it sounds like you’re comparing 3 years of highschool to one semester at cal for a langauge course</p>
<p>I think a combination of living and the country and taking classes is the best way to go. There are certain things that you pick up much more quickly and efficiently in a classroom, but being around the language and culture 24/7 smooths out the edges, particularly in speaking.</p>
<p>Of course, studying and living in a country is the best way to learn a language. It is, after all, the natural way to learn a language.</p>
<p>That being said, it isn’t an option for everyone.</p>
<p>And language courses at Berkeley do vary greatly depending on your instructor, obviously. I’m sorry, @bbb360, that your experience wasn’t the greatest.</p>
<p>And @lonesoul, one semester of a language at Cal usually is the equivalent of 2-3 years of high school language instruction…so if @bbb360 is referring to just one semester, it still isn’t too unfair a comparison in actuality.</p>