4 ms·

I'm with you on the bombardment method. In terms of fluency, my Portuguese is 95%, my Spanish is 85%, my Italian is 50% and my French is probably 20%. Of course

I'm with you on the bombardment method. In terms of fluency, my Portuguese is 95%, my Spanish is 85%, my Italian is 50% and my French is probably 20%. Of course, these percentages would be best if broken down into reading, writing, etc, in order to get a clearer picture. I don't consider myself to be a quick language learner (ie, with a 'gift' for it) but I do believe that being passionate goes a long, long way and that bombardment and immersion are key. It's not about the time it takes, it's about your drive to reach the right level for you. Being a language lover, I never just want to "get by", I'm looking for near-fluency or fluency. It took me a good decade and a lot of commitment to reach the levels I've reached in the languages mentioned. Btw, the OP is right about getting the accent down. To me this is just as important as any other aspect of the language.

why-el 15y ago
I am actually in Brazil right now and I just started learning Portuguese a week ago. I am basically just watching How I Met Your Mother with Portuguese subtitles. Such a beautiful language. My French helps a lot though.
- personlurking 15y ago
  After teaching myself Brazilian-Portuguese at home in California over a good 5 year period, I moved to Brazil to perfect the last stage, speaking. After half a year, I moved back to the States. A few years later, I moved again (to Brazil) for a few months and last year I moved here once more. Now I've been here for almost a year this time around. So I've climbed this mountain and found myself wondering what is next. Seems I'm going to take another stab at Italian since it's been several years since I first got into it. That's what's great about language learning, if you consider yourself a lifelong learner, you can 'bookmark' your learning process for later.
  - why-el 15y ago
    I know right? I reserve a fixed time for each one of the languages I speak and find myself learning few more words every day. I dont know about you, but I see a lot of similarity between the human languages I speak and the computer languages I use. They both require life long commitment. Isn't that interesting?
- nandemo 15y ago
  I know you're already an accomplished language learner, but why bother listening to English audio if you're learning Portuguese in Brazil? If you really need subtitles, at least it should be the other way round: Portuguese audio with English subtitles (readily available in DVDs, and maybe some cable channels too). Another way is watching dubbed movies on (non-cable) TV. If you've already seen the movie, then you don't care if you miss 80% of the dialogue.
  - why-el 15y ago
    Good point. Part of the reason really is that I couldn't find any Brazilian TV shows that I liked (Movies are better). And second, this phase is really for vocab and not pronunciation, so when I hear a English sentence and read its translation in the subtitles, I tend to remember the structure and some of the words. It just works for me.
pothibo 15y ago
Accent in foreign language is a very complex thing. Germanic languages shared same tone. So I would agree that an english speaker could _manage_ the german accent and vice-versa. The #1 problem with accent is that in order to master a foreign accent you have to be 1. Young, 2. Gifted. It's impossible for someone who's over 18 years old (arbitrary) to master a different accent (French from english speaking, Cantonese from French/English, etc.) That's why 6-8 years old who learn a foreign language are so good at it, they have the brain set for learning accents. You only kid yourself if you believe that you don't have an accent in xyz language and you started learning it past your 20s.

why-el 15y ago

I am actually in Brazil right now and I just started learning Portuguese a week ago. I am basically just watching How I Met Your Mother with Portuguese subtitles. Such a beautiful language. My French helps a lot though.

personlurking 15y ago
After teaching myself Brazilian-Portuguese at home in California over a good 5 year period, I moved to Brazil to perfect the last stage, speaking. After half a year, I moved back to the States. A few years later, I moved again (to Brazil) for a few months and last year I moved here once more. Now I've been here for almost a year this time around. So I've climbed this mountain and found myself wondering what is next. Seems I'm going to take another stab at Italian since it's been several years since I first got into it. That's what's great about language learning, if you consider yourself a lifelong learner, you can 'bookmark' your learning process for later.
- why-el 15y ago
  I know right? I reserve a fixed time for each one of the languages I speak and find myself learning few more words every day. I dont know about you, but I see a lot of similarity between the human languages I speak and the computer languages I use. They both require life long commitment. Isn't that interesting?
nandemo 15y ago
I know you're already an accomplished language learner, but why bother listening to English audio if you're learning Portuguese in Brazil? If you really need subtitles, at least it should be the other way round: Portuguese audio with English subtitles (readily available in DVDs, and maybe some cable channels too). Another way is watching dubbed movies on (non-cable) TV. If you've already seen the movie, then you don't care if you miss 80% of the dialogue.
- why-el 15y ago
  Good point. Part of the reason really is that I couldn't find any Brazilian TV shows that I liked (Movies are better). And second, this phase is really for vocab and not pronunciation, so when I hear a English sentence and read its translation in the subtitles, I tend to remember the structure and some of the words. It just works for me.

pothibo 15y ago

Accent in foreign language is a very complex thing. Germanic languages shared same tone. So I would agree that an english speaker could _manage_ the german accent and vice-versa. The #1 problem with accent is that in order to master a foreign accent you have to be 1. Young, 2. Gifted. It's impossible for someone who's over 18 years old (arbitrary) to master a different accent (French from english speaking, Cantonese from French/English, etc.) That's why 6-8 years old who learn a foreign language are so good at it, they have the brain set for learning accents. You only kid yourself if you believe that you don't have an accent in xyz language and you started learning it past your 20s.