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I've use Pimsleur as a starting point for Japanese, Italian, French, Mandarin, and Brazilian Portuguese. They have 3 levels of 30 lessons each typically, and ge

by byoung2 12y ago

I've use Pimsleur as a starting point for Japanese, Italian, French, Mandarin, and Brazilian Portuguese. They have 3 levels of 30 lessons each typically, and getting through level 1 before going to a country has been more than enough to get by conversationally and impress the natives. If I go back to a country a second or third time or I have friends here that speak that language, I'll try to get through levels 2 and 3, but so far I've only done that with Japanese and Italian.

throwaway349 12y ago
Wow, that's impressive! I'll have to check Pimsleur out. What do you do for language maintenance? Did you ever get the languages mixed up?
- byoung2 12y ago
  I live in Los Angeles, so there are usually native speakers of every language around for practice. For Japanese (which I learned a decade ago back in college), I watched a lot of anime, dated Japanese girls, and ate at Japanese restaurants before spending a few months in Japan. For Italian, a have a few Italian friends so I tortured them with my terrible accent for practice, and listed to opera. French was easy because both my parents speak it, so I practiced on them, plus watched a lot of French movies. Mandarin I practice with my coworker (although as a Cantonese Malaysian, Mandarin is not his native dialect so he has an accent just like me), and whenever I go to a Chinese restaurant. My latest language is Brazilian Portuguese, which I am learning in anticipation of a trip to Brazil. I'm also learning Capoeira and learning to cook Brazilian BBQ, so I practice a bit at my local churrascaria. In addition to these languages, I also learned Spanish starting in pre-school, and I speak a little Tagalog (my wife is from the Philippines). In answer to your question about getting the languages mixed up, not really. I learned them at separate times, so I think they're stored in different places in my brain.

by byoung2 12y ago

throwaway349 12y ago

Wow, that's impressive! I'll have to check Pimsleur out. What do you do for language maintenance? Did you ever get the languages mixed up?

byoung2 12y ago
I live in Los Angeles, so there are usually native speakers of every language around for practice. For Japanese (which I learned a decade ago back in college), I watched a lot of anime, dated Japanese girls, and ate at Japanese restaurants before spending a few months in Japan. For Italian, a have a few Italian friends so I tortured them with my terrible accent for practice, and listed to opera. French was easy because both my parents speak it, so I practiced on them, plus watched a lot of French movies. Mandarin I practice with my coworker (although as a Cantonese Malaysian, Mandarin is not his native dialect so he has an accent just like me), and whenever I go to a Chinese restaurant. My latest language is Brazilian Portuguese, which I am learning in anticipation of a trip to Brazil. I'm also learning Capoeira and learning to cook Brazilian BBQ, so I practice a bit at my local churrascaria. In addition to these languages, I also learned Spanish starting in pre-school, and I speak a little Tagalog (my wife is from the Philippines). In answer to your question about getting the languages mixed up, not really. I learned them at separate times, so I think they're stored in different places in my brain.