Language learning recommendation??

professorben

As it's looking like I'm going to be moving abroad soon, I'm going to need to learn Czech pretty sharpish, anyone tried any learning tools? CDs or apps that helped? With any luck I might be able to pick up a warehouse job or cleaning maybe......

Clarky

Rosetta Stone is a good learning aid, especially for speaking and listening… but it does not cover the grammar particularly well

so add a good book about the grammar with it [Colins do great books - I have several of them for Spanish]

professorben

@clarky cheers, I worry my almost complete lack of knowledge of English grammar will really hold me back. Especially as Czech has these female/male things.

starwarsnosebleed

professorben;1130827" said:

Especially as Czech has these female/male things.

No thats Thailand.

professorben

starwarsnosebleed;1130829" said:

[quote="professorben;1130827"] Especially as Czech has these female/male things.

No thats Thailand.
[/quote]

Ha ha, indeed.
Verbs? I don't understand how a chair can be female or male?
It makes no sense to me!!!

Sambostar

Sambostar

Clarky

most European languages have gender. English is one of the exceptions.

I did find that my knowledge of English grammar improved a lot.. simply because it had to..

when you're learning a language, there really is no substitute for being there [at best]

or as in my case, being fortunate enough to be around Spanish speakers

at first I found it difficult to overcome feeling shy about using it in case I came across as a total nob..

then the Spanish crowd told me to stop being a nob by not using it cos they'd be happy to correct me and would slow down if I asked them to.. they were awesome..

I'm still totally crap at it.. I speak it like a child.. erm… more like a very very little child with serious learning difficulties.. lmao

if my nan was alive to hear me wreck her mother tongue I'd no doubt get a few slaps… lol

my sister and nieces think I'm funny.. lmao

I get all the tenses wrong [and so much more]..

instead of saying something like: I went to the shop this morning

it'd come out something like: I used to go to the shop this morning

my other prob is that my pronunciation can be quite good at times..

don't sound like a prob does it so this should be a good thing… lol..

but if I say something quite well, they assume that I'm much better than I am and reply with a stream of noise that sounds like a Castilian machine-gun .. lmao

Clarky

starwarsnosebleed said:

professorben;1130827" said:

Especially as Czech has these female/male things.

No thats Thailand.

but sometimes the female things turn out to be male things..

so it can get a bit iffy

professorben

Yeah, I am so shy about trying to use it, I know a few basic things, 7 years with a Czech woman, I've learned a lot, a few things have been language based.
But I just know I'm going to sound stupid, I mean really stupid, so I prob will just clam up and not try.......
I have a terrible fear of people thinking I am stupid, hangover from not going to school.

UnclePsychosis

professorben;1130831" said:

[quote="starwarsnosebleed;1130829"][quote="professorben;1130827"] Especially as Czech has these female/male things.

No thats Thailand.
[/quote]

Ha ha, indeed.
Verbs? I don't understand how a chair can be female or male?
It makes no sense to me!!![/quote]

You know how we call boats "she"? And some people do the same with guitars? It's just like that only for everything.

thecolourbox

I speak German which has three genders, four grammar cases, therefore twelve potential choices for which form of "the" to use. But you get used to it. Learning whether a word is masculine or feminine (not male and female!) is as easy as learning it when you learn the word - so day like in German, the word for cat is Katze, but it's not that much more effort to learn it as "die Katze" but will save you a lot of effort in the long run. That way you stop thinking about what gender the word is and just get on with it.

In terms of Rosetta Stone, I didn't like it much when I tried to learn Polish, because it doesn't explain anything so you would find it hard to learn the patterns for plurals and sentence structures etc. I was struggling with it so I tried the German one and also found that a immensely fiddly, when I have a degree in the language! The format may suit you more than me to be fair, but as Clarky says I'd invest in a book to explain things a bit first before attempting that. Learn the alphabet, learn the common phonetic sounds, a bit of grammar, and then try some of the practical methods like that.

It's a beautiful thing learning a new language, you look at a lot of things very differently, and your English grammar will improve too without you even trying.

stickyfiddle

Collins CDs are good. Stick the mp3s on your phone and listen whenever you have the chance. They get you talking conversational stuff very quickly, then sentence structure and grammar and written stuff can develop later, just as when we learn our first languages as kids.  I learned a useful amount for a week in Italy in about 6 hours. I'm generally pretty quick at picking up languages when I apply myself, but I think this system works for a lot of people (obviously not @colourbox, though it sounds like he's very educated in languages and can therefore apply himself to learning new grammar stuff more quickly than someone less experienced)

If you're moving you presumably need the whole package, so I'd probably start with the conversational bit then move on to a good book with basic sentence structures and vocab. 

Bogwhoppit

professorben said:

As it's looking like I'm going to be moving abroad soon, I'm going to need to learn Czech pretty sharpish, anyone tried any learning tools? CDs or apps that helped? With any luck I might be able to pick up a warehouse job or cleaning maybe......

You live in Peterborough don't you ?

Just hang around Queensgate or Primark, you'll soon be multi-lingual within weeks

thomasross20

Michel Thomas for short and sharp

Clarky

these books are great. I have the Spanish one. and no, I didn't learn the language in 3 months.

but the book is very easy to read and will end up being a very useful reference to the fundamentals

I have this one

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spanish-Three-Months-Essential-Understanding/dp/1405301058

you may like this one

http://www.waterstonesmarketplace.com/Hugo-Czech-in-3-Months-Simplified-Language-Course-Hugos-Language-Books/book/8715814?qcond=6&matches=1&qsort=p

Clarky

btw - why do you need to learn Czech?

Fretwired

professorben said:

As it's looking like I'm going to be moving abroad soon, I'm going to need to learn Czech pretty sharpish, anyone tried any learning tools? CDs or apps that helped? With any luck I might be able to pick up a warehouse job or cleaning maybe......

Where are you based? Stick an advert in a local newsagent and see if there are any Czech people locally who can give you a crash course. Languages is not a strong point for me .. I had to work in Europe and found that one on one sessions with someone who was fluent easier than online courses. To start with you can have a conversation - it's more 'real world' if that makes sense.

professorben

Clarky;1131069" said:

btw - why do you need to learn Czech?

Prob just a knee jerk reaction, but my gf is talking about going back home to Cz and taking my little boy with her, obviously I have no alternative but to follow, so although I'm living with s native Czech speaker she finds it hard to teach me, I figured an online course or something I could listen to in the van all day might speed things up, of course I also want to know what my little boy is saying lol

professorben

Fretwired;1131077" said:

professorben said:

As it's looking like I'm going to be moving abroad soon, I'm going to need to learn Czech pretty sharpish, anyone tried any learning tools? CDs or apps that helped? With any luck I might be able to pick up a warehouse job or cleaning maybe......





Where are you based? Stick an advert in a local newsagent and see if there are any Czech people locally who can give you a crash course. Languages is not a strong point for me .. I had to work in Europe and found that one on one sessions with someone who was fluent easier than online courses. To start with you can have a conversation - it's more 'real world' if that makes sense.

Yeah I live with a Czech girl, but I need something I can listen to on headphones all day.

professorben

Thanks for the recommendations guys. Fingers crossed I might not need it in such a hurry, but I'll crack on this afternoon.