Ever taught yourself a language?

DemonDeac · #1 05-20-2005, 10:03 PM

I'm going to be studying abroad in Rome this fall and have never taken Italian before. In lieu of taking a summer course, I'm going to try and learn the language as best I can on my on. I've been going at it so far for two days and don't think it's that bad.

So has anyone here ever taught themselves a language and then went on to use what they learned?
What was more effective?
What was least effectve?

Grazie

joshman1204 · #2 05-20-2005, 10:05 PM

I taught myself texan and a little country hick.

other than that I am not fluent in any language much less two of them

DemonDeac · #3 05-20-2005, 10:07 PM

good to know

according to your standards, i speak the southern dialect fluently now too.....just say "ya'll" alot

joshman1204 · #4 05-20-2005, 10:08 PM

yep just say yall and instead of son of a bitch say sum bitch

so a standard greeting would be "whater yall sum bitches doin"

Blackjack · #5 05-20-2005, 10:09 PM

Say Fixin' to a lot if you want to learn how to speak southern English.

As in.. I'm fixin' ta drain the snake right about now.

DemonDeac · #6 05-20-2005, 10:16 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Say Fixin' to a lot if you want to learn how to speak southern English.

As in.. I'm fixin' ta drain the snake right about now.

[/ QUOTE ]

or i want a fixin' of 'smashed tatas and fries if you're ordering from bojangles

gorie · #7 05-20-2005, 10:20 PM

interesting topic.
i was obsessed with trying to teach myself french last year (i did take 3 years of it in high school but didn't learn much) but it just seems really hard to teach yourself.
i just rented a bunch of french films, listened to "Living Language" a lot , in the end the only thing i'm really confident with is ... ecoutez et repeatez. (listen and repeat) [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

TimM · #8 05-20-2005, 10:22 PM

Don't forget to say "mah" a lot.

DemonDeac · #9 05-20-2005, 10:24 PM

finally a serious response
i can speak spanish well already
so i figure i have a kinda head start cuz italian is another romance language

gorie · #10 05-20-2005, 10:40 PM

it's probably easier for some than others (to teach themselves), for sure.
i dunno, it's helped me enough to be able to pick up certain words and know what they mean, but it gets too fast that it's hard for me to keep up. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] i love that language though.

it definitely can't hurt to listen to some language learning tapes on your own, and watching movies, or whatever else you plan on doing to teach yourself.

you'll probably pick up on it a lot better when you're living there and around it all the time though. i'm sure you will do fine [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] 'living language' tapes should at least be good enough to help learn the common words/phrases.