Sunday, June 15, 2014

Lost In Translation

Ever since I was a kid and learnt about all the different countries and the languages they spoke I've always wanted to learn another language myself.
In the 7th grade I was ecstatic to hear we would be studying French. In year 8 it was Japanese. Both languages were taught by the same teacher. Lucky lady knew two other languages on top of those and there I was barely passing each subject.

Over the years I've accumulated a German dictionary, a French dictionary, a teach yourself French cd and book set, a Korean dictionary (work related, I taught an autistic Korean boy and thought it may help) and a Hungarian dictionary.

As of today I am fluent in English.

I can read and understand a little French, I only know how to say bless you in German - Gesundheit, but I think everyone knows that one - and I'm not sure I really ever took in a word of Korean.

This time round learning Hungarian I'm happy to say I've found a great teacher AND it's free AND it's learn at my own pace AND it's working. Though as I told a friend the other day after a week at it the only sentence I can expertly say is "Nem ertek jol Magyarul" which funny enough translates too "I don't understand Hungarian"

Seriously though it is working because consider it, a week ago I couldn't even say that, not only that I didn't even know how to pronounce the Hungarian word for Hungarian: Magyarul- hint: the g has a d sound - so after a week of only a few hours reading and watching the tutorials I now know a little grammar and a little vowel and consonant pronunciation...The Hungarian alphabet has 44 letters 14 of which are vowels!

The site I'm using is 101languages.net and they have around 50 languages to choose from including Spanish, German, French, Irish, Hebrew, Greek even Russian and Icelandic. Chances are if you've thought about learning a language this site has the course for you. Each course has been developed by the United States Foreign Service Institute and the course is structured around repetition. So you go over and over everything until your brain has soaked it up. They all come with a guarantee that you will come out fluent in your language of choice if you dedicate yourself - though as my Dad pointed out you have the same guarantee with everything in life. However if you are motivated and truly want to learn a language I highly recommend giving this site a go.

NB: the link to the 101languages site will take you to the Hungarian page. All other language courses can be accessed from this page. I had a few issues finding a home page for the site.


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