Learning a new language

[YammyMonkey]

First off, this is here because in terms of being aware of what's going on around you, knowing what others are saying is of great importance. There is only so much you can learn from bodylanguage.

I am considering a career in either law enforcement or heading back into the military so it would probably be a good idea for me to learn another language or two, at least semi-conversationally. I was looking around at Borders and they had a lot of different CD/CD ROM/Booklet kits, anywhere from $25-$80+ for single languages and there was one with something like 33 languages for about $60 but only had one CDROM for each.

Has anyone had any experience with any of the do-it-yourself deals like this? Any that you know are good/bad? Two of them said they used the same methods used for diplomats going overseas but one was 3x the cost of the other.

Learning to write the language isn't as important, but would be a nice addition.

I'm considering Spanish, Arabic &/or Farsi, Hmong, Vietnamese or the Fillipino language as all of those would be helpful in my area. Obviously the Farsi/Arabic would be more helpful if I were to go back into the .mil.

Thanks.

[rwc]

I've picked up casual use of some random languages. In my experience the do-it-yourself stuff can help with vocabulary, grammer, etc. but you pretty much have to travel to get some degree of comfort with a different language. For me it is mostly tuning my ear to the accent or dialect.

Farsi and arabic will certainly be in demand for a while. Does the Army still do langage training in Monterey? I would be really surprised if they hadn't added arabic and farsi and doubly so if they wouldn't be eager to send you through the program. My father picked up German there in the early sixties and a few years later ended up coming home from Germany with my mom. So watch out, learning languages can get you in trouble! :)

For law enforcement - Español estan primero.

[Azrael256]

At present, the DoD school teaches thirteen Arabic dialects, two Pustu dialects, three Kurdish dialects, as well as two Persian languages, both Afghan (Dari) and Iranian (Farsi). If you can get in, and you have the money (or somebody else is paying for it), it's a great way to go. One of my classmates leaves in a week or so for that school.

The best you're likely to find in a tape course is either one Arabic, or maybe a split of Eastern and Egyptian Arabic. Farsi can be found, but comprehensive programs are lacking. The "get in the door" type program can be had from pimsleur. It's a decent one. Hmong is also going to be kinda tricky. In fact, I don't think I've seen it at all. Vietnamese and Filipino should be real easy to find.

Obviously the best option is to just go there and learn it. If you decide to do that with Farsi, I got dibs on your stereo. The next best thing is to find a native speaker here who is willing to teach you. I lived with a Peruvian family when I was younger, and I got Spanish right quick (it was learn or starve, and you know how that goes). Next would be a language class. Obviously Spanish can be had at any junior college for about $30/hr (if you take it as a credit course. it's cheaper that way), and Vietnamese shouldn't be hard to find in the same way. Arabic may be increasing in popularity, so you might find it, too.

If you don't have the time, or friends who speak it, tapes are pretty much the only way to go. I highly recommend Pimsleur. Farsi only comes as a compact course, as does Vietnamese, and Hmong is nonexistent, afaik, but Arabic comes in several flavors and several program lengths.

By the way, Arabic and Farsi are not nearly as complete as you may think. There are a number of Turkic languages that are spoken all over Central Asia. Turkish, in one form or another, is spoken from Greece to China. DoD has not (as of February) added Turkish to the 09L list, but I'm willing to bet that they will sometime soon. They are actively recruiting Turkish speakers as translators.

[wmenorr67]

If you are thinking of going into the military speak to a recruiter. Take the DLAB and see what your score is. If you score high enough the military will send you to school and they are not short. The basic Arabic course I was looking at is 63 weeks long. If you pass the course you can possibly get a rather large bonus for specific languages. If you are going to go to the military may as well let the government pay for it.

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Definitely let the military pay for your language training if you plan to go that route. They offer some of the best training available as well, though like most things you'll get out what you put into it.

You are never going to advance very far without some type of immersion program that puts you into that culture on a daily basis. You can learn enough to order beer at the local cantina and ask where the bathroom is; but if you want more than the basics, you need to live somewhere that language is spoken routinely.

[Hardware]

Spanish would seem to be the most useful day to day here in the US. If you're really interested in learning a foreign language then immersion is the best way. Go somewhere that the everyday language is the one you are studying and you'll be forced to pick it up.

If you decide to learn Spanish I can think of no better way than to relocate to Puerto Rico. No visas, no passport, just go. Enough people speak English there that you won't starve and immersion should be easy. I understand they have insane traffic problems there though.

Now, German is supposed to be the easiest language for an English speaker to learn.

[LaEscopeta]

I agree with the advice above that it is easiest to learn a foreign language when you are living somewhere where it is spoken, especially if your native language is not spoken much there. This has been the only way I’ve been able learn languages.

Some people (those smarter then me) are of course able to learn in class rooms, from tapes, books, computer programs, etc. For me these methods were helpful in getting started, and for reviewing, but I needed the immersion before I could get a complete sentence out.

And just walking around in a foreign county where they don’t speak my native language is not enough; I had to try to engage people and make a fool out of my self trying to talk.

Before shelling out $60 bucks for language learning CDs, I would try some of the free stuff that is available, to see what fits your learning style:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/lj/

http://www.studyspanish.com/

http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/

http://www.spanishromance.com/

http://www.phrasebase.com/learn/arabic.php

http://www.arabacademy.com/demo_e.htm

http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/Learn/Arabic.asp

[MikeIsaj]

In fifteen years in corrections, I never had trouble finding a spanish speaking officer to interpret. Recently however, I've been booking more russian businessmen and korean hookers. Those are hard to find interpreters for. (I will say the russians I've met genreally are trying to learn english.)

[YammyMonkey]

Thanks for the info, unfortunately taking a trip somewhere is out of the question right now so I'm stuck with at-home or in-class study.

If I go back to the Military I'll definitely try to get a slot at a language school. Any idea if they send us occifer-types to those schools or is it mostly an enlisted-only opportunity?

I'll definitely look into those links provided.

[Bartholomew Roberts]

If I go back to the Military I'll definitely try to get a slot at a language school. Any idea if they send us occifer-types to those schools or is it mostly an enlisted-only opportunity?

It is much more difficult for an officer to get a slot; but it does happen. The Army will send officers assigned to military intelligence or interrogation to the school - we had several Army Reserve officers in my class.

You'll also see officers from other services who are being posted to foreign stations, serving some diplomatic function or working for one of the various ninja commands appear from time to time.

[ACP230]

I had a rough time trying to learn French in language classes.
My youngest son and I are studying Spanish. We've used books, tapes, and a combination of the two. Now and then we get a kid's book in Spanish from the library too.
I'm finding Spanish a lot easier to learn than French was.

[another okie]

Language is interactive, so tapes are never going to work very well. As pointed out, you can learn enough to order a beer or ask where the bathroom, or to tell someone to put their hands on their head from a tape, but anything more requires interacting with a human being.

Academic courses are very slow, because the number of hours in class is low.

If you are looking at local law enforcement, the poster who said Spanish is correct. For federal, Spanish is also useful, but something more exotic would help, too.

The best way is to travel there and live there, though a course before you go is good, so you don't just spend all your time finding English speakers.

The next best way is to find an attractive person of the opposite sex who is a native speaker and move in with them.

[shermacman]

another okie
The next best way is to find an attractive person of the opposite sex who is a native speaker and move in with them.
Curse you! Beer stings when you snort it out your nose!

[Josh]

If you're thinking long term, think about this:

What languages will be in the highest demand.

So thinking about supply and demand...

In the western hemisphere, you pretty much got English and Spanish. (french don't really count).

In the eastern hemisphere, the language to know (IMHO) for the future, is Mandarin.

Probably not a joy to learn but a fella with some gumption could do well with a language spoke by a handfull of billion people.

Dong ma?

Josh

[Reloader]

Another practice suggestion: when you have decioded on the language, invest in a small shortwave radio. Many stations transmit in the languages you are interested in. A good source for these is many of the radio outlets. A really good one only costs about $150 or less and is not much bigger than a paperback book. I have used these to help translate the braodcasts. Good luck!

Some sites are:

www.mt.com
www.univeral-radio.com
www.eham.net

[The Rabbi]

I found the hardest part of learning a language (and I have studied 6) is the commitment to do it every day. The beginning is no fun at all, just a lot of memorization. But it does get easier and then is very rewarding. But if you dont have the discipline to sit through that tedium then the best self paced course in the world wont help. I dont have that discipline btw.
Arabic is going to be a standardly useful language in a lot of settings. I could walk into any Stop N' Rob here and speak Arabic and be understood.
But for general stuff in the US its Spanish. Even if you dont go into military or law enforcement Spanish would still be useful. Even (esp) any retail job just about will use Spanish. And it isnt that hard. Esp compared to Arabic.

[IZinterrogator]

If I go back to the Military I'll definitely try to get a slot at a language school. Any idea if they send us occifer-types to those schools or is it mostly an enlisted-only opportunity?A lot of FAO ossifer-types go through the school, too. If you are getting sick of your basic branch, you might want to try it for a while. Any way you look at it, it will definitely be interesting work. Unless you are going to go into the Reserves or Guard, don't count on a slot as an officer if you go MI. I have never worked with an MI officer that spoke a language that they learned at DLI unless they were former enlisted. Guard and Reserve units seem more willing to spend the money for their officers to go.

[Tom Bri]

I have learned tw languages well enough to consider myself competent, Spanish and Japanese. I teach English now in Japan.

I learned Spanish the Peace Corps way, 13 weeks of total immersion, 4-6 hours a day six days a week, plus living with a family of Spanish speakers the whole time. It works. By the time I finished the Peace Corps two years later I was pretty fluent. I did Japanese much the same way, living here in Japan and going to school full time.

But my Japanese will never be anywhere as good as my Spanish, just because the language is so different from English. Spanish feels quite natural to speak, even after 15 years living in Japan, Japanese still doesn't quite as much.

My point is that unless you have a great natural talent for language, stick to something relatively close to your native tongue, like another European language. You will progress much faster to a reasonably competent level. Spanish is obviously very useful these days in the US if you want to be a cop. Others would be less useful except were lots of one people live close by. It is a good marketable skill.

To learn a new language takes lots of time and work. Lots. Someone above said you should get a girlfriend who speaks that language. Yep. Number one best way to learn a language. Engage all your powers, mind, heart, gonads, everything working together toward the same end. The kids who learn best are the ones who get a crush on the teacher.

You can get a good start with tapes and books, but without actual practice you can't get fluent. Take a community college class and look around for girls who speak the target language, is my advice.

[shermacman]

Any beautiful Spanish speaking women on this board? I want to learn Spanish, honest!

Really! You can trust me! I am not like the others!

[MacPelto]

Around here the most in demand languade for cops is American Sign Language - so I'm told by 1 of only 2 ASL certified cops in the area.


Mac

[Reloader]

Girls HAVE to be softer and smell better than a shortwave radio! Never had that kind of luck..most where I went to college could have played defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions! LOL

[Hawkmoon]

Every person learns differently. Personally, I found tapes and CDs useless. Tried it for Russian when I was seeing a Russian woman, and tried it again because I'm now married to a woman from South America. (Relax, she's legal and I met her in HER country, not here.)

For me, classroom is the best way. If the teacher is good.

[LaEscopeta]

Here is a web site offering “Spanish for Law Enforcement & Emergency Personnel”:

http://home.earthlink.net/~deesdms/index.html

There are some free pages with simple phases and slang terms, but it is a little hard to navigate:

http://home.earthlink.net/~deesdms/index3.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~deesdms/index5.html