Comments on: Learning a Language Is Like Running a Marathon

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:28:20 +0000

Si quieres practicar español, estaré encantado de ayudarte.

Un saludo

Daniel dacghfh@yahoo.es

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:25:49 +0000

La práctica diaria es fundamental para aprender un idioma. Constancia, dedicación y mucha fuerza de voluntad.

By: Ramses

Ramses — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:09:24 +0000

Thank you for your comment, Steve. From my own experience I’m *sure* language learning is more pleasant than running a marathon, but it both takes courage and quite an investment of time and energy to reach your goal.

I’m already a regular reader of your blog, but I’m just too damn lazy to comment .

By: Amber Phillips

Amber Phillips — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:49:47 +0000

I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s a long, long process, and I can’t wait to get closer and closer to a sort of finish line <3

By: Steve Kaufmann

Steve Kaufmann — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:18:34 +0000

I totally agree with your advice. However, I think language learning is more relaxing and enjoyable than running a marathon.

Come and visit me at The Linguist on Language some time. You may find a reflection of your own views.

By: Christy

Christy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:59:27 +0000

I am so glad I found your blog/web site. A few weeks ago, I decided to start learning Spanish and bought one of those “you’ll be speaking full sentences in a few days” courses and am going to return it, as by the time I’m done I’ll know their words and none of the other words in the language to become fluent. I felt I wasn’t going to have a good basis for growth. For example: the course was teaching “I like” as “me gusta” and I wondered why it wasn’t “Yo” then the Spanish word for like, then after doing some research I found the phrase really meant “pleasing to me”. This was a big deal to me as it meant that I could possibly be learning something incorrectly just so they could dumb it down for a beginner. I wanted to know why it was “me” instead of “yo”.

Then I wondered is there was a way I could do learn Spanish by reading and listening and reading and listening. And by reading your site, I see there is. I have a few children’s books from the local library book sale that I’ll start ‘reading’ and found a couple of sites where I can hear and read the books. I also have a kindle where I can download books and with a Spanish dictionary can get the gist of the sentences. I can see how I and others have learned as a kid – words, sentences, then grammar. I figure I can use the grammar when I come across verbs to learn the endings for various tenses.

By: Balint

Balint — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:14:42 +0000

I cannot agree more! When I started learning spanish (a bit less then a year ago), I listened to the Pimsleur tapes, Michel Thomas and stuff and I thought: “Hey, I will speak Spanish in 6 months”. Yeah, sure.

Then I found really useful resources (Antimoon, AJATT, Spanish-Only ) and started to realize: “Hey, this might take a bit more time, but, hey, I can enjoy it!” So this “language learning burden” became simply just fun! And I can’t wait to “start learning” every day.

By: Ramses

Ramses — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:40:27 +0000

No problem, as long as you link back .

By: Suzi Bewell

Suzi Bewell — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:07:31 +0000

Can I please copy this article to put on my French blog http://www.allsaintslanguagesblog.typepad.co.uk I think it would be a great starting point for a discussion with my pupils! Tweet me @suzibewell