Learning Languages from cd?

Question

Has anyone used any of those language cds and if so which worked and why? How good are they?

Which cds have you used and how was it?

which cds means by which company or author

Answer 1

French with Michel Thomas is amazing. I put the eight CDs on my i-pod and learned workable French in a month. I reckon if someone who speaks English was really focussed they could crack french in a week.

Answer 2

I have studied to learn several languages, and now speak a few with some degree of fluency. Absolutely the best way to learn (much better than a CD) is to employ a home tutor for just an hour a week. This is the most efficient way to learn a language. I would still say that a CD would be better than an evening class because a least you can learn at your own speed and go back over anyhting which you don't understand!

Answer 3

I speak 7 languages besides my native English, and I've tried most all of the CD programs. Although I like Rosetta stone a lot, I prefer Pimsleur.

I learned Advanced Russian, Romanian, Lithuanian, and Polish from Pimsleur.

They are practical "bites" of lessons, fairly short (20 minutes per lesson), and they give a male and female "sound" of each word or phrase (to get you accustomed to both genders talking).

Each lesson builds on the last, and you only need to get about 80% of each lesson before moving on. I found that I needed to hear each lesson about 3 times to really have a handle on it.

The only downside of ANY CD based learning system is that you do not learn the written (Pimsleur does a little, but not enough). You often will need to see the written words and phrases to properly pronounce them.

So, couple your studies with a basic phrase book as well... more for reference to what the audio is saying.

Answer 4

The best thing is to be in the country where the language is spoken and to aggressively seek to learn it. But, CD ?? why not? There are many advantages. You can hear what you need to hear over and over again. Hearing a language is important to speaking and understanding it. There are other options such as Internet friends and ... voice communication and so on. I think you could use words that you learned from you CD with that kind of situation and improve greatly in a shortest amount of time.
I have used CD as aids in learning Japanese, Spanish, Russian... Danish (I had a friend in Denmark who sent me tapes she made by mail...) I say use everything that you can to learn and I also used the music of various countries to learn the lyrics of ballads and such to improve my understanding of the rythum and diction of the languanges.

Answer 5

Im sorry I dont know the name of the cd but I speak english and a little spanish and I bought a learn french cd and I think It would have worked way better if they provided a pamphlet with the words spelled out I was trying to say cause I felt like i was trying to pronounce a sneeze and didnt know what vowels to hit.
Good luck!

Answer 6

I'm already advanced in Portuguese, (from Portugal). I bought the Linguaphone for Portuguese, and it's great.
The pack comprises of 4- 60minute cds that provide the exercises & pronounciation of words & sentences. And also the pack includes a 64 page course book, that is all laid out in simple easy to read format.

I'd highly recommend it to anyone & it costs £24 from book shops or online- www.linguaphone.co.uk

Boa sorte (good luck)

Answer 7

I used Linguaphone as a child in French and German. It was amazingly useful for intonation, as well as vocabulary. It gave me an excellent basis, but I do hope they have updated it thoroughly, as on the odd occasion I found myself using rather antiquated words which made people laugh. I also found that it served as a cultural lingua franca, as I have encountered other former Linguaphone students who would trot out English sentences which I clearly recognised from the course!

It is always difficult to give an accurate assessment of something which one was exposed to when very young, as children soak up languages very readily. But it certainly worked for me and I have learned to use this method of listening to the repeated spoken word for learning other things than languages.

Answer 8

Rosetta Stone is the best but only if they have more than one level on a language.

If not, you will be stuck with total elementary immersion and end up only knowing words like "the boy" and "the girl". LOL

Answer 9

I have learned Albanian and Danish using the Pimsleur programs. They have been very good in helping me learn the languages.

Answer 10

I am studying Italian, I think it is really good, but you have to compromise yourself to practice everyday ( grammar, vocabulary, etc) because if you do not do that, your are going to waste your money.

I use Zeta multimedia

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