French
My love of languages actually started with Debbie Harry in “Sunday Girl” as she sang some French and I thought that was rather cool especially as I was 12 years old at the time.
So, I was learning French at school and to this day apart from the word pantoufles (slippers in English) and being able to count to 21; my love of French was (and still is) practically non-existent apart from flurries into Serge Gainsbourg, his daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg, Mistinguett, and Juliette Gréco but I knew I had found something I actually liked (the fascination with language learning). I now just had to find the language(s) which sparked my passion.
German & Spanish
Scroll on a few years and I meet German and it’s love at first sight. I also got a chance to go to München, Germany in 1997 and enjoyed the culture and seeing local punk bands (Condom are my favourite). See this post about my time in Munich. That experience helped to cement my love of learning German.
It’s been a slow process though as my language learning over the years has had peaks and troughs. Evening classes at O level which I passed easily though the A Level class couldn’t be sustained due to lack of students and then deferring my current OU degree (in German and Spanish) due to work pressures.
German
Genowrin: Interactive book, Fun read and something different. (Set of 3)
Learning German Through Storytelling: Genowrin – an Interactive Adventure for German Learners by André Klein
dict.cc (Deutsch-Englisch-Wörterbuch) (German-English Dictionary)
Goethe Institute (Onleihe) (German Digital Library, many resources)
Spanish
I do dabble in Spanish learning too, so I don’t get rusty using all the OU resources like audio, video, books, forums and tutorials (My focus on this year and next is German)
These Think Spanish magazines are fantastic (interactive pdf’s on many topics)
I have quite a few of the original magazines and CDs and lots of the interactive PDFs. I would definitely recommend this way of learning
Of course also through music – from Latin America (see this blog post and this one)
Finnish
The last two I’m interested in are Finnish and Persian (Farsi). I do pick out of the way languages. As for Finnish, well, I’ve always been fascinated by it since I was a kid and I (still) feel kind of intimidated by the language. I am at a beginner level as I’ve only recently had more time to be able to learn the language.
Finnish Resources
Linguaphone don’t offer the Finnish course any more, so you could try eBay for lots of bargains for books and language courses or Gumtree, for tutors especially if you’re on a budget. Amazon also offers a lot of books and courses and has a student prime option
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