Listen as much audio spoken by native speakers as you can. My guess is that children programs are best. Maybe some Hebrew dubbed cartoons that you are already familiar with. First priority is to get your brain trained on the sounds of the language.
From my personal experience, biggest hurdle in learning a new language is actually using it. Getting past the “shame” filter of your brain. If you accept that mistakes are unavoidable and just start speaking, you will get a lot of practice and you will improve. Of course, it’s nice having a professional aware of the fact that you are a beginner, giving you clear and precise feedback. :)
Both of my parents qualify. We’ve tried to revert to only Hebrew plenty of times. If we can make it through the day I guarantee you it’ll be back to English by the time next morning rolls around.
I disagree. Nevermind mere mistakes. The biggest hurdle is “I can’t fucking say what I want to say”. Not “say without mistakes”—“say at all”.
From my personal experience, biggest hurdle in learning a new language is actually using it. Getting past the “shame” filter of your brain. If you accept that mistakes are unavoidable and just start speaking, you will get a lot of practice and you will improve.
I disagree. Nevermind mere mistakes. The biggest hurdle is “I can’t fucking say what I want to say”. Not “say without mistakes”—“say at all”.
Of course you cannot say what you want to say, but maybe you are able to say something else.
You might not be able to express some complex idea from the get go but, would it be that difficult to say: konnichiwa, watashi wa Creutzer desu. Hajimemashite. ? :)
What good is it to say something that is not what I want to say? I don’t get utility from saying arbitrary things. What if someone asks me a question and I know the answer but can’t express it in the language? This kind of thing drives me crazy. I wouldn’t care if I botched a few verb endings if I could at least have a remotely meaningful conversation in a language. (“Hello, my name is X, nice to meet you” does not qualify.)
In my perspective this would be deliberate practice. You would get to practice sentence construction and you would get to practice your sound creation which is quite a difficult thing to do.
Starting from simple things like asking for direction or requesting stuff is a great place to start.
You can’t expect fluency from the very beginning but, in order to get there, you’d have to start from somewhere.
If this kind of sentences drive you crazy… it’s ok… choose something else. I’m in no way trying to tell you what to do. :) I’m only providing my perspective on things. If it’s useful… ok, if not.… still ok. :)
It’s just a simple “hello, my name is X, nice to meet you” kind of greeting. All languages have them. They might sound silly for a native speaker but also endearing. They warm the atmosphere.
What would be a simple phrase that you would like to learn?
Asking this question 2 times and adding the answers to the “water in the fridge” & “son of a whore” would effectively double your skill. :)
Listen as much audio spoken by native speakers as you can. My guess is that children programs are best. Maybe some Hebrew dubbed cartoons that you are already familiar with. First priority is to get your brain trained on the sounds of the language.
Speak with a native speaker that knows English. You can use http://livemocha.com/ for this.
Speak badly but speak.
From my personal experience, biggest hurdle in learning a new language is actually using it. Getting past the “shame” filter of your brain. If you accept that mistakes are unavoidable and just start speaking, you will get a lot of practice and you will improve. Of course, it’s nice having a professional aware of the fact that you are a beginner, giving you clear and precise feedback. :)
Both of my parents qualify. We’ve tried to revert to only Hebrew plenty of times. If we can make it through the day I guarantee you it’ll be back to English by the time next morning rolls around.
Amen.
I disagree. Nevermind mere mistakes. The biggest hurdle is “I can’t fucking say what I want to say”. Not “say without mistakes”—“say at all”.
Of course you cannot say what you want to say, but maybe you are able to say something else.
You might not be able to express some complex idea from the get go but, would it be that difficult to say: konnichiwa, watashi wa Creutzer desu. Hajimemashite. ? :)
What good is it to say something that is not what I want to say? I don’t get utility from saying arbitrary things. What if someone asks me a question and I know the answer but can’t express it in the language? This kind of thing drives me crazy. I wouldn’t care if I botched a few verb endings if I could at least have a remotely meaningful conversation in a language. (“Hello, my name is X, nice to meet you” does not qualify.)
In my perspective this would be deliberate practice. You would get to practice sentence construction and you would get to practice your sound creation which is quite a difficult thing to do.
Starting from simple things like asking for direction or requesting stuff is a great place to start.
You can’t expect fluency from the very beginning but, in order to get there, you’d have to start from somewhere.
If this kind of sentences drive you crazy… it’s ok… choose something else. I’m in no way trying to tell you what to do. :) I’m only providing my perspective on things. If it’s useful… ok, if not.… still ok. :)
Is there an online transliterator or something? I don’t know Japanese.
I can coherently ask my aunt if there’s water in the fridge. Or tell someone that they’re a son of a whore. That’s about as far as it goes.
It’s just a simple “hello, my name is X, nice to meet you” kind of greeting. All languages have them. They might sound silly for a native speaker but also endearing. They warm the atmosphere.
What would be a simple phrase that you would like to learn?
Asking this question 2 times and adding the answers to the “water in the fridge” & “son of a whore” would effectively double your skill. :)