Other languages I studied formally while in school: Spanish, French, German, Sanskrit, Hittite, Hindi, Homeric Greek, and Tunica.
Wow, zmj.. Can you still converse in all of those languages?
I'm currently trying to learn Spanish. I'm using the Berlitz method with CDs and a really basic book to follow along with the CDs.
It's quite an interesting method. Apart from the opening chapter, that explains how the method works, there is no other language but Spanish in the textbook or spoken on the CD. The sounds around the words give you the indication of what they are saying.
What it forces you to do is learn the words without doing the translation thing that slows down the thinking process - and slows down your speaking since you translate as you go. It also teaches you basic grammar and verb conjugasions, which is good.
So when they say "Pedro canta" and you hear Pedro singing, you know that they are saying Pedro is singing an assimilate it as canta.
The course isn't meant to be a "tourist" phrases course. Some courses are only designed for you to learn to pronounce specific sentences without really getting a grasp on the language, or being able to hold a conversation.
For example, a German cassette I once tried, focused on teaching things like "where can I catch a bus?" "Where is the restaurant?" Unfortunately, if you don't know the parts of the sentence, you can only learn phonetically and you won't be able to understand anybody that answers you with anything more than a point in the right direction.
Mechan. Maybe you could learn the languages you want that way. It is much cheaper than paying for live classes. If you wish to do business in different languages, then you need the live classes, but if it is just to be able to converse, this is a great method.
