Can You Learn a Foreign Language By Audio Tape Alone?

[romantico]

I bought a cd to listen to in the car and at home on basics to learning French. Planning a vacation for next year and would like to learn as much as possible.Can you actually learn the language or are these just aimed for tourists to learn helpful phrases one might need while traveling? Just curious.

[flvegan]

1. I learned French in school

We used both audio (sound lab) and visual (books). The audio was good for pronunciation, but I wouldn't have been able to read anything without the books. I'm much more visual, though, so it might be me.

[realisticphish]

2. not really

from what I know, interaction is the key to learning a language.

Now,as you say, you may pick up some damn useful phrases, like "I don't speak French" and "I'm Canadian, not American." :D

It won't hurt, though; there's no reason not to do it; if nothing else, it'll make it easier to learn the language in other ways, since you'll be familiar with the sound and structure.

[ceile]

3. Probably not.

Have you checked into a conversational class at your local community college? Practicing with others is key!

[slj0101]

4. No. You'll pick up some key words and phrases,

but the best way is through immersion.

I took five years of spanish in high school and college, and I don't remember much.

[Neoma]

5. Sure you can, with effort.

[pitohui]

6. depends on what you mean by "learn"

i sure couldn't afford to take classes to learn the language every time i visited a different country, but i find it fairly easy to learn enough of the basics to get along

i did find french quite difficult, i just can't "hear" it well for some reason, but somehow i managed to order food and find the atm and get the basics

with french you might do well to avoid looking at the words at all, you're not going to learn to read it anyway (other than menus) nor do you need to, and if you are not confused by how the word "looks" you will pick up on the pronunciation a little easier

as far as learning how to have heart to heart, in depth discussions, i think it is unrealistic to expect this from audio tapes alone, you do need interaction, but for tourist purposes you'd be surprised how little you have to know to get along


so yes i think you can learn sufficient "tourist french" this way, i also brought the lonely planet french phrasebook since it is little and easy to carry but in practice you don't have time to look things up in a book when you are talking

have a good trip, hoping to return there myself real soon

[jobycom]

8. That's what I'd say, too. Anything that gives you some basics will help

and you can learn a lot from tapes, or better, interactive computer CDs with audio and visual. You can learn words, but more important, you can hear basic inflections, learn to differentiate sounds, and even pick up the basic structure of a sentence, a verb conjugation, etc--not saying you have to memorize all this, or even be aware of the technical terms for the construction you are learning. But you get a feel for how words relate and are structured.

That puts you in better shape for when you start conversing. You will be completely lost at first, but since you already have some feel for the structure, you can focus on learning vocabulary, idioms, and such.

You CAN learn a language from tapes, if they are sophisticated enough. The problem is, a set of ten tapes or less won't give you enough words or structure, unless whomever you are speaking with is using the tapes, too. Otherwise, they'll use words not on the tape, and you'll be lost. Even Berlitz courses have that failing--you can learn to converse with the instructor in pretty good French, but when you begin speaking to someone else, they won't limit themselves to the words you know, as your instructor does. But Pimsleur, for instance, cells CD sets in multiple stages that can get you pretty close to "knowing" the language, and you can add to your knowledge by watching French films, or even French learning programs on PBS, or wherever.

But no matter how much you learn in advance, conversing is still a different animal, and you'll never get fluent enough without actual conversations with a fluent partner.

That's been my experience, anyway. I've never gotten fluent in a language, but I've had to learn to read several, so I've experimented a lot. The other thing is that unless you speak it, you'll lose what you've learned, until you reach full fluency.

man, I'm really in a babbling mood. Sorry. :)

[philosophie_en_rose]

7. Sure.

You can learn the basics. You might not be very versatile with the language, but you'll know how to order food and look for a bathroom.