The key to your success is not really what you do exactly, it's the every day that makes it work. So whatever somebody is doing, do it every day.

And for movies, subtitles should be in the same language as the movie. So English subtitles for English movies. 

This is easier said then done for those that learn Mandarin. For those I suggest you extract the Chinese characters from the subtitle data file and then add the Pinyin (translate.google does that beautifully). To learn Mandarin from Mandarin speaking movies with English subtitles will not work, they are often very different (same for Chinese subtitles on English movies).

Hi Steph,

(Hallo, schöne Grüße! - German)

I suggest you go back to the beginning.

That means, go back to your successful method learning your first language.

That means the foundation of any communication is not grammar, not vocabulary lists, but rather simple human-to-human real-time interaction: conversation.

Find ways to have a conversation in your target language.

This is how you learnt with your mother, and this will definitely work for a second language.

Successful spoken interaction in a language provides the most powerful motivation possible; it will give you energy to continue.

It is a much more efficient use of your time than reading grammar books or memorising words.

If you really do this then you will be surprised how quickly you remember words.

So start a conversation today!

<smile>

I agree with Kate. I read a lot and watch a lot, but prefer reading. I am a visualiser when it comes to language learning. Of course, learning language from a foreign language group (for example Germanic, Roman, non-Indoeuropean, like Hungarian, Turkish)one needs to learn from grammar, at least pick up some rudiments. However, this is a tough options for language, like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi or even Arabic with different writing system. Russian/Ukrainian or Greek are simple, Arabic seems pretty tough in the beginning, Chinese, Korean, Japanese are scary for me, Hindi too, but less.

I have absolutely no problem with learning Slavic languages in this form, frankly speaking I don't learn them at all, I read and hear, then repeat the same sentences. So, my Russian, Ukrainian or Slovak are so-so, I don't think that I know them, I only use them, they are our natural, second languages, next to my native Polish.

Everything depends which language one wants to learn and which language knows already. For a Romance language speaker it is very easy to learn other Romance languages, I think. For an Asian it is not so hard to understand grammar rules in Hungarian, for a Slavic person, it is.

So, everything depends.

Steph.M

IMHO watching Chinese movies with English subs is rather pointless as the English translation varies often quite a lot. Same for English movies with Chinese subs. In either way the translation is often much shorter then what's actually spoken. Same language subs are usually much more accurate.

What I realized is that I generally feel it's better to first listen to some authentic material or watch movies so you become familiar with the sounds of the language, just like a child or baby learns but adults can progress faster because they can look things up. Then I learn basic vocabulary and phrases while continuing to watch my movies in a natural context and then I don't ask "is the grammar correct?" because I try to learn entire sentences from natives of what I want to say. If the language has an alphabet similar to English, I can learn it at the same time.

I started a little experiment a few days ago to learn French, with no French background and so far the results have been interesting. I have been watching things even though I don't understand everything because I know the topic interests me and at the same time I pick up grammar and vocab indirectly and it's fun because I can already express a few phrases. I plan to then approach natives to help me with simple expressions such as "my name is X" and "I'm studying X because X".

I'm going to try to not learn any formal grammar until I'm more advanced because I feel that learning a lot of grammar early on messed up my Spanish and has made me self-conscious about whether I make grammar mistakes. So far I'm feeling very motivated in French and don't feel bored at all.

I think Chinese is more challenging because of the characters but I still think being exposed by listening first is beneficial. When I figure out how to read more Chinese characters I'll share my suggestions.