Learning a new language Cancel The title field is required!

1. Dalton Andrew

   
   1/23/2015 6:01 PM

   I know this may not be the appropriate place for this topic, but it does get the most traffic? Anyway, I have wanted to learn a second language for some time now Japanese being my first choice and Spanish the second. If you knew me you would understand why I would like to learn Japanese. In this business however Spanish is the one spoken most in the United States. Rosetta Stone seems to be the best place to start, in conjunction to watching sports, movies and other television programs. Has anyone used Rosetta Stone to learn another language and has learning Spanish done anything for your career?
   
   Thanks,
   
   Andrew Dalton
   Metamora Golf and Country Club

   
   
   
   
2. James Schmid

   

   1 posts
   
   1/23/2015 11:01 PM

   I TRIED to learn Japanese a while back. I am FLUENT in spanish. Thats the difference. Spanish is much easier to learn as it is closely related to English, and you will likely be able to practice it much more often. Japanese is more difficult and unless you have somewhere to use it, its difficult to practice

   
   
   
   
3. Dalton Andrew

   
   1/24/2015 6:01 AM

   Has becoming fluent in Spanish done anything more for your career? I have to believe you're more marketable at least in certain areas of the U.S.
   
   Andrew

   
   
   
   
4. James Schmid

   

   1 posts
   
   1/24/2015 1:01 PM

   Andrew Dalton said: Has becoming fluent in Spanish done anything more for your career? I have to believe you're more marketable at least in certain areas of the U.S.
   
   Andrew

   
   
   100% of my staff speaks spanish. 75 % speak english. Its nice to be able to talk to them. It goes much better than working through a translator

   
   
   
   
5. Keith Pegg

   

   0 posts
   
   1/24/2015 3:01 PM

   Andrew Dalton said: I know this may not be the appropriate place for this topic, but it does get the most traffic? Anyway, I have wanted to learn a second language for some time now Japanese being my first choice and Spanish the second. If you knew me you would understand why I would like to learn Japanese. In this business however Spanish is the one spoken most in the United States. Rosetta Stone seems to be the best place to start, in conjunction to watching sports, movies and other television programs. Has anyone used Rosetta Stone to learn another language and has learning Spanish done anything for your career?
   
   Thanks,
   
   Andrew Dalton
   Metamora Golf and Country Club

   
   
   Andrew, good for you, a second or third language is a great thing, myself I do okay in Chinese and Bahasa-Indonesian, I am in Japan now and only speak a few words as so many people speak English here it has never been top of my list to learn. As I have gotten older it is also harder to learn (mid 60's). I have lived in a number of countries and always found the local language to be fun to learn. Rosetta Stone is very good, hover it is confusing and I did not care for it, may do say it is the best. If you can get a free trial offer or a 30 day trial may be a good idea. I like the DVD (mp3) type myself. I also have studied the writing in Chinese and Japanese. Japanese is the hardest I think to learn.
   
   Keith
   Zama Japan

   
   
   
   
6. Paul Dowaschinski

   

   1 posts
   
   1/24/2015 6:01 PM

   You might want to look into Pimsleur - http://www.pimsleur.com/Learn-Spanish-Latin-American
   
   Pimsleur focuses just on listening and speaking. There is no reading/writing. You can probably get by with just Level 1. I used Pimsleur when I lived in China and it helped a lot.
   
   There is also this - http://www.workplacespanish.com/golf_land.shtml
   
   It seems like this is a CD which only teaches golf course maintenance related words/phrases, not speaking conversational sentences like Pimsleur.
   
   Good Luck!

   
   
   
   
7. Dalton Andrew

   
   1/26/2015 6:01 AM

   Thanks for your replies. Rosetta Stone seems to be the best option especially considering their January sale. The one option I haven't looked into is what the public libraries offer. Maybe they have children's books or children's videos and games. Before I take the plunge into a financial investment I will explore the libraries. I think Spanish makes the most amount of sense given my location and career path. Thanks again for the replies.
   
   Andrew Dalton
   Metamora Golf and Country Club

   
   
   
   
8. Adam Stottlemyer

   

   0 posts
   
   1/27/2015 8:01 AM

   I'm gonna look at Rosetta stone to try to increase my Spanish speaking ability. Took 3 years in HS but that's been awhile. I know in my area, Spanish speaking is certainly a plus

   
   
   
   
9. Timothy Connolly

   

   0 posts
   
   1/27/2015 9:01 AM

   James Schmid said:

   Andrew Dalton said: Has becoming fluent in Spanish done anything more for your career? I have to believe you're more marketable at least in certain areas of the U.S.
   
   Andrew

   
   
   100% of my staff speaks spanish. 75 % speak english. Its nice to be able to talk to them. It goes much better than working through a translator

   
   
   
   I'm a little shocked that turfgrass programs don't place more of an emphasis on a student's proficiency in a second language. Spanish fluency is a vital component of my department's degree of success. I urge my assistants to learn the language and practice it at work. Beyond the work-related piece, learning a language opens our eyes to different cultures and different ways of looking at the world... that's never unhealthy.

   
   
   
   
10. Frank McQuiggan

    

    2 posts
    
    1/28/2015 6:01 AM

    When I was working overseas in Germany I learned to speak the German language and found out while it helped me to communicate with the suppliers that I needed to work with being the mechanic I had to learn more technical terms to be able to do this. Spent a couple of hundred dollars on a few dictionaries to help me. But since I was able to speak the language I found out that I was asked more to translate for others who could not speak as well as I did. There was a few there that spoke the language but not the technical aspects. We did not have to deal with workers that spoke German on a daily basis as all the workers were American.
    
    I will say that since I've been back here in the states working more with Spanish speaking persons I have learned that it is very hard to communicate effectively if you don't learn their language, things get lost in translation quickly. As far as trying to learn another language at this point in my life I don't think its happening. (too tired and too old). I did have a pleasant conversation with one of our Spanish speakers and I posed the question to him if you live and work here in the states why don't you learn English. His reply was he is trying but its hard, but I have to admit he is trying and only speaks English to me, with hand gestures and everything else we come to a point of understanding, he is learning the language and trying to teach me some basic Spanish but it aint working

    
    
    
    
11. Dalton Andrew

    
    2/3/2015 6:02 PM

    I decided to take advantage of the Rosetta Stone's pricing. My local library surprisingly offers very little for language learning. I have started the Rosetta stone's first program and it appears to be good. They have done a good job of immersing you and cramming it down your throat. I don't understand how you couldn't learn another language as long is you stay with it. I am going to do other things besides Rosetta Stone like TV watching and getting a few magazines online in Spanish. I plan on also using some of the free phone apps.
    
    Andy