Research Language Suggestions?

[cschields]

I'd like to brush up on some research languages this summer before beginning my doctoral studies. Has anyone effectively taught themselves how to read (at an elementary level or otherwise) French or German? What materials might you suggest? Again, my goal is reading comprehension and not conversational competency.

[Bukharan]

I recommend French for Reading by Sandberg. It is pricey but it is a very good book. You need to dedicate A LOT of time to master reading proficiency in either French or German though - I hope you know this.

[cschields]

I recommend French for Reading by Sandberg. It is pricey but it is a very good book. You need to dedicate A LOT of time to master reading proficiency in either French or German though - I hope you know this.

Thank you! 'Mastery' is not so much my goal at this point; basic familiarity will complement the languages I already know (and which are more central to my research interests), and this sounds like a great place to start. Thanks again!

[DrPepper-olic]

I will add that reading a foreign language becomes decidedly easier when you can imagine what it sounds like in your head. I studied French for two years in high school, but took a proficiency test 2 years after college. I listened to/watched French movies and YouTube music videos while studying or when I didn't feel like studying. It really made reading my old grammar books easier. (After all, languages were spoken before they were written, etc., etc.) Happy reading!

[kungfuzi]

I recommend French for Reading by Sandberg. It is pricey but it is a very good book. You need to dedicate A LOT of time to master reading proficiency in either French or German though - I hope you know this.

Agreed, a superb book. If you're super dedicated (unlike me) and do one chapter every two days or so, you can finish it in 42 days. Which reminds me, I'd better get back to finishing it...

There's also German for Reading, written by the same guy!

[HistoryGrizzly]

I took four years of French in high school, and two in college (Though, the two in college were basic level classes) and I'd consider myself...able, but not necessarily masterful.

I actually had to read a few letters in French this past week as part of my research, and was surprised by how much I picked up from it. If I had had a French to English dictionary in front of me, I think I would have been just fine. Now, translating SPOKEN French would have me pretty much screwed. Hearing it and seeing it are totally different animals. Oral French requires an incredible amount of practice (that's so true in so many ways). A lot of words sound the same, just like words in English do, and you can pretty easily mix them up if you aren't used to it, but when reading, you'd never make the same mistake. I think with a little practice I could probably pass a translation test in French if I was allowed a dictionary to consult, but if the test was a listening test, I probably wouldn't have a chance. Not without a lot more practice.

I had a friend that went into the Peace Corps in Mali and wanted to learn French because outside of her village, it's the language of government. She spent several hours a day with Rosetta Stone for a few months, and didn't learn almost anything. I've never tried it, but her opinion is pretty low.I think the best way to do it is just to learn some fundamentals, and then read as many things in French as you can, always looking up words you don't know and then writing them down to quiz yourself. Once you learn the mechanics, it's all vocab. Imagine how you studied for the GRE. Same thing. Most of the elementary stuff in French is pretty easy as far as conjugating verbs go. It's harder when you have to write it yourself, but for reading comprehension, I think it's not so bad at all. Some of the future tense/past tense stuff can get tricky at the higher levels, and irregular verbs are a bitch, but, it's still one of the easier foreign languages.

[Jeppe]

Somewhat related, does anyone have any experience with learning to read Dutch on their own? There does not seem to be a whole lot of Dutch courses around in the US.