Good language courses?

[iBrian]

I'd really like to learn a few languages in this life, but local language courses aren't very accessible, or else very highly priced.

I figure there must be some decent language courses you can buy on DVD or even just CD.

Would love to get into even the basics of:

Mandarin
Arabic
Japanese
Russian
Spanish

and actually quite a few others as well.

Would anyone have any suggestions at all?

 

[Tao_Equus]

有很多坏节目那里。 我在您得到的这个区域认为什么您支付。

 

[Postmaster]

A forum could be the best place to learn.

 

[wil]

I'd buy children's school books...gotta come by them cheap and they start with the basics and what kids can read...

Can't you imagine reading a first/second grade math book, it has to be written so the earliest readers can read, yet you already know the concepts.

Then third/fourth grade science books in that same language...

And fifth/sixth grade world history...again the texts would be about things you already know.

Their language books (like when we took english) would keep adding things year by year the same way we did as kids...

 

[Dream]

Pimsleur language CD's are the absolute best. You can get a sampler of 10 CD's for Mandarin for about 30$ (15pound) . A full year of lessons comes on 32 cd's and has a very small booklet with some reading lessons. It will run you about 130$ , but depending on where you get it you can then swap it for another year's worth if you add some money. These are the absolute best CD's you could hope for. Each lesson is 30 minutes and you listen to it repeating, listening or answering conversational challenges. For the Mandarin, there is nothing better. I did the 10CD set. Russian is hard no matter what, but its really good with these. My dad is doing the Russian. The Spanish is fantastic, and I've completed year 1. I have also played with Rosetta Stone software, which looks very good, though it is a little pricey.