Language study PRE-trip

Check to see if a college college in your area has a Language Immersion program similar to this:
www.newpaltz.edu/lii/

Jay, I find Pimsleur to be particularly good. Rosetta Stone is good as well but what I found sets Pimsleur apart (IMHO) is the emphasis they place on actually SPEAKING the language. From the first lesson you'll be asked to repeat (out loud...which apparently helps one retain more information) specific words and phrases. Later, you'll be asked certain questions and will need to recall the correct phrase to use which also works better than simply rote memorization.

For instance, after learning to say Guten Morgen (Good Morning in German, just to use an example) in a previous lesson, rather than simply ask you later on, "How do you say good morning?", Pimsleur will post a question such as:

"You walk into a store at about 10:00 AM. How is the sales clerk likely to greet you?". Thus, it causes one to think a bit as well as simply memorize. This may seem subtle but it actually seems to make a difference in being able to learn faster.

Second vote for the pimsleur - they work great for me - and they have easy 4-cd sets to start for the basics, but the bigger sets are great if you have more time! check ebay as well as the pimsleur or amazon web site. sometimes you can get used ones.

.....http://www.mangolanguages.com/

... check it out. It's Free....

... bon voyage! P.

I used a program called "Learn to Speak" for a trip to Germany six years ago. It's divided into chapters such as At the airport, At the hotel, At the grocery store, At the pharmacy, etc. Each chapter starts with vocabulary and ends with a video interaction with a local clerk, salesman, pharmacist, etc. The program has voice recognition and grades you on how close to a local you can pronounce and interact.

I liked the program so much, I bought French and Spanish when I came home. I think those are the only languages offered. There may be better programs but these were an excellent value.

I have purchased many versions of "Instant Immersion" software, tapes, etc. None of them were useful. I would say they are a waste of money.

An option before buying programs is to visit your library. They will have multiple language courses and you can at least check them out before purchasing.

Rosetta Stone is more useful if you want to become fluent in a language, vs. learn a few phrases for a trip. I myself have been studying Dutch since May, and even with devoting 40 minutes a night more often than not, I haven't even moved beyond section 6 yet.

Jay, one other note on Pimsleur (which I notice someone else recommended as well):

There is a good chance your local library will have some Pimsleur materials, at least for major languages. My local library had the entire German I set (30 lessons, 15 cassettes) and also the entire German II (same number of lessons though on CD). I simply borrowed them and recorded them (or copied to my hard drive in the case of the CD's). Didn't cost me a dime.

another vote here for Pimsleur. My local library had the tapes I wanted, similar to the experience of an earlier poster. There are 90 lessons, broken into sets of 30. Every bit helps; on my 1st trip to Italy I only had time to go thru the first 30 and was able to walk into hotels and ask about rooms, order food, ask simple directions, etc.

Plan on one lesson a day. Contrary to what they say, I (and many other people) have found you need to listen to each lesson 2 or 3 times that day to really get the hang of it. Also get a dictionary (so you can spell the words correctly) and after lesson 15 or so start making flashcards. You don't want to start too early because Pimsleur is teaching you to pronounce the words correctly, and if you see the spelling before you've learned the sounds your English reading system will interfere. But you need the cards for review.

I'm also using Pimsleur I / II / III to study Italian. Rather than Cassettes or CD's, I decided to use Bookchips (SD cards) which fit in a Palm PDA. I believe they might have IPod versions now as well?

I found this method fairly easy to learn (although I'm getting a bit rusty - time to start studying again).