Learnin a new language. Options

[Valo666]

So has any one here ever learned another language by them selves??..ie, not somethin they took in school. But like learned a completely new tounge with no background of speaking or hearing the language?? I just started to learn Finnish just recently. Im just curious on how long it takes roughly to learn the basics of the language. So far ive been workin on it for about 2 weeks and im just starting to develope an ear for the way it sounds.

[lagos]

yes, i learned a second language on my own... belive it or not, english! my first language is polish.

you can try to study from books and cds, but youll probably have a hard time to master the gramar. the best way to learn a language is to find a freind who speaks it, or go to that country. also, the younger you are, the faster you will pick it up. it only took me about a year or two to learn english when i was 8 years old.

books and cds help, but they tend to teach you phrases to say, instead of telling you how people talk. they tell you stuff like "hello, my name is ______ its so nice to meet you today" and then when you say something like that, the person from that country will look at you funny, because thats not how normal people talk.