Improving your language skills

Imagine that you're walking home from work, and you're stopped by a Japanese man with a bewildered look on his face. He asks you a question in Japanese. When you look bewildered, he repeats the question but more loudly, as if you must be either deaf or stupid. What's your response?

Now imagine the same encounter, only the man is trying to speak English. Not fluently, perhaps, but you can tell he's trying. When you don't understand, he rephrases his question and asks it more slowly. What's your response this time?

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You can get by just fine in most of the world's major cities with no language except English. Just learn to ask people (in their language) if they speak English, and if the response is encouraging, then speak slowly, using simple, common words, until you establish just how fluent the other person is.

But the ability to carry on a simple dialogue in their language will open more doors. First, you'll be able to communicate with more people. Moreover, everyone you encounter will appreciate your respect for their language, and the effort you've made to learn it.

For those with the time, a month of immersion school remains the best road to that goal. For the rest of us, there are packages that offer instruction at home. Here are some popular offerings.

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The language courses from Syracuse Learning Systems (800-797-5264) have a distinct Internet feeling. These interactive systems let you play word games on your home computer; install a microphone and watch the Speech Meter light up as your accent improves; then tap into the Web for more.

Some of us learn by listening; others need interaction; yet others remember words best if we associate them with pictures. SLS lets you pick the styles that work for you; that's a big benefit.

On the other hand, if you have limited time, games aren't always an efficient way to learn a language. And some of that time will be spent just figuring out which of the myriad SLS programs to purchase. In Spanish alone, the company offers five packages, with varying prices and content. Still, it's worth a look. Before buying multimedia packages, check the box carefully to be sure your computer meets ALL the hardware requirements.

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Prize for "best at what it does" goes to Champs-Elysees, (French) for its monthly tapes of news stories, features, and music. There are affiliated magazines-on-cassette in Spanish and German.

With their focus on the culture and current events of a particular country, these tapes are downright interesting -- more than one could say for any other language cassettes. They'll improve your vocabulary and comprehension. But they're not for beginners; they'll be most useful if you can already carry on a simple conversation in one of these languages, and want to improve your skills (800-824-0829).

And a proud Troo gardener didn't need language as let us sample her raspberries, then described the size of last year's pumpkins.

Travel with us!

Alyson Adventures specializes in active vacations for gay men, lesbians, and friends. Here are some of the trips we offer:

Biking in Provence

Hiking in Italy

Rock climbing in the Tetons

Adventure travel in Thailand

Scuba diving in the Caribbean

Whitewater rafting on the Colorado River

Berlitz is synonymous with language instruction. A few years ago, Berlitz had a "Think and Talk French / Spanish / German / Croation" series that was among the best available. Virtually every word on the twelve cassettes was the new language. Perhaps the dialogues weren't exciting (emphatically, the dialogues weren't exciting), but if you stuck it out, you could learn to think and talk in the language you chose.

Unfortunately, in about 1998 someone at Berlitz decided it was time for a new approach. The current "Think and Talk" tapes include an enormous amount of English on the cassette. Listeners are expected to translate back and forth, German (or Spanish, or whatever) to English, a jarring and unnatural process.

Worse, the narrator provides far too much cultural information that doesn't belong on a language tape. You'll learn (in English) about German sausages long before we learn (in German) to ask Where is the bathroom? Since you should listen to each tape five or six times, you'll soon get tired of German sausage -- and desperate for that bathroom.

The multi-media approach of SLC (above) might be inappropriate for commuters, for example, who want to listen to tapes as they drive to work. That would be a great niche for Berlitz to fill. Unfortunately, it does not.

Unneeded changes are not a problem at Barron's. Their expensive cassettes came in a modern-looking box, with trendy colors. Once the shrink-wrap came off, the tapes and text appeared unchanged since World War II. The book takes a stodgy, rote approach to language. Barron's also markets a cheaper but equally disappointing "TravelWise" packet of a single cassette tape and book ($16.95), notable primarily for the amount of time the narrator spends telling you, in English, how to relax. More likely, you'll fall asleep.

Gay travelers will need to supplement these mainstream tapes with something extra. Try "Hot! International". An English phrase at the top of each page is translated into six European languages.

There's a certain logic to the sequence in which Hot! introduces the phrases. Are you here alone? is translated at the beginning; I've never done that appears mid-book; then Please don't fall in love with me; and finally, We could live together in your country. But you won't quickly find the phrase you need, when you need it, by thumbing through the book at random.

Instead, use it to increase your vocabulary beyond what's in that SLC course. Or just bring it along, and thumb through with your new-found friend. That should break the ice.

Or simply memorize the translations of "But I'll try it", and see what happens. (Babelcom; 800-692-2235 and in gay bookstores)