# "Romance" method of Learning Languages



## vic1.0

Hi everyone,

i guess all of you agrees that the best way to learn a foreign language is the 'mouth-to-mouth-method'  (copyright by Hakro)
Have you ever learnt this way? Which language(s)?
_________________________



*Mod Edit:*  We changed the name of this thread to better reflect the intention of the thread starter, which is to poll forer@s about their experiences learning a language via the "Mouth-to-Mouth" method - i.e. sharing a romantic relationship with someone who speaks that language.

*Mouth-to-Mouth Method (c) Hakro. January, 2006.


----------



## vic1.0

It would also be interesting to hear which asian/scandinavian/slavic or other language was that...


----------



## JazzByChas

I'm guessing (without having read Hakro's post) that "mouth to mouth" means only by mouth, and never studied.  In which case, Spanish works for me that way.  I have never formally studied Spanish...just spoken it to "los gentes Hispanicas" along the way..


----------



## GenJen54

Hi Vic, 

A bit of an explanation might help. Are you talking about learning (to borrow a musical expression) "by ear," where someone only learns by listening and not by textbooks - or are you speaking of something else...(romance, perhaps?)


----------



## vic1.0

For me, learning mouth-to-mouth means learning from your loved one, which doesn't exclude studying the language in school as well.
Maybe i could make myself clear by posting the comments i referred to:

"Now i'm learning Spanish due to several reasons. One is that i like to learn languages, then i wanted to understand the lyrics of my favourite songs  , but the main motivation is that i fell in love with an hispanohablante " (by me)

reply by Hakro:
I can assure you that it's absolutely the best way to learn a foreign language! It's called the 'mouth-to-mouth-method'.


----------



## JazzByChas

Hmmm...I wasn't going to go there...no suprise that GenJen has uncovered your "motive."

In this case, the only language I learned "mouth-to-mouth" was English.....heh heh he


----------



## vic1.0

Sorry, Chas, it was my fault you misunderstood me. Still i'm glad Spanish got an extra vote


----------



## BasedowLives

My experience is that they spoke english flawlessly, with no accent and only reverted to the other language when their parents spoke to them in it.  So I never had a chance.


----------



## SpiceMan

On vote for asian languages.
Although I was studying japanese since before I even met her, I've learnt a lot by just talking to my girlfriend.


----------



## Hakro

Before voting, I insist to have at least two possibilities more: Portuguese and Greek. So many people from other countries have gone there for holidays and met someone... and learned the language!


----------



## nichec

Hello to all:
Hummm....What a question 
I voted for English and French. I actually learned them both in school, but I think I could have never gone this far if I didn't have the chance to learn them "mouth-to-mouth" 
I do think it's a good way to learn a new language...(funny, my loved ones didn't learn any Chinese from me )


----------



## VenusEnvy

I began seeing a guy who spoke Spanish, and his English wasn't very good. So, I began studying Spanish and eventually we just spoke it all the time. We lived together for about 2 years and spoke it in the house. I learned Spanish easily that way! I'd say I learned more from being around him than a classroom or textbook EVER taught me.  Now I know how to love and fight in the language. ja ja

Now I just need to find a French and an Italian boyfriend... and I'm set!


----------



## vic1.0

Hakro said:
			
		

> Before voting, I insist to have at least two possibilities more: Portuguese and Greek. So many people from other countries have gone there for holidays and met someone... and learned the language!


 
Unfortunately i couldn't give more than ten possibilities in the poll. I'd change Hungarian to Portugese or Greek if you told me how to  Should i ask a mod..?


----------



## JazzByChas

(A note to the mods, etc.: the poll percentages add up to 130%....)


----------



## ElaineG

JazzByChas said:
			
		

> (A note to the mods, etc.: the poll percentages add up to 130%....)


 
Probably some respondents have been lucky enough to learn _two_ or more languages that way .


----------



## Zakalwe

I met my actual spanish girlfriend in England and we had to speak english together as any of us speak the other language. 
Then she came to France for 3 years, and learned french. 
Finallly i went to Spain and i learned spanish.
Althought now we both speak the other language, we use to speak to the other in our own language.


----------



## blancalaw

I have learned English from my beloved family, does that count?  My husband also speaks English, as well as most of my friends.

I would have loved to have a special language between my husband and me.  I always imagined us speaking private things to one another that no one else understood.


----------



## frequency

I have had an American boyfriend, but it didn't help me improve my English at all-except for pronunciation matter-because I wasn't an eager English learner then. This is just the biggest reason for that. I think I bothered him a lot with my false English at that time.

Long after the relationship with that boyfriend, I've started studying English really hard... it helped me a lot. All I want to say is, your motivation is only the best key for improvement.


----------



## la reine victoria

I voted 'French' as this is the language I'm which I'm most proficient. Sadly my written French is very rusty but my ability to speak it has brought me many compliments from French people when I am in their country. When I was in Moissac I went into the tourist office to ask for a street map and details of 'things not to be missed'. Just as I was leaving, the lady with whom I had spoken asked. 'Vous êtes de quelle région de la France, madame? When I told her I was English she looked astonished and said, 'Vous avez l'accent de l'Alsace.' No smiley available for 'blow your own trumpet' but I'm blowing it anyway as it made me feel so proud 

I had a wonderful teacher at school (I started learning at age 11), who spoke to us only in French. She gave us all a French christian name and called herself Mademoiselle Ernestine. She was English, by the way.

Obviously we needed text books for the points of French grammar, passages for translation and comprehension.

I was fortunate in being recommended by my teacher to spend a month, with a professional family, in a hamlet near Nevers. I was aged 15. There were two daughters, and the point of the exercise was to spend the mornings speaking to them in English and the afternoons speaking only French. This was extremely beneficial for all parties and my vocabulary was greatly increased. I was even able to fend off the attentions of their father who appeared in my bedroom one night wearing only his underpants!  

I do tend to ramble so will say little more except that, prior to spending a month in Sardinia, I taught myself some basic Italian. During my time there I was amazed at how quickly I picked up the language just by talking to the locals.

The same thing happened during a six month stay in Iran where I was engaged in an archaeological excavation. My two small pottery-washing boys soon had me speaking quite fluently in Farsi. Alas all now forgotten.

Forgive the trip down memory lane of

La Reine V


----------



## Hakro

la reine victoria said:
			
		

> I voted 'French' as this is the language I'm which I'm most proficient.
> - - -
> I was even able to fend off the attentions of their father who appeared in my bedroom one night wearing only his underpants!


 But you didn't learn French mouth-to-mouth with the father, did you?


----------



## Hakro

I have just learned that 'tongue-to-ear' could be a better expression than 'mouth-to-mouth' for this kind of language learning. Even more efficient!

I can understand this. It's not so easy to speak a foreign language at the same time as you're kissing someone...

I can already feel someone's tongue in my ear... don't you...?


----------



## Encolpius

I do not think it is the best method to learn a language all the time. I have not used that myself, but a heard form one of my colleagues whose husband is an Englishman and he is not able to explain things because he is a native but it does not mean he is kind of skilled in English. I also remember when I used to ask my room mate about some Czech stuff he was often not able to explain details. Then, in my case it would not work because, unfortunately, I have visual memory, so if I hear something it is gone within 2-5 minutes and I do not have a pen on me all the time.


----------



## Sepia

vic1.0 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> i guess all of you agrees that the best way to learn a foreign language is the 'mouth-to-mouth-method'  (copyright by Hakro)
> Have you ever learnt this way? Which language(s)?
> _________________________
> 
> 
> 
> It works, but it is definitely not the most efficient way to learn. Sure, you learned your mother language that way, but think about how long time that took. Sometimes it reminds me of re-inventing the wheel - trying to learn a language just by observing, an try-and-miss in, stead of getting some basic and structured knowledge of the was the language functions. (May work for a few talented people - how it works on the average, just listen to the immigrants around you, in stores and subways).
> 
> The tragic thing is that most people are brainwashed into believing that it takes a long time to learn to handle a foreign language well.


----------

