Anyone Here Who's Learned A Foreign Language Really Fast

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I gotta ask:

What exactly did you do during that time period?

For Russian, all I did was read the thing at the end of each chapter that is like a several-page cheat-sheet of vocab, grammar rules, etc. During the semester, we went through 4 chapters - I literally only worked on the language DURING class - I did no homework at all, and was the best student in the class - got on A on every single test, always participated in class, etc. The professor recognized how quick I was at picking things up, and was OK with me not doing the homework because I did so well on the tests. I would write partner dialogs in the 15 minutes before a class where we had a test. I also improvised whenever my partners would mess up lines.

After the semester ended, I felt it was OK to go at whatever pace I wanted to - I didn't want to cruise ahead during the semester and make it seem like I had taken Russian in the past. I went through an additional 7 chapters of the book in the week after the semester ended.

Also, I forgot to say, I speak English (first language), German, Spanish and Russian. German better than the other second languages. I've dabbled in a bit of Norwegian since I sing a few songs in it, but have not looked up grammar rules and such.

My German professor in university said I had the biggest, fastest improvement in my German that she has ever seen in her career.

I haven't learnt a full language quickly; it took me about 6-7 years to learn to speak Spanish- mind you, I was only 9 years old when I started teaching myself, so...

...but I'm now teaching myself German and Hebrew (biblical and Modern) and can now already say a few words and phrases. I also know a lot of the basics of French, however I have not used French in a two years so it's just a case of me going over previously learned vocab.

A good way to help one learn a language that I found quite useful and effective is to learn 20-30 new words or phrases a day and repeat them with the new words you learn in the following days; although, this might not work for everyone, as it requires one to have a lot of free time available, in order to practice.

...I hope my advice is useful to you!

My first language is Korean.
I was 10 when I taught myself English.
It took me 3 months? to be able to understand what's taught in class without help.
I did know basic English before tho.
All I remember doing is I watched a lot of television shows and I had a pocket dictionary with me at all times.

I learned Spanish in school but only basic grammar, couple of vocabulary words, and few basic phrases.
My Spanish improved vastly when I started working with Latinos/Latinas.
Talking to them and hearing them speak Spanish every day improved my language competence a whole lot.
Now I can understand them but I suck at speaking.
I still have a lot more to learn

I don't know about learning quickly, but I have been told that I have a talent for languages.
Japanese is my second language and I occasionally get told that I sound exactly like a Japanese person (or better), though Japanese compliments are not to be trusted!
Also, archaic and unusual Japanese and also dialects within Japanese are some of my special interests.
Studying it at tertiary level, I would pass most practical, language centred papers with ease, but really struggle with things like essay-writing (in English).

Japanese has been with me for over two thirds of my life now, and I have considerably more Japanese friends than friends of my own nationality, in which I still live.
I think for me, (speaking from an AS point of view) making progress in language is easy when it is fun (a special interest); progress comes slower in those things that are not so appealing, or are difficult to understand (Japanese, for example, has complicated conventions in register, and Japanese culture also has well-defined rules in etiquette that even make NT's seem tactless).

One more thing: though I love language and would love to learn as many/much as possible, I know from experience that there is no point attempting to learn a language if you don't have an outlet for it. Without a use for language, it is harder to retain.
I could always do the LiveMocha thing and brag to people that "I know a few words of German", but my standards are pretty high, so I would rather do it right (and move to Germany).

Oh, and some general language learning advice. Some say the best approach is studying at school, some say the best way is to pick it up from others in immersion.
In fact, it is best if you have both of these. Preferably, starting with the former, and gradually moving into the latter.

I became proficient in Spanish in 3 years of high school classes and intermediately fluent within the next year. My only problems with Spanish are hearing it spoken, and sometimes forgetting the right word to use. From now on it's simply a measure of practice speaking and building vocabulary. I can read anything I want like a native speaker, think in it, and dream in it. So, 4 years total. Now I tutor it.

I taught myself beginning modern Hebrew, and then took the second level beginning class, and am now at an high beginner level within a year. I haven't learned all the grammar concepts and don't have a wide vocabulary, but I comprehend a lot of what I hear. I'm still in the beginning stages of learning Hebrew, and it's been a year to the month.

I am learning the Arabic alphabet right now. Going to teach the basics to myself on my own.

Besides that, because of my Spanish, I can read French, Italian, Portuguese, and Latin. Can't speak those languages though.

I pick up languages really quickly. I didn't have to study very hard to meet the requirements for Hebrew class - all in all I studied about an hour a week. I consider language learning one of my splinter skills - it just comes naturally to me - once I see a word, I know what it means forever, and grammar analyzation is not challenging at all.

I wrote a couple of sentences in hebrew saying that I love/like hebrew, arabic, and spanish. I said they were beautiful languages, really.

You're great at Spanish. That makes my day.

Thought I would write in English, though, since this thread is in English.

Sorry DGuru - I didn't intend to take your thread over.

I guess what I did when I was learning was to immerse myself as much as possible - and always push myself to the edge - never stay comfortable.

I find as a tutor that people usually don't improve with languages because they don't push themselves enough...and they expect the language to work like English, which no other language works like English.

English is tough, I hear.

One of the reasons that I am on this forum is to improve my English. Languages and words aren't exactly my thing so I think it's very courageous of me to give it a try here.

The truth is that my English sucks in every day life though, so I do need a little help from Google whilst posting on this forum.

[Moved from General Autism Discussion to Random Discussion]