Best way to learn a new language (as an adult)

[LifeInAHamsterWheel]

My question is two-fold, sorry. I'm thinking about my broader career options and considering a foreign language. I have basic french from school, so I could brush up on and improve that, but are there other languages that are more in demand in a workplace setting?

And what is the best way to go about learning a new language? I would need to be able to do it from home as I can't get to classes in the evenings.

Exciting new lover who is monoglot in the tongue you wish to learn

Much as DH pisses me off sometimes, I don't think I'm up for taking a lover - too much hassle for me!!

If at all possible find a French speaking person you can be friends with. That's how I learned another language.

Anybody else find that the older you get, the harder it is to retain new language information?

Try using duolingo

If you want to do it from home have a look at the app Duolingo and / or Rosetta Stone. I’ve put both of those on my phone to learn chinese as my ds started doing it at school so I thought why not give it a go myself, and considering I’ve done it for only a couple of weeks on my phone I’ve been quite happy with how much i could pick up just from that! If you know the basics of language you’re studying already you may find these things start out too basic but possibly you can do an aptitude test at the start then jump ahead.
You can also just buy books like the “teach yourself.... French / Arabic / whatever” or the “mastering....French etc” series, which used to come with cds so I wonder now maybe they would come with audio downloads?? Those series tend to be quite good.
Meeting French people to chat with us obviously good as well but depends on the type of learner you are. I like to follow a course to see everything written out and understand the grammar rules and so on, then chatting can supplement it. You can get language tutors on skype these days, or I’m sure you can get French videos on YouTube etc

Lots and lots and lots of listening - podcasts, YouTube etc. A book for grammar, maybe a course book of some kind that takes you through topic by topic. There are also online teachers that you can do one-to-one or group lessons with, though I've no experience of those.

The main issues for most people trying to teach themselves are time and a lack of someone to talk to in the foreign language. In terms of time, little and often is much better than big sporadic chunksof study. You really do need very regular exposure to the language in order to make much progress.

For context, I'm a language teacher but am also learning another language myself atm. I have a massive advantage in that I'm a natural linguist and one of my languages helps hugely with the one I'm now learning. It's still not easy to make time for it though, and I have nobody to speak it to.

Thanks so much, I'll have a look at those options.

Any suggestions on a 'valuable' language to learn career-wise? I'm not convinced French is really in demand was wondering if German or even Russian or Chinese would be more marketable?

It just depends on your job etc I guess. Spanish is super popular. Comparatively easy, spoken in lots of places. I would avoid Russian and Chinese tbh - anything with a different alphabet is going to take a lot more time and effort to get anywhere with.

A friend signed up to a Japanese course with a Swedish uni, taught on line, in English, and untill Brexit free

Timely post for me. I'm starting an intensive Spanish class this evening. Four hours every Wednesday. Hoping that I'll find it easyish to get to grips with.

I have been using Duolingo the last few weeks, watching Spanish documentaries on Netflix and bought two books (only gathering dust so far).

Have you decided on a language OP?

I haven't decided on a language yet, still considering my options. I do like the idea of Spanish, I could at least order in a restaurant when we go on holiday!!

I've just downloaded an audiobook on my phone which I'm using to learn a new language. So far really enjoying it and it's handy I can just put it on whenever (even have it in the background whilst driving etc).
I think as I get used to it I'll probably see if there's a local language school or reasonable tutor.

I'd recommended an audiobook to start off with