Learning languages for the hearing impaired?

vines

Hi,

I'm partially deaf and I have great difficulty in learning new languages as I need to lip read, as well as read from a book, what someone is saying before it will make any sense to me. Classroom situations don't suit me as I can't hear what's going on in crowded situations, although 3/4 people are ok.

I was wondering are there any resources such as DVD/Book learning (CDs/tapes are no good to me re lip reading). I looked into private lessons, but they are astronomically expensive (€65/hr with a minimum commitment of 20 hrs!!!)!

Any thoughts/information on this?

irishdeafkids

Hi there,

When i was learning spanish 2 years ago, i found DVDs a great help - not always language-focused DVDs, but mainstream films with subtitles. (i'm the same as you with language learning, need to lipread & read books)

For the basics eg, grammar, try this website, http://www.spanish-bookworld.com/index.html and maybe check if DVDs have subtitles

Obviously audio or podcasts wouldn't be great but customer service might advise on identifying suitable products - email to explain your needs anyhow, so they know who's out there & what's needed - my approach!

Good luck with it ...

vines

irishdeafkids wrote: »

Hi there,

When i was learning spanish 2 years ago, i found DVDs a great help - not always language-focused DVDs, but mainstream films with subtitles. (i'm the same as you with language learning, need to lipread & read books)

For the basics eg, grammar, try this website, http://www.spanish-bookworld.com/index.html and maybe check if DVDs have subtitles

Obviously audio or podcasts wouldn't be great but customer service might advise on identifying suitable products - email to explain your needs anyhow, so they know who's out there & what's needed - my approach!

Good luck with it ...

Great, Thanks a mill, I'll try it out!

susiewoosie

Ever think of learning Irish Sign Language? Whilst its not a foreign language as such, its a useful skill and with already being hard of hearing - it might be an area you might be interested in..

www.deaf.ie run classes

vines wrote: »

Hi,

I'm partially deaf and I have great difficulty in learning new languages as I need to lip read, as well as read from a book, what someone is saying before it will make any sense to me. Classroom situations don't suit me as I can't hear what's going on in crowded situations, although 3/4 people are ok.

I was wondering are there any resources such as DVD/Book learning (CDs/tapes are no good to me re lip reading). I looked into private lessons, but they are astronomically expensive (€65/hr with a minimum commitment of 20 hrs!!!)!

Any thoughts/information on this?

the_syco

Look up German. After I had started secondary, I found out that I should've taken up German instead of French, as people with hearing difficulties seemingly found German handier. But by this stage, I was one month in, and would be unable to swap.

W@nkers :mad:

But yeah, look into doing German.

vines

the_syco wrote: »

Look up German. After I had started secondary, I found out that I should've taken up German instead of French, as people with hearing difficulties seemingly found German handier. But by this stage, I was one month in, and would be unable to swap.

W@nkers :mad:

But yeah, look into doing German.

Thanks for that, I've heard that alright although I reckon Spanish is a more useful language, so I battle on!