What to Study?

[superstacker]

Hi guys,

Im off to Iraq later this month (september) for a nice three month stint.

I'll have access to my laptop and should be able to study for at least an hour or so a night without any real problems.

My background is in the logistics side of life, more so aviation fuel at this present time. Now i see this as an ideal time to study something in the hope of "bettering" myself. Some study could see me open other doors or get a new skill.

So i was thinking maybe study a language? There may be other things but my mind is drawing a blank..

Academically i have 10 GCSE's with high passes and im 23 (24 out there).

So what would you recommend for me, Ideally a program or study guide i could buy/download?

any help appreciated..

 

[Shugster]

A 2nd Languge is always a good thing to have.

Spanish or Chinese would be good, (although I don't think that Mandarin would be easy for one second), however we are doing more business with China and when you get out It will be a good language to have.

Or a small course in Excel or Word, (Admit it, does anyone really know a quarter of what Excel can really do? Apart from the programmers).

TCP/IP is something I always wanted to swot up on when I have the time. Or just a basic network course.

 

[CodeMonkey]

A 2nd Language is always a good thing to have.

Although 3 months isn't a lot of time it will give you a good grasp of the fundamentals of a 2nd language. If you have any previous language qualifications how about continuing.

People like Linguaphone and berlitz make good language courses interactive and audio.

I've used both to help me learn some Japanese, although i haven't done the whole lot it's surprising how much you learn from these sort of things.

 

[superstacker]

I studied GCSE French to A* standard, but have only used a bit of it in france during my bike trips..

 

[8:15fromOdium]

SS,

lots of stuff at: http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/

This gives you taster subjects if you wish to go on and do an OU degree - If your location has a DELC that may help, but the material can be downloaded for offline use.

I have spent a bit of time OOA, on Ops & in FI learning like this and my last (ever) OU assignment went in tonight. My best marks are when I am away, too many (good) distractions at home - whatever you choose to do, good luck.

 

[superstacker]

Thinking about it, I think id like to continue with my French. It would be nice if i could speak German as well...as i love visiting Germany...but one step at a time eh?

I've downloaded some bits from www.BYKI.com, i was looking at that OU site but there are only a few french sections?

 

[Minor]

How about Pashto language. That could become handy.

 

[PingDit]

I'd go for Arabic - we're gonna be there for years yet!

 

[CodeMonkey]

How about Pashto language. That could become handy.

Don't forget Farsi, another handy language