Eco Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 I'm currently still working on my German. At this point, it has basically been a lot of Duolingo plus some German Radio. I figured shortly I'll be getting some children's books from the library and trying to work through them. Think I'm going to really struggle with conversations as I'm mainly focusing on reading, writing. I need to find some locals that speak German and would be willing to go grab a beer once a week and just speak German. That's the only way this is going to work. Anyone else trying to learn a new language? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
...Dan Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Yeah I've been using Memrise and Duolingo for years to learn French. Listening to music and watching films in your chosen language is very helpful too. Nothing beats being surrounded by native speakers, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber Mel81x+ Posted March 6, 2017 Subscriber Share Posted March 6, 2017 5 minutes ago, ...Dan said: Yeah I've been using Memrise and Duolingo for years to learn French. Listening to music and watching films in your chosen language is very helpful too. Nothing beats being surrounded by native speakers, though. Learning Arabic in school as a compulsory mandate from the government is where that line in bold really holds true for me. I wouldn't have picked it up half as easily as I did if it wasn't for the local kids and playing football in the streets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eco Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 Oh yeah, but I can't simply just pick up and move to Germany, despite the fact that my wife and I both would love to do just that. I am going to do more research to see if there is a German Society here in Atlanta that maybe I can get more involved in so that I have native speakers to talk to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted March 6, 2017 Administrator Share Posted March 6, 2017 I used Duolingo and Memrise to learn Spanish but never really caught on. That's probably not down to the app though; more my lack of motivation to continue learning. I do find watching films/tv programmes helps more in practicality when needing to learn a language quickly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eco Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 Yeah - I just don't get any German Programming without searching online. German Radio is quite easy to find which is what I've been doing. One issue with Duolingo is the lack of explanation. I'm on German numbers 1-100, and 1-10 make sense, but it seems to be as if the number 23 would be translated to '3 and 2 ten'. However, that is not explained at all and thus I'm having to look outside of Duolingo for help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
...Dan Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 There are plenty of good German films you could watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toinho Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Obviously been learning Japanese. Haven't done much recently, but used to use a paid program online a lot which really helped with my vocabulary and reading. Used memrise for a little bit. May get back into that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eco Posted March 7, 2017 Author Share Posted March 7, 2017 8 hours ago, ...Dan said: There are plenty of good German films you could watch. Feel free to send me some names and I'll check them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 I want to learn Spanish or Tagalog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
...Dan Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 38 minutes ago, Ubuntu said: Feel free to send me some names and I'll check them out. I haven't seen many myself, off the top of my head only Run Lola Run and Goodbye Lenin which are both very good films. Other films I know of are Wings of Desire, Das Boot, Das Experiment and The Lives of Others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toinho Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Anyone know some Japanese or are learning it? We could chat here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toinho Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Learning a Romantic or Germanic language are meant to be easiest for native English speakers. According to many sources, Chinese (Mandarin) and Japanese are the two hardest. Has anyone found this true? Or how about our non-native English speakers, how was learning English for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eco Posted March 7, 2017 Author Share Posted March 7, 2017 2 hours ago, Anton said: Learning a Romantic or Germanic language are meant to be easiest for native English speakers. According to many sources, Chinese (Mandarin) and Japanese are the two hardest. Has anyone found this true? Or how about our non-native English speakers, how was learning English for you? I studied Chinese while living there for 2 years. While it was harder because the entire system is different from ours, it was a lot easier with the fact that I was immersed (in a city with no other English speakers mind you ), and had all kinds of access to children's books, TV's, and native speakers who were eager to try their English on me. Learning German, at home, with no native speakers is rather a pain in the ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvertonGirl Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 I've been learning Spanish for a year now. I go to a face to face conversational class weekly and do classwork too. To supplement this, I also use Duolingo and have used Babbel for a bit too. Really enjoy learning it actually, it's fun but also useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carefreeluke Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 My degree was in French and Spanish, moving to Spain next week as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted March 7, 2017 Administrator Share Posted March 7, 2017 2 minutes ago, carefreeluke said: My degree was in French and Spanish, moving to Spain next week as well. don't let that get in the way of posting on here. you're in now! where you moving to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Tommy Posted March 7, 2017 Moderator Share Posted March 7, 2017 I've been learning Spanish on Duolingo every now and then. Once you have a bit of a grasp of the language, I'd definitely recommend watching movies in the language you're learning with subtitles in your language. That's how I improved my miserable school English. And as you can look, it's pretty well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carefreeluke Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 3 hours ago, StanLCFC said: don't let that get in the way of posting on here. you're in now! where you moving to? Sevilla mate for a couple of months, will then head back home for summer, then back out again to Spain around September time to most likely a different part of Spain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted March 7, 2017 Administrator Share Posted March 7, 2017 8 minutes ago, carefreeluke said: Sevilla mate for a couple of months, will then head back home for summer, then back out again to Spain around September time to most likely a different part of Spain. seville? you're dead to me mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 3 hours ago, carefreeluke said: My degree was in French and Spanish. Same here, as you know. Plus Catalan added into the mix. Spending time abroad is a great way of getting to grips with the cultures involved. I'm very much against the notion of learning language in a vacuum without experiencing or understanding the cultures involved. I'm very wary of these places offering a quick fix or a dip-your-toes experience as they're very thin on the ground, even for basic communication or comprehension. I laugh at these "Learn A Language In X Days" programmes - it takes time, dedication and perseverance to learn a language. It's all worth it in the end but the trial-and-error aspect which goes along with it sometimes knocks peoples' confidence. Once you're over that hurdle, the world is your oyster (literally!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toinho Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 I still make many mistakes, by accidentally saying the wrong word. Took me like 2 years to get over that fear. Pathetic in hindsight, but much more confident in trying stuff now. My speaking is well below where it should be (in English and Japanese), but my brain finds it difficult with sentence structure and particles, oh god particles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
...Dan Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 4 minutes ago, Anton said: I still make many mistakes, by accidentally saying the wrong word. Took me like 2 years to get over that fear. Pathetic in hindsight, but much more confident in trying shit now. I asked for il conte (the count) instead of il conto (the bill) in Italy and the waiter laughed at me (not in a mean way) and said something about il conte di montecristo. Good times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burning Gold Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 I've got Rosetta Stone for Spanish but I barely get the time to use it, which is a shame. I mostly use Duolingo (great, but as Ubuntu said, the lack of explanation can be annoying if someone hasn't put one in the comments) but I find HelloTalk useful for talking to native speakers. Obviously, it's no substitute for immersion but that's not always an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
...Dan Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Didn't know about HelloTalk, just downloaded it, looks interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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