Current Events > Does anyone have tips for learning a language?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I tried teaching myself Spanish for years and never got above the lower intermediate level. At the beginning of this year I started learning Italian for 3 months just for the hell of it and found it to be kind of easy because it shared so much in common with Spanish. I got excited and tried to learn Spanish again and I forgot pretty much everything I learned in Italian and barely got any better at Spanish. Now I want to give French a try. Any tips?

Finish what you start before starting something else

Don't try to memorise the rude words first.

immersion. go live in a country that speaks the language for a few months and you'll pick it up quick enough.

LordFarquad1312 posted...

Finish what you start before starting something else

I was trying to learn Spanish for an entire decade. I feel like its time to give it a break. Learning Italian was just my way of seeing if I even have the capability to learn a new language. And I kind of did. I plan to spend all of 2022 on French

Reading, listening and immersion

You have to consume media in your target language. Books and apps can get you the basics of grammar and a nice starter vocab but eventually you have to jump into actual media. It helps if there are things you enjoy in that language. The other thing you want is a conversation partner. Thankfully there are a lot of free language exchange apps where you help a person with English while they help you with your target language. But if you know a speaker in real life that's even better.

I took 5 years of Spanish in middle/high school and when I went to Ecuador I didn't have a fuckin clue what they were saying

Two months later, having spoken zero English, I could have Spanish conversations even though I'd never actually tried to learn it

That said, I think Duolingo app is pretty useful

ssjevot posted...

You have to consume media in your target language. Books and apps can get you the basics of grammar and a nice starter vocab but eventually you have to jump into actual media. It helps if there are things you enjoy in that language. The other thing you want is a conversation partner. Thankfully there are a lot of free language exchange apps where you help a person with English while they help you with your target language. But if you know a speaker in real life that's even better.

Ill try watching some shows and YouTube channels in French. I dont like podcasts but Ive heard that listening to them on the language youre learning can help. Do you have any recommendations for language exchange apps?

The only real way to learn a new language is to use it constantly. The best way to learn Spanish would be to go live in Mexico or Spain for a year.

Feline_Heart posted...

Ill try watching some shows and YouTube channels in French. I dont like podcasts but Ive heard that listening to them on the language youre learning can help. Do you have any recommendations for language exchange apps?

There's a podcast that is half in English half in your target language for this purpose, but I forgot the name

Feline_Heart posted...

Ill try watching some shows and YouTube channels in French. I dont like podcasts but Ive heard that listening to them on the language youre learning can help. Do you have any recommendations for language exchange apps?

I only ever used HelloTalk but I don't know what all is out there now or if it's still good now. Probably better to search for recommendations.

Njolk posted...

I took 5 years of Spanish in middle/high school and when I went to Ecuador I didn't have a fuckin clue what they were saying

Two months later, having spoken zero English, I could have Spanish conversations even though I'd never actually tried to learn it

That said, I think Duolingo app is pretty useful

Thats really cool. I dont think Ill be able to visit France any time soon but it could be interesting. Im going to use Duolingo along with some other apps while I learn French but Duolingo isnt that great in my opinion. I completed the Spanish tree twice and got halfway through the reverse tree, but I still only understand every third word of Spanish that someone says to me

Feline_Heart posted...

Thats really cool. I dont think Ill be able to visit France any time soon but it could be interesting. Im going to use Duolingo along with some other apps while I learn French but Duolingo isnt that great in my opinion. I completed the Spanish tree twice and got halfway through the reverse tree, but I still only understand every third word of Spanish that someone says to me

Yeah the biggest problem with those apps is they don't teach you enough words. It varies by language but you need something like 8k-12k words to be conversationally fluent. And it's not really practical to just cram all of that using an app, so eventually you just consume media and pick up new words that way. But you need to know the basics of grammar and have a foundational vocabulary first and apps/textbooks/etc. can help with that.

Its a combination of what everyone is saying. You need to be around it to really get it. Whether its through real immersion or limited immersion by making a point of consuming media. You can learn how to conjugate a verb or nouns through apps but need more to actually learn.

My wife was born and raised in Brazilian and I had been trying to learn Portuguese since I met her. The weeks I spend with her in Brazil each year or watching Brazilian news and tv have done more to help me learn than apps and its not close. In my Spotify review I always have Brazilian singers as my most listened to even though I dont really like it. Helps me learn

Duolingo was such a waste of time for me.

24k experience and I still had trouble understanding the basics.

Here's a few better ways on learning.

https://www.linguasorb.com/spanish/verbs/most-common-verbs/

https://www.spanishdict.com/guide

Purchase yourself a college course book or search your local library to check out these for free instead.

I need to learn Portuguese and I'm struggling hard. Especially when people cut out parts of so many words while speaking.

Flash cards work for vocabulary. I can't say much else seeing as I really do not like learning new grammars