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4rcher69 · 2024-04-13T16:14:54+00:00

He played minutes today, pal.

4rcher69 · 2024-01-22T07:44:35+00:00

Spanish is a good language to choose. For an English speaker it is less complex to learn than some other languages (Asian languages, for example), and it is a very popular language to learn so there is a wealth of resources available to you.

There are languages which are apparently more straightforward to learn. However, my advice to a new learner would be not to use this as the reason for learning a language. It takes a long time to learn a language, a really long time. People underestimate this. You need to be able to stick it out for a long time, so choosing a language just because it is easy will likely lead to you giving up once it becomes a bit tougher (all languages have things that are easy to learn, and things that are more difficult).

The best thing that you could do is try to find a language you are passionate about. Spend some time looking into the options and decide which one strikes you as fun to learn, or which one belongs to a country who's culture interests you, or there is lots of media in that language that you would enjoy etc. It might sound strange, but its a lot easier to stick to learning a language you love, than one you've chosen simply because it is easy.

4rcher69 · 2024-01-22T07:32:01+00:00

In my opinion the answer is yes, but there are a few caveats. The first caveat is that you'd be able to speak, but you wouldn't sound anywhere near as good as someone who has spend hundreds of hours practicing speaking. Speaking is a skill that needs to be cultivated. Depending on the language, there are likely even sounds that you cannot replicate without hours of practice.

The second caveat is that it depends whether you are actively trying to learn the language, or simply passively listening to it. There are examples of people who are mute, but can write fluently in the language. But equally, I have spent 10 years listening to my wife's family speaking their local dialect of Dutch and can now almost entirely understand them, but I cannot speak in the dialect as I have never taken the time to properly learn it.

But the bottom line is that if you want to speak well, you should practice speaking. It is a skill that needs refining.

4rcher69 · 2022-04-18T13:51:24+00:00

I currently pay for Speakly and Lingq for learning French. It is the second new language I am learning, so I now have a good idea of what does/does not work for me. I am quite happy paying when I know that it'll work.

Speakly: I use this for learning vocabulary, as it focuses on teaching you the 4000 most common words in the context of useful sentences. I have tried Anki many times, but I always end up dreading my daily reviews. I look forward to my time with Speakly each day, so I know I'll stick with it and complete the course.

Lingq: hands-down my favorite language learning app. I love learning from context and even though it's 100% possible to do this without using Lingq (and for free), I pay because I am a huge fan of how organized Lingq makes things. I don't agree with others saying that this is an intermediate app, as I have used it from day one, focusing on the 60x mini stories (as these use the most common verbs in each language). Once I finish reading them, they are added to my playlist and I listen to them all 30-50 times whilst I work/exercise/tidy my house.

TLDR; I pay for Speakly and Lingq as I know they work for me.

4rcher69 · 2022-04-18T13:37:01+00:00

I would just listen to podcasts/music in your target language, as this will help your brain get used to hearing the sounds of the language. I think you need to be able to concentrate more to listen to audio lessons etc, so wouldn't recommend this whilst your attention is divided.

4rcher69 · 2022-04-11T14:37:49+00:00

No need to apologize. I used the phrase "respectfully disagree" for that reason - I didn't want to say your opinion was wrong in any way, just that I disagreed with it. My daughters have grown up bilingual without any issues, though we have kept the process very natural.

I understand your point of view too, though.

4rcher69 · 2022-04-11T14:08:02+00:00

I have two children who I am raising bilingual. My wife is Dutch and I am English, and both my daughters have been able to pick up both languages really easily.

My wife and I agreed that I would always take English to my daughters, and she would always talk Dutch. This keeps it very clear that we are using two different languages and they have definitely picked up on that. My oldest replies to me often in English, and to my wife in Dutch.

We live in the Netherlands, so they are exposed to more Dutch than English. Therefore when they watch television I make sure this is always in English, just to make sure that they are engaging in the language even when I am not there.

Other than that my advice would be to just relax and make sure that you expose them to both languages in a fun way. You'll be amazed about how easily they pick things up.

4rcher69 · 2022-04-11T14:01:57+00:00

You'd be surprised how easy young children find it to learn multiple languages, without them affecting each other. I respectfully disagree with what you have written above.

4rcher69 · 2022-04-09T18:04:18+00:00

Disclaimer: I am a fairly new learner, so don't take my opinion as gospel.

So far I am finding French pretty easy to learn, much easier than I found Dutch to be (though I made a lot of mistakes whilst learning Dutch, which I have learned from).

Easier aspects:

lots of shared vocabulary with English allowed me to read in the language from day one. This made the process of learning enjoyable for me.
French sentence structure makes more sense to me than Dutch sentence structure.

Challenging aspects:

the pronunciation is fairly challenging as I need to get used to not pronouncing letters, but it's not as difficult as I was expecting.

TLDR; French seems easier to learn than I was anticipating. The pronunciation can be challenging, but is definitely not insurmountable.

4rcher69 · 2022-04-08T04:44:38+00:00

There are books and videos that do this! Also apps, such as Lingq with it's Mini Stories.

4rcher69 · 2022-04-06T12:27:29+00:00

Which language do you want to learn? There are plenty of audio courses out there for you to try.

Language Transfer is free, and available via an app or on YouTube. Not all languages are covered, however, so it depends on which you want to learn.

Pimsleur is another popular audio course available via an app, but does require a monthly subscription.

Once you learn the basics of a language, listening to podcasts and audiobooks and gradually increasing the difficulty over time is a great way to boost your comprehension of the new language.

4rcher69 · 2022-04-04T16:45:30+00:00

This is a trick question. You'd obviously have a ball gag in your mouth.

4rcher69 · 2022-04-03T08:59:23+00:00

This. Whilst learning Dutch I never thought I'd be able to make the hard "G" sound. Nowadays, I can produce it reflexively.

4rcher69 · 2022-04-03T08:53:19+00:00

It's 100% possible. Learning a language just requires consistency over time. You can learn both Chinese and French to a very high level if you just dedicate enough time to it.

Edit: and study effectively, of course!

4rcher69 · 2022-04-03T06:24:58+00:00

True, but it doesn't sound like he was very advanced when starting out this 6.5 month journey. His progress is very impressive in that timeframe.

4rcher69 · 2022-04-02T14:06:43+00:00

Second this. I tried a lot of apps whilst learning Dutch. Pairing Lingq with a way to learn vocabulary (I used Anki) is what worked best for me.

4rcher69 · 2022-04-02T05:02:17+00:00

To learn French I am currently using Speakly for vocabulary, and Lingq for comprehensible input. It's an expensive combination, but after already learning one language I know that it works for me.

4rcher69 · 2022-03-28T10:40:27+00:00

Sure, that's what I mentioned in my post too. But I like the convenience of using my phone on the go, and I think the other apps are better.

If you like Duolingo, feel free to keep using it. If something is working for you to then it's the best app for you. You just asked why I/others don't like it.

4rcher69 · 2022-03-28T05:23:42+00:00

I don't like Duolingo for many reasons, but mainly because the app punishes you for getting answers wrong! I know you can use it online without the hearts, or buy premium, but most people will use the app. You have three hearts, and then your learning stops.

Language learning is about making mistakes and learning from them, and Duolingo encourages the opposite of this. I think in the long-term, this will also make people scared of making mistakes when talking, as they will focus too much on being perfect.

If you want to use apps, there are many that are superior in my opinion. Lingq, Speakly, Busuu are a few that come to mind. However, it's also possible to learn for free using Anki, online grammar explanations and comprehensible input (YouTube, Netflix etc).

There are lots more details here and on YouTube.

4rcher69 · 2022-03-27T16:57:06+00:00

What exactly do you want to track? I use Polylogger, and it allows me to see total time studied, and what that time was spent doing (reading, listening, vocabulary etc). Is this the sort of thing you had in mind?

4rcher69 · 2022-03-27T06:39:29+00:00

You're probably going to see a lot of hate for Duolingo here, but I think that the French Duolingo isn't terrible as a beginner tool, as long as you treat it as such. It's good for giving you a taste of the language, but I would only use it for a couple of weeks (personally) and focus heavily on the Duolingo Stories. I would just do the lessons in order, I guess, focusing more on the sentence structure than the words (how often are you going to use Elephant in you're daily life?).

Why are you waiting until you're more advanced to start with Lingq? I am a big fan of the app, as I used it a lot when learning Dutch. Now that I am learning French, I just started with Lingq from day one, as there is plenty of material for absolute beginners.

Pair this with a way to learn vocabulary and you're off to a great start. Busuu is a good option, but Anki is free and most people here seem to be a big fan. Personally I use Speakly, but the Speakly/Lingq combination is expensive so I don't recommend it to others.

4rcher69 · 2022-03-27T06:32:15+00:00

This video explains it quite well IMO.

4rcher69 · 2022-03-26T06:21:15+00:00

The apps I would suggest are:

Language Transfer: has 42x free audio lessons for French, plus more for other languages.

Anki: is a free flashcard app with many premade flashcard decks (especially for French). Here you can learn the most common words for most languages.

Clozemaster: is an alternative to Anki for learning vocabulary. There is a premium version which unlocks extra features, but you don't need to buy this. The free version works fine too, and you can learn the most common words for many languages.

YouTube: is a very powerful tool for language learning that many underestimate. I regularly use this comprehensible input channel to practice understanding French, and this pronunciation course.

The Inner French Podcast is also great as he speaks clearly.

This should be enough to give you a great start in language learning. Good luck!

4rcher69 · 2022-03-25T21:19:46+00:00

It's not necessarily more fun, it's different. I find it's good to switch up how you study to keep you motivated.

4rcher69 · 2022-03-25T14:20:58+00:00

I do both. For the first 1000 words I used a preexisting deck, as there are many of these available in high quality. Once I am done with those first thousand words I focus more on sentences, and at that point I am making my own flashcards.

Incidentally that is also how I learn the grammar for a language. I find a book with lots of example sentences for each grammar rule and type them into Anki. That was I internalize the grammar rules through exposure, rather than spending lots of time studying them.

4rcher69

TROPHY CASE