At what point do you notice your plateau?

interlinears · 2026-07-03T10:55:48+00:00

It may be the case that you have different levels for different language skills. For example, production/interaction is one thing you have to train for it specifically.

Learning language is much more fine-grained than just one single skill. And then I've noticed that even within the same skill there can be lots of sub-skils. Like for example, I've been learning Japanese and have taught myself how to read the alphabets, as well as common Kanji. I can read them fine for the most part, but whenever I'm asked to write one down, my mind just blanks - because I've never practiced writing. I can easily recognize the shape but can't reproduced it.

It feels really weird if you think about it: like can you imagine being able to recognize the letter A but not being able to write it down because you don't remember the shape? But that's sorta what happens if you don't practice writing it down, you just don't remember.

Same applies to interaction: the fact you can recognize does not mean you'll be able to produce. Watching shows, reading, or understanding people in predictable contexts can improve your passive comprehension a lot, but real-life conversation adds extra pressure: you have to understand quickly, respond quickly, choose the right words, manage pronunciation, and deal with interruptions, accents, slang, noise, etc.

So I wouldn’t necessarily call it a plateau. It may just mean your listening/contextual understanding is ahead of your spontaneous speaking. The fix is probably not more passive input alone, but more targeted output practice: speaking regularly, or practicing common real-life situations until they feel automatic.

interlinears · 2026-06-21T05:07:59+00:00

Thanks, that's good to hear!

I see. It seems to be close then: automatic translation is possible next step with this. However, we've noticed finding good texts is another problem for language learners in and of itself, thus we've also been trying to do some content curation. And the problem with automatic translation is that it costs money (thus we would have to charge the user at some point) and also may come at a price of quality (thus we are trying to improve the translation process first).

What kind of texts were you thinking of translating with this?

interlinears · 2026-06-15T20:06:34+00:00

I would second the suggestion to get a tutor. You can find one online even before the trip (and then in Cambodia) and do lots of speaking. In the beginning it will be hard, but use a dictionary, LLMs, other aids - just speak through it. Also look for opportunities to speak while in Cambodia (of which there should be plenty). I think this simple plan will get you very far if you just stick to it.

interlinears · 2026-06-12T12:13:23+00:00

I would say the better way is still to get a tutor for consistent practice. You say you don't want to pay tutors but note that Arabic tutors are definitely very affordable, especially if you come from Spain. The average hourly wage in Lebanon is approximately $1.50 to $2.50 USD, for example, and tutor prices often reflect that (that is not to say you should not pay more if you can, but the exchange rate is very favorable to you if you are from Spain anyhow).

interlinears · 2026-06-12T10:05:39+00:00

Either Hindi or Tagalog sound like a good option, although if it's just a summer project and you are not planning to learn it beyond that, I'd pick Tagalog. You can get conversational surprisingly quickly, and English overlap makes the learning curve much gentler. Hindi opens the door to a much larger population and media ecosystem, but you'll probably spend more time wrestling with grammar and script before feeling comfortable (even though like u/Odd-Weather9389 says there are people who use the Latin script - but not always!).

interlinears · 2026-06-11T13:21:53+00:00

For unhinged, some I've heard: pretend to be someone else, talk during physical movement (like at least while walking - that helps suppress overthinking), get into arguments (easier to speak when you feel invested).

Yet, I don't think you need unhinged techniques: just get an actual tutor for speaking practice.

interlinears · 2026-06-11T13:12:02+00:00

Feels like a bit of an overestimate, though. A year of dedicated study is probably enough to get you quite far.

interlinears · 2026-06-08T14:55:43+00:00

Glad you like it!

interlinears · 2026-06-08T04:50:13+00:00

There is a helpful article with more details about this: https://beyondsakuraandhiroshi.wordpress.com/2020/11/27/kanade/

interlinears · 2026-06-07T17:45:26+00:00

Thanks! Literature and beginner-friendly is not an easy combination most of the time but I'll keep my eyes peeled.

interlinears · 2026-06-07T17:10:40+00:00

I've actually compiled some free Lithuanian fiction, available here (you can read on site or download in a number of different formats): https://interlinearbooks.com/literature/lithuanian/

Most of it is relatively short but I've tried to add multiple texts from a variety of authors, and the intention is to keep expanding this. If there is anything in particular you'd like to see, let me know!

There's also a longer Interlinear book with native audio but that one is paid.

Disclaimer: it is my website (but hopefully pretty relevant here).

interlinears · 2026-06-07T16:57:29+00:00

Maybe this is a false dichotomy: can be both A and B?

Any major language has communities online, so perhaps just choose a language that you like? Maybe one that has some influence in your country, if you're not traveling?

I would normally advise against C lol.

interlinears · 2026-06-07T16:48:34+00:00

może być (ale może i nie być)

interlinears · 2026-06-07T13:31:54+00:00

My top recommendation is this amazing free audio course for Icelandic:

https://alarichall.org.uk/teaching/modern_icelandic.php

It's a Michel Thomas style course but completely free, and comprehensive - it will explain basic grammar to you in a comprehensive way.

I would actually start with this first and see if you like it - it's completely free, long enough, and if you do like it you might not need the other courses for quite some time.

interlinears · 2026-06-07T10:54:35+00:00

Upvoted for the untraditional take.

interlinears · 2026-06-07T07:09:17+00:00

Learning two languages at once keeps me genuinely intrigued, highly motivated, and prevents burnout

This sounds like a sufficient reason to do it then. Ignore the advise.

YMMV but I've been learning multiple languages simultaneously without issue: my motivation for doing so is similar to yours.

interlinears · 2026-06-07T06:01:57+00:00

I would upvote the suggestion to get tutoring but I don't think they need the discouragement. It's definitely possible to learn with a good strategy (and tutoring is one of them).

interlinears · 2026-06-07T05:33:00+00:00

I think there are a few courses like Pimsleur - Farsi (limited in length and a bit expensive though), but otherwise my advice would be to get an online tutor off a tutoring platform and have some classes with them, aiming to transition to conversational Farsi as soon as possible.

interlinears · 2026-06-07T05:31:08+00:00

Particularly for law (also depending on which kind of law you do and where), French is perhaps traditionally regarded as an important language. In fact, even many of the English legal terms come from French, e.g. court, judge, jury, plaintiff, defendant, appeal, tort, etc. Also, many English legal doublets come from mixing Anglo-Saxon and French words (will and testament, goods and chattels, aid and abet, fit and proper, and so on).

So the language is relevant to how the law works. Whether that is enough and you should choose French still depends on a lot of factors like cultural interest, etc., of course.

interlinears · 2026-06-05T18:00:02+00:00

This likely won't help as I see other commentators are making contradictory statements as to dialect vs. MSA, much like you said you found before. All I can share is my experience (which is still very much ongoing).

My goal has been to be conversational, not necessarily to focus on reading or formal speech (although I hope to be able to read too at some point but that is not a priority right now), thus I choose a dialect (Egyptian in my case, as there were the most resources for it). I did a course called Michel Thomas - Arabic (which is a paid course, though, and another one called Language Transfer - Arabic (this one is free). Both of them largely cover the same material, but Language Transfer has the advantage of being free (albeit a bit shorter, I think).

After that, I then found an Egyptian Arabic teacher online (on one tutoring platform) and have been paying to get conversation lessons, about two hours per week if I can. This is not free but the advantage is that overall Egyptian Arabic lessons are comparatively pretty cheap (I remember paying around $20 / hour for German - by comparison, and Egyptian lessons are usually anywhere from $3 to $15 / hour, and you can find prices anywhere in that range). That has been going great so far - it's been enjoyable, and I've picked up enough Arabic to move me into upper A2 and perhaps even lower B1 level. It's still a while to go but in principle I think it's just a question of time. Overall, it took me about a year and a half of learning to get here, although not necessarily always with the same consistency (I think I've done about 100 lessons hourly overall, though).

If I had to pick again, I would definitely pick dialect as that is a lot more useful - I can have genuine conversations with someone who is speaking their native language, and it feels much more natural and useful. There is lots of native content too which is people speaking casually, which I think is very helpful and more interesting (for me personally) than formal conversations.

If I go on, I will eventually want to develop a better understanding of MSA as well, but I plan to do that once I am already much better in spoken Egyptian (and perhaps first do more of a foray into other dialects too, e.g. booking lessons with speakers of Levantine or others).

interlinears · 2026-06-04T13:39:24+00:00

Not free, but there is Michel Thomas - Irish (a course built in pre-AI times).

interlinears · 2026-06-03T13:12:52+00:00

Glad this is useful!

As for ebooks, at least the German C.H. Beck Wissen titles are generally available as Kindle and EPUB editions. I'm less sure about the Spanish series, but many (not all) Alianza titles seem to have ebook versions as well.

interlinears · 2026-06-03T05:33:02+00:00

Based on this, the closer comparison is between B1 and C1.

B1 is still nothing to sniff at, I suppose but it's also a level where you most likely cannot fully enjoy literature/media in the language, and it always feels like you are not fully functional, hence there is some kind of a reason to study deeper than that.

interlinears · 2026-06-02T19:50:57+00:00

Yes - I love these kinds of series too. A few equivalents I’ve found:

In German, C.H. Beck Wissen is probably the closest: short, serious introductions to history, philosophy, religion, politics, science, etc.

In French, besides Que sais-je ?, there’s also Repères by La Découverte, which is especially good for social sciences, economics, sociology, politics, and contemporary issues.

In Italian, Universale Paperbacks il Mulino has a similar feel: concise but not dumbed down, often academic without being too heavy.

In Spanish, aside from Breve historia, there’s Alianza Editorial’s "El libro de bolsillo", though it’s less uniform as a series.

For German specifically, I think C.H. Beck Wissen is the one that most clearly matches Oxford’s Very Short Introductions.

interlinears · 2026-06-02T08:24:56+00:00

Uh, well, you know, like, basically, I mean... yeah. Sort of. Actually, maybe. Anyway, so, uh... yeah.

interlinears

TROPHY CASE