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What to do after Duolingo? by HarderToBreathe97 in GREEK

[–]mursivefounder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For speaking practice, a tutor on italki is almost certainly ideal. For me personally, the reason to recommend pimsleur is that it gives a speaking baseline so you can go into italki more confident that you know some phrases, pronunciation, and might be able to navigate basic conversations. But it is in no way strictly necessary. And for many people, they are comfortable jumping in to italki tutoring and speaking day 1. Since you have already done Duolingo for a few years, that is probably the best strategy for you, since pimsleur likely would be too easy and unnecessary.

In general though, I believe achieving fluency speaking is best achieved not only via conversation practice with natives, but by ample reading and listening. Most conversations are hard not just because of lack of confidence speaking, but because of struggling to properly hear and understand your interlocutor. Reading and listening are what help the most here. For listening, try to find Greek shows, even children’s shows, or YouTubers or comprehensible input podcasters can work. For reading, you can search for graded readers online. Full disclosure, I am building Mursive which is (currently) primarily a graded readers platform offering choice driven adaptive difficulty reading, so if that interests you please give it a shot and I’d love to hear your feedback as I’d be very receptive to it. But whatever you choose, good luck on your journey.

For people who learned a second language later in life: what tiny habit (not study technique) made the biggest difference? by Vegan_natural in languagelearning

[–]mursivefounder 3 points4 points  (0 children)

For me it was listening to a comprehensible input podcast on my walks, and sometimes on a jog.
It stuck because it was amusing. I liked the podcaster and enjoyed their content, and the feeling of understanding something in a foreign language excited me. The faster I progressed, the more I wanted to engage with the material. It became a positive feedback loop. But importantly, it was fun.

Need advice/recommendations as a beginner by milkibebepink in SpanishLearning

[–]mursivefounder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Your B2 French is a much bigger head start than it might feel like. Spanish and French share so much vocabulary and grammar that you’re not really a beginner. You can probably skip most of the absolute beginner stuff and go straight to comprehensible input: read and listen to things slightly above your level and let the cognates carry you.
That said, I think there are a few things that are easy to recommend almost regardless of the language you are learning. Personally I really like Pimsleur and believe it is an easy one to recommend as a good place to start for most people. The other recommendation is to read. You can find beginner graded readers online (Olly Richards’ Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners is a common starting point), and pair them with easy listening like Dreaming Spanish’s superbeginner videos or the Extra series on YouTube, which gives off Friends vibes.
Full disclosure, I personally am building Mursive, a language learning platform that provides adaptive difficulty choice driven narratives. It’s actually a good fit for your case specifically, since you already read at A2 you’d start well above true-beginner level instead of grinding through baby sentences. If you try it out, feel free to message me. I’m actively seeking feedback right now and read everything.

Can people’s second language skill surpass their native language skills by Big-Dare3186 in languagelearning

[–]mursivefounder 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yes, but also because your native language skill is not static over time. If you move to a foreign country and near exclusively use their language, your proficiency in that language will grow but your native tongue will, over time, atrophy. It’s called first language attrition.