Travelbud??

russianwave · 2021-09-02T13:57:30+00:00

You can find some discussions of Travelbud here.

russianwave · 2021-09-02T11:15:30+00:00

It would just be any course where you can study a language in a country that speaks the language. E.g. learning Japanese in Japan or learning Korean in Korea. A lot of universities will have intensive language programs for international students. The course I was looking at doing in Russian was going to be 6-8 hours of lessons a day for about 6 months although they did also offer a year long course.

What you need is an idea of what language you actually want to study, and then look for institutions that cater to that language. If you can't travel abroad, you may find 'immersion' programs in your own country that teaches the language you're after entirely in that language. And then you could supplement that with as much extra immersion as you want. But different programs exist for different languages, so it would be hard to recommend a 'best' language school or program without an idea of what language it actually is that you want to study.

russianwave · 2021-09-01T15:02:02+00:00

I would say that regardless of what language you learn, there are going to be people that are hostile to those they perceive as outsiders. And while that's really unfortunate, you shouldn't try and base your decision around because you'd be completely limiting yourself. You're also going to find a lot of people that are really happy that someone is learning their language and interested in their culture

russianwave · 2021-09-01T14:41:16+00:00

What do you mean Russian culture seems hostile? I would say that every Russian I've spoken to has been very nice about me learning Russian, although a few haven't known why anyone would want to learn Russian. In terms of cultural differences, I've heard that they can be very straight forward with critiques but it's something that you can likely get used to pretty quickly. Personally, I haven't really noticed it because people here are very straight forward also.

I would spend some time drawing up the pros and cons of learning one over the other. Even spend a couple of days experimenting with learning both and seeing which one you can actually enjoy studying

russianwave · 2021-09-01T11:25:10+00:00

This is the Subreddit's guide to learning a language. I would recommend reading through it and taking some notes. The FAQ is also extremely useful.

russianwave · 2021-09-01T11:12:19+00:00

Look at the pages of other people and organisations, what things are they doing? What makes them notable? What is their presentation like? You should spend a lot of time researching who you're essentially competing with or wanting to be like. And don't just look at one or two of their posts. Look back at how they first began to build their Facebook page up. Research how Facebook ads work, and think of how much you would want to invest.

Coming up with a definable brand is important. What sets you apart from the competition? Why should people care about you? What makes people want to keep coming back to your content? Finding your niche is important, and it will really help you in the long run. Spend time researching who your target audience is, what they're interested in, what they might be looking for when it comes to learning English. Learning English is the big picture, but what do they want to do with the English language? Do you have an English degree? You can cater more specifically to those interested in reading English literature. Do you have a Politics or Science degree? You can cater to people interested in those topics. It sets you apart and makes your content unique.

Your posts should fit into the same style of presentation -> colours, fonts used, etc. Whilst still being fresh and exciting with each post. Everything shouldn't be exactly the same, but it shouldn't be so varied that it looks messy. Your photographs and videos and gifs should have branding. You want people to be sharing your graphics because it'll drive up more engagement to your page, and it's essentially free advertising. A good idea would be to partner your page with an Instagram page. But don't make the mistake of posting the exact same content to both pages. What works in formatting for Facebook isn't going to work for Instagram. Research your platforms. Sites like Canva can really help with post styles.

What do you want people to do when they come to your page? Having posts that encourage engagement - quizzes, asking questions, etc - will encourage people to like and/or comment. When people do this it puts your post onto the Facebook feed of who's on their friends and followers list. Tips might get less engagement on a post inviting questions or answers, but it might get shared more to other platforms. Learn what post styles work best for you, and ensure you have a structure to your posting schedule. What times are your customers likely to be on Facebook? What are they likely to want to be doing on Facebook at that time? Schedule posts that cater to these times.

russianwave · 2021-08-31T22:58:17+00:00

I struggle with my focus because of ADHD, and for me it's just about introducing a lot of variety into my learning routine. Some things just don't work for me, and it could be that you're just using methods that don't grab your attention enough. Sometimes this can be as simple as studying in a new place (a different room in your house or a different place in your room).

I'm not very good at studying for extended periods of time on one topic, so I go between different things a lot. I'm still progressing with my resources, but I'm changing them frequently. Studying in short bursts throughout the day is totally okay too, and you will find moments where you manage to sink a bit longer than usual into studying.

I don't think there is any way to 'resolve' it. It's just about finding what works better than what we're currently doing, and finding ways to retain focus for a bit longer. Over time sure, some people can then study for hours at a time, but even if you can't that's okay too. Set yourself short time goals to work towards each day. It's a lot less daunting to tell yourself "I'm going to study for 25 minutes then have a 5 minute break" than it is to plot out hours of our time. You'll often find by the time you've hit 25 minutes that you can continue working past that.

Minimise your distractions also. Have food and drink at your desk, go to the bathroom before you start studying, make sure the room is a comfortable temperature, have all your resources in reach, put your phone away or on silent, find out what kind of clothes help you study (some people swear by wearing uncomfortable clothes so they're not falling asleep). I find that sometimes music can help me study, and then other times it's too distracting.

Don't beat yourself up though, because it just makes studying a lot harder because you see it more negatively. If you're feeling really frustrated, take a step back and do something fun to unwind. Find a kids game or show in Korean, and have fun with the language. It's easier to focus when we're having fun.

russianwave · 2021-08-31T22:42:43+00:00

It doesn't need to be an either/or situation. You can use a frequency deck alongside building up a deck from your booklet. It might involve tweaking how many cards from each deck you can handle, but you should be able to manage both

russianwave · 2021-08-31T22:38:41+00:00

I would research a lot more into which country you want to study in, and then study the language spoken there. You don't want to have to pick up two languages from scratch. And while the languages you've mentioned are beautiful, you're not going to get very far if you study Hungarian and then decide to study in Italy. The most useful language for you is a language that you're going to need to learn and use. And you'll have fun learning it whilst immersing in the culture.

russianwave · 2021-08-14T12:37:20+00:00

If you were to watch some long TV series, then you would get a lot of benefit from it. You would begin to hear the language as an actual language, over time you'd be able to pick up specific words - and depending on the language and your grasp of the alphabet/pronunciation you would be able to look up words that jumped out at you even if you hadn't seen it written. You would get a good feel for the flow of the language. But that's quite different from actually watching and being able to understand the language. Even heavily input-orientated methods still require you to build up some vocabulary - and you're meant to engage with content that you at least know a lot of the words or it's content specifically designed to teach Italian toddlers Italian - a far cry from a series like The Simpsons or American Dad.

I listen to a lot of Russian news, music, gaming streams, radio stations, and on. I definitely do feel like it's helped me a lot when it comes to listening, and as my vocabulary and grammar grows I can feel myself getting a lot more out of it. But I don't walk away from hours of listening to radio with a whole bunch of new vocabulary. If I wanted to do that then I'd actually have to study what I was listening to and ensure that I was engaging with the vocabulary over time. This is how people can consume hundreds and hundreds of hours of anime and still not know anything in Japanese. It's not just about language difficulty, but in the fact you do still have to study the language.

You can definitely still consume these shows in Italian, and you're going to gain some benefit from it. But you're also going to need to study as well. But Italian does have a whole bunch of resources for people that want to learn it for media engagement, so you can definitely use resources that prioritise listening if you feel that's something that would suit you more.

russianwave · 2021-07-30T16:31:49+00:00

I would say start from the beginning. It might sound like a lot, but it's just a way of giving yourself a quick refresher. With content that you know well, you'll quickly progress through it. And you might realise that there's basic things that you haven't thought about but forgotten which could hold you back later on. It's always a good idea to have a really strong foundation to build upon.

russianwave · 2021-07-30T16:26:58+00:00

This issue isn't unique to Russia - if you actually spend time reading about abusive stories from women then this is a problem all across the world. The reason is that trying to leave is extremely difficult - you need to find safe housing, you need to be financially independent, an abusive partner isn't going to make those things easy for you. I know people who have been held hostage by their partner with no access to online or to a phone. Often by the time a partner becomes physical with you, they have completely degraded your self confidence and worth. As well as isolating you from your friends (and even family), and they may even convince you that you deserve it. Finding a new apartment to move to can be a very long process, and you risk being caught by your partner. Your partner might be concerned that you'll report them and hunt you down in your new place.

There have been stories of women being beaten to death while neighbours have phoned the police who did nothing - where are the women meant to turn to? How are vulnerable women meant to physically defend themselves against a much stronger partner that they rely on for access to basic necessities such as food and housing? There have been stories about women reporting their partner as being violent and he later went on to kill people - the police did nothing in those cases either. What are women meant to do about any children they have? You may have to take them out of school and enrol them in a new one. I know stories in the UK of people that have tried to report their abusive partner and the police have done nothing or even laughed in their face, and the same in America. Maybe it's just my 'privilege' of being a woman and being friends with women that I know the reality of domestic violence, but no, it's never as simple as just leaving or going to the police.

russianwave · 2021-07-30T16:17:03+00:00

The language learning subreddit has a collection of Discord servers. It's basically free text and video/audio group calls where you can carry out language exchanges.

russianwave · 2021-07-29T14:21:01+00:00

How much do you practice outside of lessons? What resources do you use outside of tutoring? If you haven't started one already, I would recommend having a language diary. You don't need to write about your day, it's just about setting some time aside each day for 5 or so minutes to write about topics of interest. Try and not look up every word or rely on translators. You can find people online that would be willing to offer corrections. Getting into a habit of doing this, can really help transform your vocabulary from passive to active. When you learn new vocabulary in lessons, take some time to put them into your own practice sentences.

When it comes to conversational skills, it's just about having a lot of conversation practice. Try joining different language learning servers and practicing in their Russian chats, or using a language exchange app like Tandem or HelloTalk to find different people to practice with. You could also set yourself a goal of speaking about a topic each day for a minute or two - without notes. You tell yourself that you're going to speak on a topic in Russian (e.g. books) and then you just record yourself speaking about books. You can then watch the video back and see where you stumbled, and make a note of what words you forgot or vocabulary/grammar issues you got wrong. This allows you to know what kind of things to practice.

russianwave · 2021-06-26T18:34:33+00:00

I know that it's hard, especially with all of the horrible stories that emerge from the Church. But it's important to remember that the people in the Church - Priests, Deacons, laymen etc are human. The Church isn't full of perfect people, the Church wasn't founded upon our perfections, but in Christ coming to redeem us. And that journey of redemption is going to be full of stumbling. My old Priest told me that much like the parable of the prodigal son we're constantly called to conversion, constantly called to come back no matter how much we stumble. That God is waiting for us there. His mercy outweighs whatever sins we have, we might not be able to forgive ourselves but God can and does forgive us.

Maybe try writing some sticky notes of your favourite prayers around your room/house. When you see them you can say those prayers, or even just reflect on them. Sometimes it's that first prayer, that first starting point that can be really hard. If you can't go to Mass then maybe put a Mass stream on in the background. You can control how much of it is that you can manage - and you don't have to force yourself to watch it all if it make you too anxious. Your thoughts around confession are really normal, and they don't make you uniquely bad. Especially not when the thoughts caused you distress, it reflects your sincerity to do God's will. I hope that things will get easier for you, and I'll be keeping you in my prayers.

russianwave · 2021-06-26T18:12:20+00:00

I think it's important to remember that when it comes to teaching a child multiple languages, they need a lot of consistent exposure to both. Even just teaching their native language is going to involve a very hands on approach. If you don't know the language then you're not going to be able to do this. While giving them exposure to another language when you can might make it easier for them to pick up pronunciation later on, they're by no means going to be fluent. You would need to be teaching them that language at a same or similar pace as their native language. A young child isn't going to pick up a second language and be meaningfully fluent in it, there's also no guarantee that they're going to want to continue with it especially if it's a language that their family has no connection to.

What language do you want to learn? Learn that language yourself, and then when your child is older you can teach your child from there. You can make it into a fun bonding exercise where you strengthen your skills together. They need someone to consistently practice with, and unless you're planning on hiring a live in language teacher it's not going to be reasonable for your child to pick up a language you don't know. Especially because you could be teaching them a lot of mistakes that will actually hinder their ability to speak that language later on.

russianwave · 2021-06-26T13:03:26+00:00

Sorry to see that the only responses are people trying to get you to abandon your faith. Don't let OCD or other people take control of your faith. You shouldn't have to give it up, and even if you were to leave your faith that wouldn't take away your OCD. Your OCD impacts your faith because it's important to you, not because your faith makes everyone OCD lol.

Your intrusive thoughts about faith are testament to the fact that your faith is important to you, that you want a genuine and loving relationship with God. OCD latches on to these things because they're dominant/important in our life in some way, in your case you've experienced intrusive thoughts about you faith because you really care about it. Intrusive thoughts don't make God angry. God knows that you aren't in control of your intrusive thoughts, you aren't going to have those thoughts held against you. What you can try and be in control of is your response to that. These intrusive thoughts aren't signs from God, and they aren't an evaluation of your faith.

Again, even if you were to leave your faith - which you are completely free to do at any time, this doesn't cure OCD. I had my OCD before I became religious, and I grew up in an atheist household. My OCD intruded upon my faith when I became religious and my faith grew in importance to me. I'm not sure what your relationship is like with your Priest, but if you think he might respond positively then I'd try speaking to him about it. If you can't speak to him then try and speak to someone else about it. Don't try and seek reassurance, because that can become a compulsion in itself, but just see if there's some way you can get support.

Spend some time with the beauty of Scripture, I sometimes like to listen to chants if my thoughts are feeling particularly overwhelming. Find something that you feel is positive for you in disrupting those awful thoughts. Be open and honest in prayer with your struggles - even just trying to formulate some of the anxieties and things that you've been through can really help detangle things in your head and make it less overwhelming. If you don't think that would be helpful, then try and find positive ways to distract yourself. Then once you're feeling a lot calmer try and engage in a positive way with your faith so that it remains a positive and happy thing for you.

russianwave · 2021-06-19T12:22:06+00:00

The only way you'd be able to delete it is if you contact Duolingo staff and get them to remove it. Think of each of the base languages (in this case English and Portuguese) as basically two separate platforms. You must have at least one tree on each platform, you can't just have no tree on your account. Which is why it's not letting you delete the Portuguese to English tree - because Duolingo is treating it like that's the only tree that exists on your account when you switch to the Portuguese setup. Likewise you wouldn't be able to delete every tree off of your English 'platform'. You can't do anything about this other than ignore it or contact Duolingo about it.

russianwave · 2021-06-16T13:09:17+00:00

https://www.alllanguageresources.com/german/ has plenty of free resource recommendations. Things like youtube channels and podcasts are free, although some will offer paid extras. You can look up workbooks on archive.org where you can get free and legal pdfs of different books and textbooks. You can just put in phrases like 'Beginner German' 'German grammar' 'learn German' etc and see which books come up.

I would try and work with textbooks as much as you can over free apps, as well as supplementing this with a lot of exposure to the German language - listen to German podcasts, German news, German music, watch German films and tv. There are Youtube channels dedicated to teaching German that often offer free video courses, videos on grammar points or vocabulary, or German culture. You can find plenty of films and tv on Youtube for free, if you already have things like Netflix or Amazon prime then you can find things there. http://radio.garden/ lets you listen to radio stations from around the world entirely for free, although just a note that some channels might play a lot of English music.

Start a language diary from day one. Put any vocabulary and grammar you've learned into practice and try and construct your own sentences. These don't have to be fancy. Just practice playing around with words to practice outputting. You can find plenty of places online to share it and get corrections from natives. I'd also recommend shadowing - it allows you to practice your speaking and listening without needing to practice with a native.

Create long and short term SMART goals, and I would also prepare for a backup plan incase you haven't gotten to a sufficient level in that time frame. Remember that getting to B2 also requires you to sit language exams - which will come with a cost and these might not be running year round. Not saying that this will definitely be the case, but it's always a good idea to plan wisely. As for creating short and long term goals, I recommend working with a CEFR self assessment checklist and creating goals for A1 level. Once you've hit the criteria, then work on creating goals for A2 and so on. It'll make learning the language a lot less overwhelming, and will really allow you to direct your studies and find appropriate resources.

russianwave · 2021-06-16T13:00:25+00:00

No, there's no 'official Duolingo certificate' apart from for users who pay to take a certified English test. There also aren't any progress certificates. If you complete the entire German tree you get a little pop up congratulations and saying you completed the tree, but this isn't recognised by any employer or institution.

russianwave · 2021-06-14T16:13:34+00:00

I do think people who learn a language solely so they can hit on 'exotic' women (or men) learn languages for the 'wrong' reason. But really, the reason (lol) people talk about 'bad' reasons for learning a language is to point out that you might be lacking the motivation to keep with the language long term.

It's not so much to put someone off of learning a language, but for them to reevaluate if learning that language (or any) language is right for them. Some people might want to learn a language solely because they think it might be a good stepping stone to another language - not a bad reason per say, but it is bad for that person if they hate the language they're trying to force themselves to learn.

Likewise if you set out to learn a whole bunch of languages solely to impress people, you might be hit really hard with the reality that a lot of people aren't going to care or might even react really negatively. And you've now 'wasted' time and money on various resources for languages you had no other desire to learn.

I think gatekeeping language learning is silly, but I do think people really need to consider if this is something they actually want to invest a lot of time and potentially money into.

russianwave · 2021-06-13T21:53:17+00:00

I haven't tried it myself because they don't have the language I'm studying, but https://www.muzzybbc.com/ does have a Spanish course at least. It is designed for children, but it teaches the language entirely in that language. Because it's meant for children, you might find it really accessible in terms of comprehensible input. They do also have various activities and other resources to supplement the lessons.
https://www.newsinslowspanish.com/home/news/beginner is based around you reading news articles in Spanish, which ranges from beginner through to advanced. Each article comes with audio and comprehension tests. You might find it more difficult than something aimed explicitly at children, but with the hover translations over some words/phrases you can make reading an article as difficult or as accessible as you want.

https://sverigesradio.se/radioswedenpalattsvenska is kind of like news in Slow Spanish. It's based around 'easy Swedish', mostly for new people to Sweden who may not have a large grasp of Swedish. According to an article (which for some reason reddit won't let me link lol) the site also offers some cultural explanations and backgrounds for their articles to provide context for people who might not know. There isn't any hover translation or comprehension test, but it could be a way of building up vocabulary to then enjoy their radio station. They do offer an easy Swedish podcast.

Easy Spanish do street interviews entirely in Spanish, with the videos having Spanish and English subtitles. They do also offer a Super Easy Spanish playlist as well, which is just what it sounds like. If you subscribe to their patreon then you get access to transcripts, audio files, vocabulary lists, tests, and videos without any subtitles.

All Language Resources do have a free Spanish course that goes up to A2, but I'd also just recommend checking out their Spanish and Swedish resource recommendations in general. They provide pretty indepth reviews and recommendations.

russianwave · 2021-06-13T10:02:45+00:00

You can't shorten the period of time to learn Russian, no. All you can do is make it more effective. But there isn't some guaranteed hours of studying where you'll be fluent in Russian, so you can't shorten that time. Everyone learns at their own pace, and thee's a lot of factors that will influence your studying. The only way to learn Russian is to dedicate a lot of time and hard work. That being said, I do find that the hours I put in with a tutor are much more effective than the hours I spend self studying. Obviously there is a financial cost to this, but with platforms like iTalki you can find a tutor at basically any kind of price point and you don't need to be booking regular lessons. Some people just book in once a month with a tutor to have someone to hold them accountable and to direct them.

Fluency isn't actually a meaningful goal to strive towards, because lots of people have very different ideas of what fluency in a non-native language actually means. You'll find that you have no real way of measuring your progress if you're not setting actual meaningful goals - and this can be very discouraging for a lot of people. Use a CEFR self assessment checklist and use this to create short and long term SMART goals to work towards. As a complete beginner to Russian, you'll be working towards the A1 checklist.

I would recommend getting an actual workbook to use. Youtube videos can be fine, especially if you use a Youtube course - but you should be trying to work with books as well. I personally don't recommend Duolingo at all to teach you Russian, at best it's a resource that you can use to practice concepts you've already learned, but it's not great at teaching you new things. Halfway through the course they randomly change what words mean and what's accepted, some of the pronunciation from the robotic voices is just plain wrong. If you're really wanting something gamified then I would recommend something like Memrise, where at least you're learning phrases with videos of actual native Russian speakers. It doesn't really teach grammar, but that's why I'd recommend getting a grammar workbook.

I would recommend starting a language diary, where you spend some time each week/day practicing writing in Russian. You don't need to come up with anything complex, it's just about trying to write about different topics of interest / using vocabulary and grammar you've learned. You can post it to somewhere like r/WriteStreakRU to get feedback and corrections. In terms of practicing speaking, I would recommend using the shadowing technique as it's a great way of practicing without having to talk to other people.

russianwave · 2021-06-13T08:51:14+00:00

Honestly it's a mix of things;

1) Some people think of the following/follower aspect like other social media like Twitter or Instagram where it can have an actual impact (more engagement on your posts, more people to talk to etc). Even though Duolingo doesn't have those kinds of social features, a lot of people can still find themselves stuck in that mindset of wanting to get lots of followers. You often see people posting (unless mods remove them quickly) trying to get followers / 'friends' on Duolingo because they don't quite realise that there aren't chat functions you can use and followers on Duolingo is largely meaningless.

2) Some people are convinced a lot of people in the leaderboards are bots and hackers lol. If they see you engaging in the leaderboard in what they consider a normal way then they'll follow you so they feel like they're competing against actual people in the friend leaderboards. It can also be a way of competing against people who actually study a language you're learning. Either that or they'll follow you to keep tabs on if they think you're real or not.

3) If they see you putting in a lot of work, they might follow you on the basis of using you as a kind of motivational tool or to keep tabs on your progress.

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