Author Topic: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016  (Read 61511 times)

katsiki

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #150 on: June 21, 2016, 04:36:47 PM »
Ugh!  Still waiting for Greek to "hatch"...

dbo

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #151 on: July 09, 2016, 10:25:25 AM »
I am in on this one. I have been in sort of an advanced-intermediate stage for years. I can communicate on a decent level, but I have never pushed myself to truly advance my fluency.

With the our little girl turning one, my motivation to pick back up Spanish has grown exponentially. My wife's family speaks Spanish (from Peru) and its our desire that our daughter speak the language.  It will be a tag team approach with my wife and I, and I want to relieve some of the burden from my wife.

Good luck to all! 


ohyonghao

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #152 on: July 09, 2016, 04:00:19 PM »
I took a Chinese Fluency test today, well a mock test.  So far I'm passing them with highest scores.  Apparently I've taken a 72 day break from my flash cards.  Tend to binge too much, get worn out, then restart after a couple months cool down.

I've also had three sets of Chinese speaking guests come through my house for a one month stay, one of which is still here, and we may have a fourth set coming at the end of the month. The hardest part I've had is accents and colloquialisms, each guest has come from a different Chinese speaking region, Beijing, Hanzhou, and Taiwan.  Think sort of like American vs. British, you could mostly understand what they're talking about, but sometimes a word may throw you off, especially from a non-native speaker point of view.  It's been a great time being nearly fully immersed in the language though, everyone has been having a great time.  They were also curious to hear me speak English, which I hadn't realized we'd only spoken Chinese with each other, the need for English just had never come up.

FIPurpose

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #153 on: July 18, 2016, 05:36:51 PM »
Well for proving our ability in Spanish the wife and I are cramming for the Spanish CLEP to put on our Peace Corps resume in 2 weeks. We've both lightly dabbled in volunteering in the local Hispanic communities, but it has been a while. I think things are going well. We've both been reading an easy novel, listening to what we can, going through a grammar reminder book, and of course duolingo-ing. We're hoping it increases our odds of being accepted.

I was in the middle of reading Plato's Symposium in the original Greek, but it's kind of difficult to switch back and forth. Especially so when I need to do well on this test.

monstermonster

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #154 on: July 19, 2016, 10:41:08 AM »
I'm just joining this thread because while I've been doing duolingo every day (nearly to a 800-day streak!) I really need a kick in my pants to get back my spoken German. I'd like to pass the C1 level German exam by next July as a personal milestone.

dougules

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #155 on: July 19, 2016, 11:19:18 AM »
I'd like to suggest watching Chris Lonsdale's TED talk on learning a language.  I think he has a point that you need to hear it and use it even if you're not good yet.  Watching YouTube and listening to music in Spanish and Russian has helped immensely. 

Para los otros que quieren aprender español, tenemos que utilizarlo.  No hablemos en inglés aunque hablamos mal o sea difícil.  Tenemos todo el internet para ayudarnos. 

Y por favor, añadanme a lista de los que quieren aprender español y ruso también.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2016, 11:30:31 AM by dougules »

ohyonghao

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #156 on: July 23, 2016, 12:15:24 AM »
I'd like to suggest watching Chris Lonsdale's TED talk on learning a language.  I think he has a point that you need to hear it and use it even if you're not good yet.  Watching YouTube and listening to music in Spanish and Russian has helped immensely. 

Para los otros que quieren aprender español, tenemos que utilizarlo.  No hablemos en inglés aunque hablamos mal o sea difícil.  Tenemos todo el internet para ayudarnos. 

Y por favor, añadanme a lista de los que quieren aprender español y ruso también.
I started making some improvements with my German back in the day by watching Harry Potter with German voice overs and German subtitles.  I was also reading the book in German.  This seemed to give me plenty of exposure, the hardest part would be to start writing my own sentences to really solidify it.  I recall having read at the time that adults go about language all wrong by starting with reading and speaking before moving onto listening as the last skill; whereas children start with a lot of listening before moving on to speech, then reading and writing.

I've started trying to pick up Taiwanese, something I've been meaning to do for 10 years.  I can practice with my wife once I get some basics down.  As is common in Asia all TV in Taiwan is subtitled, including the Taiwanese soap operas.  I've met many foreign wives in Taiwan from other SE Asian countries who speak fluent Taiwanese by watching soap operas.  I think one spot it excels at is sorting out family relations as you'll run into just about every variant you could think of, like older brothers wife's sister's husband's mother's younger uncle.

我每天都有機會練習我的中文,我不會怕我的中文退步太多.但是,我太太的家人習慣用台語,常常在岳父的家時大家開始講話慢慢變成講台語,我就聽不懂.我太太常說,我翻譯類了,請大家用中文吧.上列寫的都是我打ㄅㄆㄇㄈ(新注音).很好笑的是我打的中文比我太太打得好.

謝謝大家
再見
« Last Edit: July 26, 2016, 01:17:03 PM by ohyonghao »

K-ice

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #157 on: July 26, 2016, 11:59:55 AM »
Took out a foreign language DVD from the library yesterday.

I enjoyed the last one I rented. I just wish they had more selection.

There are English subtitles of course but it is good to watch & be able to pick out words. 

ponderous_tome

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #158 on: October 02, 2016, 02:18:20 PM »
Hi guys, I'm new to the forums! It's October, but I've just renewed my resolve to improve my Chinese. I used to be pretty good - I could carry on an intermediate-level conversation without too many issues - but fell out of practice last year and want to get back to where I was, and one day maybe become fluent. I spent so many years studying it, and with just a little regular practice I'm confident I can gain my vocab and speaking skills back. (Plus my SO is a native speaker and I have plenty of friends I can practice with if I commit to it.)

Any other Chinese learners have recommendations for podcasts or Youtube series/shows where I can just listen to people talking? I just started using the 听故事学中文 podcast, which is pretty basic but I find it useful, and I use the Bigrams app to practice vocab flashcards on my train commute and at random moments of free time.

shadowmoss

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #159 on: October 05, 2016, 02:29:20 PM »
I have cLlen off the wagon of learning Spanish.  I will start back today, assuming I can get back into dither Memrise or Duolingo.  Typing those sites on my phone with its spell check was an exercise in futility.  I hate Android spell check...

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #160 on: October 06, 2016, 02:33:49 PM »
I'm on a 27 day streak!! Haven't pulled that off since I wore briefs. I'm digging DuoLingo. My goal is to kick MXT's ass, and the rock both the XP and language count of ARS's wife. I'm not even normally that competitive.

shadowmoss

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #161 on: October 07, 2016, 09:33:51 AM »
Ok, ok, I'll extend my streak on both sites to 2 days...  :)  Both sites because I prefer Memrise, but y'all seem to like Duolingo.  Anyone seen the new flash cards on Duolingo yet?  I got an email saying they were going to be available.  Wondering if they will be easier than making my own with anki.

FIPurpose

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #162 on: October 07, 2016, 10:21:20 AM »
Ok, ok, I'll extend my streak on both sites to 2 days...  :)  Both sites because I prefer Memrise, but y'all seem to like Duolingo.  Anyone seen the new flash cards on Duolingo yet?  I got an email saying they were going to be available.  Wondering if they will be easier than making my own with anki.

I'm excited for the duolingo flashcards, but I'm on android so I'll have to wait... Right now there is a series of flashcard apps on android that I use. I've started up on Portuguese since we're considering moving next year. The app is called "Learn Portuguese - 6,000 Words" that I enjoy for vocab building. I know they at least also have a Spanish version as well and many others.

shadowmoss

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #163 on: October 07, 2016, 11:19:11 AM »
I went down a rabbit hole on Memrise and found Easy University on Memrise.  Ok, I how have multiple courses lined up. 

On Memrise I've already done one intro Spanish course, Level 1 Survival Spanish.  I'm working my way through Minimum Viable Spanish, and have Hacking Spanish queued up.  This, as well as Spanish on Duolingo.  I get so far and falter.  I'm pushing on, though. 

ohyonghao

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #164 on: October 07, 2016, 09:18:21 PM »
I've made it to episode 60 of a Taiwanese soap opera.  I find it funny now that I can listen to my wife talking to her family and actually pick out some of what she's talking about.  Starting to rely a little less on subtitles while watching.  Only another 240 episodes left to go...

ponderous_tome

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #165 on: October 08, 2016, 08:32:08 AM »
That feeling when you realize you don't really need the subtitles anymore is so rewarding! I admit I can't make it through more than 1-2 episodes most Chinese/Taiwanese dramas...

shadowmoss

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #166 on: October 08, 2016, 10:20:48 AM »
Up to a 3 day streak in both Memrise and Duolingo.  I find that they work well together, as they tend to use different words on a given day and that keeps me from just learning the mechanics of the course and not the actual language, if that makes sense.  Next week I'll find some Spanish language music and or videos online to watch.  I don't have a tv to watch the Spanish language soap operas.

monstermonster

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #167 on: October 09, 2016, 11:02:32 AM »
I went down a rabbit hole on Memrise and found Easy University on Memrise.  Ok, I how have multiple courses lined up. 

On Memrise I've already done one intro Spanish course, Level 1 Survival Spanish.  I'm working my way through Minimum Viable Spanish, and have Hacking Spanish queued up.  This, as well as Spanish on Duolingo.  I get so far and falter.  I'm pushing on, though.
I had never heard of memrise, thanks for the rec!

nnls

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #168 on: October 11, 2016, 12:52:16 AM »
I went down a rabbit hole on Memrise and found Easy University on Memrise.  Ok, I how have multiple courses lined up. 

On Memrise I've already done one intro Spanish course, Level 1 Survival Spanish.  I'm working my way through Minimum Viable Spanish, and have Hacking Spanish queued up.  This, as well as Spanish on Duolingo.  I get so far and falter.  I'm pushing on, though.
I had never heard of memrise, thanks for the rec!

I like memrise a lot better than duolingo, I find it teaches me more useful things and the info I learn on there seems to stick better than duo

lizzzi

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #169 on: October 11, 2016, 08:28:42 AM »
Just can't do any more French on babbel.com, although it helped me hugely in Quebec last year. I really, really need an immersion course with real people and really speaking the language, and really not being able to use one word of English...preferably for six weeks or so. Anyway, I'm missing my foreign language fix, and since I've hit the wall with French for now, I went back on babbel and am reviewing my Swedish (a language I used to speak pretty well, years ago as a student in Sverige) for $3.73 per month. It is easy and fun, and if I ever get back there, it will come in handy.

Rimu05

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #170 on: November 04, 2016, 08:26:45 AM »
Just can't do any more French on babbel.com, although it helped me hugely in Quebec last year. I really, really need an immersion course with real people and really speaking the language, and really not being able to use one word of English...preferably for six weeks or so. Anyway, I'm missing my foreign language fix, and since I've hit the wall with French for now, I went back on babbel and am reviewing my Swedish (a language I used to speak pretty well, years ago as a student in Sverige) for $3.73 per month. It is easy and fun, and if I ever get back there, it will come in handy.

I'm also at a wall with French and they say you should keep practicing but finding that hard to do. I still go to the French meetup but I'm at the stage where just listening to French has me gritting my teeth. Might also be because in the past 30 days, I went on vacation and had too much language exposure. My mother tongue, tribal languages, English and a surprising French where I met a French family and was able to converse in French. I can talk to native speakers and that was never my problem but the lack of immersion (never been to France or any French speaking country) has taken its toll.

katsiki

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #171 on: November 04, 2016, 09:20:55 AM »
Greek is now available on Duolingo so I need to get into gear!  I need to setup my keyboard for the alphabet first but I know how to do that.

neophyte

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #172 on: November 04, 2016, 08:54:03 PM »
Hi, just popping into this thread.

It's been a couple years since I've used much Spanish and I'd like to brush up on it. I use DuoLingo occasionally, but I'm not good about being consistent and I find it's not challenging enough.

Does anyone have (free!) suggestions for advanced Spanish?  I'm bad at sticking with anything that requires me to sit in front of a screen so Podcasts in particular would be great because I can listen on the go.  I enjoy Radio Ambulante and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for listening practice, but I'm running out of episodes.

I just finished re-reading Harry Potter.  I never think about going to the library when I have the time, but I may go over tomorrow and see if they have any books in Spanish.  I'll watch TV shows sometimes if I can find them, but telenovelas tend to make me want to gauge my brains out.

I'd never heard of memrise before but I just downloaded the app.  I'd like to learn some Korean and I'm excited to see they have that!

Edit: I see Memrise has Quechua too! That's awesome!
« Last Edit: November 04, 2016, 08:57:37 PM by neophyte »

Rimu05

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #173 on: January 30, 2017, 10:45:05 AM »
Since French was kicking my a**

I started Spanish. I actually find, it weirdly motivates me to keep on with French. Went out with French friend on Saturday and we spoke French through out the night.

It's motivated me to grit my teeth and keep at it. Going to order a kindle charger so I can get back to my grammar books.

FIPurpose

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #174 on: January 30, 2017, 01:23:25 PM »
Well I'm switching to Portuguese. I need to be pretty conversational by the end of the year. Something closer to European Portuguese over Brazilian. If anyone here wants to have a pen pal thing going on, I'd appreciate it. I could use something to get me using and looking up new vocabulary.

PMG

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #175 on: January 30, 2017, 04:17:32 PM »
I survived a couple months in France, and I am still practicing a little, very little. Playing around with Italian some, too. I thought studying multiple languages would get confusing but so far it's almost helpful.

dougules

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #176 on: January 31, 2017, 11:05:24 AM »
If you want to learn it, you should use it.  If you're learning a language, why don't you try writing as much of your posts as you can here in your target language? 

Donc, si vous voulez apprendre le français, écrivez ici en français.  Se tu queres aprender o português, escreva aqui em português. 

It doesn't have to be perfect. 

ohyonghao

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #177 on: April 19, 2017, 04:15:57 PM »
Had an opportunity to spend a night in Osaka, Japan last week.  Took a day the weekend before and learned Hiragana and Katakana.  This has helped with being able to read many of the sites that aren't into putting up any romaji.  I actually prefer to not see the romaji, and really, once you know the two kana's romaji is sort of redundant.

The funny thing, though, was once I learned both I realize that I have basically learned the alphabet twice without knowing any words.  Having already learned Chinese, I am familiar with reading Kanji, but this leads to the opposite effect of learning the Kana's, in that I know all the words, but have no idea how to say them!

I was able to pick up a newspaper and get the gist of what's on the page, but lacking grammatical construction limits that understanding.  Using AnkiApp and some flashcards which include audio I find that my listening ability has improved.  As I continue to grow my vocabulary I am able to listen to a sentence, repeat it in my head, and start to deconstruct the composition.

I really enjoyed a couple articles by Tim Ferris on learning multiple languages, and it is inspiring me to continue with learning Japanese.  Once  get a good vocabulary base I'll be able to start talking with my sister inlaw who is fluent in Japanese, and also one of my coworkers who is Japanese.

Now, to learn to type on a computer in Japanese.  The phone was way easy to learn.

NeverLost

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #178 on: April 19, 2017, 04:48:14 PM »
Hello everyone!  I have been slacking on my Spanish but am ready to get back on it.  I plan on trying to do both memrise and duolingo daily for a while to see if I like one better than the other.  I wondered if any of you had any suggestions for kids and language learning.  My kids are 7 and 10.  Also, sorry if this has already been discussed but I didn't read back through all the pages of this thread, but has anyone used italki consistently?  If so, what were your thoughts?  I was thinking that we could spend the summer getting down the basics, then do an italki hour maybe weekly or every other week as a family. 

haypug16

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #179 on: May 22, 2017, 02:08:29 PM »
Hello All, I have been attempting to learn french , first with Coffee Break french (podcast) and then with Rosetta stone. Technically difficulties with both prevented me from getting too far. I just downloaded Doulingo so I will give that a shot.

My goal is 10 mins a day everyday. Once I get a little further along I will try writing my posts in French for practice. Also, if anyone is interested in practicing with me I would be interested in having a french pen pal to write back and forth with.

Merci

Rimu05

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #180 on: June 05, 2017, 08:22:36 AM »
Je vais essayer d'ecrire en Francais. Je suis alle a Le "French Meeteup" Jeudi dernier et Il y a beaucoup de Francophones. J'ai compris tout mais j'ai eu pas le vocabulaire d'expliquer ce que je voulais dire. . C'a me frustre beaucoup. Je pense que je doit commencer au debut.

Maintenant, je lis Le Petit Nicolas et c'est tellement genial.

In other language news. Spanish is on hold for me. I just need to find a way to balance my language learning. I think I'll have to plan a travel gap year specifically for language learning. I can't write this portion in Spanish as I am a complete beginner in comparison to French.


K-ice

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #181 on: June 05, 2017, 10:31:37 AM »
Just letting you all know that through my library & OneClickDigital I am now listening & working on my second language with Pimsleur eaudio "books".

This may be another free option for many of you.

Rimu05

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #182 on: June 05, 2017, 02:18:41 PM »
Hello All, I have been attempting to learn french , first with Coffee Break french (podcast) and then with Rosetta stone. Technically difficulties with both prevented me from getting too far. I just downloaded Doulingo so I will give that a shot.

My goal is 10 mins a day everyday. Once I get a little further along I will try writing my posts in French for practice. Also, if anyone is interested in practicing with me I would be interested in having a french pen pal to write back and forth with.

Merci

Bienvenu

I recommend French youtubers. Cyprien has subtitles in English, Norman fait des videos also sometimes has subtitles. I also like Squeezie but I'm at an advanced level of French and he has no subtitles yet he's hard to follow cause he speaks SOO FAST. However, he has some hilarious videos.
Even without subtitles, Cyprien and Norman are easier to follow and they have some really creative content!

There was a great French show called Kaamelott that is like Monthy Python in a way that is HILARIOUS but sadly, the channel that was subbing this on youtube had to remove the videos. A tragedy as this is the best French show.

I've had people who shun youtube yet also ask me why my pronunciation and French skills are good because I have no problems understanding native speakers, but it's all these shows I watch. I also speak to any French person I meet in French. A lot of people I notice are very conscious that they may make horrendous mistakes, but not I. Since I was in College if someone said they were French, I'd immediately go with French and I didn't even realize how absolutely essential this is until I started going to the advanced French meetup. Have I made mistakes that now make me cringe?! Absolutely! However, the goal is to be genuinely interested and curious, not to use someone as a guinea pig. 

Bonne chance.

PS. Also, Check youtube for French lessons, there is French with Vincent which is really good.

dougules

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #183 on: June 06, 2017, 10:30:16 AM »
Je vais essayer d'ecrire en Francais. Je suis alle a Le "French Meeteup" Jeudi dernier et Il y a beaucoup de Francophones. J'ai compris tout mais j'ai eu pas le vocabulaire d'expliquer ce que je voulais dire. . C'a me frustre beaucoup. Je pense que je doit commencer au debut.

Maintenant, je lis Le Petit Nicolas et c'est tellement genial.

In other language news. Spanish is on hold for me. I just need to find a way to balance my language learning. I think I'll have to plan a travel gap year specifically for language learning. I can't write this portion in Spanish as I am a complete beginner in comparison to French.

Ne t'occupe pas de ton vocabulaire.  Si tu l'utilises comme ça, tu vas l'apprendre vite.  En plus de lire, tu peux regarder des videos en français. 

haypug16

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #184 on: June 06, 2017, 12:43:53 PM »
Bonjour! J'apprends le Francais avec Duolingo.

I am at 3% Fluency :) I love the app I sometimes can't put it down. I'll do one lesson right after the other then after maybe 5 lessons in a row I force myself to put it down otherwise I'll be looking at my phone screen all night. I joined a club so that helps keep me going, I like to hit the top 3 in the leaders board.

PoutineLover

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #185 on: June 06, 2017, 01:20:45 PM »
I am learning Spanish! Signed up for an 8 week course at my local community center for only $45 (student discount woohoo) and have almost completed it. It's a bit slower than I would like, but I am also planning on joining a meetup group to converse in person, since I've found that to be the best way to learn. I tried duolingo but I don't like it that much, so maybe another app is better or I just need that face-to-face discussion. I understand a lot more than I can speak for now, it kinda helps that I already know french and italian, but it also makes it more confusing since many things are similar but different.

shadowmoss

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #186 on: June 06, 2017, 02:45:44 PM »
I'm back learning (catching back up) with my Spanish on Memrise.com.  Also the math class on there I started a few months ago.  I went to youtube.com and did a search for Easy Spanish and guess what?  There is a series called Easy Spanish that has English subtitles.  Native speakers being interviewed in the one I watched on what do you think about love?  Again, I'm up to a two (maybe 3?) day streak.

halftimer

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #187 on: June 24, 2017, 10:40:35 PM »
Recently back to learning Japanese. Duolingo just added it and getting to my level has been a fun review of earlier concepts and vocab.  Also found 'Learn Japanese from Zero' on YouTube. I happened to click Lesson 26 first - and although I knew most of the info there were just enough gems of insight to make me want to go back and watch the earlier/easy episodes so I can get more of that.

kenner

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #188 on: June 24, 2017, 11:29:34 PM »
Depending on the language, Netflix is pretty good for getting some practice, at least on the listening side.  I'm working mostly on Spanish and French so there are a fair number of options for movies and shows (although I'd appreciate a better way to sort them), but the Netflix-produced shows generally have German and Italian audio too, and some of the animes have more than that.

nouveauRiche

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #189 on: July 05, 2017, 03:07:44 PM »
Can I join?

I've been working on learning Spanish on and off for years and I have the basics and some vocabulary.  When I drive, I listen to Pimsleur, Learn in Your Car, or Spanish language radio.

I've been studying French on and off since high school and I'm fairly fluent/proficient.  I listen to French music at  Chante France  while I work.

And these look fun for comprehension:

News in Slow Spanish
News in Slow French

Love foreign language movies but don't have time to watch them.
« Last Edit: July 05, 2017, 03:43:44 PM by nouveauRiche »

haypug16

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #190 on: November 03, 2017, 07:54:42 AM »
I have been totally slacking. I got up to 8% fluent in French (according to Duolingo) and then pretty much stopped using it. It's so easy to get out of the habit.

How is everyone else doing?

dougules

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #191 on: November 03, 2017, 10:38:41 AM »
I have been totally slacking. I got up to 8% fluent in French (according to Duolingo) and then pretty much stopped using it. It's so easy to get out of the habit.

How is everyone else doing?

I got Duolingo a few months ago, and I've been doing it every day.  It's kind of annoying for the languages I've already got some background in because it's mostly stuff I already know with a few nuggets of new info here and there.  I hope I eventually get into the heart of really learning.  Spanish doesn't go all the way, though.  I maxed it out at 57% fluent. 

shadowmoss

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #192 on: November 03, 2017, 10:41:18 AM »
Can I slink in here and say I'm going to start again?  Getting my attention span back is one reason I want to learn Spanish, the discipline to do the lessons, which I suck at now.  Starting again...

A funny thing for me, from high school French (ummm, 40 years ago?) and my Spanish study, I can read a lot of the French in the posts here.  It just went in better back then, I guess. 

katsiki

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #193 on: November 03, 2017, 11:54:33 AM »
I just noticed that my local library has rosetta stone through Hoopla.  Many libraries have Hoopla so this may be something to check out.


EDIT: I think this was actually Pimsleur.  I could not later find Rosetta Stone so I think I had a brain fart.
« Last Edit: November 09, 2017, 09:30:25 AM by katsiki »

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #194 on: November 03, 2017, 12:49:39 PM »
Currently on a 151 day streak with Norwegian on Duolingo. Before that I was a learner for a few years. Nothing crazy, just little by little. Takes 10-15 minutes a day and I enjoy it.

Rimu05

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #195 on: November 09, 2017, 07:44:02 AM »
Je vais essayer d'ecrire en Francais. Je suis alle a Le "French Meeteup" Jeudi dernier et Il y a beaucoup de Francophones. J'ai compris tout mais j'ai eu pas le vocabulaire d'expliquer ce que je voulais dire. . C'a me frustre beaucoup. Je pense que je doit commencer au debut.

Maintenant, je lis Le Petit Nicolas et c'est tellement genial.

In other language news. Spanish is on hold for me. I just need to find a way to balance my language learning. I think I'll have to plan a travel gap year specifically for language learning. I can't write this portion in Spanish as I am a complete beginner in comparison to French.

Ne t'occupe pas de ton vocabulaire.  Si tu l'utilises comme ça, tu vas l'apprendre vite.  En plus de lire, tu peux regarder des videos en français.

Toutfois, Il y a un probleme avec les videos. J'ecoute les podcasts et Je regarde des videos mais c'est la raison que je comprend plus que je parle. Je n'ai pas les problemes avec le comprehension mais je souhaite que mon niveau de parle etait pareille que mon niveau de comprendre.

Yikes, I need to get back to reading and grammar exercises...

cerat0n1a

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #196 on: November 09, 2017, 09:47:35 AM »
Toutfois, Il y a un probleme avec les videos. J'ecoute les podcasts et Je regarde des videos mais c'est la raison que je comprend plus que je parle. Je n'ai pas les problemes avec le comprehension mais je souhaite que mon niveau de parle etait pareille que mon niveau de comprendre.

That's pretty much true for any language learner, I would think? Provided you're learning a language where the alphabet etc. is familiar, almost everyone is likely to be better at reading than listening. Pretty much any language you'd expect to understand more than you can say yourself. (I can generally read a French newspaper without any problem, but I am nowhere near being able to translate a news story into correct French, or have more than a fairly basic conversation on a news topic.) That's not due to lack of opportunity to speak, it's because my "passive" vocabulary (words I recognise) is much larger than my "active." I guess language exchange things like busuu which force you to speak or write are good for this.

Manchester

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #197 on: November 09, 2017, 10:13:47 AM »
Jumping in to this.  Considering I'm half Greek it'd make sense to learn a bit more than 'enough to get by'. 


dougules

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #198 on: November 09, 2017, 11:19:57 AM »
Je vais essayer d'ecrire en Francais. Je suis alle a Le "French Meeteup" Jeudi dernier et Il y a beaucoup de Francophones. J'ai compris tout mais j'ai eu pas le vocabulaire d'expliquer ce que je voulais dire. . C'a me frustre beaucoup. Je pense que je doit commencer au debut.

Maintenant, je lis Le Petit Nicolas et c'est tellement genial.

In other language news. Spanish is on hold for me. I just need to find a way to balance my language learning. I think I'll have to plan a travel gap year specifically for language learning. I can't write this portion in Spanish as I am a complete beginner in comparison to French.

Ne t'occupe pas de ton vocabulaire.  Si tu l'utilises comme ça, tu vas l'apprendre vite.  En plus de lire, tu peux regarder des videos en français.

Toutfois, Il y a un probleme avec les videos. J'ecoute les podcasts et Je regarde des videos mais c'est la raison que je comprend plus que je parle. Je n'ai pas les problemes avec le comprehension mais je souhaite que mon niveau de parle etait pareille que mon niveau de comprendre.

Yikes, I need to get back to reading and grammar exercises...

Il vaut mieux comprendre que savoir parler.  Un enfant apprendre à comprendre bien avant de parler.  Le meilleur façon d'apprendre est comme un bebé.  Donc ce n'est pas un problème que tu ne sais pas encore parler.  Tu vas l'apprendre. 

Manchester

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Re: Learning or Improving at Another Language in 2016
« Reply #199 on: November 22, 2017, 07:33:22 AM »
Jumping in to this.  Considering I'm half Greek it'd make sense to learn a bit more than 'enough to get by'.

I'm on a 12 day streak on duolingo.  Listening to a few podcasts and so on.  Really enjoying it so far.