I love learning languages as well, and I am constantly diving into one language learning book or another. I only really get practice in Spanish, as there are a lot of Spanish speakers at my work (in Texas), but I always try and seek out material or find a meetup or something for my other languages if I am intent on getting some sort of speaking practice.
- Spanish (1, 2, 3, AP, AP Lit in high school; practice at work with native speakers nearly every day)
- Chinese (major in college, lived in China for about 7 months in both Beijing and Sichuan and keep up with friends as well as watching movies in Chinese and reading)
- Esperanto (self taught in 1 month, practice through online forums and correspondence, as well as reading)
- Swedish (self taught using books + duolingo, practice through reading books like the Millenium series)
- Japanese (self taught using Genki series, practice by reading both manga and books on Shinto, etc. Speaking practice is hard...)
- American Sign Language (self taught through books + a YouTube course called ASL University; practice only with a deaf colleague at work)
I love learning languages as well, and I am constantly diving into one language learning book or another. I only really get practice in Spanish, as there are a lot of Spanish speakers at my work (in Texas), but I always try and seek out material or find a meetup or something for my other languages if I am intent on getting some sort of speaking practice.
- Spanish (1, 2, 3, AP, AP Lit in high school; practice at work with native speakers nearly every day)
- Chinese (major in college, lived in China for about 7 months in both Beijing and Sichuan and keep up with friends as well as watching movies in Chinese and reading)
- Esperanto (self taught in 1 month, practice through online forums and correspondence, as well as reading)
- Swedish (self taught using books + duolingo, practice through reading books like the Millenium series)
- Japanese (self taught using Genki series, practice by reading both manga and books on Shinto, etc. Speaking practice is hard...)
- American Sign Language (self taught through books + a YouTube course called ASL University; practice only with a deaf colleague at work)
I began learning German 17 years ago and have studied it off and on since. After a few years of self study, I was able to skip four college courses and get placed in an intermediate II class. I have never had much of an issue with the grammar, but my vocabulary has always sucked, and I have very little speaking practice. So despite good pronunciation, I have a hard time expressing things and speaking any faster than a snail. After all this time, my comprehension is maybe only between A2 and B1; I can understand the gist of videos or podcasts with the context, and I can hear all the words but can't make sense of them fast enough.
I also took French in high school, and I can thus read some French, but spoken French is neigh impossible to understand. But I didn't continue French after my formal classes.
In the US, there's basically no contact with foreign languages except for Spanish. Besides my college instructor, I have encountered maybe two or three native German speakers in the wild where I live (and of course they know perfect English anyway), and never a French speaker. I guess the question could be asked why learn the language if there's no use for it here, but is it possible to become proficient in a language when there is no (natural) contact with it? I presume Europeans have an easier time since borders are more numerous and not as distant, thus increasing contact with other languages.
I know there's the Internet, but real life encounters are basically non-existent.
I love learning languages as well, and I am constantly diving into one language learning book or another. I only really get practice in Spanish, as there are a lot of Spanish speakers at my work (in Texas), but I always try and seek out material or find a meetup or something for my other languages if I am intent on getting some sort of speaking practice.
- Spanish (1, 2, 3, AP, AP Lit in high school; practice at work with native speakers nearly every day)
- Chinese (major in college, lived in China for about 7 months in both Beijing and Sichuan and keep up with friends as well as watching movies in Chinese and reading)
- Esperanto (self taught in 1 month, practice through online forums and correspondence, as well as reading)
- Swedish (self taught using books + duolingo, practice through reading books like the Millenium series)
- Japanese (self taught using Genki series, practice by reading both manga and books on Shinto, etc. Speaking practice is hard...)
- American Sign Language (self taught through books + a YouTube course called ASL University; practice only with a deaf colleague at work)
That's really impressive. My goal for this year was to be able to read a short fantasy anthology book for teens that I bought in Germany eleven years ago, but I still can't do it. I can mostly read the Peanuts book I bought, mostly because I'm familiar enough with Peanuts to know the context of the jokes already.
-German: It is my best secondary language, so it is the one that I would like to improve the most, but it also hard to find learning materials that fit into my level of proficiency. They're either too easy (and thus boring) or too advanced (to the point of frustration).
-French: Since I already have a base for French and it sounds beautiful, I sometimes practice it on Duolingo, but my pronunciation is rather awful. I'm not sure if I like it enough to pursue it, but I think the grammar is attractive (only two genders and no case endings).
-Russian: I dabbled in it years ago and still remember a few phrases, but my understanding is that it has an even worse case and inflection system than German.
-Japanese: I also dabbled in it years ago and remember a few phrases, but I'm not interested enough to pursue it, especially since the writing system is so hard.
I've recently been curious about Danish since I've been watching the TV show Vorbrydelsen. I recognize some German words when I hear it, but the spelling and pronunciation are supposedly atrocious (at least compared to Swedish). I'm also probably much less likely to encounter Danes than Germans for French people anyway.
Everybody always says it sounds like we talk with potatoes in our mouths. :(Kinda does xD .
Gee thanks. :))Everybody always says it sounds like we talk with potatoes in our mouths. :(Kinda does xD .
Whereas Swedish sounds like talking with a potato in your mouth while drunk, and Norwegian sounds like talking with a potato in your mouth while drunk and singing :p .
:'( :'(Everybody always says it sounds like we talk with potatoes in our mouths. :(Kinda does xD .
Whereas Swedish sounds like talking with a potato in your mouth while drunk, and Norwegian sounds like talking with a potato in your mouth while drunk and singing :p .
Yeah, I'm not even going to attempt Danish because of the pronunciation, especially after watching this video on Danish tongue twisters:
It's okay siggy-baby. I love Swedish, it's a beautiful language imo.:'( :'(Everybody always says it sounds like we talk with potatoes in our mouths. :(Kinda does xD .
Whereas Swedish sounds like talking with a potato in your mouth while drunk, and Norwegian sounds like talking with a potato in your mouth while drunk and singing :p .
Danish is the worst language I've ever heard, closely followed by Scanian Swedish and Dutch.Danish doesn't really sound ugly IMO, just rather weird. Swedish and Norwegian are really nice-sounding, because they're so sing-songy, but it's difficult not to chuckle when you hear it xD . Dutch is a horrible, horrible language, almost impossible to pronounce, too. German is much the same except worse. Arabic and Jewish are the worst-sounding IMO - they're pronounced so far to the back of the throat it sounds almost like it comes from the gut Oo .
My favorite dane to the rescue :-*It's okay siggy-baby. I love Swedish, it's a beautiful language imo.:'( :'(Everybody always says it sounds like we talk with potatoes in our mouths. :(Kinda does xD .
Whereas Swedish sounds like talking with a potato in your mouth while drunk, and Norwegian sounds like talking with a potato in your mouth while drunk and singing :p .
Dutch is a horrible, horrible language, almost impossible to pronounce, too. German is much the same except worse.No. NO.
The absolute worst accent in English, without a shadow of doubt, is Dutch. Most accents are just kinda funny or something, but Dunglish just sounds ugly and stupid.Brits think that Dutch accent is sexy. Ever heard a Czech person speaking English? That's where the real terror lies.
Danish is the worst language I've ever heard, closely followed by Scanian Swedish and Dutch.Danish doesn't really sound ugly IMO, just rather weird. Swedish and Norwegian are really nice-sounding, because they're so sing-songy, but it's difficult not to chuckle when you hear it xD . Dutch is a horrible, horrible language, almost impossible to pronounce, too. German is much the same except worse. Arabic and Jewish are the worst-sounding IMO - they're pronounced so far to the back of the throat it sounds almost like it comes from the gut Oo .
The most beautiful language is Italian IMO. Spanish is also very nice, and super sexy.
The absolute worst accent in English, without a shadow of doubt, is Dutch. Most accents are just kinda funny or something, but Dunglish just sounds ugly and stupid.
Haha really? I didn't know that xD . Maybe I should've put on a Dutch accent back when I lived in the UK xD .The absolute worst accent in English, without a shadow of doubt, is Dutch. Most accents are just kinda funny or something, but Dunglish just sounds ugly and stupid.Brits think that Dutch accent is sexy. Ever heard a Czech person speaking English? That's where the real terror lies.
I don't really mean the logic or grammar or anything like that, just the way it sounds. To me it tends to sound either really angry and shouty or like a porn actor xD .Danish is the worst language I've ever heard, closely followed by Scanian Swedish and Dutch.Danish doesn't really sound ugly IMO, just rather weird. Swedish and Norwegian are really nice-sounding, because they're so sing-songy, but it's difficult not to chuckle when you hear it xD . Dutch is a horrible, horrible language, almost impossible to pronounce, too. German is much the same except worse. Arabic and Jewish are the worst-sounding IMO - they're pronounced so far to the back of the throat it sounds almost like it comes from the gut Oo .
The most beautiful language is Italian IMO. Spanish is also very nice, and super sexy.
The absolute worst accent in English, without a shadow of doubt, is Dutch. Most accents are just kinda funny or something, but Dunglish just sounds ugly and stupid.
I disagree regarding German. Most of its sounds have English equivalents (the ones that don't are very easy to learn "ch", "r", "ü"), the spelling is 99% phonetic, and the accent doesn't sound too far off from American IMO. In fact, I sometimes think it's easier to understand a German speaking English than a Brit speaking English. Although, I'm referring to Hochdeutsch; I don't know about any dialects.
Also, y'all gotta try Piano. it's arguably more enjoyable than learning spanish. Reading music is not easy though, brain workout.
Also, y'all gotta try Piano. it's arguably more enjoyable than learning spanish. Reading music is not easy though, brain workout.
I played it for seven years but i forget how to do most of the things i was forced into doing for an "activity"
Fluency in Mandarin is one hell of a goal for a non-native speaker.
I'm learning Mandarin and Cantonese right now on my own. It's easier than ever to learn a language without schooling or a tutor, you just need to stay with it. The best practice for me is talking to native speakers. Say 'hello' in their language and they will almost always engage you, and hands on convo is the #1 fastest ticket to fluency.
I'm learning Mandarin and Cantonese right now on my own. It's easier than ever to learn a language without schooling or a tutor, you just need to stay with it. The best practice for me is talking to native speakers. Say 'hello' in their language and they will almost always engage you, and hands on convo is the #1 fastest ticket to fluency.
I'm learning Mandarin and Cantonese right now on my own. It's easier than ever to learn a language without schooling or a tutor, you just need to stay with it. The best practice for me is talking to native speakers. Say 'hello' in their language and they will almost always engage you, and hands on convo is the #1 fastest ticket to fluency.
Mandarin is doable, but the number of non-Chinese speakers I have met who can converse with any competency in Cantonese is less than ten. The additional tones over Mandarin, with high/medium/low versus just high/low, basically mandate that the learner has have a naturally talented ear to start with. The only saving grace of the language is that the grammar is simple and lacks tenses.
I'm learning Mandarin and Cantonese right now on my own. It's easier than ever to learn a language without schooling or a tutor, you just need to stay with it. The best practice for me is talking to native speakers. Say 'hello' in their language and they will almost always engage you, and hands on convo is the #1 fastest ticket to fluency.
A lot of people use Discord servers to practice with others learning and native speakers, I'd bet you can find a German one easily enough.
A lot of people use Discord servers to practice with others learning and native speakers, I'd bet you can find a German one easily enough.A very great topic, because always developing means always going forward. In addition, when everything was bad with my studies, I used the https://uk.edubirdie.com (https://uk.edubirdie.com) project to improve my grades in studies, because I did not always understand everything. But thanks to this site, my marks became as high as possible, which I was incredibly pleased with, I advise everyone.
I'm learning Mandarin and Cantonese right now on my own. It's easier than ever to learn a language without schooling or a tutor, you just need to stay with it. The best practice for me is talking to native speakers. Say 'hello' in their language and they will almost always engage you, and hands on convo is the #1 fastest ticket to fluency.
Mandarin is doable, but the number of non-Chinese speakers I have met who can converse with any competency in Cantonese is less than ten. The additional tones over Mandarin, with high/medium/low versus just high/low, basically mandate that the learner has have a naturally talented ear to start with. The only saving grace of the language is that the grammar is simple and lacks tenses.
Try to learn Polish :Dspierdalaj na drzewo prostowac banany
Try to learn Polish :Dspierdalaj na drzewo prostowac banany
Am I doing it right?
:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:Try to learn Polish :Dspierdalaj na drzewo prostowac banany
Am I doing it right?
Да, точно ;D