I have been studying Spanish for two years. I have focused more on consistency than intensity. I am happy with my progress. Each trip to a Spanish speaking country (4 or 5 in the two years) I have been happy with how much my communication and compression has improved. I was able to have one month of living in a Spanish speaking country which helped tremendously. Somedays (okay, a lot of days) I may only study for 5 minutes but I rarely miss a day. My main goal was to just not give up, I really want to become conversational in Spanish someday. I’m almost A2 level.

I will be moving to Nepal for the next year. I lived there for a month before and can get by pretty good with just English but I would like to learn the local language. I feel this is an incredible opportunity for immersion and the people of Nepal are so friendly and so appreciative of efforts of ppl embracing their culture.

How counterproductive would 5 min a day of Spanish be and an hour a day of Nepali be?

TLDR: thoughts on learning Nepali while trying to maintain or take baby steps in Spanish at the same time?

I'm German and my wife is from Australia. We have recently moved to Germany for our jobs. Our Son ( 1 and a half ) is starting to pick up english words as we speak English as a family at home but when it's just him and me I speak German to him and so do the people at his daycare. He is 8 hours at daycare but he only speaks English words. I'm worried that he will struggle if I don't introduce more German at home but I also don't want to confuse him. Any advise on how other people have dealt with this?

The first language I've learned was English and it was quite easy to learn.

Now, I know that this is not possible, because some basic pronunciation is unavoidable to even read and write, but I am sure that one's brain is programmed in such a way that it can learn to read and write (in modern culture, type) and perfectly form sentences in written context, but fail at the very fundamentals of pronunciation, and this is why in language acquisition, vocal learning and literal learning have to simultaneously be prioritized with audiobooks and podcasts/recordings. Our brains can understand a word because every word has a "thought" behind it, and one can just use that "thought" to process the words and sentences, without having with auditory voice in your brain, which a native person has for its native language. So more like a baby learning its way without a laid-out path.

But I've become curious, has anyone here learned a language without learning through the vocal learning part of your brain, so just reading, understanding and writing? If yes, what role did it play in your conclusive hours of learning. Was it a huge change or not? If yes, I am sure it came with a bigger drawback and curse, which is the hardship of spending a very large amount of time just to pick back up on pronunciation and sentence forming through your vocals.

Cheers and good day.

Hard to word this. When you learn a new language, part of what you may struggle with is how different the sounds used are. Chinese, for example, is hard for English speakers because of the sounds and tones not present in English.

So which do you reckon are the two languages that are the furthest apart sound-wise, and therefore the hardest to learn/pronounce for speakers of the other language?

Had to do the interview at 5am EST, so I had to battle general fatigue. Was expecting a high level conversation about expectations, but to my surprise we ended up talking about discounted cash flow analysis, bond valuation and the three financial statements. This was a true shock to the system (I didn’t even need coffee anymore lol).

I am a C2 according to ACTFL OPI (I got Superior), and I think I did pretty well all things considered (I think I made finance mistakes but not French mistakes) but my brain hurts.

I've been using Duolingo for German for a while and what I like about it is that it's so broad with the amount of courses, it feels like I can continue learning for years on there and never feel like I've 'completed' it.

I got Babbel very recently and I'm struggling with the price and how limited it seems. I've jumped straight into B1 German and it looks like I have 2 courses and then that's it? I'd finish that in a month but I've paid for 12. Am I missing something? Does it continue with anything after completing B1 and B2 or is that it?

my mum told me i learned english as a kid just from watching shows and shit

I learned English for quite a while on my own but I am a lazy prick and would skip all the "write about" exercises. The result is that my passive language (= reading, understanding) skills are pretty good while my writing and speaking at low level. I followed the advices from Steven Kaufmann "don't study grammar". How can I might improve my writing skill?

P.S. I don't want to reading grammar book every day per hour without interest.

The two languages I personally want to learn are Lao/Isan (to speak w/ my friends and I just generally love Laotian culture) and Koine Greek (for reading the New Testament and Septuagint) and I have 3 questions:

I know Lao/Isan is significantly easier than koine Greek so my first question is how should I split my time studying them?

I’ve started learning the alphabets for both and started to use those alphabets to replace the Latin alphabet for my school notes (still in English), is this a good way to get used to/familiar with the alphabets?

Is a tutor worth it for the Greek considering that I won’t be speaking it? I am going to get a Laotian tutor but considering I’ll be spending my own money, I am on the fence for getting one for Greek…

Tysm for reading, means a lot :3

I grew up in multi-lingual places. Almost everyone speaks at least 2 languages. A good number speak 2 languages at native level, along with 1 or more others.

I realized it is extremely rare in my circles that someone speaks 3 languages all at native level.

By native level, I mean they can write perfectly proficiently, with nuance, complexity, and even flair. They can also speak each language such that other native speakers have every belief that the language is their first language. Fluency, complexity, and flair (jokes, figurative language, trendy phrases, idioms).

Native speakers must find them indistinguishable from other native speakers.

At this high bar, among hundreds of people I know who are "fluent" in 3+ languages, only 3 people are "truly trilingual". And 2 of them I feel may not meet the bar since they don't keep up with trendy Internet phrases in all 3 languages and so "suffer" in conversations, so it may only be 1 person who is truly trilingual.

How many do you know?

Edit: to summarize comments so far, it seems no one knows someone who is trilingual to the extent of indistinguishable from native speakers in 3 languages, but are varying degrees of close.

Before I get downvoted to hell, hear me out. I love Anki. I'm an avid user of it. But I find that I spend all my time making cards or formatting them, etc.

I was wondering if there was a way to learn via SRS without making cards somehow? Any of you all got a routine down?

For example right now I'm reading Harry Potter in Spanish and just looking up words via Google as I go. If I Anki'd them it would take forever. But if I don't review them I'll eventually forget, especially if I don't continuously read HP.

Any workarounds or advice? I'm currently a B2 in Spanish.

I am new to LingQ, but the price is so high I kept seeking a better alternative. But sadly, there is none on android.

Now I found fooview+Mdx dictionary(for example, eudic)+LingQ is a good way to use LingQ without subscription while still be able to utilize all the lessons and courses effectively. I don't need LingQ's dictionary feature which actually is not robust at all.

Tell me if you have other good alternative methods!

I want to know how you guys improve your speaking in a foreign language, which apps do you use to practice with native people

for me i would say its usually finding material at that sweetspot of understanding the general ideas but still learning a lots of new vocab

I have been learning Spanish for a few years and I am relatively advanced now. My husband is Colombian, and thinks my level is C1, and always says I am fluent.

My job is a legal assistant. When I started out, I got super nervous talking to clients in Spanish. Over time I have gotten better. But I still sometimes have a bit of trouble.

Today I did an initial interview with a potential new client who got in a car accident. I talked to him for about 45 minutes, and it went pretty well, I got all the information I needed and explained the next steps to him.

But later when he texted a picture of the driver’s license of the other driver, I realized I had thought the driver was the person who turned out to be the policyholder of the insurance. I feel so dumb!

Am I being too hard on myself? I wish I didn’t still get mixed up like this. I guess at least I was able to figure out my mix-up, which is the important thing.

So, I am currently reading about 10 books a month, and I spend approximately three days on each one. I believe I am quite proficient at reading already, almost at an advanced level, comprehending between 80% to 95% of the content (depending on the book's level). I am curious, how much better can I become if I read 200 books?

So, I am currently reading about 10 books a month, and I spend approximately three days on each one. I believe I am quite proficient at reading already, almost at an advanced level, comprehending between 80% to 95% of the content (depending on the book's level). I am curious, how much better can I become if I read 200 books?

I have a Dell laptop and my husband has an HP and we are both learning a few different languages. I'm looking at getting us a few different keyboard skins to make typing in our new target languages easier. Does anyone have recommendations on where to find this or if there is a better method than getting a skin? I see a lot of skins for Apple keyboards but hardly any for other systems.

Hey all. I've been teaching myself Spanish for awhile now, and I'm probably a solid B2 for what it's worth- able to converse with natives and understand most of what I hear/read. I'd like to push on to being near fluent if possible, and am OK with paying for the resources. Here's my situation- I am a working adult with a Bachelors degree in an unrelated field. I have looked into doing a Masters in Spanish but a) I'm not sure it will be worth the money and b) I don't have the necessary pre-reqs from undergrad. Many of the community colleges around here only offer Ed2Go courses, which are basically canned online courses for beginner to intermediate, so that's out. I understand Italki offers tutoring, but I'm not sure it would be structured enough- can anybody speak to this? Is there some sort of course I could enroll in as an adult that would push me into more advanced territory as far as the language is concerned?

Hello! So I'm born in France (that's why my English sucks 😅 sorry), my parents come from East Africa, but they didn't teach me their native language, so until my twenties, I didn't know how to speak this language (except a few words), but it didn't really bother me. But it's been 3 years that I've been trying to learn it! I learn words, I speak alone to improve my vocabulary, I listen to songs, etc. Now I can speak and understand a bit, but I feel like it's not enough because I don't understand well, and when I talk, people don't understand me even if I know the vocabulary! Unlike other famous languages, I can't download apps to help me learn it because there isn't this language in any app (it looks like Swahili, which is quite famous, but it's not Swahili, so it's useless). I can't watch subtitled shows because there aren't any, when I listen to music or watch the news, I don't really understand what they are saying, so I don't know if it's useful to keep listening to it. I can't go to my country because it's really expensive, and I go to school right now, and I feel like I can't speak this language to my parents or other people: my parents are used to talking to me in French, so they don't want to, and not only do I not live in a city with many people of my community, but I also feel like they are mocking me when I speak this language. I know I should care, but it's annoying 😂 I know I can do it, I know that I have improved sooooo much compared to before, I have seen a video of a white man who learned Somali just by reading books and speaking to people and before 2010 people didn't have Duolingo and yet they still find a way to learn languages without travelling. But yeah, I don't know how to become fluent... So, can you share some tips to learn a language when the ressources are limited?

So I'm from Pakistan and naturally grew up learning Urdu, which is written in the Persio-Arabic Nastaliq script. Urdu, as many of you may know, is considered an offshoot of the Hindustani language, which also includes Hindi. Hindi is written in the Indic Devanagari script.

For the most part, both languages are nearly identical barring a few differences depending on local dialects and loanwords depending on religious affiliation. I personally believe they're mutually intelligible enough to be considered a single language with multiple dialects which adopted multiple scripts. Having grown up consuming media from across the border without the need for cultural context or subtitles just solidifies that. Consuming media in Hindi or having conversations with native Hindi speakers abroad has never been an issue. Which leads me to a fascination with the Devanagari script. Especially since I live in an area where I infrequently come across some old buildings which have old signs or archive documents in that script.

I feel it's a unique opportunity to at least attempt to learn Devanagari. I already speak and understand the language verbally. But honestly I have no idea where to even begin with learning to read the script. There are apps and resources for learning to speak a new language but I don't know where to begin with learning to read a language I already understand.

If you guys can suggest any apps, resources, or tips to help me get started I'd appreciate it.

Hi. Some years ago i used Elsa Speak, mainly for it's pronunciation review feature, which used speech recognition to check your pronunciation. Recently my mom asked me for an app to learn English, but checking in Elsa Speak website and play store page, i noticed there are a lot of previously free features now being locked behind the pro paywall, including using this one without limitation, it wouldn't be an issue if they didn't changed their speech recognition engine to use IA and spam ads about it everywhere, and that sincerely pushed me off to subscribe / recommend to my mom. There's also LingoDeer and Forvo, but i think they don't quite fit that pronunciation review need, or maybe i didn't check their apps properly. Are there any other apps /websites with this feature?

I would like to use the foreign service institute's books to learn Spanish and Arabic. Is it a good idea to use the books like any other textbook, or is there something extra I need to do?

I am learning French and would like to do a self test before giving the TCF exam in October. My goal is to reach B2 before that. Can you guys suggest some resources?

I have been learning English for quite a while now, almost five years, and it has become my primary language. However, my writing skills are still quite poor.

I’ve tried some exercises where you choose a topic and write about it, but I didn’t find them very effective. Are there any other ways I can practice my writing skills?

It's May! How is the reading going?

If you're new, the basic concept is as follows:

• Read one book in your TL each month. Doesn't matter how long or short, how easy or difficult.
• Come chat about it in the monthly post so we can all get book recs and/or encouragement throughout the year.

So what did you read? What have you got planned? Is anyone in need of encouragement or advice?

I took a recommendation from the sub (thank you!) and read Schnee Am Bosporus by Celil Oker (translated from Turkish to German by Ute Birgi-Knellessen). Language-wise, this was a wild ride. There were some grammatical constructions that I've hardly seen before but were used throughout. And it was nice to get that repetition :) Plot-wise, it was fine? I would for sure read another in the series, but I'm not immediately rushing out for the next one.

And then just as I finished that, the 6th book in the Rory Shy series came out and I immediately read that too, because it is firmly my favourite German series.

I don't have any solid plans for the month ahead, and work is taking up a lot of overtime and brainspace, so I'm gonna go to the library on the weekend and hope something takes my fancy!