Learning another language?

braumeister

braumeister

Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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What platform are you using for learning and/or practice?
How do you think you're doing?

From another thread, it appears that a number of us are learning another language in retirement. I'm near an 800 day streak in Duolingo, and JoeWras has an impressive 1,000 days. Amethyst was at 700 before something happened to snap her streak.

I like the Duolingo platform for a couple reasons (apart from the daily nagging to use it). There are only a small number of new words in each lesson and they give you plenty of practice. I don't think the grammar instruction is as good as I'd like, but overall it's a great system.

I also like Rocket Languages, as it seems to have more of a "real world" approach to the language.
 
The DW and I took a 3 month German language class. As part of the class, we received a program called DeutschPlus. It has a training book and 4 audio CDs. Sometimes I’ll listen to a CD while in the car, but I think when trying to learn any new language, you really have to use it to retain it.
 
Duolingo is a good start, or a good review. I took German in high school and it has been a good review. I benefited from the grammar I forgot, but suddenly all came back when using Duolingo. Duo has some tips and discussions people don't always read that actually try to give you some grammar. It is very basic.

I think to really learn I'd want to be in a class or informal group where conversation occurs.

Use multiple resources, and try to find a way to immerse for a while.

BTW: I finished the German tree and Duolingo recently updated it. The new exercises are pretty good, and some are quite complex. After I struggle through these, I'm noticing that the easy sentences are becoming natural and I'm starting to "think" in the language instead of trying to translate. So, it is helping. I still struggle trying to listen to German live, at normal pace. I only get bits and pieces. I like some German rock, but due to all the idioms and slurring of words, it is somewhat impossible to understand.
 
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I got a solid D in German class way back in HS in the 70's..not much tech then other than cassette tapes and worksheets and flashcards..came out barely knowing how to order a pint of beer " Einen halben Liter helles Bier, bitte." but that phrase came in handy when I was stationed in Germany at Panzer Kaserne . so my HS German class was not a total waste. Later in 2007 before being deployed to Iraq our unit had to spend a week in language lab at Ft Bragg learning arabic and the instructors used Roseatta Stone which was interesting and after a week we were tested on knowledge of vocabulary and about 120 common phrases and you had to get a 75% to pass .no one failed. Rosseatta stone was a combination of listening and pictures and scenarios and was a good way to learn without being tedious and boring.
 
Took German in HS and learned Spanish on my own using a couple of different programs. Spanish comes in handy in Texas. I may learn some Russian soon. :)
 
680 day in a row on Duolingo in Spanish.

Wife and I were taking private lessons twice a week here in Costa Rica. But last fall as things started opening back up and we wanted to take some local excursions, instructor decided we had to pay a month at a time and if we were gone (even with several months notice) to bad, we lost our money.

I read it pretty well, wife speaks it better than I do. I wear hearing aids and the masks the last two years have made it difficult when you can't see a persons mouth or expressions.

Something else that helped me was I went back and really brushed up on English grammar and structure to better understand how our native works and be able to better identify the differences.

But gonna keep on keeping on. It's a challenge for sure.
 
After over 50 years in US still working on American English. Get many comments on my accent. Can't rush this process.
 
Day 348 of duolingo Italian.

I took 3 semesters of Italian at the local community college when I first retired. That was very useful for learning the grammar and conjugation rules.

I'm much better at reading and writing, than I am with speaking/hearing.

But I'm motivated. My husband and sons are dual citizens. I did all the research/document gathering for that. Since they became citizens they changed the rules for spousal citizenship... Now you have to speak fluently. (Pass a level B1 test.) I could probably pass the written portion - but not the oral portion... no matter how many times I say "parli lentamente per favore".

I am using the slow news in Italian app to get some listening practice. The have other "Slow News" apps for Spanish, German, French...

My older son is taking first semester Italian in college this semester. They are using Rosetta Stone.

Here's the link to the Slow News apps... I have the Italian version loaded on my android phone.
https://www.newsinslow.com/
 
I have been taking Farsi through Rosetta Stone. I already understand a fair amount of Farsi but was unable to master reading despite trying different grammar books over the years. Being able to hear the language and then seeing it written is working and I am able to read it now.

I am already fluent in Spanish and know some Portuguese and French. Once I get more comfortable with the Farsi, I think I will add in another language. Perhaps, German or Italian?
 
I'm at 197 days of German in Duolingo. I appreciate the daily [-]'mild nagging'[/-] reminder Duo sends out. I really need to watch German movies or TV also, to become accustomed to the native speaking pace. I get somewhat-immersed when I go to visit my cousin (the one I found through DNA testing in 2014) in Germany for a month each summer.

I had years of Spanish and French in school. When I am placed in a full-immersion location, after a short while I am pleasantly surprised how quickly the 50 years of accumulated rust starts to flake off. :LOL:

And the Russian I was exposed to as a child has allowed me to understand the untranslated videos of captured Russian soldiers in Ukraine as well as Zelenskyy's speeches when he gives them in Russian.

Haven't found much use for the Finnish we spoke at home, as all the Finns I meet speak perfect English. :D

omni
 
rodi said:
Day 348 of duolingo Italian.

I took 3 semesters of Italian at the local community college when I first retired. That was very useful for learning the grammar and conjugation rules.

I'm much better at reading and writing, than I am with speaking/hearing.

But I'm motivated. My husband and sons are dual citizens. I did all the research/document gathering for that. Since they became citizens they changed the rules for spousal citizenship... Now you have to speak fluently. (Pass a level B1 test.) I could probably pass the written portion - but not the oral portion... no matter how many times I say "parli lentamente per favore".

I am using the slow news in Italian app to get some listening practice. The have other "Slow News" apps for Spanish, German, French...

My older son is taking first semester Italian in college this semester. They are using Rosetta Stone.

Here's the link to the Slow News apps... I have the Italian version loaded on my android phone.
https://www.newsinslow.com/
Click to expand...

Rodi, thank you for the Slow News app recommendation. It looks great! Another thing you can try is watching a movie with closed caption in whatever language you are learning. Listening to music in another language also helps since the way we sing is more closely connected to how we actually speak.
 
There are numerous free websites for finding language exchange partners. I signed up on two of these sites and I've been doing a weekly 2-hour Spanish-English language exchange for 7 years with a man in Costa Rica. We generally use Zoom now and do the 1st hour in Spanish and the 2nd hour in English. He & I really hit if off and I hope we can soon meet in person. I was in CR a couple of times many years ago so I'm familiar with where he lives and places he talks about. I had also spoken with other Spanish-speakers from Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, & Bolivia. I traveled in Mexico and Colombia several times after I started my weekly chats with my CR partner, and I became much more at ease speaking Spanish as a result of our weekly chats.

When Covid hit, I started doing French-English language exchanges just to get some practice speaking my already fluent French. Since last summer, I've been Skyping weekly for an hour (half in English, half in French) with a very nice FIRE'd guy in Paris. Previously, I had spoken with several other French speakers in Europe and Quebec.

If you're a native speaker of English, you're in great demand on these sites. My Costa Rican partner told me that when he sent requests to native English speakers, fewer than 10% even replied to him.

Here are links to two of the better language exchange sites:

https://www.conversationexchange.com/
https://www.language-exchanges.org/
 
anethum said:
There are numerous free websites for finding language exchange partners. I signed up on two of these sites and I've been doing a weekly 2-hour Spanish-English language exchange for 7 years with a man in Costa Rica. We generally use Zoom now and do the 1st hour in Spanish and the 2nd hour in English. He & I really hit if off and I hope we can soon meet in person. I was in CR a couple of times many years ago so I'm familiar with where he lives and places he talks about. I had also spoken with other Spanish-speakers from Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, & Bolivia. I traveled in Mexico and Colombia several times after I started my weekly chats with my CR partner, and I became much more at ease speaking Spanish as a result of our weekly chats.

When Covid hit, I started doing French-English language exchanges just to get some practice speaking my already fluent French. Since last summer, I've been Skyping weekly for an hour (half in English, half in French) with a very nice FIRE'd guy in Paris. Previously, I had spoken with several other French speakers in Europe and Quebec.

If you're a native speaker of English, you're in great demand on these sites. My Costa Rican partner told me that when he sent requests to native English speakers, fewer than 10% even replied to him.

Here are links to two of the better language exchange sites:

https://www.conversationexchange.com/
https://www.language-exchanges.org/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links! Not sure how my introverted soul feels about it (especially two hours!) but it's something to look into.
 
I became fluent in German many years ago. Here are my tips:

- learn correct pronunciation, in the beginning. Best to have personal coaching and feedback. It's hard to unlearn poor pronunciation. And pronunciation is a real challenge for many languages, since there can often be NO parallel sounds in english. For German, you need someone to teach you how to move your mouth and tongue to make the sounds.

- learn the basic grammar and sentence structure rules, in the beginning. Refresh regularly.

- Easy German is my preferred tool- you see both the english and german, and hear the words. Youtube has movies with CC (subtitles) that you can set to english or autotranslate. I even found I could understand some old Hitler speeches, but he seemed to always be yelling, which is harder to understand. Plus he had that austrian accent, which is a bit different from high german.

- Duolingo is fun and helps with motivation, but I combine with other tools.

- I'm missing practicing the "speaking" portion. I haven't found the best way to find someone who will talk in german with me.
 
Born2BRetd said:
Listening to music in another language also helps since the way we sing is more closely connected to how we actually speak.
Click to expand...

That may well be true. When I lived in Brazil I loved to listen to a few popular singers who enunciated clearly. It seemed to help me quite a lot, and enjoying the music was a bonus. Even today, when I hear certain phrases in Portuguese I immediately connect them with how they were used in a song.
 
tfudtuckerpucker said:
I became fluent in German many years ago. Here are my tips:

- learn correct pronunciation, in the beginning. Best to have personal coaching and feedback. It's hard to unlearn poor pronunciation. And pronunciation is a real challenge for many languages, since there can often be NO parallel sounds in english. For German, you need someone to teach you how to move your mouth and tongue to make the sounds.

- learn the basic grammar and sentence structure rules, in the beginning. Refresh regularly.

- Easy German is my preferred tool- you see both the english and german, and hear the words. Youtube has movies with CC (subtitles) that you can set to english or autotranslate. I even found I could understand some old Hitler speeches, but he seemed to always be yelling, which is harder to understand. Plus he had that austrian accent, which is a bit different from high german.

- Duolingo is fun and helps with motivation, but I combine with other tools.

- I'm missing practicing the "speaking" portion. I haven't found the best way to find someone who will talk in german with me.
Click to expand...

Yes, learning proper pronunciation at the beginning is very important. Now that I am reading in Farsi I am finding words that I was mispronouncing and it's taking a lot of work to remember the correct way. I asked my husband why he didn't correct me and he told me he thought it was cute! Grrr
 
tfudtuckerpucker said:
I became fluent in German many years ago. Here are my tips:

- learn correct pronunciation, in the beginning. Best to have personal coaching and feedback. It's hard to unlearn poor pronunciation. And pronunciation is a real challenge for many languages, since there can often be NO parallel sounds in english. For German, you need someone to teach you how to move your mouth and tongue to make the sounds.
Click to expand...

A bit off tangent, but I read that native Russian speakers cannot pronounce a certain Ukrainian word and this is a dead giveaway when they are questioned as possible spies.

-BB
 
omni550 said:
I'm at 197 days of German in Duolingo. I appreciate the daily [-]'mild nagging'[/-] reminder Duo sends out. I really need to watch German movies or TV also, to become accustomed to the native speaking pace. I get somewhat-immersed when I go to visit my cousin (the one I found through DNA testing in 2014) in Germany for a month each summer.
Click to expand...

We need to find some older shows to watch, back when TV and movie direction included non-shaky close ups of people speaking clearly. Or perhaps the news on Deutsche Welle

Today, the shaky camera, along with the loud music and whisper-talk has killed the idea of using media to learn.

For example: I loved the series Dark. But trying to watch it in German? Forget it. Too many idioms, too much whisper talk, too much blurry camera.
 
I'm learning Spanish, mainly on DuoLingo. As of today, my streak is 745 days and I have 112,061 XP. I also watch lots of YouTube videos in Spanish. If they're talking too fast, YouTube lets you slow it down a bit. I also listen to most of the DuoLingo Spanish podcasts. Sometimes, I print out the podcast transcript, look up any words I don't know, and then practice mirroring at normal speed.

I feel like I'm doing pretty well. I can read and write Spanish better than I can speak it on the fly. I think my pronunciation is pretty good, but again, I'm just not very fast at *quickly* constructing a sentence on the fly. Listening at full speed is challenging as well. I definitely need more practice with native speakers, but that's been difficult during the Pandemic.
 
I recently finished the Rosetta Stone program for Farsi/Persian. I didn't realize that it only takes you to an intermediate level in Farsi as advanced levels are only available for the most common languages. This was a birthday gift so I hadn't done any research on the different platforms available.

I will give Rosetta Stone credit for teaching me to read and write (although it probably helped that I already had a basic speaking knowledge of Farsi) but I found it irritating at times as it is an immersion program only and there were times where complex ideas were expressed through photos and I had no idea what the photo meant which also meant that I sometimes learned the wrong meaning of a word. Also, their fill-in text boxes would often times cover up the whole sentence and I couldn't read the original sentence.

After some research, I landed on Mondly (Farsi is not available in DuoLingo). It is very interactive with the introduction of a few words or phrases and then you play with them in English and the foreign language. That is a much better approach for me personally. I bought the premium package for $89 which gives me lifetime access to 33 languages! I'm really concentrating on the Farsi right now but once I get that settled I will hop around and enjoy all the languages. Such fun!
 
I'm retired.
On day 82 of Duolingo Spanish.
I'm enjoying relearning my 6 years of middle and high school Spanish.
The program is engaging and fun.
And effective. My brain is sometimes thinking in Spanish now.

I don't really understand the how the "units" are structured and how I'm supposed to proceed thru them.
They each address situations like travel, people, eating, work, etc
I sometimes click into a new unit that I think is the next more challenging unit and it's too simplistic.
So, I find I'm wandering thru a bit haphazardly.
But I can see alot of progress
 
Bryan Barnfellow said:
A bit off tangent, but I read that native Russian speakers cannot pronounce a certain Ukrainian word and this is a dead giveaway when they are questioned as possible spies.

-BB
Click to expand...

For anyone who wants to go further off-tangent….there is a very interesting (at least to me) podcast series called “Lexicon Valley” hosted by writer and Columbia U. professor of linguistics, John McWhorter. The Mar 15 edition discusses the similarities and differences between Ukrainian and Russian.
 
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