Learning another language?

[ls99]

After over 50 years in US am still working on American English.

 

[MarieIG]

Oh that’s unfortunate! You still have a video chat option.

Very true. Thank you.

 

[Koolau]

After over 50 years in US am still working on American English.

Born here and sometimes I wonder why such "lazy" English has found it's way into my every-day speech. I think English must be difficult to learn because it has so many alternative rules. ("I before e except after c" - heh, heh, most of the time.)

In contrast, I may not know what I'm actually reading, but I can "read" German out loud because the rules are virtually all set in stone on pronunciation.

 

[athena53]

Once you learn one Romance language, half the work is done with learning the next one.

That's been my experience. I started out with pre-Vatican 2 Latin! I'd get bored during the services and start comparing the English words on one side of my prayer book with the Latin on the other.

I took French in HS and German in college- can still converse decently in French and have a little more difficulty in German. I also try to pick up languages when I'm going to travel- learned a little Russian before DH and I went there in 2003 and last year I learned a little Serbian, which brought back some of the Russian words. That trip also included Bulgaria and Romania and it was interesting to see how some languages borrowed words form German or Russian and some had completely different words for the same thing.

And now I'm working on Spanish, which I've picked up on and off- I can read it decently and understand some if they speak slowly. I'm using LanguageDrops because Duolingo didn't have Serbian and I bought a one-year license for LanguageDrops. I like it but my main complaint is that there's not enough practice with sentences and conversations.

News podcasts in foreign languages help, as well as foreign films in Netflix with English subtitles.

Bonus: my grandchildren saw me using Language Drops and they think it's a fun game. I got the 9-year old her own license and she's working on Spanish. We decided her 7-year old sister doesn't have the spelling skills yet but she and her 4-year old brother work through lessons with me and I guide them to the right answer with questions at their level. ("That's a picture of a dog, el perro. Can you find the words 'el perro'"?) I figure whatever sticks in their brain and reminds them that English isn't the only language in the owrlds, it's good.

 

[audreyh1]

I’m really having a blast with the DuoLingo German. DuoLingo seems much more extensive compared to 2017/2018.

The crazy thing is that it’s helping me remember my Nederlands (Dutch). I have traditionally kept them apart because they are so similar, but it seems that maybe it’s not a problem for me. At least not anymore.

 

[braumeister]

I've also been using DuoLingo German for some time now, to get past my rusty old "restaurant German". I think they keep improving it, so I plan to stay with it. I'm always surprise at how many cognate words there are, but I really shouldn't be. English is really a Germanic language at its base.

 

[audreyh1]

Right, and Nederlands is in between.

 

[Davis65]

I'm proud. 835 days with Duolingo, some Spanish, but mostly French to recover my high school and living -in-Ottawa, Canada French.

Today it crossed over to my volunteer work doing tax returns for low-income people over the phone. I completed three returns for two clients complètement en français. 2.5 hours speaking French and dealing with tax terminology that is unfamiliar. It helped using the French version of the software, but here I am explaining how the Canadian tax system works to African immigrants. I don't usually brag, but I'm bragging about this.

 

[MarieIG]

I'm proud. 835 days with Duolingo, some Spanish, but mostly French to recover my high school and living -in-Ottawa, Canada French.

Today it crossed over to my volunteer work doing tax returns for low-income people over the phone. I completed three returns for two clients complètement en français. 2.5 hours speaking French and dealing with tax terminology that is unfamiliar. It helped using the French version of the software, but here I am explaining how the Canadian tax system works to African immigrants. I don't usually brag, but I'm bragging about this.

And so you should!

 

[Dtail]

After over 50 years in US am still working on American English.

So is Arnold and Sylvester.

 

[Car-Guy]

After over 50 years in US am still working on American English.

Now that I've mastered Texas English, I'm going to start working on the American English dialect. But some of them non native Texan English speakers sure do talk funny sometimes.

 

[kgtest]

Learning Arabic is on my bucket list. It will open a world more of opportunities for travel...and better quality of travel.

I don't know enough spanish, but enough to mumble around some basic conversation. Even less french and german, but I do know a little.

I hadn't heard of duolingo but I am gonna give it a try.

 

[audreyh1]

I'm proud. 835 days with Duolingo, some Spanish, but mostly French to recover my high school and living -in-Ottawa, Canada French.

Today it crossed over to my volunteer work doing tax returns for low-income people over the phone. I completed three returns for two clients complètement en français. 2.5 hours speaking French and dealing with tax terminology that is unfamiliar. It helped using the French version of the software, but here I am explaining how the Canadian tax system works to African immigrants. I don't usually brag, but I'm bragging about this.

Wow awesome!

That’s also an amazing streak!

I’m hammering away at my German every day. Don’t know if it will help my trip much but it has been fun!

 

[audreyh1]

So is Arnold and Sylvester.

So is Dtail!
(So are Arnold and Sylvester)

 

[Davis65]

I’m hammering away at my German every day. Don’t know if it will help my trip much but it has been fun!

The Germans will speak English to you, but secretly they will respect your efforts, and you will enjoy being able to read signs send plaques and museum descriptions.

Language is a great window into a culture.

 

[audreyh1]

The Germans will speak English to you, but secretly they will respect your efforts, and you will enjoy being able to read signs send plaques and museum descriptions.

Language is a great window into a culture.

People immediately spoke German to us in restaurants etc. when we visited Cologne last year. I had some basic stuff which was mainly politely asking them if they spoke English. This inspired me to at least get some more basic phrases down.

Museum descriptions? - I doubt it, ha ha!

 

[Chuckanut]

After over 50 years in US am still working on American English.

My father came to the US at the age of 17. He never lost all his Italian accent and often, especially under pressure, would fall back on Italian words for certain items and ideas. In his old age Italian really came back to him to the point that he would slip into it without knowing that he was not speaking English any more.

 

[W2R]

My daughter's husband is from the Barcelona area, so Catalan is his native language. He also speaks Spanish and English fluently. They live in Oregon.

She has been working hard with Duolingo every day. They are both pleased with how much her Spanish has improved.

 

[anethum]

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://ww w.conversationexchange.com/
https://www.language-exchanges.org/

That was my post in this thread 2 years ago. I'm still speaking weekly with the same FIRE'd man in Paris, and with the same young man in Costa Rica. I have now met both of them in person. 18 months ago I met my French/English language partner while I was in Paris and spent a lovely day with him and his partner. Then last September, both of them flew to the US and stayed with me before they moved up the east coast. We had lots of fun together and spoke only in French the entire time since my French is stronger than their English.

Then 3 months ago, I flew to Costa Rica to meet the young man who I've been speaking with for 9 years (a third of his life). His English is now extremely fluent and much better than my Spanish, but my Spanish has improved a lot. He insisted, however, that we speak Spanish together while I was visiting. We had a great time together.

There were no surprises with either language partner when we met in person. We're friends now. We got along just as well as we do on Skype. I'm introverted, but that simply hasn't been an issue speaking with language partners online. If you want to improve your ability to speak a foreign language, the best way is simply to speak it as much as you can.

 

[audreyh1]

Great update Anetham!

I notice online language tutors mention Skype but gosh that seems so ancient. I would love FaceTime of course, as I use that frequently to communicate with family in Europe and it’s so easy.

On MacOS.

So my Spanish comprehension is very good, even handle a wide range of Spanish accents now, and with a teeny bit of immersion I’m back to fairly fluent. I can think in Spanish and no longer translate to English to comprehend.

French is my most desired next language. I’m fairly far along written and spoken but nowhere near fluent. However I can read websites, etc., understand signs. Ask questions. Just not at conversational level and comprehension beyond basic spoken French is limited. So I probably will get an online tutor later this year after our big Europe trip. My goal is to do an immersion next summer if possible. We really enjoy traveling in France and the French culture.