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Thread: Anyone learning a new language?

  1. #1
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    Default Anyone learning a new language?

    With this lockdown I've been trying to learn and do new things and after watching the video below, I've been motivated to pick up another language

    there's also the white new yorker guy that speaks fluent Mandarin and various dialects.

    I am already tri-lingual as I can speak Italian and Tagalog, took some basic German and French classes back in Elementary but nothing really stuck with those.
    I was set on learning either Mandarin or Spanish but instead I decided to learn Japanese first instead.

    Just checking online and youtube for learning right now, testing with Duolingo but I know the best way is immersion and speaking with someone native.

    Curious to see if there's any other beyonders that are trying to new languages and resources they are using.

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    I've tried to learn German and Spanish and given up both times haha. I find I can learn the speech basics not to bad, but what I really struggle with is any time I have to do any writing/spelling. I was using Duolingo though, so maybe that wasn't the best approach.

    I was forced to take French in school and hated it, so that has kind of turned me off learning it even though it's probably the most valuable second language to know in Canada.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mitsu3000gt View Post
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    I've tried to learn German and Spanish and given up both times haha. I find I can learn the speech basics not to bad, but what I really struggle with is any time I have to do any writing/spelling. I was using Duolingo though, so maybe that wasn't the best approach.

    I was forced to take French in school and hated it, so that has kind of turned me off learning it even though it's probably the most valuable second language to know in Canada.
    My goal is to be able to have basic conversations with locals when we travel, French is also one of the languages I would like to learn so that when we go to Quebec they can't bad mouth us

    I decided to start with Japanese for now since I watched so many anime and japanese movies growing up and can pick up some of the sounds and words already, I like the challenge of learning their basic writing hiragana as well.


    Trying Duolingo right now, I'm on the very first level of Japanese and got bumped to level 2 in Italian so I'm curious to see the transition and learning from various levels.

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    I did Spanish for a year with Duolingo - lost my streak due to time-zones when flying back from Toronto and it crushed my motivation to continue, haha.
    It's not a bad way to get familiar with words, phrases, and syntax. My wife was learning as well, so it gave us an opportunity to practice a bit. A year later i've lost some of it, but some words, phrases, and syntax remain and I think I could pick it up again.

    Never hurts to begin, and they offer a pretty easy/user-friendly (and free) platform.
    Originally posted by scat19
    I have a BMW so im not stupid.

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    Quote Originally Posted by XylathaneGTR View Post
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    I did Spanish for a year with Duolingo - lost my streak due to time-zones when flying back from Toronto and it crushed my motivation to continue, haha.
    It's not a bad way to get familiar with words, phrases, and syntax. My wife was learning as well, so it gave us an opportunity to practice a bit. A year later i've lost some of it, but some words, phrases, and syntax remain and I think I could pick it up again.

    Never hurts to begin, and they offer a pretty easy/user-friendly (and free) platform.
    what was your purpose for learning Spanish, were you planning on travelling to Latin countries and were you able to test it out there?

    Duolingo has been great on refreshing my Italian, Japanese is doing well but I'm finding this to be the best way to learn Japanese at the moment
    https://www.tofugu.com/learn-japanese/
    I'm at the first step of learning hiragana and can recognize 20-30 hiragana characters now. Along with duolingo it is helping me learn new words and improve my Japanese reading.

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    I'm learning Spanish... slowly.

    My wife is Spanish but when we met she was learning English so our relationship has always been based on speaking English at home.

    I took classes in Medellin, Colombia, and improved a lot there. Colombians are super friendly, patient, and social and speak with a clear accent relative to Spaniard.

    My comprehension is very good and I started watching shows in Netflix dubbed in Spanish though sometimes I miss a word or two which can completely change the meaning of things. It's particularly difficult given all this COVID mask shit which really muffles sounds.

    I picked up a book called "The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice" as I really need to get back into studying conjugations and vocabulary. My present-tense is good but I have a lot to learn still for past and future, along with general vocabulary. It doesn't help that I like to speak about complex subjects so I find myself constantly frustrated by not having the vocabulary, though a lot of scientific and legal words are the same given their Latin base.

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    It would be beneficial to learn Cantonese for me but those damn tones make it sound like I'm saying something completely different whenever I say any word.

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    Quote Originally Posted by davidI View Post
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    I'm learning Spanish... slowly.

    My wife is Spanish but when we met she was learning English so our relationship has always been based on speaking English at home.

    I took classes in Medellin, Colombia, and improved a lot there. Colombians are super friendly, patient, and social and speak with a clear accent relative to Spaniard.

    My comprehension is very good and I started watching shows in Netflix dubbed in Spanish though sometimes I miss a word or two which can completely change the meaning of things. It's particularly difficult given all this COVID mask shit which really muffles sounds.

    I picked up a book called "The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice" as I really need to get back into studying conjugations and vocabulary. My present-tense is good but I have a lot to learn still for past and future, along with general vocabulary. It doesn't help that I like to speak about complex subjects so I find myself constantly frustrated by not having the vocabulary, though a lot of scientific and legal words are the same given their Latin base.
    for how long have you been living in Spain now? At least you are able to make common conversation so it is just a matter of practice for you.
    I'm finding duolingo handy for refreshing my Italian as some words are coming back to me and making mistakes with prepositions now.


    Quote Originally Posted by nzwasp View Post
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    It would be beneficial to learn Cantonese for me but those damn tones make it sound like I'm saying something completely different whenever I say any word.
    would like to learn some very basic spanish next, undecided between cantonese and mandarin though but leaning mandarin first as it is more spoken and apparently easier to learn.

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    I speak French quite well as I lived in deep rural Quebec from the time I was 16 until I was 21 and there was almost no English. I have lost words over the years not using it often but when we do go to France on holidays and I am immersed in it again it comes back extremely quickly. Even outside of that with the odd French speaking client I can have normal conversations no problem other than maybe asking the person to repeat something or explain a word I have forgotten but it really is not a big deal. My accent is very Quebecois and even more so what is known as Beaucerons which always shocks any person from Quebec I chat with in French haha!

    I would like to learn Spanish based on that I think since the Latin languages are a lot easier to learn once you know one. Apart from Duolingo etc I would like to learn sign language too. I have a few deaf clients and it would be nice to be able to converse with them rather than writing everything down.

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    Duolingo has been useful. Also oddly enough watching cooking videos because they point out the ingredients while using the word for it.
    Doing It For the 'Gram

    I ain't worried 'bout it right now..

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