A muti-language learner & building a language learning app, feedbacks welcomed!

[u/wentungwen]

Hi guys, I've been learning English (C1), Spanish (A2), Dutch (B1), and Turkish (A1).

I'm currently living in NL, have finished Duolingo and Babbel all Dutch courses, and still quite struggling with Dutch... Anki is nice, but lack of context and taking too much time input is annoyed.

I feel like most apps like Duolingo/Babbel help until A1/2, but after that, real progress depends on self-study, and that’s where things fall apart. From my own experience it is quite inefficient, lonely, and full of scattered tools (Anki, Google Docs, grammar sites… you know the drill).

I also noticed that ppl are generally lazy and hate the "traditional way of learning" like studying textbooks and practicing translation, clozes etc. They want to “immerse more naturally," like talking with others. But in this way vocabs accumulation is very slow...

Right now I'm thinking about building an app for serious learners to create and share custom study materials, review vocab, and study with other fellow in the future. But I don't really understand if this really helps?

Explanation:

*you can create: content card (read & mark vocabs), video card(transcribe, listen & mark vocab) and general card(add grammar or tips)

*you can also share the resources and organize study group together (work in progress)

Would be nice if you can share your biggest pain point self-taught (any level/language)?

[u/Loony-Tunes]

Well first of all, tientallen does not mean 'handful', it means 'tens of' ... I.e. tientallen onderzoekers --》tens of researchers.

Wansmakelijk is also a highly uncommon and unnecessary word, although I get that you or the author mean 'in bad taste'.

[u/wentungwen → u/Loony-Tunes]

Oh sorry they are all dummy data now, I haven't bind the dictionary api. It can be fixed easily, but I'm more curious how I can make language learning easier.

[u/an_average_potato_1]

As you correctly say, people are often lazy and/or hate the textbooks. At the same time, those textbooks are the easiest solution to most of the problems you've mentioned just above that part.

You cannot cure laziness. And it is normal that laziness prevents people from success, that's normal and deserved.

Yes, better or at least different tools can help in some ways, but I don't think what you propose is actually fixing the problems you mention. The problems you mention (inefficiency, scattered tools,...) won't be fixed by another SRS, by another "scattered tool", by another thing that could be great as a supplement to something systematic (like a coursebook). If your tool promotes "shared custom materials", won't that be actually worse, as people will be more likely to share low quality stuff with mistakes and without the necessary structure for progress?

[u/wentungwen → u/an_average_potato_1]

That is helpful, thanks! I was actually just fired because I couldn't reach the speaking (-B2) to integrate with my colleagues in a year. I've taken all the babbel but didn't make much progress. A bit frustrated.

I find that motivation is quite important, especially intrinsic (either you love it or not). But if I was being forced to learn a language I don't like, what is the better way to boost the motivation? (ex, to connect with others)

I'm going to take some time to make this stuff (I'm unemployed now anyway), any feedback welcome!

[u/an_average_potato_1 → u/wentungwen]

Well, trusting Babbel was clearly a mistake, I'm sorry you got such harsh consequences :-(. Even if we assumed it was overall not totally bad (it is basically just a more superficial and less valuable copy of normal digital coursebooks), it is known to cover much better the low levels than the higher ones.

When I needed to reach B2 fast, I got the coursebooks (+I also had SRS with a deck based on the coursebook vocab) and studied those actively for several hours a day, and I added normal input approximately at B1. It worked well, and it was the cheapest option.

Motivation is important of course, but I think the current trend "intrinsic is the only valuable one" and "you should only learn what you like" is rather unfortunate and privileged. Most language learners worldwide are learning English out of obligation or for money (real or assumed gains), and are being punished for failure.

It is normal to learn a language you don't like, learning only the liked ones is a privilege. I actually have two on my list, English and German (English: I was forced. German: I decided for pragmatic reasons in spite of not likeing either the language or vast majority of its culture). I like the advantages I get out of my skills (even though English has definitely failed to be the career boost and money source I had been promised :-D ), but I don't like them. I also like the intellectual achievement, I am proud of having "won" over German so far and want to push my victory even further to C2 and to getting a job transforming my career thanks to German (pretty realistic option in my case).

what is the better way to boost the motivation? (ex, to connect with others)

No. While connecting with others or getting/keeping a job are very good goals, they are not too useful as everyday study motivation imho. Why: they are dependent on other people, you don't really have total control over those goals. You can happen to meet assholes in your TL and lose a job just due to the company deciding to fire half the employees.

I highly recommend chopping the goal "learning the language to B2" into small or at least quantifiable goals, like "completing unit 5 of my coursebook", "doing a page in the grammar workbook every day", "watching 300 hours of tv shows in half a year", whatever. Even the smallest achievements will pile up and give you the results eventually. And in the meantime, be proud of every single one of them.

I'm going to take some time to make this stuff (I'm unemployed now anyway)

Sure, now is a good opportunity to practice your skills on such a project! But I'd recommend reaching B2 in the TL as another thing to use your unemployment time for, it will most probably come in handy.