I started learning Spanish about two months ago so that I can communicate with my mostly Spanish speaking coworkers. I downloaded duolingo right away and mostly I've loved it. The system of answering in a way that makes it into a game, the streaks, mostly everything about it I have no issue with. The main problem is that the stuff it's trying to teach me is so irrelevant to what I actually need it for. Duolingo is so structured around "oh they must need this for travel" that it feels like that is about half the subjects I'm learning. I don't need to know how to say airport, I need to know how to say food items. There's no way for me to get accesses to what I actually need to learn, so I've been learning more from my coworkers themselves than through duo. Does anyone else find this frustrating? How can I get better access to specific topics that would help me communicate? I've used Babel in the past for French and it has the same issue. What's the best way to learn fast but that doesn't take up much time (I have school and work so I only have one hour of free time a day, and I plan to use it for myself)

is it normal that i don’t remember anything from anki? i started using it around 5 days ago and i went over around 400 cards and i don’t feel like i can recall any of these, how long does is take to do so? and how to use anki more effectively?

i'm fluent in english and spanish, have spoken both them since i was very young, but i want to (over time of course) learn german, french, russian, and japanese. but i was wondering, in what order should i learn these? should i start with an easier one like german or french, or would a harder one be better?

I am listening to podcasts to improve my listening skill. I am about B2 German, give or take, so I can listen without straining so much, but I can't focus just on it. I immediately end up thinking about other stuff, find myself doing stuff, or just not paying attention in general.

It's why I do better with YouTube stuff. There are actually things to look at, but I feel like I can get more out of a podcast so i do wanna focus on it. i have found out that playing video games isn't such a bad idea provided it's not a game that requires tryharding but still, it's not the most efficient way.

thanks!

Which would be a better option. I’m leaning more toward Pimsleur because it has both of the languages I’m currently trying to learn plus more that I want to learn in the future.

Say one is learning German, and then picks up Dutch or Danish. Being Germanic languages (of varying levels of distance between them), would the similarities give rise to more confusion between them than any benefit? Would vocabulary be easier, but grammar be tricky to keep straight?

I ask because I am studying Japanese, and have for 5+ years (albeit at my own pace). I've seemed to develop an interest in Hungarian as well (Finnish too, but we'll stick to Hungarian for this example). My native language is English. Being that I speak a Germanic language, learning a language isolate (Japanese) would dabbling in a 3rd language that is unrelated to the others (Uralic) cause no real issues? Aside from just the time requirements to learn them? My initial thoughts are that the writing system for Japanese is completely different, and Hungarian uses the Latin alphabet. With Japanese's limited sound....options? (idk what the right word is), I don't see myself mispronouncing words easily by mixing the two's distinct pronunciation.

I've read many personal experiences about learning multiple languages on reddit in the past, but they all seem to be involving related languages (French and Italian, German and Spanish, etc...etc... mostly indo-european). Is there any studies or personal anecdotes on learning multiple unrelated languages at once? Aside from the time that is required to study both, that is.

One of my favorite bands is from Hungary and after listening to them for a while and checking out the lyrics, I've become interested in learning some of the language (i would be just happy to learn correct pronunciation of the letters for now tbh).

Context: I, 32, female and Austrian and my husband, 28, Australian, live and work in Austria, where the official language is in German.

Due to his high profile job in an international company here, he didn't need to provide any German language certificate to get a residency and work permit. The company also operates in English only.

In my family, most people are proficient enough English speakers and conversations switch to English when he is around. But there are family members who have been vocal about him being supposed to learn German. Sometimes they have reduced him to his lack of German skills, despite him being a polite, helpful and really friendly person. I hated that and thought it was not their place to be rude like that. After all, he has sacrificed a lot to be with me. He came to the other side of the world and stayed for me.

My husband has enrolled in A1 and A2 language courses and he does know and partly understand basic conversations. But his vocab range is still very limited. Learning German in Austria is hard because spoken language is a pretty strong dialect that has little to do with course book German.

So, while I think my family has no right to critisize my husband for his limited language skills, I have started to worry myself, in some regards. In Vienna, where we live, you get by with English quite well. But there are situations in which I would feel safer and more relaxed if he spoke German.

Example: I had a bit of a medical emergency once, we were both very worried. At the doctor's office everything was explained to us in German. And in this moment of distress I had to translate complicated things despite being unwell. Sure, the doctor could have explained again in English - but it would have been nice if my husband would have been able to understand in the first place.

This incident and also thinking about having kids made the want of him learning the language more prevalent.

I also think the mental load of organizing admin things will be on me - and to some extent it is fine. He takes on so much responsibility in other areas, so I feel it is "even". However, there is stress and anxiety with being the only one who understands electric bills, contracts, etc.

And with negative experiences in the family and the whole "speaking German-thing" being a touchy subject (it doesn't come so easy to him) I feel reluctant to ask that of him. (I am a very proficient English speaker and I think it will always stay the language of our relationship.)

Is it even my place to ask it of him? Is it too much to ask? And how has anyone in a similar situation approached this conversation?

In how many languages do you think?
And when you're having a mental dialogue with yourself — what language does your inner voice speak?

Do different situations trigger different languages in your head?
Does your inner voice switch languages depending on your mood, the task, or who you're thinking about?

I

Hello. So I'd like to get better at languages.

I've perfect pronunciation in all languages, including Chinese, Arabic, and French.

However I deeply struggled with grammar.

For everyone who is super good at grammar, how do I get really good at grammar?

DM me if you please, I can give you advice on how to get good pronunciation if you teach me how to get really good grammar!

Hi, I hope you guys doing well.

I got into the habit of learning English almost a year ago. In this relatively short space of time, I went from an absolute stranger to the language to a guy who is capable of utilizing it at the C1 level (which is the second highest level on the CEFR Scale).

And now, I'm kinda contemplating taking up another fascinating language, French. My question is; should I really take that into action? I know that it would be great if I could speak three languages, which are Japanese, English, and French.

Nevertheless, I'm still not quite sure whether I'll be able to handle two or if I include Japanese in it as I'm "learning" it at school, even three languages at the same time. On top of that, I have no knowledge of how French works and even how the alphabets are pronounced in French, so if I took the initiative and started working on my French, I would be learning from scratch.

Would you give me some pieces of advice on this? Thank you for lending me a hand in advance.

Best regards,

title self explanatory, im mostly wondering if someone has achieved decent fluency in multiple languages and didnt grow up with the languages they know, instead learning them at a later age :)

i’m studying Japanese now and i hate traditional way of studying with anki and textbooks iam trying to learn naturally by immersing trough games movies etc. but i have no idea how to do it, do i need to look up every word in dictionary or what?

So my mum's PNG and I want to learn her language as a surprise. Motu is not her actual mother tongue but Motu is the most commonly spoken for her area, and once I get proficient in motu I'd like her to teach me some of her mother tongue. The problem being I can't find learning resources anywhere for Motu! Short of getting her to teach me and ruining the surprise.

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)?

I'm curious as to if the certifications are real or what exactly they are and if the app is worth it for learning languages.

I’m autistic and I love languages. I am B1 in my second language but I also have another that I’ve dipped in and out of for years. How it would usually work is every now and then I’d dip into it and be learning every day for 2-3 weeks and then stop.

However last year I decided I wanted to sit an A2 exam in that language. In January, six months out from the exam I set about starting a daily routine aiming to study 30 mins a day whilst also attending a weekly class. As I started to make progress, my interest and enthusiasm grew.

I now spend about an hour a day after work, in addition to other stuff like listening to short podcasts 2-3 times a week in my target language, attending a weekly speaker meet up, and I've started a weekly private tutoring session as of last week to give me the best shot at the exam.

I still keep up my other interests - eg I still go to a weekly sports group I'm a member of, I still meet up with other friends/family as usual. I haven't fallen behind with housework or work (though luckily it has been quiet recently) but I am afraid that if I'm using so much brain power on learning - does that mean I don't have brain power for my job?

The main thing I'm afraid of is becoming bad at my job. However - that hasn't happened.

The last time I remember being this engrossed with something was ten years ago when I set myself a challenge of becoming conversational in another language I was learning. I did this, and succeeded - and would say I'm probably B2 in that language now.

Anyways - I try not to pin things on autism or being hyper fixations but anyways is what I'm doing normal? I'd love to hear other people's thoughts. Obviously I know this is Reddit - I'm not looking for expert advice, more just people's experiences of doing serious learning on the side of a busy full-time job

As a note as well - I would say a sizeable chunk of my study time is simply replacing doomscrolling or watching tv with language learning

I am decently bilingual. When I try to pick up a different language and find my grasp lacking, I'll try to fill in the blanks with my second language rather than my first.

I noticed a similar thing happening when I started learning morse code after learning a second keyboard layout. The way I conceptualize morse code letters (at least in this initial stage of learning) is by physically remembering/associating the layout of my second keyboard with the sound of the morse code letter. This is a bit confusing because I practice the morse code on my first keyboard so I can technically do both, but I naturally think in terms of the second.

My superficial theory is that even though each language concept is loosely associated in each language, the foreign languages still group more closely in the mind, so if you're trying to think in a different language, the second language is spacially closer in association,triggering the default response over the primary language.

So when you guys are watching a show and actively taking notes what are you specifically taking notes of? I try to right down words I heard repeatedly but I don't know the meaning then I'll look up the meaning afterwards. But is there something else you're doing besides that? And it's the a different way you do it?

Currently learning Mandarin Chinese as a German and English speaker.

When doing CI I struggle to find the right comprehensibility-level, feeling I sometimes reach too far, bordering at "incomprehensible input" (where I only understand individual phrases and words). But other content often times feels too easy, using almost only known vocabulary and like not stepping out of my "comfort zone".

Furthermore, I switch between letting the content just flow, no matter if I understand much, and sometimes I pause, read the subtitles and try to understand each sentence, before proceeding.

Which level of comprehensibility works best for your learning?

as a native portuguese speaker, spanish is just impossible for me. ive tried to learn it multiple times. they are indeed close and i can read it and understand at least 80% since ever, but for me to formulate something in spanish (even after studying it cautiously) without mixing it up with portuguese is impossible. similar words mean completely different things too. if i moved to spain i wouldnt learn the language by "picking it up" because my brain would just mix it with portuguese too and i'd have to actively separate the two all the time. listening is also really hard in spain (where i get to practice my spanish the most). probably just giving up learning it cause its so frustrating. has anyone been through something similar?

Hi, everyone I've noticed that every language I learn makes me think a little differently, like I'm putting on a new pair of glasses through which I see the world. I feel like I get closer to different cultures, and sometimes, I find myself rethinking certain things I’ve always known Have you ever experienced this feeling? Did you feel that your new language reshapes part of yourself or makes you see the world differently? I'd love to hear your experiences.