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No. 67967

Can we have a general language thread? I've searched /g/'s and /b/'s catalogs and all the language threads are for Japanese specifically, so I wanted to make one for all languages. There seem to be a pretty varied amount of languages here, to be sure.

What other languages do you speak? Are any of you learning a new language, or interested in helping someone with a language? Maybe make some language exchange buddies?

No. 67971

I speak English okay-ish and my mother tongue badly. In my country you have to learn another language other than English, usually your mother tongue but it doesn't have to be yours specifically.

I'm currently learning German, Chinese and Japanese. I use Duolingo for the German and Memrise for memorising kanji of Chinese and Japanese. Does anyone have other learning websites they use?

No. 67973

>>67971
What's your mother tongue?

I use these websites for getting started:
http://4chanint.wikia.com/wiki/The_Official_/int/_How_to_Learn_A_Foreign_Language_Guide_Wiki

&

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/languages/index.html

Although they're both tailored towards English natives.

No. 67978

I speak German (native language), English and French, and I have some basic Spanish and Japanese skills (just enough to get by on holiday). I really want to learn Russian, but I haven't had the time to really dive into it yet.

I usually rely on courses at Uni etc to build up basic grammar since it's easier to stick with, but after that I like listening to radio shows and podcasts. You can learn about the culture + build up your vocabulary pretty quickly.

No. 67979

I'm trying to decide what language I want to learn first… I'm English native.

I can't decide between French, either Norwegian or Swedish, or Japanese. I guess I just want to pick a language that will give me a lot of opportunity to use it; IE games usually have a french or Japanese language option, but never Norwegian or Swedish.

I want to be able to make friends with someone that speaks one of those languages, I think it'd help me decide!

No. 67983

I used to study to be a translator, but when I realized prospects were shit, languages became relegated to a hobby. Sadly, as of late, I haven't had much time to study any. When I do, I'm mostly poring over parallel translations. My main foreign languages are French and Japanese (I'd love to practice them more!) and the to-learn list is ever-growing.

Confession: I cannot stand language learning/"polyglot" communities. Does anyone feel this way? They're full of either sexually repressed dudes who think anything appearing to be female will bang them, or self-righteous fucks who think being monolingual means you're lower on the evolutionary scale.

No. 67984

>>67983
Yeah, same on the language learning communities front. I just want to learn a language I like because of how it sounds/culture/that kinda gist, so I can make friends with people that use that language. I just think it'd be really fun!

But when I checked out language learning communities it felt like 1) dating services (no thanks, I'd actually prefer to make other female friends than desperate dudes) or 2) dick measuring contests. I just want to have fun and make friends. /:

No. 67988

>>67984
I don't even know what they expect to happen with a girl who is located halfway across the world. Hop on a 14 hour flight for a shitty hook-up? Flash her titties over Skype for some random loser? Come on.

But I honestly don't know which I'd prefer: that or constant America-bashing (because we're all obese and live in the middle of nowhere and barely even speak English) by Eurofags who speak 5 languages because they're inherently superior, and totally not because life over there often requires multiple languages.

lol. Sorry for rant. I agree with you.

No. 67991

>>67988
Honestly that's one of my fears with learning French is that I won't ever make friends because I'm American, and they'll instantly assume the worst of me/won't even want to talk to me haha. I know it's probably a stupid fear, but I feel really hesitant because of it.

No. 67993

>>67991
I wouldn't worry about people not wanting to talk to you. Just be ready for overgeneralized, often ignorant assumptions about what things are like over here, if your conversation gets that far. But, of course, this isn't exclusive to any one country or culture.

No. 67995

tried learning Russian on my own (I can read letters kek), took classes Mandarin but can't speak and have the understanding of a three year old.

Kind of shit to keep up with when you don't have great resources to make friends who speak those languages and can help teach them to you. And when you suck at making friends, you know.

No. 68015

I've been slowly learning Japanese for a couple years now and I just recently picked up Russian.

No. 68022

I speak German, Polish and English and I am learning Spanish. Would be able to proof read German texts I guess

No. 68030

>>67991
I think a lot of french have a hard time with american because a lot of us hate patriotic/chauvinistic attitude. It's considered radical here in france to adore your country and a lot of us think american are full on themselves, love money, big car, guns, think they country is the best in the world, etc.. You know the cliche, "America, land of the free and home of the brave".
Fat bashing is justified tho, american have a scarily distorted view of what is fat, what is obese and what is average.

No. 68037

>>68030
>overgeneralized, often ignorant assumptions about what things are like over here

No. 68041

>>68037
I said it was a cliche way of thinking. If you are cool most people will be cool with you, except natural douchebags.

No. 68167

I know some French and wish I had more people to practice with! And I know a bit of Japanese and a tiny bit of Hawaiian.

No. 68173

>>68167
I have such a soft spot for endangered languages. I wish I'd learned more about Hawaiian/gotten some resources while I was over there this summer.

No. 68189

I've studied some Spanish and Chinese at college. I'm trying to continue to study on my own as a hobby now.

>>67983
>>67984

Lol. I knew a guy on one of those language learning communities who always talked about picking up girls. He especially liked cute asian girls and was learning a bunch of asian languages. He had a thing for a kpop singer too. I called her ugly once and he got mad at me. Those communities really are full of guys talking about sex or how much better they are because they can speak 12+ languages.

I met a really nice and normal woman in one of those communities though. It's just the men who ruined things.

No. 68197

>>68173
I wish I was able to use it more but I moved away from the islands awhile ago and there isn't really anywhere else I can use it. It's a fun language, though!

No. 68217

I speak French as my mother tongue, English, Spanish (both fluent) and I'm currently learning German but I'm still pretty bad at it.
I'm studying to be a translator but I feel a bit scared about the future… at least my studies can lead to a whole bunch of other careers.

No. 68325

Danish is my mother tongue, speak english, german and italian as well.

Currently studying Korean. Technically I'm supposed to be level 5 out of 6, but I don't think I'm that good.

No. 73249

>>67967
My mother tongue is Russian, but I've lived In Sweden since the age of 5.

So currently I'm fluent in Russian, Swedish and English. I do understand norwegian and danish also.

I'm studying Japanese and can communicate but not that good yet. I'll continue my studies in Japan this year.

And lastly I really want to learn Icelandic!

No. 73277

>>67967
I speak Spanish (mother tongue) and English, but my pronunciation its kinda bad, (or really bad for my standars).

No. 73281

Anyone NOT doing Japanese?

No. 73291

I'm studying Chinese at school. This is my third semester. I'm okay-ish with it, mostly because I'm stupid and I struggle in class sometimes.

I'm taking the HSK next month to try to get a scholarship to study over there for a semester. Wish me luck guys!

No. 73315

I speak English, French, and Mandarin. I'm learning Russian, Arabic, and German.

A part of me still wishes I pursued languages for university instead of what I'm studying now, but learning in my own time is nice.

No. 73328

>>73281
Yes? Plenty of us aren't.

My native language is Portuguese so I can kind of understand Spanish, and I'd like to think I'm fluent in English but I'm not too sure… my standards are very high.

Currently studying French (I can understand it extremely well but speaking is still a struggle), German (B1), and Russian.

I'm finally past the 'mixing them all up' phase. Thank god.

No. 73330

>>73291
Good luck farmer!

No. 73332

I speak French as my first language, and English almost as well. I'm Quebecoise though so my French is spoken in a different way than in actual France.
I'm currently learning Cantonese and I have some interest in learning Japanese sometime.

No. 73341

My mother-tongue is danish and besides that I speak english (duh).

I used to study german back when that was obligatory in school, but never got too far with it cause I didn't believe in myself enough. But I can read it just fine, same goes for italian that I'm learning through duolingo right now.
Also have a pretty good understanding of norwegian and swedish, but that's usually a given here in the north.

I took a ton of japanese classes last year, but the intensive course was online-only with an exam at the end (4 months long), so I only really learned how to read it since I never got over my shyness of speaking it, as I haven't had anyone to practice with. - I'm heading to Nippon for a few months this summer though, so hopefully I'll get to practice it a little bit then.

No. 73342

>>73332
What's the canto community like in Quebec?

No. 73393

I speak english, french and gaelic. Useless last language, even though it's beautiful.

No. 73425

>>67979
Swedish is a lot of fun, I started learning it last year. I was using Babbel mainly, it's a pretty good program if you're willing to pay. I was also watching The Bridge, which is a dual-language (Swedish/Danish) tv show, and I love it lol. I think learning Swedish would give you a leg up on Norwegian as well, but don't quote me on that…

As for me, I'm an English native speaker, but I'm currently taking German classes at college, and I took them in high school as well. This summer I'm going to Germany for a study abroad, so I guess we'll see if I'm any good. I use HelloTalk to speak to natives, I really like that app as far as actual practice with the language is concerned. From my weeb days, I can read kana and some kanji, but my speaking skills are atrocious.

I'd like to learn Italian and Finnish next, probably, so if anyone has any particularly good sources for those languages, please share!

No. 73477

oooh good thread! english is my second language and i'm not a good english speaker, but i'm better in writing. a foreign exchange student at my uni said that she's having a hard time understanding me sometimes, so now i'm still working to brush up my pronunciation. does anyone has tips on pronouncing things in English better? So far i do a lot of English listening and pronouncing them myself.

I also wanted to learn Arabic and East Asian language (Japanese, Chinese, Korean) I hope i can learn them in the future

No. 73689

>>73477
Singing along to songs (esp. Ballads because they're so slow) can be a good way to practice speaking/pronunciation for some people.

No. 73694

>>73342
there's more mandarin speakers in quebec if i recall.

No. 73695

>>73689
this is actually bad advice though, anon. especially with chinese because singing pronunciation is totally different than spoken.

No. 73713

>>73477
Find an American tv show or shows you enjoy and listen to the pronunciation. This works for a lot of people. Just be sure to avoid anything too regional, like Duck Dynasty (terminally southern) or The Nanny (you will literally be honking at people in a comedy Queens accent)

No. 73727

File: 1456613865341.jpg (51.67 KB, 419x604, 1433332631955.jpg)

I really want to learn a second language, but I feel like it'd be a waste of time since I don't think I'd use it very often outside of hobbies, like music, games, and reading.

Would I still be able to retain the information long-term even if I didn't use it everyday?

I also worry about the lack of motivation that may come and go. Having depression makes it really hard to stay with things, even if you've got a lot of interest in it.

Any advice?

No. 73769

>>73689
>>73713
Thank you very much for the advice anons, I'm going to practice these soon!

No. 73773

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>>73727
>I really want to learn a second language
What language is your mother tongue? This should influence your decision on which second language to pick. You should pick something similar to your mother tongue, at least in terms of etymology. It'll make life a lot easier.
> I feel like it'd be a waste of time
It's not. It's a valuable skill to put on your CV, it opens up to you a whole new world of books, music and media. Wanted to read lolita in its original version? Ever wanted to impress a spanish guy? Join in a french coversation? Watch a korean tv show?
Not to mention better mental acuity (as proven by many studies) and a reduced risk of alzheimers.
>Would I still be able to retain
To an extent yes. How much you retain (if you literally do nothing to revise the info) will depend on your natural ability to remember and how much time has passed since the last time you were exposed to the language.
>I also worry about the lack of motivation
Are you able to make some international friends? A boyfriend from abroad? An online part time job with a foreign company? You need something that will anchor you to the language. That's the foolproof way to stick with it, out of necessity. You need to make the language a part of your life somehow, so that when you don't study your loss or lack of skill will impede your life. It will punish you.

No. 80265

What's the best way to get a partner to practice a language with online? I tried interpals but it's pretty much a dating site with no one interested in language learning it seems

No. 80272

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>>73773
I wish I had seen this earlier, but just wanted to say thanks for the advice.

My mother tongue is English. I've actually been wanting to learn Russian because my boyfriend is from there and I have a lot of interest in the country, music and literature, but he hates it and it's hard to get him to speak it for/with me. It's also hard to find Russians online who speak English well enough to exchange languages with.

I guess I've just been worried about my ability to actually sit down and actively learn a language. When you struggle to get out of bed most days, adding anymore to your plate doesn't sound all that fun. It might give me a sense of accomplishment or something though, so I'll keep your advice in mind and give it a try.

>>80265
Unfortunately, InterPals seems to be hit or miss depending on what language your learning. For learning most European languages, it's more like a shitty dating site, but I haven't seen many people having problems if they want to learn an Asian, Eastern European, or Middle Eastern language.

Have you tried asking around /r/languagelearning? Depending on your chosen language, you might be able to find a better exchange website there.

No. 80273

does anyone have any good resources or links for italian?

No. 80329

>>80273
Seconding this. I've used Duolingo for about a year now for Italian, but I've noticed it to be lacking. Feels like I'm flying blind when it comes to proper grammar. Though I guess you learn by making (a lot of) mistakes. And English isn't even my first language so I'm basically learning Italian through English.

No. 80626

>>73695
I don't know about Chinese. I said that bc I know ESL folks who listen to 80s Whitney Houston ballads to improve pronunciation shrugs

No. 80653

Lang-8 is the best if you want to improve your writing skills in any language.

No. 80655

Anyone knows a good penpal website btw? The only one I kinda like is Hipenpal. I don't like Interpals, too much thirsty guys.

No. 80669

>>67979
EA games usually have norwegian or swedish options. you could play the sims to learn something about what basic household items are etc. I'm Norwegian btw. Both Swedish and Norwegian can be challenging languages to learn, especially for an english native, but i think Swedish might be the hardest. I understand Swedish perfectly, and i can objectively read it, but what confuses me, and probably confuse other foreigners is how they use the letter "æ", i mean, we have it too but in Norwegian the letter "æ" is always pronounced the same way like in the american "after" like "æfter", but in Swedish they randomly use it for the sound "e" and i can never figure out when it's appropriate to pronounce is "æ" or "e" idk… there is a lot of that stuff in Swedish. I'd love to be a Norwegian tutor. especially for someone who could teach me Korean/Japanese/Spanish

No. 80695

I speak English, Irish, Italian, French and Scots Gaelic.

I want to learn another over the summer but not sure what? An Asian language or another European one (maybe Polish or Swedish)?

Duolingo isn't great imo. Try Live Mocha or Conversation Exchange.

No. 80783

Currently, I know Korean and English.
Since I'm in Canada, I want to become more fluent in French. I'm also trying to learn Japanese, I've learned the basics but I'm not confident enough yet. Also, I'd like to learn basic German.

No. 80794

I speak Italian (native speaker), English, studied Spanish in the past, know a little bit of Russian and Polish and I'm currently studying French and Portuguese at uni. My goal is to reach a native speaker level in English though, so I focus on it more.

No. 80798

Anybody else wish they could just sperg out and study languages all day?

No. 80869

>>80798
Why wish? You can do it. Even 2hrs a day is more than most people will ever do and will get you to a high level very quickly.

No. 80974

>>80869
Nah, I mean when it comes to uni or whatever. It would be my dream to have every class be a language class until graduation. But then there's the reality of required core classes and majors that makes that dream impossible lol

Not to mention, working a regular crap job gets in the way of that too

No. 80976

I currently know: English, Japenese, Norwegian and Russian… idk, but I think I want to learn an endangered or fictional language next.

No. 81140

I speak English, Finnish, Swedish, have studied Latin and Japanese and am currently studying Italian. Always wanted to learn Russian tho, that or some arabic language.

No. 86731

For anyone that studies several languages, how do you manage your time? Do you alternate days between languages, or do you dedicate one language to a week etc.?

No. 86780

Currently speak English and French and am trying to learn Czech as I'm moving soon. It's really difficult but it's such an interesting sounding language. I also wanna learn Japanese bc weeb.

No. 100565

File: 1467739164822.jpg (123.69 KB, 500x281, 6da4198dde4f5e77f573a773ef2074…)

Can I get some advice? I want to start learning a language but I don't know what to pick. There's the obvious japanese because weeaboo, but then I took French in high school so I guess I have a like.. 3% leg up in that area. But then I was thinking maybe Dutch or even Norwegian? I'm not sure.. I just want to learn a language to make new friends. Which of those would be best for that? As in, lots of people from that language wouldn't mind befriending someone bad at their language?

No. 100570

>>100565
There's a book called Fluent Forever that has pretty good advice on how to start learning a language and which languages would take longer. It might help you to decide which language you want to pursue first.

No. 100571

>>100565
depends how fluent you want to get and where you live.

if you want to be fluent it would be wise to pick a foreign language that is commonly used in your area so you have listening + speaking practice if needed.

this is part of the reason spanish is a common choice if you live in the u.s.

if you pick another language, you will want to work hard and search far for a good, fluent, foreign speaker of the language. It makes all the difference.

No. 100572

I want to start studying French (well technically I've already started) but the textbooks in my uni are awful and classes are so badly organised it's ridiculous. Plus there's nobody I can practise with and I need to become relatively fluent (as in, can have a casual conversation) by next summer because I'm going on exchange to France. I live in Northern Europe and can't get anything that isn't locally translated books but they're shit. Wat do? I'm already doing a duolingo course but it feels pointless.

No. 100573

>>100572
Also: I tried asking friends but everyone that speaks French here has been studying it since primary school and is already pretty fluent. All those people are also too busy or don't want to bother tutoring.

No. 100576

I speak English and the only language I managed to get anywhere on my own with is Japanese. I've put that off though for Korean. I speak German too, and I took three years of that in high school. I'm currently using Duolingo to refresh it in case there is a German department at my college. (apparently it's not as active anymore, even alumni don't really know if it exists) I started Russian but became discouraged lol, I still have the notes somewhere. same with Swedish, although with Swedish i just totally forgot about it. there's a lot of languages that I'd like to learn simply because my personal goal is to be polyglot. as far as the community goes, I've only ever been in the langblr and Korean studyblr tags on Tumblr.

No. 100578

I hate my mother tongue down to the bone, it's such a piece of shite useless abomination of a made-up language and I can't even speak it with anybody but my parents, since I moved away from my hometown I haven't uttered a word of it in my own damn country and that was 4 years ago. Nowadays I can't even speak that properly, whenever I try to talk to my mum she has to help me out because I can't remember all the expressions and words. It's like an empty hull of a language on life support, patched up by random English words and neologisms that don't even make any sense.

I'm so jealous of people who grew up in the rest of Europe (not you, Brits) where they had a chance to learn at least one other useful language, even if they don't speak English fluently it's a hell of a lot better than what I can do. I even had to study Latin in secondary school, which was I think the final slap in the face.

That said, I also speak English and have since I was 5, I never know whether to consider myself a native speaker or not but I say I am anyway because it looks better on the CV than 'fluent'. I speak N3-level Japanese and basic German. I'm too much of a bender to attempt to have a proper conversation in German but it's all I've got and I've already forgotten most of the kanjis. Oh and basic Finnish, because haista vittu.

>>67991
>>67993
That pisses me off too. For example, it's considered rude to make fun of a Frenchman/Spaniard's accent because 'well what do you expect, it's not their mother tongue' but when you actually make an attempt to learn French it's A-ok to laugh at a yank for daring to learn a language other than their own. The worst thing is, as other anons said, even in America it's a pissing contest (from what I've heard) so you get your own people shitting on you b/c you have a noticeable accent and aren't as ~cultured~ as they. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

No. 100579

>>67991
I'll let you in on a little secret as a European: White people around the world are more alike than we like to admit, and we get on pretty well with other white people regardless of their specific ethnic background as a result.

No. 100580

>>67991
I know, a lot of Americans are like that, always trying too hard to not seem 'American' that it comes off silly.
Honestly, we make fun of you but we make fun of everyone else too, including ourselves. Don't take yourself too seriously and ride your mobility scooter to Walmart with pride, it's why we love you silly people.
FWIW, even though you're seen as kinda dopey at times you're considered some of the friendliest people in the world. And you'd be surprised how much Europeans love the Southern accent.

No. 100582

>>100580
I have a pretty heavy southern accent (I hate it), and when I went to Britain for study abroad thing a few years ago I had a cashier ask excitedly if I was "South American". had a good hearty lol.

No. 100586

>>100578
>Oh and basic Finnish, because haista vittu.
As a native Finn I find this way more hilarious than I should.

No. 100591

I've always found East-Asian languages to be easier than European languages. I studied Spanish for two years and French for six years. I've now been studying Chinese for almost 3 years and my skills in that language are so much higher than the former languages. I'm also looking into studying Korean over in Korea(I'm self-studying atm) but I'm having trouble picking a university or course that would suit me.

No. 100602

>>100591
whats's your native lenguage I'm curious.

No. 100616

>>100602
English! And I also learned Irish for my entire primary and secondary school life.

No. 100617

>>100616
I feel like aside from kanjis and that fucked up shit east-asian languages seem easy to learn since there is a lot less vocabulary (at least in Japanese), also verb conjugations seem more simple to me lol… I'm talking from my weebish understanding of japanese where I tried to translate some stuff sometime but I never got in deep, feel free to correct me.

No. 100629

>>100616
The way they teach gaeilge in schools is so damn embarrassing.

No. 100653

>>100565
Which language do you like the most? Pick that. Unless you're going to travel to the country or live around a large community where the language is spoken, you're very seldom going to use it. Personally, I love people who are learning my languages (except Chinese learners), and in my experience, other people do too. Many of us like that you're interested enough to do it. So, have no fear in that regard.

>>100572
Are there any language clubs at your university? Skype language exchanges? Tutors outside of your friends? I would advise dropping Duolingo, it sucks. Try the /int/ sticky for language resources, there are likely a list of textbooks they recommend. You will probably be fine with your level of French as it is, you will learn a lot very quickly. How long are you going for? Bonne chance.

No. 100672

Does anyone have tips on learning Norwegian?

No. 100676

>>100653
I'm going for a year! I'll be all alone and need to get a flat by myself without ever having been there so I'm really scared I'll get fucked over. I'm staying in either Rennes or La Rochelle, hopefully Rennes because I don't like the sun.

No. 100678

>>100617
If you only want to speak to a basic degree, Japanese is really easy. However, once you're trying to really be on the same level as an educated Japanese person, there's a LOT of vocabulary with tiny nuances. Grammar is simple though.

No. 100680

>>100678
>>100678
Not that anon but I was thinking of learning just reading/writing japanese, i know ill never get much spoken practice so idk if i should learn that. But then again i know reading/writing come later logically so im not sure. Is this a terrible idea? Thoughts?

No. 100681

German, English, Japanese. I can read Korean, somehow I never got into the rhythm with that language. Pretty much the only words I remember are the ones that are linked to Chinese (and thusly Japanese). Also had 4 years of French, I can barely introduce myself.

No. 100682

>>100680
Written Japanese and spoken Japanese are very different. And idk where you're from, but with many languages' native speakers the pronounciation is very hard for them to do…
If you speak English, French, German or to a lesser degree Spanish or Italian, there will be some Japanese person who wants to learn your language and you can do Skype etc.

No. 102349

Been wanting to learn Cantonese but 99% of the Chinese tutors and classes in my area are for Mandarin. I enrolled in a class, but then it was cancelled due to low enrollment. Fuck.


I've been looking into online resources for now, anyone speak or is learning to speak Cantonese? Anyone have links or suggestions?

No. 102802

>F3 'Malay'
>No results
Wew, it feels weird to be here.

I speak Malay and it's getting worst since I interact with friends who mainly speak English than Malay. By Malay, I mean Malaysian Malay. I can figure out a little from Indonesian Malay though but don't trust me on that. My English is ESL-tier, still learning. As for Japanese, probably N5/4 idk. And I can read Hangul and able to pick up some of the slangs and some words. Took a Mandarin I class when I was a student, never practice it beyond that.

I'm considering to learn Japanese seriously since most of the manga that I wanna read don't have furigana, so thinking of buying those JLPT practice & guide books instead of 'learning Kanji 101' ones because the latter don't do much for me.

No. 103646

I speak German and English fluently, understand Dutch but can't speak it, studied Latin for years in middle and high school (can't remember shit though), know some sign-language and am currently studying Korean (I'm about upper intermediate level I guess)
I've been so lazy with my studies lately though, the only way I pass my classes is by watching variety shows/listening to music and picking up phrases/words from there instead of actually putting effort into my homework and studying the stuff my profs give me… My motivation basically died because I'll study abroad next semester so I just wanted to get it over with this one as quickly as possible.
What's really helped me though is talking to natives. And if you have the money/time you should really do something like an exchange year or working holiday in another country if you want to pick up the language. I regret not doing that before starting to take classes because it's such a good opportunity.

No. 103659

>>103646
Did you also start to learn Korean because of K-pop?

No. 103661

Currently speak Catalan and Spanish (native to those) and English.
Since Italian, Portuguese and French are so similar to Spanish i can read them and understand them pretty alright if written, and a bit if spoken, but i've never bothered to learn how to speak them, might try my hand on learning those when i have money since classes for those are pretty much everywhere, but i am currently uninterested.

Right now learning japanese with Tae Kim's guide and memrise and some other apps, but not sure how long it'll take since i am being kinda lazy with it.
I would also really like to learn Korean, but i'm not sure where to start with that one as far as good (free) resources/apps go (any recommendations?).

No. 103665

>>103659
why else would anyone learn Korean?

No. 103697

>>103665
No wonder your motivation died

No. 103825

>>103665
>tfw i learned korean like 9 years ago in high school because my town has a huge korean population

i don't tell people anymore because of all the damn koreaboos asking me to translate every fucking thing.

kpop is aite tho.

No. 103904

I'm Viet-American and I would really like to improve my mother tongue. I can speak fine for the most part, but I can't read for shit.

Other languages that I'm interested in learning are German, Italian, and French. I'm currently taking Japanese classes in my uni.

No. 104064

>>103697
I have big interest in the culture and that's why I'm learning it.

>>103825
I feel you anon. Koreaboos keep asking me "What's the fastest way to learn korean????" Shut up, god.

No. 104098

>>104064
>k-pop
>culture

No. 104246

>>104098
Korean culture, not "K-Pop culture".

No. 104247

I've been practicing German on and off for a while now. I love it so much, I need to pay more attention to it. It's such a beautiful language to me. If anyone wants to practice speaking German with me, hmu.

No. 105740

Other than English, Italian and I have no clue why I learned it because I don't like it particularly and it's not a useful language

Most Italians speak a dialect anyway so it's double useless

I would have like to learn German instead or even Spanish just because of how much more useful it is. Only resource I've used so far for them is duolingo though and I don't think it's nearly enough. You need to know native speakers

No. 105783

I speak Korean and English, a bit of Japanese.

Not cause I'm a koreaboo but because I'm a Korean living in the States in one of the states where the majority of the population is Japanese and most of the industry here is focused on tourism so it's a plus to know Japanese.

I speak on a conversational level. I don't even know what language exchange buddies are because the fuck do you guys even do? Teach each other single phrases that you'll never use irl?

No. 105809

>>105783
With language exchange, usually person A speaks person B's language, person B speaks A's language, and they're supposed to correct each other in it. It's good for someone starting out learning other languages but I honestly wouldn't recommend it if you're at least intermediate level and serious about learning. In my experience, one person always ends up relying on the other person speaking/understanding their native language.

No. 108150

Anyone ever gone to a language school?

No. 108158

>>108150
Me, since primary school p much.
It's much more personal and we got a lot more attention and personal feedback from the teacher. I also made so many friends. Honestly I'm taking French classes in college now and they suck compared to private school. You can't learn shit.

No. 108260

>grammar in other languages

Agh. Fuck, in English it's so easy.

Especially the fucking verbs. In English, there are only a few ways to conjugate verbs.

Want ongoing? Slap a fucking "ing" at the end. Want infinitive? Slap a fucking "to" before it.

Past tenses are full of exceptions, but unlike other languages, we don't for some reason make the conjugation of a verb different depending on who it is referring to.

What's the fucking point of implying "she" in the way you conjugate the verb? You still fucking put "she" in the sentence anyway? Also, why the female/male items. Why is a potato male? Why is a turtle female? How does making that a part of "the" give me any information?

Gave up learning Spanish in high school, trying to pick up German, and it seems a lot better in so many aspects, though it still feels a little inferior to English.

No. 108262

>>108260
>a little inferior to English
I don't know, English grammar is super confusing to me as a non-native speaker.

Sorry you're dumb, it's not the language's fault.

No. 108274

>>108263
I'd never call English 'inferior' to other languages though.

No. 108296

i'm a polyglot (luv that word) i speak (in order of what i learned) italian, english, french, and spanish. i'm about midway through learning german and dutch and i took a few japanese classes and watch enough kurosawa movies to understand basic japanese, so. that's cool. i wish i learned more languages when i was a kid.

No. 108300

File: 1472018994274.jpg (10.49 KB, 278x300, 5575662 _fec9a9e50fd0567654f99…)

I've lived in an english speaking country for the past 8years. Yesterday I did a test online that showed me how many words in English I know, turns out its around 13-14k. Seemed alright, until I went on some forums.
''Never been in an english speaking country, scored 34k''
''23k here….pretty low :(''
''28k, what can I do to improve?''

I feel dumb and inferior. Apparently a native person scores around 20k+ for my age.
I knew I wouldnt score as much as a native person but I was hoping I'd be at least average for a person that moved to an english speaking country….oh well..

No. 108309

>>108300
Those people are 100% lying, or they deliberately picked the words they didn't know in order to get a higher score since the test is flawed and predicts the number based on only a few picks. I know exactly which test you're talking about.

Anyway, I can sympathise. My mother tongue is Welsh and I've never really been well spoken or eloquent in either language because I started learning English around 5 years of age but never really talked to 'native' speakers extensively. So I speak English much better now but still get nervous about it and stutter. I write well but it doesn't really count, does it?

It makes me sad to see someone who's only lived in this country for a year or two speak amazing, accentless English.

No. 108311

>>108309
Oh heeey Welshie! I'm not Welsh, but I lived there for ages and I love the language. So random I'd find another one here.

But yeah. I agree, other anon, they're probably just bragging. I wouldn't worry. Your writing English is really good!

No. 108402

If things go as I planned I'll be an English teacher by next year, gonna start my "trainee" period in couple of months and I'm a bit nervous about being in front of kids. Hope I don't fuck this up as a non-native speaker.

No. 108404

>>108402
Why would you fuck it up? Non-native teachers are much better at teaching than native teachers, for the simple reason that grammar is taught differently to natives and non-natives and most native speakers don't really think about why x is x and y is y. Native speakers are only good for teaching creche-aged kids because they learn differently from older kids, teens and adults. And even then you're golden as long as you talk to them in the target language 90% of the time and not your native tongue.

I've been involved in language teaching for a long time (I'm the Welsh anon) and there are stark differences between how kids are taught and how older kids and teens are taught. David Sedaris talked about it in his book 'Me Talk Pretty One Day': the older you get, the less your textbooks focus on the fun aspect of language learning, and the more you will have to memorise declensions and other bollocks in order to pass the class. So really, it's only a good thing that you're teaching as opposed to a native with little formal education (like I've seen in some places in Germany, for example)

No. 108405

>>108404

Thank you anon, guess I'm just a bit anxious. I have a bit of a weird accent and can't pronounce some words sometimes. I started learning English to help our business in a huge touristic area and I have some weird habits because of that. I really need to spend time at an English speaking country.

No. 108407

I'm studying Russian on my own. Why Russian when other languages would be so much more useful to me?.. I don't know. I'm not sure how I'll ever use it but I really enjoy learning it. Right now I use memrise and a book I borrowed from the library.

No. 108423

>>108407
God damn, you don't know how many mysteries .ru holds.
Visit pikabu.ru, practice your language while scrolling through funny slav junk.

No. 108424

>>108274
Well, languages like english/german/spanish are not as developed like slavic languages, those are much more expressive and words hold more meaning in them.

No. 108425

>>108423
Also 2ch.hk is the Russian chan. It's massive.
Rutracker is a torrent website with a metric fuckton of stuff, browse to your heart's content. If you wanna study Russian look for dubbed TV shows and books. It's seriously such a useful language to learn 4free, the more popular ones have all been taken over by textbook Jews.

No. 108426

>>108424
>words hold more meaning in them
Isn't that subjective?

No. 108514

>>108424

>developed

>slavic languages

kek

No. 108527

>>108514
Yes? Just because you personally dislike them doesn't mean it isn't true

No. 108529

>>108527

Sorry I just can't believe someone is trying to use "more expressive and words hold more meaning in them" as a legitimate argument for english being inferior and slavic languages being developed. Meaning and expression are not quantifiable. All words in all languages have meaning- that's how languages work. I hope you/whoever wrote this dumbass post knows german and spanish and every slavic languange fluently in order to be making these kinda bullshit claims because I can tell from your shitty syntax that you definitely do not speak english. So study a bit more and you might find that extra meaning you're looking for or w/e

No. 108530

>>108529
I didn't write that (I was actually the person they replied to who said I wouldn't call any language inferior to another) and English I think has a broader vocabulary by virtue of borrowing more words, but Russian and other slavic languages do have a much more intricate grammar system and iirc have been around longer. Also many of them have undergone multiple revisions and simplifications because the language formerly formally taught in schools/monasteries was too complicated for the common folk and had an abysmal alphabet.

Ofc i may be biased bc I speak a slavic language myself but I definitely have noticed that in my native language you can convey your thoughts much more efficiently and with fewer words than in English. And no its not because English isn't my native language (I've spoken it since I was 5 and went to an English daycare in my country, and I'm attending an English university atm), it's because in most slavic languages (to my knowledge) you have a complex gender system, a bajillion cases and tenses and usually some kind of a phonetic alphabet (except with Russian).

I could honestly talk for days about this and explain how it works in my native language if you want, I used to study this stuff in secondary school. Ime English tends to be a lot more ham-fisted when it comes to grammar and efficiency.

No. 108538

>>108530
If you didn't write the original post then we're cool. However the idea that having a more complex grammar system makes a language better than one that doesn't is really just an opinion. In my opinion, having a gender system and cases (including all the non-slavic languages that have genders, cases and bizarre tenses) would make a language less developed because of all the redundancies. What is genuinely being expressed by a chair being feminine? I have nothing against slavic languages and I'm fascinated by them to an extent but when people start using how difficult a language is (or is not) to rank it among others my eyes roll into the back of my head. All languages work differently and the point of a language is not to be as difficult as possible, but to facilitate communication.

No. 109412

File: 1473004431410.jpg (174.92 KB, 600x459, 0ee04fcfdc102b3f5b5701559b14a6…)

My native tongue is English, however I really want to learn Arabic and Korean atm. I know how to write Hangul so far…Any advice?

No. 109429

>>108426
What? No, language is not subjective.

>>108530
>in my native language you can convey your thoughts much more efficiently and with fewer words than in English.
It's just you, I think. The only Slavic language I know is Russian (and not very well) but as someone who also has a grammatically complex language as her first, English is much simpler and conveys things more efficiently. This anon >>108538 has the right idea, gender is a fucking bitch and complex grammar is usually filled with redundancies.

>>108538
You're great and I love you

No. 109730

>>109429
English has less possible word combinations due to not being a synthetic language, that alone makes it shallow. If you cannot merrily wander a cute eye in one word, why live?

No. 109731

>>108514
Oh look, another retarded american that hasn't got a clue what a slavic language even is and gets all their info about eastern europe from cartoon network. Go learn cursive or something.

No. 109741

ow tf are people fluent in more than 3 languages? That shit is not easy. I feel like you need to practice it everyday to even conciser yourself slightly fluent. So d'yall fuckers who says "durrr i speak 5+ languages" actually speak them fluently or you know how to say one phrase and suddenly you 'know' the language?

No. 109761

>>109741
I speak 5-ish, but not all of them fluently.

I grew up bilingual so I speak 2 languages fluently, can hold my ground in a simple conversation with 2 more, and am currently studying French because I'm going there on exchange. I've also lived in multiple countries throughout my life so that's how I started.

Honestly, whenever I tell people where I come from they seem to make a sour face, like I'm not good enough for them or something so I usually leave out one of my native languages anyway for fear of discrimination (it's nothing Middle-Eastern). So that basically leaves English and 3 other languages that I'm semi-useless at and feel blind, deaf and dumb talking to native speakers. One of them is full of really annoying, incomprehensible slang young people LOVE to use all the time and it just sounds so bad but I have to learn it if I plan on talking to anyone in the country where they speak it. Another is fine but nobody wants to speak it with me so I can't learn. And French is dumb because some locals will turn their nose up at you if you don't speak flawless French yet take the piss out of you for trying to learn.

I spent my life in random ass countries and feel seriously tired of having to learn all this new shit just to function like a normal person would. Imagine being blind and hearing all this cool shit going on but you always have to find everything out second-hand and can't even participate because, well, you're blind, fuck you. That's how I've felt all my life.

And even if I moved to an Anglo country I'd still have a noticeable accent and people would constantly ask me where I'm from and I still wouldn't fit in.

My world is reduced to my parents and my boyfriend, of whom one is a native speaker (my mum) and the others influence my English negatively, especially the bf.

No. 109764

>>109731

Nice try but I'm not american and I know very well "what a slavic language even is". What other marvelous inferences did you make from a three letter post?

No. 109785

>>109764
>three letter post
K E K

No. 109837

>>109761
So you don't speak 5. You speak 2 and can understand basics of 3.

I speak 3 fluently and understand 3 others. That doesn't mean I speak 6 lsnguages. Nope. Because time after time I've seen people say they "speak" these languages, I excitedly tell them "me too" only to realise they can barely hold a conversation.

No. 109838

>>109837
>basics
Do you even know what 'basics' means? I speak the other 2 just fine, far beyond basics but not fluently.

No. 109839

>>109741
I'm fluent in 4 and speak 2 more on an advanced level . Easy, you have international friends and do things other than shitposting. I've had native private tutors since I was 2.

No. 109847

>>109839
Not everyone has been fortunate enough to have had "native tutors since the age of 2" or be friends with native speakers.
It's hard enough learning to write a new language as an adult let alone being able to speak fluent multiple foreign languages without even being surrounded by people you can practice with

No. 109848

>>109764
What was your point then? Can you understand and speak of all the many slavic languages out there? How can you call a language undeveloped when it has at least 20 variations and is spoken by hundreds of millions of people? It isn't a dead or endangered language .

No. 109863

File: 1473615887004.jpg (24.09 KB, 600x451, homie.jpg)

I only speak english but have interest in learning Farsi because I'm part Iranian.
The problem is that I can't pronounce a lot of the words that I practice with my family and I really can't reproduce the accent no matter how much I try. I end up sounding absolutely retarded.

I've read that since English and Farsi are both indo-European languages it should be easier. However, can I expect to get much, much better at pronunciation if I can't actively live around a ton of Iranians?

Should I start with French/Spanish or something? I'm worried about pronunciation with those as well though.

No. 110170

>>109865
>Also look online for an Iranian language partner, I'm assuming if you're a woman, speak English fluently and you live in the West, you're gonna be hot shit on a language exchange

Can you elaborate on what these language exchange websites are and what the experience is like? I am a woman from the west, but they're not weird, green card thirsty websites, right?

thanks so much for the reply!

No. 110179

>>109865
What? I only started speaking English when I was 16 and I'm told I have no accent all the fucking time. I've met plenty of people who learned my first language as adults too, and I'd never know if they hadn't told me.

>>109863
Look the IPA up (international phonetic alphabet) and study how the throat, mouth and tongue articulate themselves to make the sounds you're struggling with and once you fully understand try them again. It helped me a lot with German.

No. 110180

English (native), French and Russian. If anyone wants to learn a second language I always recommend the Michel Thomas Methos CDs. Most libraries have them here or it's possible to find them online to download.

No. 110181

>>110180
Method*

No. 110184

>>109865
I'm native German and people really have to pay attention and talk to me when I'm tired to notice I have an accent in English (because when I'm tired I pronounce w like v sometimes), and in Japan people ask me if I was born here all the time (because I'm visibly not 100% ethnically Japanese). You can absolutely not have an accent in a foreign language you learn later.

No. 173503

>>110180
Michel Thomas is awesome if you're like me and are awful at speaking. Unlike other methods, you're speaking and constructing full sentences from the very beginning.

Also, are there any French-speaking farmers who want to do language/culture exchange? French, Belgian, Swiss, Quebecois, doesn't matter.

No. 183647

Can speak Polish, learning Lakota, Samoan and Russian

No. 183650

My mother tongue is English, because I was born in and spent my early childhood years in California.

I've spent most of my life living in Czech Republic. I had several years of elementary education in Czech, but after that I was transferred to an English-speaking school, where I stayed until the end of high school.

So my Czech is lackluster due to the fact that I never use it, but I'd say my understanding of it is near-fluent, even if my ability to speak it properly has gone down a ton.

My English is wayyyy better than my Czech, but let's be honest here - Czech isn't useful. English is extremely useful. I think I'm glad that I switched schools.

No. 183659

>>183650
no way! i'm from czech republic too! wow, never knew i would see someone from cz on lolcow.

my parents are russian but i was born in czech republic, so i'm fluent at both languages and can write/read as well. i'm currently taking french courses and i hate it, i'd much rather learn german. our french teacher is absolutely useless. i'd like to switch to german, but there's no such option, so i'll probably keep flinging french and start learning german in my free time.

No. 184768

>>What other languages do you speak?
Other than English, I can speak fluent Korean at a middle school level. Writing and reading is way harder though, and I have an accent when I spean Korean sometimes. I can also speak basic/intermediate French but I'm starting to forget it.
>> Are any of you learning a new language, or interested in helping someone with a language? Maybe make some language exchange buddies?
I'm busy with school atm but when winter finishes up next month, I'd love to dive into Polish. I really enjoyed my visit to Poland and would love to go back. It's such a pleasant language.

No. 184794

I speak English, Spanish, & Diné. I want to learn Nahuatl, but it's uncommon to find a Mexican Language buddy to practice it.

No. 184804

>>184794
Forgive me, we white Aussies don't know shit about language, what's diné?

No. 184805

>>183659
>>183650
Haaaa I'm also in the Czech Republic, but I'm a foreigner. I'm trying to learn Czech but it's very difficult for me. I think it's a beautiful and complex language, and I'd love to actually hold a legit conversation with people here someday.

I'm a native English speaker and I speak French at about a B1 level. I used to be closer to C1, but it's been awhile since I've used it properly (as in, in a non-tourist setting) so I'm really rusty.

No. 184833

File: 1490584682700.png (45.87 KB, 1128x318, 2017_03_26_22_16_31_Diné_Googl…)


No. 184950

>>184794
I've alway wanted to learn Navajo, but my Chei is embarrassed of his accent

No. 185290

would anyone like to start learning spanish with me? i'm a little familiar with the language but am still very much a noob. i think it'd be neat to have a partner to learn with. we can find some material and go over it with each other and possibly watch some soaps together (if i can figure that out).

No. 195017

Does anyone know where you can download Pimsleur Spanish past lesson 16 for free? I have a 40 minute drive every day and I'm done trying to listen to podcasts on YouTube. Your can't learn that much from a lot of them. Pimsleur cds are out of my price range since I just listen to them once.



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