/ot/ - off-topic

…if the other thread didn't get far, what makes you think a second one will?

Anyone else trying to learn German?

>>81572
lol you sound bitter.

Are there any Frenchies here who want to do French/English exchange? Also interested in learning Dutch.

>>81787
Me! I'm going to study in Germany this summer, actually, so I'm trying to improve a little more before then.

>>81788
Je ne suis pas amère. :) Il y a déjà un fil sur ce sujet,
ton idée est pourri !

One of my 2016 resolutions was to finish shit I start instead of just giving up on it when I lose interest, so I picked te least financially draining option and decided to pick up on Japanese where I left off in high school. I don't have any illusions about it getting me to Japan or becoming an aidoru tarento whatever (I'm too old anyway), but I already know hiragana and katakana and I remember most basic kanji, so it's better than starting a new language from scratch.

I just bought Genki volume 1 and Kanji Look and Learn from thriftbooks.com and new workbooks for both from Amazon. We didn't use Genki textbooks in HS so I figure I should start from the beginning with these and just blaze through the stuff I already know rather than skip ahead in case I miss anything. I'm actually kind of looking forward to it!

Any other Japanese-learners use any other good textbook recommendations?

>>81819
So hide the thread. Don't you go to language classes, anyway? Go practice your French listening comprehension.

>>81830
Never used the Genki series but if you're the studious or serious type I'd recommend the Japanese for College Students series. (On the other end of things, Adventures in Japanese is pretty light study, if that works for you - if you've taken Japanese before it will be a breeze and maybe not worth it)

Sorry for raising a dead thread from the dead.

Are there any anons who self-taught a language? How did you do it?

I want to teach myself French (with free rescources preferably) but I have no clue where to start.

>>515626

not self-taught myself,but I'm a greek anon and there's a belgian guy who went viral some time ago because his greek is so good he is either thought to be a greek,cypriot or greek who was raised abroad.in one of his videos he answers how he self-taught himself a few languages and considering how good his greek is,I'd believe him kek.the video is in greek and there are no subs,so I'll sum up his points here

>learn a little daily
>grammar first,vocab second.he calls grammar "a new system".he considers more important learning the basic grammar of a language and then moving on to combine it with the vocabulary.then he goes on to suggest language books/methods for autodidacts like assimil,complete (insert language you wanna learn here), colloquial languages or books for self-teaching published in your perspective country
>read,listen to things and look up the words that are unfamiliar to you,preferably stuff you are interested in esp if those touch you on an emotional level
>record yourself speaking so you can improve your accent
>ask natives to correct you
>teachers aren't fundamental to your learning,but they can help tremendously as long as you take advantage of the knowledge they can give you
>he suggests some poliglots like Luca Lampariello, Steve Kaufmann and Richard Simcott
>patience and persistence ofc

any output from any self-taugh anon would be appreciated ofc,but I trust the advice this guy gives as his greek is amazing and he is even an english professor at a uni in Belgium


all that aside,how do you get over the "fear" of learning a language?(if that makes sense)
my german has been below average even if I managed to obtain a B2 level degree.I haven't gotten over the learning curve where german FINALLY starts to make sense to me.each time I eanna start over I get overwhelmed/bored and give up.I really wanna reach C2 level but it's been 10 years which I've been on and off and I can't fully commit to it

>>515626
i'm currently self-teaching myself two languages but one of them i spent years studying @ school and the other i was actually spoke as a young kid, so make of my advice what you will.
-make it fun. if it starts feeling like an obligation, you'll most likely want to stop. find learning resources that make french feel more like a hobby. it can be looking at a sentence in a song that you think sounds good and looking up the words in it, maybe studying the grammar from that. (of course there are a lot of unfun and even stressful moments in language learning.)
-doing a little every day (ish) is obviously the best method. try to stick to that as much as possible, but don't beat yourself up if you can't/don't want to literally study everyday, of course.
-practice your accent. i know there are some videos about what stops speakers of x language from being understood in y language, which could help you work on the most obvious pronunciation problems you might have.
-now, this is advice for a higher level, but: read even when you don't understand every word. don't stress over looking up every word and just try to get used to the language, or even guess what words are based on context.
bonne chance avec ton français!

just a dumb tip for those learning a new language: try switching your phone/any other device's language to the language you're studying. I recommend only doing this with one language or else it can get overwhelming lol. also, if you're into video games and the game you're playing has a different language option (voice or subtitles) use it! it can be a fun way to learn new vocab and study grammar in action. I'm currently playing Pokemon Shield in German because I really like reading in German, so I figured I'd make it fun. my phone's language is also in German. I usually have to stop and think about alerts/notifications I've never seen before, because then I have to decipher them unless I want to press the wrong thing lol.

in addition to German I'm also learning Dutch and Greek – those I'm doing by myself, but German I learned in school for several years and I also did an internship abroad for a few months. I would also emphasize flash cards for learning vocab or new writing systems. they can be made very easily and they're super portable, so you can study them anywhere and anytime.

sorry for the blogpost! good luck and have fun, anons