How do you learn and practice languages?
Denys Hriaznov
30 replies
Replies
Dafni Chontou@dafnihnd
Learning on Duolingo (more fun) and Babbel (more structured courses). There's also a podcast I enjoy (Coffee Break German). I practice speaking occasionally with my partner - it's a bit tough switching languages once you've got used to speaking in another language.
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If programming languages are of interest, I highly recommend https://www.codewars.com/. The ability to see the solutions of others is a very powerful way to expand your thinking, get exposure to language features, and/or see completely different approaches to how you might tackle a problem.
In my personal experience, I was able to improve my English language skills by listening to English music and podcasts :)
Linguaroom
@amarnath_nagula that's cool! I also feel that it's helpful to listen to music in a language you learn
@amarnath_nagula Though I haven't done it personally, the recommendation (via Tim Ferris) of reading a favorite book in another language sounds promising.
There is an app called Drops. It is a great app. I started learning Korean on it. I had the free version of it, in that every day I got 5 minutes in which they taught words. You must try it if you want to learn it.
One is the Duolingo app. It is good too.
Linguaroom
@jaskiran_kaur I see, thank you for your answer! And do you practice the language somehow?
@denys_hriaznov I am trying to manage my day these but I should practice somehow, maybe with korean movies on weekends or chat with a Korean person.
Not the most practical, especially with covid-19 and certain travel restrictions but traveling to the country where you wanna learn the language is the fastest and a very fun way of learning + practicing!
Not the easiest, especially with covid-19 and certain travel restrictions but traveling to the country where you wanna learn the language is the fastest and a very fun way of learning + practicing!
For Chinese, songs and Google translate. Fortunately I know the correct strokes to write the characters, so the Chinese subtitles on most Chinese music videos make learning easy by just drawing them into Translate.
ReSkript
Now in order to practice my English, I usually watch series and films without translation. It helps me a lot to improve my listening and to learn new words and slang
Linguaroom
@daryakhmetova yeah, that's a productive method 😎 do you also try to talk to natives and other learners?
ReSkript
@denys_hriaznov I practiced it a lot when I was on my exchange program. Now I have some courses at university on English and my work is connected with communicating with people from all over the world as well
I study a lot of different languages. Since my work is related to travel. I write blogs about different countries and different ancient tribes. It's the perfect job for me and sometimes I get so caught up in the culture and language of some people. That I start to learn the language and bring it to the masses. The last time I liked an Indian people in the United States, the Lakota aborigines of America. I even studied the language through The Lakota Language Consortium. They help to preserve the language and develop it among the masses. These groups are mainly made up of leaders, linguists, educators, and volunteers.
I decided to finally start preparing for the Cambridge exam in a group, and I do see the effect!
Since we have homework to do, it helps me arrange myself and act according to the plan, but not chaotically as I used to :) Plus, we have practice sessions, of course.
Oh, and I'm considering an option to find a Community Tutor at Italki to just have a chat with a native, where they could finesse my speech :)
Linguaroom
@helga_elfsight 👍 without any homework it would be not productive enough to learn and memorize things
Angle Audio
Language tandem!
Finding someone who is trying to learn a language you know, well and wants to teach you your desired language. Combine it with a coffee walk or a jog, it's the best. ☺️
Linguaroom
@jeanettej Perfect! That is the goal why I created linguaroom.io, to help people find those language partners
Giftpack AI
I used Busuu and Drops.
Drops provides vocabularies in many kinds of categories.
Busuu helps spelling, reading, speaking, and listening with dialogues.
I find both quite useful.
Giftpack AI
@denys_hriaznov Thanks, I think your linguaroom is a great idea too!
I always think it's essential to talk with native speakers to improve my language skills, but it's not easy when you don't live there, especially these days with covid. I really like your idea! Definitely something in need.
Meetup group!
I just moved to Barcelona with just a bare-minimum knowledge of Spanish. I joined classes and did lots of class work but forcing myself to speak with the local here really pushed my level. It's also the quickest way to speak more fluently and naturally 😆
Hello, i mostly reading, and watch tv-show and movies with subtitles, playing games in english, also user interface of my desktop and smartphone in english language.
And more recently I began to try various services with public streams and private lessons, for example - https://livexp.com