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Post by rickyfullerbeer on Feb 26, 2024 5:44:39 GMT
Has anybody learned a new language online?
I want to start learning Japanese. I currently have no knowledge of the language so want to learn independently for a few months before trying a tutor/class.
There seem to be countless apps/websites so does anyone have any experience of using any and can recommend?
At the moment I think I'm just going to get a 3 month subscription for Rosetta Stone but if anyone can recommend an alternative, I'd be happy to take a look.
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Post by deeside2 on Feb 26, 2024 6:41:40 GMT
When I took early retirement some years ago I wanted to learn Italian (partly to occupy my "free time" but also as I like travelling to Italy a lot) but after a few basic brief online tutorials I never pursued it, not due to difficulty, it just seemed to get lost in daily activities. I might look into it again though. I also speak French after working for a French company for 40 years
Why Japanese though ? From what I can see the Japanese language is considered one of the most difficult to learn by many English speakers. With three separate writing systems, an opposite sentence structure to English, and a complicated hierarchy of politeness, it's decidedly complex.
Good luck !
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Post by rickyfullerbeer on Feb 26, 2024 6:58:03 GMT
Yes, I did look briefly and think 'oh no' when I saw they have three writing systems, and like you say, cultural differences around politeness which make it potentially more difficult, but at some point I'd like to go and work in Japan.
I was between Italian and Japanese, but I think I'm likely to spend time in Japan first so will go for that. I'd absolutely love to retire to Italy but I'm way off that currently.
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Post by fullmetaljacket on Feb 26, 2024 7:38:11 GMT
Has anybody learned a new language online? I want to start learning Japanese. I currently have no knowledge of the language so want to learn independently for a few months before trying a tutor/class. There seem to be countless apps/websites so does anyone have any experience of using any and can recommend? At the moment I think I'm just going to get a 3 month subscription for Rosetta Stone but if anyone can recommend an alternative, I'd be happy to take a look. Duolingo is decent. Memrise is another that I used which was OK. |
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Post by noustie on Feb 26, 2024 8:18:03 GMT
I wanted to learn Tibetan but I’ve married the least patient Buddhist on the planet plus in fairness I’m proper shit at learning languages. Did French and German at GCSE and genuinely didn’t have a fucking clue apart from being able to ask directions to a swimming pool in La Rochelle or where the cake shop is.
My wife’s younger niece is fluent in 5 or 6 languages locally having moved between Nepal and various parts of India and studied nursing in English to work in Canada. Her sponsor said ‘why don’t you come Germany instead?’ so within 9 months she passed their version of IELTs written, speaking, listening at 7.5 going from scratch - absolutely blows my mind!
We were on a WhatsApp call with her and she was speaking to my mrs in their tongue, me in English then a lass who was with her in German just flitting between them like it was nothing.
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Post by flea79 on Feb 26, 2024 9:07:09 GMT
always fancied learning BSL, not sure why really
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Post by lagwafis on Feb 26, 2024 9:27:06 GMT
Duolingo is a good app if you want to make a game of getting the basics right, though the only way you'll ever be fluent is living and speaking the language with others (in person, classes, even listening to it on TV) I originally used Duolingo for Spanish and then as a refresher for my (very rusty) German and French. I tried Japanese a long time ago but it's a massive learning curve. Perhaps better to learn to read the characters first, Duolingo added a feature for this blog.duolingo.com/learning-to-read-japanese-characters/ |
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Post by musik on Feb 26, 2024 9:35:38 GMT
Arabic, Persian, Somali, Serbo-Croatian, Turkish are the languages I want to know.
Why?
If the immigrants don't want to be integrated I might integrate a bit with them.
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Post by str8outtahampton on Feb 26, 2024 9:43:21 GMT
Has anybody learned a new language online? I want to start learning Japanese. I currently have no knowledge of the language so want to learn independently for a few months before trying a tutor/class. There seem to be countless apps/websites so does anyone have any experience of using any and can recommend? At the moment I think I'm just going to get a 3 month subscription for Rosetta Stone but if anyone can recommend an alternative, I'd be happy to take a look. Never tried the on-line approach. And as others have said, Japanese would almost certainly be a much greater challenge than a European language. My suggestion would be to find a native speaker. And offer to exchange English and Japanese, eg over a coffee. Bon courage! |
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Post by potteringermany on Feb 26, 2024 10:16:30 GMT
Has anybody learned a new language online? I want to start learning Japanese. I currently have no knowledge of the language so want to learn independently for a few months before trying a tutor/class. There seem to be countless apps/websites so does anyone have any experience of using any and can recommend? At the moment I think I'm just going to get a 3 month subscription for Rosetta Stone but if anyone can recommend an alternative, I'd be happy to take a look. Try sleeping with a dictionary ;-) |
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Post by neworleanstokie on Feb 26, 2024 13:39:49 GMT
I'm on day 55 of a daily Brazilian Português language course using Busuu. Fortunately my employer is paying for it, I also get weekly 1:1 lessons with my instructor who is in São Paulo. The key difference compared to what I have tried in the past is the focus learning 10-15 mins every day and not doing lengthy classes at the weekend. I have a friend who is a native speaker that I can talk to and also a few opportunities to practice in stores and restaurants here in NY. Ultimately I want to spend a week in Brazil taking an immersive lesson course. I'm starting to string basic sentences together and seem to understand more than I did when I started. I recommend using Duolingo to start with before you purchase lessons. Netflix has some foreign language content which is good to have in in the background with the subtitles in Português.
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Post by rickyfullerbeer on Feb 26, 2024 13:46:54 GMT
I'm on day 55 of a daily Brazilian Português language course using Busuu. Fortunately my employer is paying for it, I also get weekly 1:1 lessons with my instructor who is in São Paulo. The key difference compared to what I have tried in the past is the focus learning 10-15 mins every day and not doing lengthy classes at the weekend. I have a friend who is a native speaker that I can talk to and also a few opportunities to practice in stores and restaurants here in NY. Ultimately I want to spend a week in Brazil taking an immersive lesson course. I'm starting to string basic sentences together and seem to understand more than I did when I started. I recommend using Duolingo to start with before you purchase lessons. Netflix has some foreign language content which is good to have in in the background with the subtitles in Português. Awesome. Is there a particular reson you're learning? I will definitely look to get some online tutoring with a native speaker if I get into it. |
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Post by neworleanstokie on Feb 26, 2024 14:48:40 GMT
I'm on day 55 of a daily Brazilian Português language course using Busuu. Fortunately my employer is paying for it, I also get weekly 1:1 lessons with my instructor who is in São Paulo. The key difference compared to what I have tried in the past is the focus learning 10-15 mins every day and not doing lengthy classes at the weekend. I have a friend who is a native speaker that I can talk to and also a few opportunities to practice in stores and restaurants here in NY. Ultimately I want to spend a week in Brazil taking an immersive lesson course. I'm starting to string basic sentences together and seem to understand more than I did when I started. I recommend using Duolingo to start with before you purchase lessons. Netflix has some foreign language content which is good to have in in the background with the subtitles in Português. Awesome. Is there a particular reson you're learning? I will definitely look to get some online tutoring with a native speaker if I get into it. Plan on retiring in ~6 years and want to have a language skill for travel. Portugal and Brazil are high on the list as well as Italy. Ultimately you have to want to learn because you like how it sounds and culture associated with the countries that speak it. I've been to both Portugal and Brazil several times, speaking Português is a huge advantage as there are very few non-native speakers. In Brazil people are amazed if you make an attempt, now try doing that with French in Paris! |
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Post by wannabee on Feb 26, 2024 15:21:11 GMT
The difficulty in learning Japanese is that it's not not just the pronunciation or kanji but the cultural aspect of choosing the correct word choice, hand gesture, and tone for the right location and context.
An ex-colleague tried to explain to me one time but it went completely over my head
The best advice given is from Noustie and Potteringingermany. Find a Long Haired Teacher preferably in situ
Good Luck
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Post by mtrstudent on Feb 26, 2024 16:34:11 GMT
I needed 2 major things on top of apps.
One is grammar. "Practice Makes Perfect" books are brilliant. They explain rules one at a time and give you loads of test questions so you actually learn it. It's a slog but if you learn the rules you can freestyle new sentences. I hated the learning bit but it was crucial.
I was working in London and Reading and found people on conversation exchange websites. We'd meet up to watch a game and would speak first half in English and second in Italian once I'd got a couple of pints of liquid courage down me. But only do that when you've learned a bit first, no point doing this until you can actually talk a bit.
I was also dating an Italian, maybe you should find a Japanese speaker. 🤔
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Post by Northy on Feb 26, 2024 16:37:30 GMT
Duolingo is a good app if you want to make a game of getting the basics right, though the only way you'll ever be fluent is living and speaking the language with others (in person, classes, even listening to it on TV) I originally used Duolingo for Spanish and then as a refresher for my (very rusty) German and French. I tried Japanese a long time ago but it's a massive learning curve. Perhaps better to learn to read the characters first, Duolingo added a feature for this blog.duolingo.com/learning-to-read-japanese-characters/ I used duolingo for Italian but got a bit frustrated recently as I couldn't speak it with anyone, I was on over a 150 day streak then just found it a chore and deleted the app. |
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Post by jesusmcmuffin on Feb 26, 2024 16:55:13 GMT
Awesome. Is there a particular reson you're learning? I will definitely look to get some online tutoring with a native speaker if I get into it. Plan on retiring in ~6 years and want to have a language skill for travel. Portugal and Brazil are high on the list as well as Italy. Ultimately you have to want to learn because you like how it sounds and culture associated with the countries that speak it. I've been to both Portugal and Brazil several times, speaking Português is a huge advantage as there are very few non-native speakers. In Brazil people are amazed if you make an attempt, now try doing that with French in Paris! I found Spanish came in reasonably handy in Brazil although of course a Portuguese speaking country Are similarities in the languages of course |
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Post by maxplonk on Feb 26, 2024 18:49:31 GMT
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Post by marylandstoke on Feb 26, 2024 19:11:42 GMT
……I’ve married the least patient Buddhist on the planet…. She married you didn’t she Noust? Namaste.  |
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Post by 4372 on Feb 26, 2024 19:14:15 GMT
I'm on day 55 of a daily Brazilian Português language course using Busuu. Fortunately my employer is paying for it, I also get weekly 1:1 lessons with my instructor who is in São Paulo. The key difference compared to what I have tried in the past is the focus learning 10-15 mins every day and not doing lengthy classes at the weekend. I have a friend who is a native speaker that I can talk to and also a few opportunities to practice in stores and restaurants here in NY. Ultimately I want to spend a week in Brazil taking an immersive lesson course. I'm starting to string basic sentences together and seem to understand more than I did when I started. I recommend using Duolingo to start with before you purchase lessons. Netflix has some foreign language content which is good to have in in the background with the subtitles in Português. You are doing well here. You don't need my suggestions. Nevertheless.... Two teachers of Brazilian Portuguese I have used are Marcia Macedo and Virginia Langhammer. Both have a good, freely available online presence, and paid for courses if and when you fancy trying them out. I can recommend them both. I also follow Rio and Learn, a language school in Rio. One day, in my dreams, I will go there and do a short course. Brazilian Portuguese is also getting me into music for the first time in my life. |
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Post by Dutchpeter on Feb 26, 2024 19:21:16 GMT
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Post by gawa on Feb 26, 2024 20:02:14 GMT
Would like to learn python so I can do more with my raspberry pie*.
* purposely spelt incorrectly to add further confusion for older members.
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Post by neworleanstokie on Feb 26, 2024 20:09:31 GMT
I'm on day 55 of a daily Brazilian Português language course using Busuu. Fortunately my employer is paying for it, I also get weekly 1:1 lessons with my instructor who is in São Paulo. The key difference compared to what I have tried in the past is the focus learning 10-15 mins every day and not doing lengthy classes at the weekend. I have a friend who is a native speaker that I can talk to and also a few opportunities to practice in stores and restaurants here in NY. Ultimately I want to spend a week in Brazil taking an immersive lesson course. I'm starting to string basic sentences together and seem to understand more than I did when I started. I recommend using Duolingo to start with before you purchase lessons. Netflix has some foreign language content which is good to have in in the background with the subtitles in Português. You are doing well here. You don't need my suggestions. Nevertheless.... Two teachers of Brazilian Portuguese I have used are Marcia Macedo and Virginia Langhammer. Both have a good, freely available online presence, and paid for courses if and when you fancy trying them out. I can recommend them both. I also follow Rio and Learn, a language school in Rio. One day, in my dreams, I will go there and do a short course. Brazilian Portuguese is also getting me into music for the first time in my life. Agree, I watch Virignia's You Tube(y), she is here in New York. I'm it for the long haul with no pressure, the 10 mins a day seems to work so far. |
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Post by innocentbystander on Feb 26, 2024 20:45:43 GMT
I signed up for Zumba classes.
I thought it was a foreign language.
First lesson took me by surprise.
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Post by jesusmcmuffin on Feb 26, 2024 21:24:09 GMT
I signed up for Zumba classes. I thought it was a foreign language. First lesson took me by surprise. I went to Pilates to learn how to fly. Was rubbish. Just fat birds |
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Post by Mendicant on Feb 26, 2024 21:52:35 GMT
Would like to learn python so I can do more with my raspberry pie*. * purposely spelt incorrectly to add further confusion for older members. mendicant_reply = “Good idea” print(mendicant_reply) |
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Post by mtrstudent on Mar 1, 2024 1:53:40 GMT
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Post by misterken on Mar 1, 2024 2:43:08 GMT
Duo lingo is good for learning basics and refreshing basics you already know. I’ve been learning Finnish for 20 years, (it helps being married to a Finn so you can practice ), visits to the country help particularly if you go on your own and get rural and mix with older people who can’t speak English . I play a lot of guitar and learnt many Finnish songs which helps with pronunciation. just knowing a few words will open doors . I learnt Italian years ago which was a lot easier than Finnish but I used the same technique , talking to locals who haven’t got the slightest clue about English ( usually over 75’s but not exclusively), its surprising how helpful everyone is and willing to work to understand when you can’t revert to English.
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Post by maxplonk on Mar 1, 2024 6:02:40 GMT
Putting this here because, IMO, fear of being wrong is one of the bigger barriers to adults learning a language - kids usually don't have this problem.
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Post by Northy on Mar 1, 2024 15:32:37 GMT
I signed up for Zumba classes. I thought it was a foreign language. First lesson took me by surprise. I went to Pilates to learn how to fly. Was rubbish. Just fat birds you went to the wrong class, quiet a few young slim lasses have started since Xmas in the one I go to. |
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