Get back into it pal. I'm finding the harder it's becoming, the more rewarding it is.

Been on duolingo since thursday... doing about 20 minutes a day... think I'm 5% fluent in Spanish . Its good to pick up words... use it as a tool to go to something further later. Plus i find it really fun

Good on ya mate.

I'm finding the fluency thing to be all over the place. I assume it's because I use it online with wifi at times and others offline. And I'm hit and miss whether I use the microphone part or not, depending on where I'm doing it.

But I feel like it's announced to me at least 3 seperate times I've become 3% fluid, one time even after announcing I was 4% fluid :lol:

Great work guys. I've been doing about 20 minutes a day of Spanish. I'm on level 6 and am currently 15% fluent. It did drop back to 14% for a day. I assume the fluency calculation takes into account things like accuracy and speed otherwise it doesn't make sense that mine would be higher than others.

Yeah definitely the speed has got something to do with it.
Its funny, if i had used this instead of the other stuff i used before going to spain i would've found it much easier.

Check out this TEDx talk. One of the best I've seen.

It's by Chris Lonsdale who's an expert. He learnt Chinese so quickly. He also wrote a book communicating how to go about learning language called The Third Ear. I've been meaning to get hold of it for a while now.

He has looked at the best habits of people who have learnt many languages.

Interestingly, he says that immersion doesn't necessarily help you. You can learn a heck of a lot from home. Especially in this day and age.

[youtube]d0yGdNEWdn0[/youtube]

To those that learned from other modes, i have alot of Spare time, i only work about 10 hours a week, would watching the Spanish news on sbs help, maybe some spanish music (i have some i used to listen to) just as something different.
Any books or anything?
I would ideally do a course or something if i get confident enough with the basics.
Ive needed a hobby ever since i got sick. My hobby used to be my job where i used to run football programs at schools but now i don't know when im well or if ill get sick on the job. Really narrows your job search when it is like this so I've really enjoyed the past week. It's a bit sad really!

I think the key is finding something you are interested in. Start with childrens book then progress.
There must be thousands of football interviews in Spanish on youtube.
or cooking

[youtube]QQUMMWyovXE[/youtube]

or whatever. You will be able to find any interest online in Spanish as well as thousands of books. Just read, watch people being interviewed and movies/tv.



Edited by scott21: 15/3/2016 01:38:34 AM

Yeah i was thinking all that, just going to emerse myself in it, try to get my mind off the stresses of trying to build a house!

When I was initially learning Spanish years ago, I would watch mainstream movies and shows, some of which I knew pretty well already, but with Spanish subtitles on. I'd basically just read thru the subtitles and pick out bits I knew and pick up how it was used in the dialogue. I found that really interesting and challenging.

TSF/anyone studying French.

Is going to AF worthwhile?

I haven't done it but I've heard good things.

What level of French are you at?

The emerging trend in this thread is that you start to make real progress learning your language when you're doing things you enjoy, e.g. listening to football commentary, watching films, etc.

Alliance Française, as I understand it, is very social. You hang out with like-minded people. There's the film festival, etc.

Loving the daily email reminder from duolingo. Makes me feel awful at night if I haven't done my daily dose, and I feel guilty for ignoring it so go out of my way before bed to do it :lol:

Intermediate I.

:lol:

How are you keeping up?

Now I just need to learn 5 times as much more and no one will be able to tell the difference between me and my latino m8s :cool:

Seriously though, progress has been slower going lately because I need to consistently head back to old lessons to keep my "power bars" up + the lesson I'm up to (adverbs) is full of false friends for an Italian speaker.

Edited by mcjules: 17/3/2016 04:05:40 PM

Yep, I've found I've been going back a bit to keep the power bars up too. It's refreshing to do also, because it galvanises some of the words and phrases for me and I get quite proud when I can go through and smash an entire one without mistakes.

Absolutely, it's more important to do that than just powering on if you actually want to achieve fluency.

How do I join the language group on Duolingo m80s?

I had been trying to power up all my previous ones i needed to before moving on but it has gotten to then point where it would take hours and then i can't move on cause i cant be bothered so now i pick and choose. Really enjoying it.

[youtube]nBB_CNkA2SU[/youtube]

[youtube]s9eQoMhhqzo[/youtube]

Edited by scott21: 21/3/2016 01:23:32 AM

What's the general consensus for best online learning? I speak basic polish, Serbian, Czech ( mix of online and private lessons/friends/living) and bits of Italian and Chinese but would like to brush up on all. I'd also like to learn German.

Anyone here brought up their kid on multiple languages? Very interested in this.

Add me and then you'll see most of the other guys.

We have Swiss (French speaking) friends who live in Aus. Their kids were born in Aus. They speak French in the house. The kids are fluent in French. The interesting thing is that, even though they speak French more around the house, the kids speak (and understand) English perfectly. They do better in English, at school, than the vast majority of their classmates who are brought up only speaking English.

Of course, if you're a native English speaker living in Australia, you're at a bit of a disadvantage in bringing up your children in, say, Spanish. These people naturally speak French, rather than English, so it's easy for them to talk to their children in French. It would take a lot of effort to speak to your children normally in Spanish.

But it's not impossible. In the Royal Family, traditionally they have all been native English-speakers but they've been brought up to become fluent in French and German.

I'm not so sure this is the case now. But when the Queen was a girl and when the Duke of Edinburgh was a kid, they were learnt French and German to very high levels.

Interesting fact, the Duke of Edinburgh's mother, who was completely deaf, was able to lipread fluently in English, French and German. That must take some doing.

Done

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Haven't been keeping up with DuoLingo as I've lost the motivation.

Considering giving up on German and learning Italian instead. Good idea or not?

You'll lose motivation in that too. Stick it out and see it through.