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Slobodan Drauposevic
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pv4 wrote:Draupnir wrote:pv4 wrote:Anyone able to help me..
For those who have the know-how, what's a simple and free way to learn a language online? The DuoLingo app. Not exactly "online" in the sense of sitting at a computer, but it's a really great app that has daily challenges and XP in the sense of a video game, where you can level up by completing units of the courses. It tracks your "fluency level" as well. 10mins in and I already really like it. I've set my daily goal so will try and keep that up for a few weeks and report back. Love it! Good to hear mate! It's a great app. Which language are you doing?
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pv4
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Draupnir wrote:pv4 wrote:Draupnir wrote:pv4 wrote:Anyone able to help me..
For those who have the know-how, what's a simple and free way to learn a language online? The DuoLingo app. Not exactly "online" in the sense of sitting at a computer, but it's a really great app that has daily challenges and XP in the sense of a video game, where you can level up by completing units of the courses. It tracks your "fluency level" as well. 10mins in and I already really like it. I've set my daily goal so will try and keep that up for a few weeks and report back. Love it! Good to hear mate! It's a great app. Which language are you doing? 
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salmonfc
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Downloaded it last night, starting off with German.
For the first time, but certainly not the last, I began to believe that Arsenals moods and fortunes somehow reflected my own. - Hornby
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Slobodan Drauposevic
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salmonfc wrote:Downloaded it last night, starting off with German. Keep us updated too!
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BETHFC
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Timmo wrote:
Currently learning German and Finnish at the moment.
Have heritage in Austria and Germany but know there are differences between German German and Austrian German.
Finnish I learning just for the fun of it.
A good mate is from Swabia (near Stuttgart) in Germany, She came over here and couldn't understand my mates mum who is Austrian. Funnily enough, she also couldn't stop laughing at a couple of northern Germans when I was at school. The northern German accent is how gay people in Swabia talk.
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spfc
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Slobodan Drauposevic
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spfc wrote:melbourne_terrace wrote:Awesome thread.
I actually spent 5 years learning Mandarin at school and eventually gave up because it felt pointless at the time because no one else I knew spoke it and didn't see myself wanting to live or work in mainland china. Plus having to learn word meaning as well as how to write it in Pinyin (Latin script) and Characters shat me to tears. It's seriously like having to learn 2 languages at once.
I've now mostly forgotten that which is a shame.
this is what I wonder about people who learn chinese, whats the point?. Foreigners more or less can't work in China, the main occupation for foreigners is English Teacher which you don't need chinese to do. The only foreigners working a normal job there are working for non-chinese companies, for example I spoke to a german guy there who worked for volkswagon, he'd been there 8 years and still knew little or no chinese becuse there's no need no point. Business communication. It allows you to shop around without a middleman which can mean life or death for a business that sells tangible goods. Besides that, it's always good to know the language of the future overlords.
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mcjules
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Draupnir wrote:spfc wrote:melbourne_terrace wrote:Awesome thread.
I actually spent 5 years learning Mandarin at school and eventually gave up because it felt pointless at the time because no one else I knew spoke it and didn't see myself wanting to live or work in mainland china. Plus having to learn word meaning as well as how to write it in Pinyin (Latin script) and Characters shat me to tears. It's seriously like having to learn 2 languages at once.
I've now mostly forgotten that which is a shame.
this is what I wonder about people who learn chinese, whats the point?. Foreigners more or less can't work in China, the main occupation for foreigners is English Teacher which you don't need chinese to do. The only foreigners working a normal job there are working for non-chinese companies, for example I spoke to a german guy there who worked for volkswagon, he'd been there 8 years and still knew little or no chinese becuse there's no need no point. Business communication. It allows you to shop around without a middleman which can mean life or death for a business that sells tangible goods. Besides that, it's always good to know the language of the future overlords. You can't migrate there but there are plenty of foreigners working there. Sure you can get by with a high paying job, not knowing any chinese but visiting/living a country where you can communicate with the locals is a much more fulfilling experience. Also learning a language does start to expose you the culture of the people too. Learning about confucian values and the protocols that people live and work under there that a based on it make it a lot easier to do business.
Insert Gertjan Verbeek gifs here
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Scotch&Coke
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Draupnir wrote:spfc wrote:melbourne_terrace wrote:Awesome thread.
I actually spent 5 years learning Mandarin at school and eventually gave up because it felt pointless at the time because no one else I knew spoke it and didn't see myself wanting to live or work in mainland china. Plus having to learn word meaning as well as how to write it in Pinyin (Latin script) and Characters shat me to tears. It's seriously like having to learn 2 languages at once.
I've now mostly forgotten that which is a shame.
this is what I wonder about people who learn chinese, whats the point?. Foreigners more or less can't work in China, the main occupation for foreigners is English Teacher which you don't need chinese to do. The only foreigners working a normal job there are working for non-chinese companies, for example I spoke to a german guy there who worked for volkswagon, he'd been there 8 years and still knew little or no chinese becuse there's no need no point. Business communication. It allows you to shop around without a middleman which can mean life or death for a business that sells tangible goods. Besides that, it's always good to know the language of the future overlords. Exactly. Asia is the future and China is leading the way. 1/5 of the worlds population is Chinese so it pays to learn it and i, for one, welcome our new asian overlords. Great thread btw. I speak moderate German and Mandarin although my Mandarin is slipping somewhat due to me finishing the course and not knowing anyone to speak it with
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spfc
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I know french well, can understand alot of spanish and italian, can understand about half any slavic language having lived most my life around various eastern euros. Can fluently navigate any shopping or mcdonalds situation in chinese:lol:
FWIW, learning a language on your own from scratch I'd say first thing to do is learn about 50 of the most common words, like "who, what, why, where, there, also, if, but...etc. Then learn all the forms 1st, 2nd, 3rd person, plural and all pasts presents conditionals of the two most common verbs "to be' and "to have". Learn these 50 and all the verb forms by heart before you start anything else. Someone said you can make yourself understood in any language if you know just 50 words. Once you know these it's make easy to get the ball rolling and fit pieces together. Also then after that find out any points where the grammar form is significantly different.
Edited by spfc: 10/3/2016 01:12:32 PM
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pv4
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Btw guys, if you're learning languages and get stuck on something feel free to post in here for help. I sure intend to!!
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TheSelectFew
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I know a lot of people learning Hindi. Not surprised given the common interests on this forum that European languages dominate here. I know a lot of people learning Manderin and Hindi and travelling between the relevant locations.
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Crusader
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quickflick wrote:Crusader wrote:"9GABmeme420" wrote:I used to be able to speak Assyrian. But I stopped using it and forgot how to.
Edit: I know how to curse in Assyrian however. The other day me and my cousin were at Crown telling the dealer to put a dick in his pussy.
Edited by "9GABmeme420": 9/3/2016 08:39:01 PM I am starting to speak Assyrian and Kurdish but I keep getting confused and lapsing into Arabic. I have a niece who speaks English, Arabic, French, German and Afrikaans (her parents only speak three each, no Afrikaans) and from when she was 5-7 years old she struggled to differentiate between the languages, so her speech was all five mixed together with her own form of grammar. Her teachers told her parents not to worry and that it would sort itself out, which it did. I think it does tend to sort itself out. I base that on anecdote, though. How did she come to speak such different languages at such a young age? Lebanese family living in South Africa. English and Arabic were the languages used at home, Mum would speak French to her (an official language in Lebanon) and Dad would speak German (works for a German company) and she learned Afrikaans at school and spoke it with her friends. They live in Australia now, unlike most South Africans they could escape that shithole thanks to not being too black or too white for most countries to accept.
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melbourne_terrace
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Scotch&Coke wrote:Draupnir wrote:spfc wrote:melbourne_terrace wrote:Awesome thread.
I actually spent 5 years learning Mandarin at school and eventually gave up because it felt pointless at the time because no one else I knew spoke it and didn't see myself wanting to live or work in mainland china. Plus having to learn word meaning as well as how to write it in Pinyin (Latin script) and Characters shat me to tears. It's seriously like having to learn 2 languages at once.
I've now mostly forgotten that which is a shame.
this is what I wonder about people who learn chinese, whats the point?. Foreigners more or less can't work in China, the main occupation for foreigners is English Teacher which you don't need chinese to do. The only foreigners working a normal job there are working for non-chinese companies, for example I spoke to a german guy there who worked for volkswagon, he'd been there 8 years and still knew little or no chinese becuse there's no need no point. Business communication. It allows you to shop around without a middleman which can mean life or death for a business that sells tangible goods. Besides that, it's always good to know the language of the future overlords. Exactly. Asia is the future and China is leading the way. 1/5 of the worlds population is Chinese so it pays to learn it and i, for one, welcome our new asian overlords. Great thread btw. I speak moderate German and Mandarin although my Mandarin is slipping somewhat due to me finishing the course and not knowing anyone to speak it with If you're learning it for work than it's definitely worth it, I can't explain how much meaning is lost between two parties in Asian business arrangements when a translator is needed. It was pointless for me living in Europe, I just wanted to be able to have fun with it really.
Viennese Vuck
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AzzaMarch
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The other thing that can help when trying to maintain and enhance your language skills, (once you have learnt things at a basic level) is to try and read some foreign language websites or newspapers. Depending on the language, there are a lot of foreign language newspapers available in Australia.
The other thing which can help is to watch football matches with commentary of the language you want to learn. It is generally a limited vocabulary, and you can guess what they are talking about from watching what is happening. So it can help you develop your "ear" for hearing the language spoken by native-speakers.
I do it all the time for maintaining my Italian. Plus, living in Melbourne there is "Il Globo" newspaper as well!
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mcjules
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Yep read italian websites all the time. Can't be bothered getting Il Globo anymore :) Though there are heaps of free chinese newspapers, it's a pretty disheartening experience trying to read one when you're not ready. They say you can get by with knowing 2-3000 characters but even then you may be able to "read" the newspaper but I don't think you'll actually 100% get the meaning of what has been written.
Insert Gertjan Verbeek gifs here
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JP
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Top thread.
I'm of Italian heritage, and I did some Italian at school, but it never really stuck unfortunately. Most of my family (certainly the older generations) only speak Sicilian anyway - they came to Melbourne in the 60s before Italian had become the common language in Sicily.
If I do make the effort and try to learn another language I think I'd try Spanish, it covers a lot of countries and I'd like to spend a few years in Latin America in the future.
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Slobodan Drauposevic
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Another great way to learn general vocab is to listen to songs in other languages while you read the lyrics and have a translation in English side by side.
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Scotch&Coke
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Draupnir wrote:Another great way to learn general vocab is to listen to songs in other languages while you read the lyrics and have a translation in English side by side. I developed quite an ear for German by listening to pop-rap type music. Similar to what 360 is in Australia. Also, you cant go past the German Beastie Boys themselves, Fettes Brot
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Timmo
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Draupnir wrote:Timmo wrote:Currently learning German and Finnish Good luck there m80 :lol: Need all the luck I can get with Suomi. German I am finding easier now that I have downloaded the Babbel application to my iPhone.
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Slobodan Drauposevic
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Timmo wrote:Draupnir wrote:Timmo wrote:Currently learning German and Finnish Good luck there m80 :lol: Need all the luck I can get with Suomi. German I am finding easier now that I have downloaded the Babbel application to my iPhone. The cases in Finnish are hard as shit. Good on you if you can master them all. Get Duolingo too. I don't think it has Finnish (not sure tbh) but definitely has German.
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biscuitman1871
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According to Duo Lingo I am now 2% fluent in German, so hit me up if you need to translate - man, woman, child, boy, girl, bread and water.
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pv4
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biscuitman1871 wrote:According to Duo Lingo I am now 2% fluent in German, so hit me up if you need to translate - man, woman, child, boy, girl, bread and water. :lol: I legit came here to announce my 2% fluidity in Spanish
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Slobodan Drauposevic
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Good stuff lads. It gets way more difficult though, haha. Oh, I forgot to mention, another cool feature is that you can add Facey friends and whatnot to actually compete with each other on who can earn the most XP, and race to get to certain levels.
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aufc_ole
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This thread has motivated me to get back into German :lol:
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Slobodan Drauposevic
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aufc_ole wrote:This thread has motivated me to get back into German :lol: DuoLingo dat shit up. Compete with biscuitman!
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The Maco
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English, German, Maco
Would love to learn French as its probably the most widespread language in the world (Spanish/Portuguese wouldn't be far behind)
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Slobodan Drauposevic
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The Maco wrote:English, German, Maco
Would love to learn French as its probably the most widespread language in the world (Spanish/Portuguese wouldn't be far behind) DuoLingo m80. We should all get a group going.
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pv4
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Draupnir wrote:The Maco wrote:English, German, Maco
Would love to learn French as its probably the most widespread language in the world (Spanish/Portuguese wouldn't be far behind) DuoLingo m80. We should all get a group going. I'm confident you have the stalking abilities to find us all on it. Make the group happen!
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Slobodan Drauposevic
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pv4 wrote:Draupnir wrote:The Maco wrote:English, German, Maco
Would love to learn French as its probably the most widespread language in the world (Spanish/Portuguese wouldn't be far behind) DuoLingo m80. We should all get a group going. I'm confident you have the stalking abilities to find us all on it. Make the group happen! Easiest way is to link facey profiles to DuoLingo profiles. Can't do a group in the actual app so I reckon this thread can be it.
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