How many languages do you speak? What learning method worked best for you?
Daniel Engels
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Kate Dalessi@katedalessi
I speak 3, and out of pure necessity. My favourite learning method is "create the conditions where you don't have another choice but to learn":)
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I speak 4 languages. The best and the most important is to speak! Don't be afraid, just try to speak. The best option is to visit a country of your target language and try to plug into the environment, and don't search of way outs to avoid speaking.
2.5 and the best methods were casual- fun learning environments
I speak 4 languages.
I started by learning grammar, rules, pronunciation, etc. One of my favorite professors also taught me how to start actually thinking in another language (not just translating words to my native one in my head). He recommended to stop translating words when you can, but look up the definition in the target language instead. This really helped and I still do it.
Once I moved on past the very basic beginner level, I started reading articles/news/stories/fairytales, watching TV shows in the target language, and participating in conversations on forums and social media. This helped to expand my vocabulary, and understand the underlying tones in certain words or phrases.
Still, no matter how good I got, the speaking part was not going so smoothly.
The thing that helped the most to start actually speaking is *drumroll please* speaking. There's just no way around it. Initially, I registered on various language-exchange platforms, connected to people, and we would call each other and just speak (by the way, I do not recommend Interpals, 3/10). Then I met lots of multilingual people in the city I lived in with whom I continued practicing and achieved a fluent level in speaking.
@anna_mandziuk there is a certain barrier to break through before you can start "speaking". The first steps might be the most difficult once. Some people get discouraged.
Except my mother language (Turkish) I can speak English and German. I learnt English after German and at the beginning it was so complicated for me learning English after German, because these two languages are in the same language family therefore their gramer structures are similar. I think reading, listening, and a lot of speaking is the best way for learning languages.
I've just started to learn Spanish on Duolingo App. For beginners it's easy to use.
4-ish. I fluently speak 2 languages: Spanish (my mother tongue) and English. I'm also working towards fluency in German, and for that, I absolutely love Lingoda (a bit of an ad here, you can get 50EUR off with this code https://learn.lingoda.com/es/ref...). I usually combine 2 Lingoda conversation classes a week on topics I'm interested in with podcasts, books, and other online resources. On the other hand, I had achieved an okay French level, but I abandoned it for a couple of years, and I don't think I can express myself clearly anymore.I'm looking forward to having more time to go back to studying it!
@martina_hackbartt oral French is particularly difficult to decode for beginners. There is nothing to do with it, just practice.
I consider two languages as my native ones, cause they belong to one language family; I'm fluent in English and have a good level in German, but what I can surely admit - is that the most working method is still to put yourself into the speaking environment, read out loud everything in the language you'd like to improve and record yourself to hear mistakes, pronunciation issues, etc.
Thanks for the discussion, I find it really useful :)
@olga_senko14 I agree with you. Some months of formal learning before getting into the environment enable you to progress even faster.
In fact, it is 3 plus 2 half languages. I'm using duolingo a lot right now
It is 3 plus half languages, lol I try to use a lot of ways to learn new languages, one of them is watching movies with subtitles, I just find something that entertains me and enjoys it, this way I won't get bored very easily.
@sarita_rita which are these languages?
I'm not very good at 'studying' in terms of learning by repetition from a book or classroom. I learnt my second language Spanish by living in Spanish speaking countries, living with native speakers, working in that language and trying to avoid English. It's not for everybody and is less affordable since travel and other costs have risen but it worked for me. I do know people who have had a lot of success with apps like Duolingo.
@joanne_hurleyv1 such immersion is the most efficient way to learn a language, of course. But it's even better if you started learning before the travel, so that you get at least some structure.
Hi @daniel_engels
I speak 3 languages - English, Hindi, and Spanish. I use Duolingo for listening and grammar and practice writing, grammar, and comprehension from online worksheets and quizzes.
What about you?
@tanya_kapoor I speak 4 languages (French, English, Russian, Italian). But it's a sort of cheating since French and Italian are rather close.
I speak 3 lang.. ( Russian, Turkish, English) 2 languages I consider as my native ones R,T & English I learnt in college, plus I travel a lot, and all my friends from different countries. I read articles, watch movies, if I hear some new words I write them down, and try to use them in my conversations. :))) I want to learn Spanish. but....
@daniel_engels Yes I do, Azeri, same same Turkish but different😁 You speak Russian!? Many ppl consider Russian the most difficult language, how did you learn? Did you live in Russia or some part of you is from Russia?
@leyla_aliyeva1 I guess you also speak Azerbaijani language?
@leyla_aliyeva1 Russian and French are my two native languages. So there was no problem with them. Russian is quite difficult indeed - but I still met a couple of foreigners who speak it fluently. It took them about 6-10 years to reach this progress.
I speak two languages, one of them is native and the second is foreign. At the university, I started learning Swedish, according to my personal feelings, learning the language you want to speak, which you like, and also learning the culture of the country of this language. If you learn a language solely out of necessity, then learning will be difficult. You must love it.
The best advice I've been given for learning languages is to never compare your mother tongue with the language you're learning. Because the logic was built among different nations for centuries, so I did not even try to draw parallels with my native language, but simply perceived it as it is.
The first one is my native language, the second is regional, and the third one is English...
I am learning Korean, Mandarin, French, Spanish and Nigerian Sign Language which shares alot of similarities with American Sign Language.