Learning a language? Come share your progress here!

Started by Legend, Dec 20, 2016, 06:31 AM

previous topic - next topic

0 Members and 4 Guests are viewing this topic.

Go Down

darkknightkryta

I can speak Italian.  But I want it fixed.  Though when I do start a conversation it starts flowing more naturally.

I can also speak C, C#, x86, Objective C and Java ;o

Legend

Somewhat language related.



I knew about Harald Bluetooth but I didn't realise there was actually a connection with the names.

Legend

I'M really happy with my Dutch progress. I'm loving just listening to people speak Dutch and being able to pick out a lot of the words. With reading I can understand a lot of the grammar too.

IT is funny though how much English they use. Duolingo teaches proper Dutch not street Dutch I guess.

the-pi-guy

Apr 04, 2017, 11:05 PM Last Edit: Apr 04, 2017, 11:18 PM by the-pi-guy
Duolingo

I'M really happy with my Dutch progress. I'm loving just listening to people speak Dutch and being able to pick out a lot of the words. With reading I can understand a lot of the grammar too.

IT is funny though how much English they use. Duolingo teaches proper Dutch not street Dutch I guess.
Lol, I literally came here to see if you use a program, and share the thing above. 
Is Duolingo pretty good?

Legend

Duolingo
Lol, I literally came here to see if you use a program, and share the thing above.  
Is Duolingo pretty good?
I Think Duolingo is great if you already know a second language and/or are willing to go outside of Duo when you want clarification on something.

THe problem with Duolingo is that it follows the "show don't tell" rule 100% of the time. Ie in Dutch zij can mean she, they, or "are" and I had to learn this on my own. Would have been nicer if Duolingo had a note or something saying "yes, this is the same word as before but it means something else when used this way."

DUtch also has genders and if I didn't already understand the concept from Spanish, I'd be super lost.


THat's awesome they are adding Japonese. I've been trying to get neverdies on duolingo and that's the language he wants.

darkknightkryta

I need something to fix my Italian with.  I can understand most of it, and I can speak fluently enough when I get going, but I want it "fixed"

the-pi-guy


the-pi-guy

Japanese Duolingo is apparently 99% done.  

Quote
The Japanese team currently is putting a lot of efforts in finalizing the tree. The course will launch into beta phase on May 18. Please be patient until we support the course on all platforms. Because of "something new", we'll need an extra effort to support the course on different platforms. Thank you for understanding and look forward to the Japanese course!


the-pi-guy

I've been worried I've been losing my progress with writing.  
But I did some writing yesterday, and I was able to pick up what I hadn't practiced in months in a few minutes.  
Also seem to be picking up new characters pretty quickly this morning.

the-pi-guy

I've never had a day like today.
I haven't exactly kept track, but I am sure I spent over 6 hours just today doing japanese stuff.  Doing vocabulary/grammar/writing.  

the-pi-guy

Some cool things to think about:

Languages that have sounds that we don't, and don't have sounds we do.  
This is kind of cool to think about, sounds we use all the time in our language, people in other languages have trouble making those sounds.  They aren't use to it.  In Spanish, there's rolling their r's.  In Chinese, they don't have the "he" sound as in "hello". So they have trouble saying that.  Japanese people have trouble differentiating between "l" and "r".  And they don't have a "th" sound, which is probably one of the most common sounds in English (the, their, etc.).  
We don't have the japanese "f" sound, it's different from the English "f" sound.  

For a lot of people, these differences are so hard to overcome, that people will say that it's genetic.  You are either able to say it, or you aren't.  I think it's just weird to have to move your mouth, lips and tongue in ways that you never have before to make a sound you never have made before.  That probably comes easier to some people, perhaps even by accident.  

the-pi-guy

Also, while Japanese has ~2300+ different characters, what you find is that it gets a lot easier to write them and recognize them.  The first 100 are probably going to be the hardest 100.

Legend

I like the glottal stop. It feels like a weird foreign feature to English speakers, yet we subconsciously do it all the time.

Like the in Uh-Oh.

the-pi-guy

So my goals are to study as much as I can throughout the summer.  
Finish the two textbooks I have, that'll put me at an N4 level; by the end of the summer.  Then get another book, which will put me at about N3, and finish that by the end of the next school year.  Etc.  
I'm hoping to be at N2 by the time I graduate, that would be amazing.  

the-pi-guy

Jul 26, 2017, 03:42 PM Last Edit: Jul 26, 2017, 03:47 PM by the-pi-guy
Japanese has a very specific way to write each character, and it's pretty standardized. 
I have been getting it down pretty well though. 

What's interesting is that sometimes when I try writing English characters, I write it the way I would write Japanese characters. 
It doesn't happen very often, but it's interesting when it does. 

So my goals are to study as much as I can throughout the summer. 
Finish the two textbooks I have, that'll put me at an N4 level; by the end of the summer.  Then get another book, which will put me at about N3, and finish that by the end of the next school year.  Etc. 
I'm hoping to be at N2 by the time I graduate, that would be amazing. 
I'm not so sure how realistic this is. 
Might still be possible, but I have to work pretty hard.  And for the most part, I haven't so much...

Go Up