Learning another language as an adult

[potatowaffles]

I took french as a higher at school and just scraped a C, it just never stuck with me! Over lockdown I’ve been using Duolingo to learn Gaelic though and will be coming up to a year long streak next month! The progress is definitely slow, don’t get me wrong but I just love not feeling rushed to learn words and being able to choose what I want to learn. While Gaelic may not be the most useful language either, as a Scot I find it rewarding learning about our history through it and I think that additional research into the language and culture adds to that motivation

 

[fireflies]

Great thread I scraped a c at gcse French.
Managed ok honeymoon in Paris as husband did German so relied on my awful French
Made me chuckle as landed at Charles de gaule Airport and its quite a way out from Paris or seemed like it.
We had find a bus outside that took us to train station.
So group if English people huddled together desperate trying remember any useful French.
I manged to order a ticket to Paris at train station but was surprised how little English language signs there were.
I'm Welsh so used seeing signs both languages.
My Welsh is atrocious never done as gcse as I'm old so not compulsory then I did Welsh club but not many place south Wales speak fluent Welsh..
Used to watch pobl y cwm on s4c with subtitles.
I would love be fluent In other languages.

I tried Greek in corfu one year on holiday o was awful at it but locals seems impressed I tried think I may have said something inappropriate to waiter and he laughed and we got invited to the bar by owner for some neat Greek spirits.

My teenager has done French, Latin ,Spanish and German at school but shes dropped languages at gcse.
Think my 15 year old and 11 year old used dualingo last year try learn a language.
15 year old tried lean Welsh then gave up.
11 year old Russian as apparently she wants to be a spy.

Which is better dualingo or babel?
I live in large city so imagine lots languages.
Neighbours are Bulgarian.
Think new Neighbours maybe Turkish.
I have known various mums over years German/ french/ portgeguese but not really freinds with them.
I would say just being out and about arabic and polish is what I hear more.
We have 2 universities and a French school for children so there's no doubt few French, Greek and Spanish living here.

Our interest whata k drama and whys it so good.
Is it subtitles in English?
Where do you watch it?

Anyone tried any scandi languages?

 

[ChampagneBox]

Great thread I scraped a c at gcse French.
Managed ok honeymoon in Paris as husband did German so relied on my awful French
Made me chuckle as landed at Charles de gaule Airport and its quite a way out from Paris or seemed like it.
We had find a bus outside that took us to train station.
So group if English people huddled together desperate trying remember any useful French.
I manged to order a ticket to Paris at train station but was surprised how little English language signs there were.
I'm Welsh so used seeing signs both languages.
My Welsh is atrocious never done as gcse as I'm old so not compulsory then I did Welsh club but not many place south Wales speak fluent Welsh..
Used to watch pobl y cwm on s4c with subtitles.
I would love be fluent In other languages.

I tried Greek in corfu one year on holiday o was awful at it but locals seems impressed I tried think I may have said something inappropriate to waiter and he laughed and we got invited to the bar by owner for some neat Greek spirits.

My teenager has done French, Latin ,Spanish and German at school but shes dropped languages at gcse.
Think my 15 year old and 11 year old used dualingo last year try learn a language.
15 year old tried lean Welsh then gave up.
11 year old Russian as apparently she wants to be a spy.

Which is better dualingo or babel?
I live in large city so imagine lots languages.
Neighbours are Bulgarian.
Think new Neighbours maybe Turkish.
I have known various mums over years German/ french/ portgeguese but not really freinds with them.
I would say just being out and about arabic and polish is what I hear more.
We have 2 universities and a French school for children so there's no doubt few French, Greek and Spanish living here.

Our interest whata k drama and whys it so good.
Is it subtitles in English?
Where do you watch it?

Anyone tried any scandi languages?

I love that your 11 year old is learning Russian bc she wants to be a spy!
K Drama is Korean dramas, there are tons on YouTube and Netflix, all with subtitles! I just love the storylines, very different to English dramas, a bit more wholesome which I like, and quite a lot of far fetched storylines which makes them addictive! I really recommend them!

 

[katiesmith81]

Thinking of learning either Swedish or German, two of the countries I'd very much consider moving to by sort of well the more likely first if I could, need to find out if there's this online course to teach me how to I found somewhere but yeah to be honest I cant remember where lol

 

[Fancyfeathers]

I am Learning Romanian as i have friends that live in both Romania and Moldova and without even trying I'm picking up some russian too which is okay. Ive been downloading a lot of romanian language apps and fun easy learn is great too

My 22 year old is learning welsh (we are welsh but don't speak the language)
My 21 year old was learning korean but pays hardly an interest in it and my 14 year old son wants to learn Romanian too

For those into k drama's i highly recommend I am not a robot and 10 years promise

I am Learning Romanian as i have friends that live in both Romania and Moldova and without even trying I'm picking up some russian too which is okay. Ive been downloading a lot of romanian language apps and fun easy learn is great too

My 22 year old is learning welsh (we are welsh but don't speak the language)
My 21 year old was learning korean but pays hardly an interest in it and my 14 year old son wants to learn Romanian too

For those into k drama's i highly recommend I am not a robot and 10 years promise

Sorry its 12 years promise

 

[Gloria Rostron]

So I’ve recently over lockdown got into Foreign dramas, and it’s got me thinking about learning languages. I had no interest at school in French or German, and always thought myself to just be not cut out to learn another language, but these dramas have piqued my interest.

Has anyone here taken up another language as an adult? Is it easier than I think? Can anyone do it or do you really need a natural aptitude?

If you’ve been successful, can you suggest any good learning apps/books?

Thanks in advance!

I have tried with two languages. One was Welsh. I was ok at some simple phrases but I found it too complicated and there are so many north / south variants.

I learnt French last year, I wouldn't say I speak it fluently, but I could ask for things in French and ask for help, e. g. "je suis confuse. Parlez vous Anglais, sil vous plait?"

 

[rainbowlemon]

There's also the free app Hellotalk to talk with natives. My younger sister has used it to learn Japanese, and I'm surprised that she actually also read and write now. She does do something almost everyday.

I started French with duolingo last year after not touching it since I was 16 and I was proud of the progress I've made, but dropped it because of school and being busy. When I graduate I'm going to go back to learning.

Italki also offers cheaper lessons online.

italki - Best language learning app with certificated tutors

Discover a world of languages with italki. Learn over 150 languages including English, Spanish, French, Chinese, etc. with professional online tutors.

www.italki.com

 

[judgejohndeed]

Anyone still going with their language learning?
I'm considering trying Lingopie and wondered if anyone had any experience with it? Looks like Muzzy (anyone remember that?) for adults!

 

[Snippysnips]

I had French at school an had 0 intrest in it, I wanted Spanish an was told cause I wasn't good at French I wasn't allowed to take it even though it was because I had no interest in French an they knew it, honestly my school teachers were clowns, am glad to have seen the back of them when I left

I went through a phase of teaching myself Japanese, Korean, Scots gaelic, an Welsh an for a time was doing not bad, but I find it so hard to keep motivated with learning an fell behind, I just used freebie apps like dulingo and also I went onto language exchange for penpals but it felt more like they wanted to just be friends an talk about life than actually trying to be helpful with learning so it phased out

 

[Megansnarkle]

Anyone still going with their language learning?
I'm considering trying Lingopie and wondered if anyone had any experience with it? Looks like Muzzy (anyone remember that?) for adults!

I'd be interested in this too. I keep thinking I should exhaust German Netflix first though. We had French Muzzie, all I remember is une prune, une peche....

 

[Colin]

I'm also learning Romanian as I live here. I find grammar so flipping hard!

 

[no-no]

Anyone still going with their language learning?
I'm considering trying Lingopie and wondered if anyone had any experience with it? Looks like Muzzy (anyone remember that?) for adults!

No, but you’ve just reminded me to book another set of lessons! I get so many free each year. I feel bad though because last time the tutor would set homework and I was so busy I would be all “no me gusta coca cola” in sessions. I don’t find apps useful, too bitty. Music is a real help. My tutor was learning German and would put post it notes around her home for the German equivalent of everyday items. I bought the post its but never used them, I might do now, though. I follow someone learning Mandarin and it looks intense, I need to pull my socks up with Spanish.

 

[judgejohndeed]

I don’t find apps useful, too bitty.

I know what you mean. I think Duolingo is quite bad even though that's what I'm using. It's okay for vocab I think, but for grammar it's so poor. I know how to say things like 'the dog eats the mouse' but the section on possessives for example I can't get my head around because the explanation isn't good enough. Also sometimes, the app is just wrong in terms of the translation it gives you, so when you enter it yourself you lose a heart? It seems to have gone downhill a bit. I was taking a class but didn't have time, hoping to pick it up again but the problem I find with classes is the immersion thing of talking in the language constantly and I get a bit lost even in the early stages

 

[Keikochan]

I am learning Japanese. I studied it in school & loved it so much. I tried keep up with it but it did fall away after a while. The last few years I've really gotten back into it. I like watching Japanese tv shows & movies. I've gotten my old school books out & bought a few more from Amazon. @ChampagneBox I've seen lots of Korean learning books on Amazon too, maybe that will also help you?
I have a lot of friends from Japan on Instragram also. Basically I only or mostly communicate in Japanese on Insta now.
My husband also studied Japanese although he hasn't really kept it up. We can use it a bit in talking though so that's super cool.
I speak to my cat in Japanese too. I think she knows what I'm saying

 

[Kaylon8083]

I’m learning Dutch on Duolingo at the moment - I find the app brilliant. I have a couple of Dutch phrase books too. I loved learning Spanish at school. I did study German and French at school but didn’t really get to grips with them much. I’d love to refresh my memory on them at some point.

 

[Misbehaving]

Loved reading all the posts on here, so interesting and inspiring.Its encouraged me to download the Ling app and try to learn Albanian properly (My husband is from there).

I have always felt a bit held back by my lack of knowledge, yes I know a few basics, but I can't really converse very well.
(Although I seem to understand a lot of what is said) it's frustrating not being able to join in with proper conversations.
Also my kids have sadly never really picked it up either, (dad always spoke English) so I'm hoping that they will show some interest as well.

Fingers crossed .

 

[AnonyGoss]

I just want to vent here;

Been learning Spanish for a year and whoever said it was an 'easy language to learn' was lying! It has so many different tenses and different conjugations for each one. The grammar is way more complicated than English grammar. Any tips on grasping this?
Thanks!

Also, I'm currently using 'Ella Verbs' app for this which is handy!

 

[Kaylon8083]

Since my previous post, I have started learning French, Spanish, Swedish and continuing with Dutch on Duolingo. I did try and learn Ukrainian too but I caught Covid and fell too far behind so I've ordered a phrase book to help.

 

[thetis]

I'm working on my French when I have free time at work (as long as we're done with our task, they don't mind us busying ourselves when the work is slow). I use Duolingo to keep some key knowledge fresh but I feel like I need a more structured coursebook as well as a vocabulary guide. The easiest way would be to watch/listen to a lot of French stuff. Since I love 50s/60s French music that's not an issue but I'm not very advanced in conversation and I can't keep up with movies yet. I also find children's book in French to be a good help. If anyone has a well stocked library around with simple books in other languages, it's much easier to follow. (Cute illustrations are a bonus.)

 

[Misbehaving]

One thing that I found useful, in learning Albanian is to go on YouTube and watch cooking segments/channels. Not only is this helping me to pick up more vocabulary, and understand more phrases, but it's helping me to cook as well!
Plus I enjoy it, so it doesn't feel like a chore ...
Reading the comments online, underneath the videos helps as well, in furthering comprehension, and learning how native Albanians speak and use phrases.
I think once you know the basics of a language, this is really useful, for anyone studying another language. Whatever the interests are...for example fashion or news or sports etc

This is one of my favourite videos.

.

Also I'm thinking of using subliminal videos to further my learning.. again most can probably be found on YouTube.