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  • I want to go back to learning languages but I can't seem to find the time between all the other shit I'm trying to learn... did German lessons a while ago, and got to what's probably a B2 at the time, but I'm sure I've dropped to A2-B1 after all these years. I still keep some of my devices and apps in German, just so that I don't forget everything.

    Also, I really want to go back to studying Mandarin more casually (at least initially), but I don't have anything that's good and free. I'm thinking Duolingo and HelloChinese just to get the wheels turning

  • Japanese since a few years and I want to start Russian and Mandarin Chinese.

    I have a whole list of languages I'm interested to potentialy learn:

    Spanish

    Vietnamese

    German

    Korean

    maybe others I can't think of right now

  • I've been working on Spanish for 4 months or so now and can speak about simple concepts and can get the gist of most everyday conversations.

    I'm using Dreaming Spanish which uses comprehensible input- just listening no studying grammar or vocab. It was a bit of a slog in the beginning because I could only understand things so simple that they were uninteresting. But after two months at three hours a day I started watching dubbed shows (usually kids shows) like Avatar and Pokémon and could mostly keep up with it. I think a few more months and I'll be able to have a decent conversation without tripping up. If I keep my responses somewhat simple I can already do a lot. I have a lot of Spanish speakers at work and they have said my pronunciation is very good, and sometimes don't believe I've only been at it 4 months.

    The method is really great IMO. I've tried Duo and other traditional methods in the past and never got even close to this far. It definitely helps my listening comprehension miles better. With the other methods speaking and reading seem like math problems where you're trying to conjugate and put things in order... to me some things just sound "right" and I'm not sure why/couldn't quite explain it.

    But now I'm hitting that intermediate plateau where it seems the more I learn, the more I know that I don't know. If that makes sense. A lot of work ahead.

      • Indeed. We're spoiled with Spanish. They have thousands of videos. I've seen people starting to do the same with other languages but nothing close to DS.

        If ever I learn a third language, it would be Mandarin. Hopefully someone can build up a similar library for Mandarin! (Or larger, ideally. Since it's so different than English it takes like double the time)

  • Self taught myself Japanese and not the “self taught watching anime” but with actual textbooks. Living in Japan for a while really helped solidify a lot of it for me, now I can understand most stuff I’m interested in but technical stuff will still absolutely ruin me. I’ve also given up learning to write, if I can read I can type it out anyway.

    One of the things I learned while in high school in Japan was that old Japanese is absolutely cursed and as a foreign kid with like conversational Japanese at best it was impossible to understand. And then I also was left in the dust in math when only years later did I realize I was in a calculus course for first years and I only like 3 years away from calculus in the US as a senior.

    Then there was the fun when I’d respond with hm? To clarify a question and the people around me would take it as me agreeing since un counts as a yes.

    So many things you take for granted with culture and language that you learn about when learning a new language. Honestly was probably my first step towards who I am today and leaving behind my reactionary teenage self. My world expanded, though not good, trans existence was more acknowledged in Japan to a degree even back when I was there though people would still misgender and be shitty, it helped just seeing people exist. Then one night the family I was staying with started talking about how pretty I’d be if I was a girl and yeah…

    • I don't think I'll ever learn to write by hand in Japanese either, it takes so much more practice than reading or typing on a computer that I can't bring myself to spend the time that would require.

  • French - still my best language. Can hold a conversation and confuse native speakers on why my accent is so good but my vocabulary is so lacking

    Spanish - listening/reading 70% speaking 20% writing 40%

    Japanese - I can watch native stuff with Japanese subtitles and get about 80% of it. I think my kanji level is about N3 ish

    Mandarin - Duolingo unit 3

  • I've been working on Spanish for a couple of years now, but what was once 30+ minutes a day has become <5 minutes a day just to keep my streak up on Duolingo. I need to get back into it, I interact with multiple native Spanish speakers in my everyday life, but I'm not quite at the point of being able to have even a simple conversation

  • I can read Arabic script mostly correct now, but I still can't speak it well.

    I'm ok at Japanese, but largely illiterate. There's too many kanji. I've gotten back into Mandarin too. I learned a lot of Old English (anglo-saxon) in college that I still retain for some reason. Possibly the least useful dead language that's still taught.

    • I'd like to learn some Arabic but I'm so intimated by Arabic script. I find it so hard to recognize the pieces and the ligatures wreck me

      • Arabic only has 28 letters, they just change their shape a bit so that they can connect with other letters, and by change their shape they simply lose what we call a "tail" and keep the "core", see the spoiler and tell me if you're still intimidated

  • Goodness, it's been rough for me throughout the years.

    English is my primary language.

    I have been studying Japanese as I consume a ton of media (not anime or manga believe it or not) that is Japanese only. I started again about 9 months ago, but it's coming in spurts. My life's too busy to be super consistent, but I know that's an excuse and I just have terrible time management due to unmanaged and undiagnosed ADHD. I think I have enough of a grasp on it to complete the N5. Who knows though. I actually started learning in High School about 20 years ago, but I've surpassed everything I've learned thus far in my 3 years in that class.

    I had a half decent grasp on Esperanto there for a while, but then dropped it as I got chided for it on more than one occasion. Also, no one I know speaks it and there's no real media with which to really help teach it.

    And I took one year of spanish that I've completely forgotten back in high school. Maybe someday I'll finish it, but it's not high on my list since Japanese is such a time consumer

  • Currently just started learning Hebrew, I speak 4 languages and not a single language that I learned I learned willingly, I just kind of passively learn it for a purpose or another. I have a few '48 Palestinian friends who have to speak Hebrew so thankfully I'll be able to communicate with a speaker without having to talk with a pissraeli

  • Spanish- Primary language

    English- Also Primary and taught it from a young age

    Portuguese- 8 years. I speak it somewhat fluently. It was a little easier to pick up with it being a Latin language. Occasionally I'll find myself slipping into Spanish in order to fill the holes.

    Mandarin- 10 years of learning and speak it fluently with very good pronunciation. My writing is the complete opposite and is pretty pitiful to look at.

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