Language Learning

>>1253219
I bought a second hand Linguaphone set years ago from a previous expat to Germany, back in the days when they used cassette tapes.
I'd use a portable player and let it run while commuting - a lot of it is repeatedly hearing the same sounds and cadences and then repeating it back, even before knowing what they mean.
I also fully immersed myself in the society, refusing to speak English outside of work,
and I paid a teacher for one to one immersion training, no English just German.
I was otherwise very bad at learning languages, such as French, but I managed to pick up enough to do job interviews and in depth discussions, and occasional arguments, after 18 months.
I would also only listen to German radio, Star Trek episodes dubbed in German, and the children's program https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Sendung_mit_der_Maus - especially Käpt’n Blaubär's fisherman tales.
Even now that I'm living in Italy I'll listen to the German radio for international news.

Language teacher here.

The most important thing you can do to learn a language is to have as much contact with it as possible. Many people think that you need a teacher and that's absolutely true if you want to have good command of a language. But even the best teacher won't learn anything for you.

Try to read as many texts written by native speakers as possible. But most of all listen and watch.

Listening to the Deutsche Welle online stream as I'm typing this.

learning a second language if you're a native english speaker is a complete waste of time.

>>1253241
I'm >>1253238
There was no web back when I learnt, but DW does have good learning resources:
- free courses: http://www.dw.com/en/learn-german/german-courses/s-2547
- Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten: http://www.dw.com/en/langsam-gesprochene-nachrichten-learning-german/a-2925601
For example, some say this is too fast, but it's quite slow for me: http://radio-download.dw.com/Events/dwelle/dira/mp3/deutschkurse/langsamenachrichten/345A12DC_2.mp3
Compare with a normal DW news video: http://www.dw.com/de/trump-beim-papst-und-f%C3%BChre-uns-nicht-in-versuchung/a-38943027
(and that's still slower and clearer than ordinary Germans will speak, my teacher chose everyday German recorded in very noisy environments to acclimatise me to what I need to be able to handle)

>>1253244
German course in English (not how I learned it) downloadable as MP3s via RSS links:
- http://www.dw.com/en/learn-german/deutsch-warum-nicht/s-2548
- Example series 1: http://radio-download.dw.com/Events/podcasts/en/2257_DKpodcast_dwn1_en/DWN_Englisch_Serie1_Lektion01-podcast-2257-215437.mp3
- Example series 4 : http://radio-download.dw.com/Events/dwelle/deutschkurse/deutschwarumnicht/serie4/eng/DWN_Englisch_Serie4_Lektion01.mp3

Note the first lesson is normal speech by adults, children and when sung, to get you used to what it sounds like. This is closest to my immersion training, except any English was in a book to look at later.

Maybe useful for advanced students:
- online radio streams: http://www.listenlive.eu/germany.html (pick the news or feature channels)
- https://www.reddit.com/r/German/wiki/index

>>1253241
This guy brings up a good point about reading stuff from native speakers

If you just focus on translated versions of familiar movies or tv shows, you'll end up learning the "English to X" version of the language, rather than learning to speak and think like native speakers do. A lot of phrases are unique to every language and they cannot be translated word for word.

>>1253292
Hey, translator here.

Translations are usually made by native speakers of the target language, so it is not frequent that things sound artificial or "English to X".
Also a good translator won't translate word for word. You can change all the words in a sentence and still retain the original meaning. This happens mostly with expressions. For instance "Weg!" is not translated to "Way" but to "Get lost!"

And I agree with the other anon that DW has wonderful resources for German

Can anyone recommend any good language learning books (for any language)? The most interesting one that I've come across are the Talk To Me In Korean books.

File: daccord.jpg (32KB, 264x326px) Image search: [Google]

32KB, 264x326px

>>1253665
OP here. theres an EXCELLENT series of French textbooks that I used in high school called D'accord! Highly recommend them as they come with video links. I agree full immersion is the best way to learn (I took honors french courses for about two in full immersion and have had French-Canadians say my accent is impeccable-very proud of this lol). I haven't been able to find PDFs or online copies of the books ( which come with practise exercises ), but they're well worth the search. If you do happen to find the books, please link!
>pic related

>>1253244
>>1253268
Thank you! I'll be checking those out later tonight :) For now I've been using Duolingo and Memrise (play store app), and it's going well for now.

Anyone else have experience with Duolingo? It's nice but it's frustratingly difficult to find conjugation and grammar rules without scouring discussions on the site. Also using it to brush up on French before I travel abroad. I know that you should dedicate your time learning languages one at a time but I want all the knowledge! heh

File: 1484014780552.png (475KB, 485x580px) Image search: [Google]

475KB, 485x580px

What's the best way to learn Spanish without paying for it?
I thought about watching shit tons of spanish series and movies.. any suggestions for good series in spanish?
Also im trying to use Douelingo at least 20 minutes a day..

>>1254272
Try living in Miami, you'll pick it up real quick

File: images.png (6KB, 229x220px) Image search: [Google]

6KB, 229x220px

>>1253243
it is fun, can access to more stuff, helps against dementia/alzheimer when you're old

>>1253665
I found the princeton curse for russian quite good. I've still not finished it but it has audio files, exercises, the whole deal and is free.

http://cytrussian.tuxfamily.org/

>>1253799
>t it's frustratingly difficult to find conjugation and grammar rules without scouring discussions on the site
Are you using the app? The web version of Duolingo explains a lot more rules.

I want to learn Farsi. Please someone help

>>1253241
this guy gets it.

Linguistics MA here, contact with written and spoken language is imperative.
Michel Thomas is GOAT for starting French.

Also Anki droid is great for flash card style learning but you have to find the good card packs or whatever they are called.

>>1253243

Gringo Ameribro, here.

Knowing Spanish during my visit to Colombia opened a lot of doors, a lot of legs, and perhaps helped keep me safe.

Also, I plan on ex-patting to a Spanish speaking country before this insane country completely goes to shit.

>>1253268
is there anything like that for spanish?

>>1254347
Have you searched the obvious, sich as:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Spanish/ whih has lots of resources, under "resources"
- https://www.reddit.com/r/learnspanish/
Other than those, probably yes, you need to search likely organisations, such as spanish government, state broadcasters.
BBC has some courses: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/
The US government probably have some too.
This example isn't like the DW, in that there's too much English: http://media.libsyn.com/media/learnrealspanish/nisbeginners30_horarios.mp3

>>1253219
also nobody mentioned but its pretty obvious that the /int/ sticky has a shitload of links on language learning. go to language specific guides

>>1254340
LOL, the USA is far from going to shit. Its a great country, with a strong culture and people.

But everything you said prior to that is true. I speak intermediate Spanish right now and plan on teaching english in mexico for a few years to get fluent. Just graduated too and in the middle of the TEFL course. Soooo pumped!

Consider living as an expat OP, thats the fastest way to learn.

>>1254399
>the /int/ sticky
Whenever I went to /int/ I would look for language threads. Never had any idea that the sticky had info beyond rules. Thanks anon.

>>1254314

This is excellent, thanks

File: christmascan.jpg (52KB, 620x387px) Image search: [Google]

52KB, 620x387px

So far I have:
Duolingo for general language learning
Clozemaster and Memrise for vocabulary
But what do I use for verb conjugation?
pic unrelated.

>>1255085
Buy a grammar
Duolinguo and lexicon won't make you learn a language. A rigurous study of its grammar and immersion + vocabulary will

>>1253219
>http://cytrussian.tuxfamily.org/
i learned English via movies. Just watch german movies with english subtitles. In the beginning you gonna need them a lot, after some while you gonna get the context of the movie already by the pictures you see and the stuff you already know about the foreign language. You will get better and better and just remember vocabluary and grammar by the pictures your brain connected with certain phrases. After doing this for a longer period of time you can get grammar books and stuff to improve the details. Worked quite well for me with Russian as well.

>>1253219
It's also a good idea to watch the same movies over and over or movies you know already as you know what about to hear in the next scene. This way you can concentrate on the language itself much better.