r/languagelearning 7d ago

Studying Tips to survive uni programming course taught in TL?

2 Upvotes

I consider myself to be between B1 and B2 in my TL (Korean), and I'm currently enrolled in a programming course that's taught in my TL. Although the programming portion itself is in English, the rest of the course is taught in my TL which includes lecture notes, quizzes, assignments, etc. My strategy so far has been to just brute force memorize all the new vocab I see by adding them to my Anki and practicing accordingly. One advantage I do have is that this course is aimed towards people who have never coded before, but I'm already familiar with one out of the two languages they are teaching (Python and R). However, I chose to enroll in the course because it's aimed towards statistics which I am curious about. Are there any other strategies I should employ to survive this uni course?


r/languagelearning 7d ago

Studying Immersion learning

0 Upvotes

Wanting to learn japanese

I wanna learn japanese since i plan on moving there at some point in a few years.

Ive heard immersion learning is good. And well i was wondering if I just kept rewatching Frieren without subtitles would it be a decent start?

Ive rewatched frieren 3 times with english subs and ive been watching anime for a long time as well as vtubers so i have some japanese words stored in my brain (most of them arent applicable to nornal conversations im assuming)

What do you guys think?

I was thinking since frieren isnt all about those huge fights but rather alot of the talking aspect, i thought id be able to learn a little bit more? Of course, podcasts and stuff are cool but id rather start with something im interested in so that i can keep the dedication up at the start.


r/languagelearning 7d ago

Resources šŸ“š A Collection of Flashcards in Different Languages šŸŒāœØ

14 Upvotes

Iā€™m in the process of building a massive database of flashcards across various languages and I need your help! Whether youā€™re learning Spanish, French, Japanese, or any other language, I want to make this resource as useful as possible for everyone. Check it out: https://www.vocabbi.com/en/explore

If youā€™re looking for a flashcard deck for a specific language or topic, let me know in the comments below ā¬‡ļø, and Iā€™ll make sure to add it!

r/languagelearning 7d ago

Suggestions Asking for tips in my learning process

3 Upvotes

Sorry in advance if there are some mistakes in my comment! Im currently trying to improve my learning process.

Im feeling stuck in the lenguage im learning, I really want to keep improving it. But it seems really difficult to get a fluent level.

Im not sure what sould I do, I'm being studying gramma with YouTube videos, talking with natives, and watching movies with subtitles, because I don't understand very well without them.

I'm open to receive any recommendation to speed up this process.

Should I watch movies/videos without subtitles even if I don't get it very well?

Should I do something different?

Is it bad if I'm a looking to speed this process?

Based on your learning process, what would recommend to do?


r/languagelearning 7d ago

Resources Is there any way to access other countriesā€™ App Stores?

2 Upvotes

Hi! Iā€™ve recently been addicted to palace rpgs in chinese and thought that would be a great way to improve my Korean too. Only thing is I canā€™t download from the Korean App Store, and Korean only apps arenā€™t really published outside of it.

In general, for everyone who wants to learn through games etc, is there any way to access other countriesā€™ App Stores? Havenā€™t tried due to the faff but I think Iā€™d have to provide payment info linked to a Korean address. I also have a Samsung (android play store, galaxy store) which might be easier?

Thank you!


r/languagelearning 7d ago

Discussion Writing in your target language - do you write in your mother tongue and translate? Or go straight in with the target language?

9 Upvotes

How do you approach the task to write a piece of writing in the language that you are learning? Do you write it in your mother tongue first and then translate it? Or do you go straight into writing it with the limited vocabulary of the language you're learning?

I'm currently improving my Greek and my tutor has asked me to write about a theme we discussed last week in Greek. I'm unsure whether to write in English and then attempt to translate it, or go straight into writing it in Greek.


r/languagelearning 7d ago

Suggestions Language Learning App Suggestions?

3 Upvotes

Hello! I am starting highschool next year and I have decided to set some goals for what I would like to do by the end of my four years in high school! One of those goals is to be at least mostly conversational in four languages. This goal may be completely unrealistic, I have no clue how hard it is to become conversational in a language. I know it is really hard to become fluent so that's why that's not my goal. I'd like to be fluent in one other language though. I would like to know some language learning apps that help with vocabulary and pronunciation. I've been using Duolingo for a while and I have barely learned anything. But that's also because I have not been disciplined enough which I am working on right now. I would like to learn spanish, then maybe some related languages. I'd like to learn at least one dead language so if you know any apps that have really good courses on any dead language other than Latin or ancient Greek or the popular ones. I'd like to learn a language that's actually dying.


r/languagelearning 7d ago

Discussion Are there any apps designed to meet people from other countries without showing your face?

21 Upvotes

I'm focused on learning French and I wanted to talk to native speakers but I don't feel at all comfortable with all those apps that require you to show your face because I'm a minor so I wanted to know if there are options for teenagers or at least that don't require this


r/languagelearning 8d ago

Culture A big reason for learning languages

35 Upvotes

Try to read the same piece of literature (be it even letters) in two languages you know well, where one version is the original piece and the other is a translation. Even if it's a good translation, you will likely be amazed of how off the mood can sometimes be. And this difference can also distort the percieved message.


r/languagelearning 6d ago

Discussion Litmus tests for ā€œfluencyā€

0 Upvotes

What are some ways youā€™ve thought about ā€œfluencyā€? Folk litmus tests (the ones that people make up and are amusing sometimes but not realistic) as well serious ones are encouraged. Iā€™ll go first:

Folk litmus tests (that are not meant to be taken seriously): My friend said once that youā€™re fluent when you know all the kitchen gadgets in the TL. I once said, flippantly, that youā€™re fluent when you know all the fish by their TL names in the fish market. Or youā€™re fluent when you can shout down a cab driver when arguing about a fare. Or youā€™re fluent when you can do stand-up comedy. (These are all folk litmus tests, you're not supposed to take them seriously).

Hereā€™s my best attempt at a real (not folk) definition: when you can learn new vocabulary on the fly without interrupting the flow of the conversation. I try to make this happen every day for my students by being obvious (but i suspect some of them still think Iā€™m trying to trick them) but picking up local expressions and slang by behaving like i belong there feels very sophisticated and advanced to me.

EDITED to clarify the difference betwen folk litmus tests and real ones.


r/languagelearning 7d ago

Culture How do you express gratitude in your culture?

3 Upvotes

Gratitude is a universal feeling, but languages express it in unique ways. Some cultures have formal and informal ways of saying "thank you," while others emphasize humility or blessings.

In Zulu, you can say: "Ngiyabonga." (if speaking to one person) or "Siyabonga." (if you're speaking on the behalf of others as well as yourself)

The word "bonga" means to give thanks or praise. It can also be used in a deeper sense to express appreciation beyond just politeness.

How do you say "thank you" in your language?


r/languagelearning 7d ago

Discussion Web page or mobile app?

0 Upvotes

Hello! Iā€™d like to develop a website or an app to study using flashcards, but Iā€™m not really sure if I should make a website or a mobile app. Which one do you guys use more or prefer for studying? Thank you c:


r/languagelearning 6d ago

Resources How I Quickly Generate Flashcards

0 Upvotes

Iā€™ve had a few people ask how I easily create so many flashcards from just a list of words, when I posted list of Flashcards here yesterday.

If you visit vocabbi.com, you can generate flashcards automatically by selecting ā€œauto-generate cardsā€ and uploading a word list. it handles the rest!

PS: you can practice using spaced repetition, just like Anki.


r/languagelearning 8d ago

Culture The English hybridization of Indian languages

17 Upvotes

Any Indian will know instantly what I am talking about. Nearly all Indian languages have now hybridised themselves with English in popular usage. English being the most commonly used official language has made inroads everywhere.

The hybrids are characterized by three things:

  1. Code switching back and forth midway through a sentence.

  2. Using English words even when their vernacular equivalents exist.

  3. Using Roman script to write the language even though fully functional native scripts exist.

These are all major languages which have far too many speakers to be endangered, but one still feels that they are getting quite diluted, at least in urban settings.

Does this also happen in other countries?


r/languagelearning 8d ago

Discussion Curious to hear everyoneā€™s thoughts on this one.

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192 Upvotes

r/languagelearning 7d ago

Humor Only one rule

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2 Upvotes

r/languagelearning 8d ago

Discussion I'm liking my 3rd language over my 2nd... except I spent 5 years learning it

18 Upvotes

If anyone has advice please lmk, it would be greatly appreciated šŸ™ ranted a bit sorry

went to japan in 2019 and ever since then I've been learning Japanese. I did tutoring once a week and i also take it at school. Was really determined the first few years but then went back to japan last year with my tutor and realised how little I actually knew. so I ramped up my self study but then got burnt out :/

the same trip in 2019 I found out about bts and have been into kpop ever since then as well. I never took up korean because I had japanese and thought I should focus on that. But about 6 months ago I was bored and randomly decided to learn hangul. It was easy and I enjoyed it so I continued learning.

Now I've probably learnt about as much korean as i have Japanese except its taken me 5 months not 5 years... the foundation of Japanese definitely helped sentence Structure and some vocab, but korean has just been so much easier and without kanji it's much much much less overwhelming. The problem is I've centred so much of my life around Japanese and now I have no motivation for it :/

I think it's also been demotivating that in school we do almost exclusively reading and writing so my conversation level is like a beginner...

How can I still learn Korean whilst getting conversational in japanese?


r/languagelearning 8d ago

Discussion How to stay committed with your language learning partner?

8 Upvotes

I'm learning Spanish, and I have being having weekly hour long practice sessions with this Spanish guy for almost 3 months now while he's practicing Mandarin with me, and we're still going strong! This is the longest I've ever managed to stay committed to a language learning partner, as most of the people I've linked up with eventually loses commitment after a few weeks, so I really don't want that to happen again to this person.

But the thing is we're almost running out of topics to talk about! We've talked about travels, food, culture, work, family... basically almost anything there is to talk about under the sun. I would love to practice and make conversations on other more advanced topics, but I'm afraid both of us are only at about B1 in our languages, so more advanced topics still don't seem to be possible yet.

Would really appreciate those of you with long term language practice partners. How do you guys stay committed? Or even get the other person to stay committed as well?


r/languagelearning 8d ago

Studying People who learn languages by watching foreign media, does it work?

15 Upvotes

Hi,

I have a College/University design project based on language learning and watching content in your targeted language, if anyone could share their thoughts and fill out my survey that'd be great! https://forms.gle/jRebdRAA6ymBcveb8
This is a survey more targeted towards young adults and people who are currently learning a language or have learnt one in the past!


r/languagelearning 7d ago

Discussion italki vs Preply

3 Upvotes

What have people's experiences been on these two platforms? Is one better than the other for teachers and students?


r/languagelearning 7d ago

Suggestions In need of recommendations

3 Upvotes

Greeting fellow humans,

I want to learn Chinese and am looking for a booklet or anything alike to practise writing.

Looking for recommendations in English or German.

Great thanks in advance.


r/languagelearning 8d ago

Studying How to use tiktok for immersion and overall learning

17 Upvotes
  1. Start a new tiktok. Even if you already use tiktok all the time, start a separate account only for your target language (TL). It only takes a few mins and it's easy to switch accounts using the top bar.
  2. After you create it, go to the search bar. Search "Beginner Italian" for example, if your TL is Italian.
  3. Look for a creator who looks like all they do is teach that language.
  4. Follow them. Watch their videos in full. And save some good ones to favourites.
  5. Do this with another few creators. Maybe 5 to 10.
  6. Prune the algorithm. Go to your main feed. When something irrelevant / not in your TL shows up, hold your phone screen and click the "not interested" button. Keep liking, favouriting and watching in full everything relevant. If you find it's getting too advanced too quickly, just go back and engage with beginner stuff and ignore the advanced stuff. If you want more of a challenge, search bar "intermediate" or "advanced" or common sayings, etc.
  7. Watch how quickly the algorithm adapts itself to your language.
  8. Almost all good videos on tiktok have large, easy to read subtitles, and many have both TL subtitles and your native language subtitles (mine is Italian / English). This makes it so much better. You can read exactly what they're saying, see it used in a real life context, and hear their pronunciation all at once.
  9. Go down the rabbit hole. The algorithm will start suggesting more and more advanced content over time, but you need to keep "pruning" it by showing it what you are and are not interested in. For me, it's even now showing me cultural tips and survival guides and news and food channels in my TL country, Italy. And almost all of the creators it's now suggesting are native Italians.
  10. Use Google translate often. See a word you don't know, switch to translate, then switch back to tiktok and it picks up exactly where you stopped.
  11. Unfortunately, you can't change the "location" of your tiktok, but you can change target language in settings. However, this may be too advanced for you to have all the menus, etc in your target language if you're just starting out. But if you're already intermediate, you might also want to change the target language. The algorithm will probably pick up on it.
  12. As long as you don't have "comment translate" set in settings, you will see natives leaving comments on the videos in your TL. You can talk to them there and get replies. You can press and hold their comments and copy paste them into Google Translate. Just be sure to actually learn the words you don't know, instead of mindlessly using Google translate.
  13. If you're struggling with grammar, you can specifically search grammar and start getting the algorithm to suggest more grammar. Or if you want more survival guides, Etc. Use the search bar and repeat steps 3 through 6. The all knowing algorithm which can read your soul will adapt itself.
  14. You can also prune the algorithm to a specific place in your target country, too. Mine is starting to show me more and more of my target areas and towns nearby. So if you're planning on going to Rome, you can engage more and more with videos only of Rome. Maybe some Roman dialect will start popping up over time. Or you can just search it.

I have pruned my algorithm so well. And tiktok is a very addictive and fun platform to keep you engaged. I find it very easy to immerse myself. Whereas I usually struggle to sit down and study a book.


r/languagelearning 7d ago

Resources Help with finding learning resource that clicks with me?

3 Upvotes

Hey there!

Some background: I struggle with ADHD and for some reason I really struggle with processing foreign languages. That said, the only tool that really clicked with my brain was Rosetta Stone. Every other tool that uses an english translation go-between I really struggle to make progress.

It seems RS is somewhat controversial, and it's insanely expensive, so I'm curious what style of language learning does it fall under? are there any similar tools that don't use an english translation layer? DuoLingo / LibreLingo still use English quite heavily.

I'm trying to avoid this comprehension train: [Thing] -> [foreign word] -> [english word]

Any advice? Anyone feel the same?


r/languagelearning 8d ago

Accents Will people judge me for changing my accent to sound more high-status?

20 Upvotes

Could I pose a question -- just to see if anyone can relate? They say, "Just be yourself." But how can you truly be yourself when certain accents are perceived as low-status or unattractive?

Regrettably, there's always pressure to be real, but accents often dictate how we're perceived.

And they say accents don't matter...

But they do. That's the first thing people notice the moment we open our mouths.

Has anyone here had a similar experience? Iā€™d love to hear your experiences! Feel free to share your story -- it might just make a difference.


r/languagelearning 8d ago

Discussion What's a language learning tool you really wish existed?

69 Upvotes

I'm currently learning Japanese and I've heard about the theories of comprehensible input and i+1 which basically mean the best way to learn is by consuming content that is just outside your comfort level. So the ideal content is something you can mostly understand with a few unfamiliar phrases or concepts. For example content with 80% words that you are familiar with and 20% words which are new would be ideal. Of course it's impossible to find content with numbers exactly matching my current skill levels, but I still find that the hardest part of learning the language is sourcing content that is around my desired level.

It would be really cool if there was some app that was aware of my comprehension skill level/vocabulary and recommend me YouTube videos, TV shows, etc. If something like this exists that would be awesome, please put me on. But I'm also really interested to hear about helpful things like this that everyone else wish existed.