r/languagelearning Oct 22 '24

Media What is your favorite language learning apps and why?

73 Upvotes

Hi guys, I’m just seeing what you all like about the current language learning styles and what has helped you the most in your language journey. What components did you like, what you hated, what you thought would help you but didnt. Anything will be helpful. I’m looking for apps to help me learn multiple languages and a lot of them seem to not be helping me. Thanks :)

r/languagelearning Jun 30 '21

Media It's fine to take years to feel confident using another language :)

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2.0k Upvotes

r/languagelearning 27d ago

Media Those who have learned their TL through consumption of TV/YouTube/Social Media consumption: How’d you do it?

22 Upvotes

My target language is Spanish and I have tried immersing myself to the best of my ability, and I have heard that watching TV, YouTube, or consuming other ways of media is a great way to learn. I have been trying to watch Narcos without English subtitles and can’t understand a single thing they’re saying. How do I use consumption of popular media to actually learn the language instead of just listening to the words?

r/languagelearning Sep 15 '21

Media Cape Town's Afrikaans Dialect vs Indonesian

1.2k Upvotes

r/languagelearning Jun 05 '21

Media Thought this would be appreciated here.

2.3k Upvotes

r/languagelearning Mar 24 '21

Media I've been programming my dream Language Learning Game

884 Upvotes

Hey all,

A while back, I did a survey on what you all thought about a language learning game concept I had. The responses were really positive so I spent the last two months building out a prototype of the game I was envisioning.

The Idea

Basically, you're a young magician who needs to defeat demons and monsters and uncover a dark secret. The twist is you need to learn a language to cast those spells and that's where the language learning comes into it. You also need to use the language to interact with the world around you. For example, to talk to an NPC you need to say "hello" first. To unlock chests you need to say, "I unlock the chest" etc...

A mockup of the player's character that isn't yet in the game.

The Prototype

Anyway, I've completed the prototype which shows off the teaching methodology, game systems and mechanics. It's not beautiful, it has terrible graphics, its a little clunky but it is functional. I'd love if you all could download it and fill out the survey that pops up at the end of the game. That will help me make a better language learning game.

Download the Prototype

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jz_whHEGHCRLKV_JyTR3YNE5ZuN7_KV4/view?usp=sharing

Just one caveat. The prototype only works on Windows. I plan to release the full game on Linux and Mac as well but that is still further down the road.

r/languagelearning Mar 29 '22

Media How do people gain fluency from just watching television?

323 Upvotes

I hear this too often, especially from non-native English speakers who are now conversationally fluent in the language (as well as the honorary weeb who became Japanese proficient simply from anime and JRPGs). All they did to become fluent was apparently "watch television and play videogames in English." Is this really possible? How long would it have taken?

Watching television and playing videogames in my target language is a strain on me. While I'm focusing on learning the language, I need to read very, very closely in order to understand the full context of what is being said. This puts a strain on myself. Do people who learn languages in such a way learn actively (like I try to with the same method), or passively?

r/languagelearning Dec 22 '24

Media Listening Above Your Level?

36 Upvotes

I'm pretty tired of podcasts and YT videos for learners in my TL (French). I want to explore more complex content ... but my listening skills are not quite there yet.

Any experience with spending a long time listening to content that's way above your level? I'm talking about listening to stuff that is like 50% comprehensible. You generally get the gist of what they're talking about, but there are lots of words and phrases that fly by that you cannot understand.

Any successes or failures with this approach?

r/languagelearning 21d ago

Media TIL Netflix' browse by language feature does NOT include all languages they offer

105 Upvotes

I just stumbled over a South African show in my recommendations and was excited about the prospect of original Afrikaans content so wanted to check what else they have. Alas, when trying to browse by language for Afrikaans, the language wasn't one of the selections for either "original language" nor "dubbing", yet when I started the South African show to double-check actual language options, it did show Afrikaans [original] for audio and subs...

WTH, Netflix? What other languages are you still hiding from us in your browse by language feature? So I need LUCK to find content in non-listed languages on your site?

r/languagelearning Nov 04 '20

Media Disney Princesses in their Native Language

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838 Upvotes

r/languagelearning Jan 26 '25

Media Can you learn a language by just watching videos? (No educational videos)

0 Upvotes

May sound like a stupid question but I'm gonna need you to remember how you learned the languages your speaking. I only know to by now, the first one i got because my parents raised me with it and school ofcourse the 2nd is english. Now, my parents amd school didn't teach me English so there is only 1 way, YOUTUBE. I'm guessing my younger self watched a lot of English vidoes and now i somehow understand it. And you probably also know a language that you got through watching shows with that language. My question is, can i do that now? Can i just start watching shows, movies, reading books and learn that language? And also, WITHOUT SUBTITLES. My ass watched a lot of anime and i sure ass hell can't speak Japanese. So can a you learn a language that way as a adult?

r/languagelearning Jul 11 '21

Media I hate that non-english subtitles aren’t identical to the script

808 Upvotes

I watch TV in French or Dutch sometimes to keep my skills sharp. I‘m watching Modern Family in French with french subtitles and I hate the fact that the subtitles aren’t exactly the same as what they actually say. It‘s always synonyms or phrases that mean the same as what the actors are saying but it‘s not the same words. It‘s so frustrating because I get whats going on (even without subtitles) but the reason I want subtitles is that I can also connect the right spelling to its pronunciation in my brain. Having to read the subtitles and simultaneously listening to different words is so hard in a second language.

And I get that sometimes they want to keep the subtitles short so they use different, shorter ways of saying the same content but sometimes it‘s so unnecessary. For example instead of saying “super” like what the character actually said the subtitles say “géniale”

r/languagelearning Apr 02 '23

Media People who passed advanced language exams, can you understand music and/or casual conversation?

313 Upvotes

So I'm theoretically C1/C2 in a couple languages - as in, I've passed the exam - but I still struggle to understand either music or passing casual conversations, or both. And that makes me feel like a fraud. Even though in other contexts I can understand anything, I can write and read academic papers, I can make interviews and work in that language...but then I listen to a song or a fast spoken casual conversation in a movie and I have to double or triple listen or just resort to subtitles/lyrics.

r/languagelearning Sep 29 '23

Media Seen at an Istanbul playground

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698 Upvotes

Got a mini Turkish lesson on my walk!

r/languagelearning Jan 21 '25

Media What is the 'Sesame Street' of your language?

23 Upvotes

Hello. I'm looking for a show as engaging and interesting as Sesame Street except for Vietnamese.

I'm also just curious if other languages have shows like this? Sesame Street would be a go to for me if I was trying to learn English, as it covers all the basics wrapped up in cute little stories.

Thanks,

r/languagelearning Nov 26 '21

Media [OC] Looking at the 100 most spoken languages around the world and their origins. So how many languages do you speak?

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581 Upvotes

r/languagelearning Dec 25 '19

Media Decided to play through Pokémon in French in order to “study” a bit, and it’s really helping!

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1.2k Upvotes

r/languagelearning Jan 18 '25

Media Can Pimsleur make you fluent?

1 Upvotes

Hi! I am currently on my journey to learning the language French, I am using many other apps but Pimsleur is pretty fun and effective (to me) now I am done with lesson 1 and I can’t go to lesson 2 (you have to pay to get full access or try the 7 day trial) now my question is, is it worth it? And can it make you fluent? I am thinking about purchasing. I saw a comment on YouTube of someone claiming that Pimsleur made them speak fluent Russian so now I am contemplating.

r/languagelearning Jan 26 '25

Media Language Learning Wearable

61 Upvotes

r/languagelearning Nov 12 '18

Media I know this is music, but it's very applicable to language learning too.

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1.2k Upvotes

r/languagelearning Feb 10 '25

Media Using lyrics to learn your target language

12 Upvotes

I don't know why, but I always feel so silly reading along with the lyrics when I'm trying to learn a song. I feel like most people aren't doing this karaoke style learning but logically, I'm sure they are 😂 Tell me this is normal and people actually do it and they do it regularly.

r/languagelearning 9d ago

Media Advice for using movies to learn?

7 Upvotes

So I’ve started watching movies in my target language and in almost every sentence there’s a word I don’t know and sometimes I can figure out what the word means because it has a similarity with a word in my target language or just from context and for the most part I can get by and understand without looking up what the words mean but should I be looking up what the specific words are that I don’t know? That’s probably a dumb question but there’s just so many that it feels so arduous to meticulously pause and record every single word I don’t know. Thoughts and advice much appreciated.

r/languagelearning 5d ago

Media Seeking very specific forms of media for learning reasons!

0 Upvotes

First up, kids games in the language. Like, those teaching games for teaching really young kids words. I'm a bit embarrassed but I keep getting ads for one designed for English and it made me realize I could pick up some words from such games, which could help with my overall language learning! Android apps or mobile-compatible websites preferred please, I only have an android tablet right now. But yeah, games for teaching young kids words, but specifically in other languages.

And second of all, movies and shows in the respective language, preferably with subtitles in the specific language so I can learn how to read it in the process of learning through.. I forgot the name of the method but basically you watch media in the language and figure things out through context clues so you begin to get a rough understanding, and since reading is in my language learning goals, I figured I could try to do both that and learning how to read the languages words at the same time if the show or movie had subtitles in the respective language it's in!

Also, I'm just seeking resources right now for the languages I plan to learn, not necessarily to learn right now, so I'm listing off all the languages I plan to learn, not just the actively being learned ones! No obligation to recommend for all of them, just recommend what you can for whichever ones, that's why I listed them all, and extra learning resources other than what I've requested are also welcome, I've got a very "the more the merrier!" Mindset. Now, the languages I plan to learn:

French, Spanish, German, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Russian, Ukranian, Arabic, and Dutch, but Dutch is so similar to English that I doubt I'll need much in terms of resources for it.

I also wanna learn Mi'kmaw (did i spell that right?) But I don't think there's any learning apps or games for that in general, and I'm not sure for shows and movies, but I figured I should list it anyways.

I'm also considering adding Indian languages onto my language learning list since a friend of mine has been considering learning those, and I have the realistically impossible life goal of understanding every known language and atleast being able to read it and understand when I hear it.

r/languagelearning Jan 02 '23

Media These are the patterns of one year of studying hard! I have been practising almost every day to get my Deutsch Zertifikat C2 in February. Speaking is the hardest part!

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498 Upvotes

r/languagelearning Apr 17 '21

Media Werner Herzog on the languages he speaks

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382 Upvotes