Dieselfit

Anime is a great way to learn the basics of Japanese. I wouldn't depend on it since it's not suppose to be a lesson but it's still a great way. That being said, I can't stand how lame dubbed anime sounds! I can't imagine the translations being accurate to what they say in the originals. It's strange!

What SirTenenbaum is very true though I believe some languages can be taught by force. Imagine growing up in a foreign country where the language is completely different. When I knew very little English, I had to adapt fast because I was in grade 3 when I moved to Canada and I didn't even know what the teacher was saying during my first year of school. From there I just picked up on the language and even began to forget my original language, Arabic. Now my English is stronger than my Arabic which isn't really a good thing lol.

I haven't even started learning Chinese though I've looked at a few words that are common like greetings and such. I'm wondering where do most people start when learning Chinese as I do not want to waste time and get nothing out of it. Where do you start when you learn Chinese?

An easy place to "create a map" by connecting new words is the Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus: http://www.visualthesaurus.com/.

The great thing about the Visual Thesaurus is that you just have to type in a word that you want to find the synonyms of, and it will show up with synonyms of that word connected to the original word similar to a map. I believe that you can even go further with individual words to branch out. It is really cool, so you guys should check it out. Unfortunately, I think that you have the subscribe to it if you want to use it extensively. It give you a few trial searches, but after that, it is only available to subscribers.

The Visual Thesaurus is used by http://thesaurus.com when you type in a search entry. It appears if you scroll down a bit, so that can be used if necessary.

Awesome website! Thank you for throwing that in there, I will be sure to check out later today when I'm at my PC. I'll subscribe and use the trial searches but I am sure there are other alternatives that are similar but free. Thank you!

I know we don't know all the languages out there but there are always people who use different languages that we do not understand. Sometimes it's easy to tell what they are talking about and who. After all, communication is mostly body language and tone. What do you do when you know someone else is talking about you in their language? Maybe this happens to you at school or in a group of people.

For me all languages are worth learning. Each language has its own beauty and authenticity. We learn other languages for us to explore new worlds and be open to wider opportunities.

I have to agree with this. There are no 'useless' languages as they all have their benefits. Communication is key in this world so the more languages that you know, the better it would be for you. You should start with the popular languages like Spanish, Chinese, French, etc. That way, you'll be sure to use them in the future.

I like to think of myself as a fast reader but to be honest, I go back to what I 'read' and I would read it again. Sometimes I think I'm reading fast, when instead I'm just scanning the pages without understanding or putting together the story. It's strange but I do need to read slower!

Practice, practice, practice. I use them in every way so I have it built into my head. If I don't practice them and in multiple ways, I will easily forget them. I think this is a great way to really learn things as if they are not practiced then they may be easily forgotten..

Interesting question. My 2nd language is also English but oddly enough, it's my most knowledgeable language currently. My first language is Arabic and I have yet to hear how to say it in our language. I know we would probably just say happy holidays as with most of our occasions.

I don't care about the history either but when something cool about it is brought up, it's definitely interesting. For example a language may have went through different changes throughout time and to hear it's style of how it was a few hundred years ago it definitely interesting.

Interesting list and for sure it's no surprise English is at the very top. It's the number one language where everyone can use and understand. It's not too hard to learn either.

Awesome! I will be checking out the pages and sharing it with the friends. I can't believe it's finally out. It's good to reach all of the social media!

If you hang around people that speak Spanish and you are with them all day, every day, you are bound to learn A LOT of Spanish. This being said, any language you hang around long enough you'll soon learn. However for writing and reading it's a 50/50 chance you'll learn it just from hearing the conversations.

I haven't tried Anki but I've heard it's very useful by some friends. I want to learn Chinese and I will probably try this out. Thanks for suggesting it.

LOL is good for it's short uses. I mean it depends on the situation. I much prefer lol over anything else. But then again it's always good to give some sign on how funny it was lol

Cracked is a great website for info like that. It makes sense for the tips but I still find that the language makes sense lol!

Of course we wouldn't use completely perfect English with our friends but there are some things we may say by mistake when we're speaking to someone formally. Practice makes perfect, sort of. So in a way, using proper English will be useful when we're in need to use it in a job interview or something like that.

I have the QWERTY keyboard on my phone and it's not a touch screen so it's sort of useful and easier to type out messages. Though I will shorten and ruin my grammer when I need to shorten a long message.

I think the common short word that I use is 'OK'. It may not be short but it is shorter than typing out "Okay". Other ones would be ASAP although I don't think it would count as a short word!

I agree it is important to practice English in the best way possible. Practice makes perfect so whenever possible, use correct English and it will be effortless when you need to use formal English like in a interview or in such cases!

I use it when "Haha" is too long to write on but only on the telephones. I usually just say "haha" or depending on how funny it is, "ahhaha". Or when I'm writing out a paragraph and I want to finish typing I would throw in a 'lol' here and there.

It's really too bad that they are extinct. I'm sure a group of people would benefit from learning these languages as no one around them would understand a word they're saying. Imagine hearing a group of managers and upper level staff speaking these languages, who would be able to translate them?

Great list though. I never even knew about this either!

If you're looking for real interactive opportunities, you may not find anything for free. For example there's lingoda.com and babbel, they both charge for a fee. Babbel is apparently a award winning website, but I can't confirm that.

If you want a free interactive German experience, I say go for video websites like YouTube. You'll find lots of teachers there teaching German for free, and best of all you'll hear the accents and how to pronounce the words. It might be fun if you find the right video.

I have installed language apps before for learning German but have never found them to be useful. I mean I would have it, use it here and there but I wouldn't gain any benefits for them. What's your experience with learning methods and would you say study apps can replace other methods such as tutors?

Hoax is not slang, in fact I remember hearing it from formal speeches to news reports. If you don't feel comfortable using it, or you want to learn new words, you can use something else like humorous, malicious deception, or prank. It comes down to what you prefer.