JessiFox

I'm a big believer in trying all kinds of different resources to really utilize what's available and see what works best for you. I use a lot of the typical grammar books, dictionaries, etc but I also use language blogs and videos, websites and apps. I find a variety of resources to switch it up and keep me on my toes seems to work best.

There are so many that I want to learn...hmm...not that they tie in to each other very naturally at all but next on my list would be either Japanese or Italian.

While I believe that to be a remarkable ability, I find that to be cheating the system. I believe that if you're going to be learning a language, you should figure out how the language works in relation to its culture and the history of how this specific language came to be. Especially if the language does not derive from Latin roots. For those who are learning more than one language at a time, you're not getting the full experience of the language(s) that you're learning!

Really well stated, I agree. I was thinking along similar lines but struggling with how to say it. I understand the desire, I've always wanted to learn as many languages as possible, too. But I think you need to give the language you're learning a fair amount of attention and respect.

I Absolutely love mind mapping! I do it for all kinds of subjects and I think it goes quite well with language and grammar studies. I'm a very visual person to begin with, most of my notes end up in doodle form anyway. So mind mapping comes very naturally to me.

Comparing proficiency tests at all (much less ones in English) isn't something I've given a lot of thought too in the past but I can see how there could be a large and significant variety across tests...now you've given something to wonder about and look into.

Not a full conversation, I've spoken in broken Spanish on the phone but 80% of the conversation was in English. It's strange because I don't lipread or anything like that but I seem to understand spoken word with less hassle in person.

I've never played any video games in languages other than English...to me it just seems like it would be more frustrating than amusing, but it's interesting to think about how different characters come across depending on the language and such.

While I don't speak a rare language yet, I'm very interested in them. I'm interested in "dead" languages as well, I've studied Latin and Sumerian.

I prefer to study at home as well, most of the time but I don't have one dedicated spot that I stick to all the time. Sometimes I'm in my living room, bedroom (bed or desk) or even the kitchen, I like going up to our apartment's rooftop terrace to study as well. Occasionally I'll study in a library or a coffee shop.

I've never heard of that game but it sounds like an awesome idea....how fun! I'm always looking for learning games and toys for my son, but ones that could help older ages with things, including language learning in a different way, are always great too!

Interesting article for sure, I'm not familiar with him but I'm always on the lookout for tips and tricks to learn things faster . Thanks for sharing.

It's fairly safe to say all of us here are eager to be at least bilingual, but if you had to say, what do you think is the best number of languages to know?

Oh definitely! I'm a little shy about such things, if the person seems especially friendly or open, I might explain that I'm not 100% fluent yet and don't recognize a few words, but otherwise I'm unlikely to ask someone I don't know very well.

I always liked the concept of bowing the most when it comes to greetings because it says a lot without having to do a lot. First off it shows respect by showing your peer the top of your head which shows you are lowering your defenses, and he great thing about it is that it's not as intrusive as a handshake wherein you are forced to touch a person even when you've only barely just met. Also I think it's a lot less awkward because you don't have to reach out and instead you could just keep within your own radius and still be able to greet properly. That's just my opinion though  I really wish more cultures just bowed instead.

I agree completely! A much better way of greeting, I think.

Anyway, OP, I believe you were looking for the other "meet" . A lot of the time in everyday occasions I'm not very formal with my greetings- a simple hello, hi, how've you been?, etc. works just fine. In certain situations I'll stick with something more along the lines of your list.

I didn't realize there was a Latin section on here!! That's awesome . I was so excited to learn Latin in high school, only to be extremely disappointed when it turned out to be more of a history lesson with a teacher who I'm convinced didn't even know the language himself. We learned a few words and phrases, tons of dates and historical events and the occasional confusing lesson in verb conjugation and such that just left everyone entirely lost.

I'm eager to actually learn Latin.

Tail - Tale

There - their - they're

see - sea

sole - soul

sent - scent - cent

I share your struggle with French pronunciation...most other languages I can grasp alright between either reading and/or mimicking how others do it, but French just doesn't come naturally to me at all. I haven't tried very much with it though, just a bit.

I would say the younger the better for sure....I'd start with very basic things around 2-3 years old and just have them growing up speaking both languages, a lot easier on them in the long run.

I used to really wish that I could, but no, unfortunately I just can't. No matter how amazing the music might be, I think the lyrics are the most important aspect, and not being able to understand them sufficiently is a no go for me.

I think that can be the case sometimes just because the proximity to the other country makes it more likely that the language will be integrated into your everyday life in various ways- talking, exchanging information and cultural similarities, etc. so it will have the benefit of being more relevant to your day to day life.

I don't have any huge mistakes either...initially learning Spanish, I had trouble remembering sometimes to make certain words feminine or masculine, and sometimes I would forget times when the order of words in a sentence (like nouns and adjectives describing them) was different from English, and sound a bit silly.

I like the Swedish word Mangata, referring to the roadlike reflection of the moon on the water. I like words that don't necessarily clearly translate to English.

Wow, I just checked it out briefly so far but it looks amazing- what a wonderful idea! Thanks so much for putting your time and efforts into making something like this, it's great to have online resources becoming more and more available .

Yes, I'm afraid I think it's impossible to answer as well...there are just too many factors. How serious is the person about learning a language? How much time/energy will they devote to it? How fast do they learn and what resources are they utilizing? A lot of things interact together to affect that answer. I think if a person is good with languages, dedicated to it and has the time to learn immersively, they could learn in a range of 6 months-a year.

This is actually the first I've heard of that app, so I haven't tried it yet but I'm always interested in online resources for language learning. I'll definitely check it out and get some initial impressions & such.