Kektheman

Cram is awesome! I never had the chance to try out the flashcards from the database, but I used it to create my own! I had to memorize a lot of irregular verbs for my Verb classes, and it proved to be really useful! I will have to check out the database too!

I have never tried that. Is it effective? Does anyone know of any studies that either proved or disproved the theory that you can learn new things while asleep? It sounds a bit fishy to me, to put it mildly. Having said that, I'm also interested in first hand experiences, if anyone here tried the method.

As PixelBaeBee already told you, there are at least two threads about Duolingo on this forum already. There really is no need for a third one. Duolingo definitely is a good resource for learning a new language, but the vast majority of linguaholics already know about it.

I never had a dictionary for English. I never felt the need to carry one around, to be honest. But when I studied Italian, my teacher made us carry dictionaries. It did help a bit, but I didn't benefit a whole lot from having one, honestly. Nowadays, I wouldn't even consider buying one. There are apps for that that are much quicker and easier to use.

It is important to learn both written and spoken at the same time. I think Duolingo is really helpful in teaching the basics. After that, you should have enough knowledge to be able to read a simple children's book. Try to read those to improve your knowledge! Remember, if you don't use it, you lose it! Having a friend that is fluent in the language you want to learn can help immensely, if they are ready to practice dialogues with you.

I mostly write in Slovene too, since I have a richer vocabulary, and am more certain about the grammatical rules and whatnot. I've tried writing in English, but it is not as easy as I thought it would be! You have to pay attention to a lot of things, and having a good vocabulary is SO important! The paragraphs can turn out extremely dull if you fail to spice things up.

Oh, is it really that bad? I'm not a native speaker, so I wouldn't know, but I would think that the English in legal documents would be of a higher quality. That's honestly quite sad, if you ask me.

Are you talking about the pronunciation of "r" like the one in American English? I honestly don't like that much, but I really like the linking "r"s and intrusive "r"s in RP. Would you like both of them mixed together?

Hey Kangoo! Welcome to Linguaholic . How many languages do you speak? I would guess you are fluent in both French and English, correct? Do you know any others or are perhaps interested in learning a new language? Hope you like it here!

My favourite song that isn't sung in English or my mother tongue would be Je Veux by Zaz! If you've never heard of her, you HAVE to check her music out! I can't understand one bit, but it sounds amazing.

I have a profile on Goodreads, but I rarely use it. I really like the interface, it makes it easy for you to track your books. You can rate the books and write reviews as well, which is an added benefit. I mainly use it to keep track of all the books I've read during the years.

This sounds amazing! But I fear it won't work as great as advertised. Being able to translate a voice input is no small task, so Skype will probably have some problems doing it. If you look at google translate, for example, it can only translate words, sentence structure gives it a bit of a headache, since it's so different across different languages. I can't wait to put it to the test!

That's interesting! I always write in cursive! I'm extremely slow if I try to write "normally". While it is more legible, it simply takes too long, and I can't keep up with the pace, so I am stuck with my ugly cursive writing.

Welcome to the forums, Serenity Fay. I'm sure the forums will prove to be useful for your studies. Hope you will like it here!

This one is from the beginning of Douglas Adams's book called The restaurant at the end of the Universe: "If human beings don't stop exercising their lips, their brain starts working!" Douglas Adams has an awesome sense of humour!