chesirecat136

When I was in elementary school I tried to learn Hebrew but I had a short attention span and moved on to other things. On duolingo I have tried Irish but got frustrated and decided to focus on the other languages I had started. I would still like to go back and learn more about each language.

While I would like to enroll in a class, I find independent study incredibly useful. I can go at my own pace and use study time to review old things when I need to. It also works much better with my schedule. I have not taken a formal language class since high school, and the first year there were some behavioral problems with the other students. Very little time was spent on learning, and as a student who genuinely wanted to be there, it was frustrating. I know it would not be like that if I enrolled now, but my method is working for right now until I can afford something more formal.

While I know this won't make me fluent, I mostly focus on things that can be done in a short amount of time. Duolingo is good for that, and when I first started, I used the "ten minutes a day" book series. If you are pressed for time, these are easy things to do between classes or work. Being consistent and practicing every day, whether you learn new things or review, is very important to me.

I love Russia so I have dabbled in the language. Learning a new alphabet is always a challenge but it isn't too bad to write. The most confusing thing I find about it is the lack of "a" and "the." You can use Duolingo to practice, I also recommend the "ten minutes a day" book series.

In general, I tend to find writing easier than speaking. There are hard and fast rules, and you don't need to worry about the accent.

Music has all kinds of benefits. If she is not interested in learning languages she will not get much out of it at all. Honestly, at least my first year, I did not get much benefit from taking a Spanish class. The teachers kept changing and the students were awful. That will likely not be the case for your daughter, but I doubt she will become fluent. High school language classes just aren't that intensive and it is a lot of repetition.

I love theater and I have always wanted to go to Russia. Thanks for this post!

I would love to learn Russian on it.

I took Spanish in High school but only two years and I was never fluent. So I decided to give it another try. I have tried learning languages with different alphabets than English, but I think I will have an easier time if I first learn one that uses the same alphabet.

My suggestion would be to put less focus on the alphabet until after you have mastered some of the pronunciation. That way you may have an easier time connecting sounds to the character.

Well, I have never met a person who spoke English with an American accent and accents are extremely hard to shake. My parents are both from the Midwest and even though I lived there a very short time, I still say some words with a Midwestern accent. When I try not to, it just sounds and feels very awkward. When I try speaking languages with the native accent, it feels more like I am mocking the language. I think the only time accent is super important is when the accent changes the meaning or pronunciation, like with Spanish rrrs.

Well, all of my thoughts are in English, my native tongue, so it is hard to ever remember not knowing it. I suppose the more time I spend speaking a different language, I may forget some words, but even after 20 years I doubt I could ever completely forget.

There is a book called "Fluent in 3 Months." I haven't read it yet, but it got pretty good reviews. It sounds like it might be useful to you. He works to make learning languages easier and has taught himself multiple languages. I plan on buying it soon.