111kg

It matters a lot where you were born. I was born in Europe, therefore it was easy for me to learn German and English, but people living in Japan, for example, may not agree with me.

Update: I've started to learn German on Memrise and I am learning and consolidating about 7 to 10 words each day. It's not a lot, but slow progress is better, because I get to use and repeat almost everything that I learn. I'm not a big fan of the app, but it's better than other apps from the same field.

I think that it's safe to assume that the Nahuatl language that is still spoken today has little to do with the language that was spoken by the aztecs, not to say that we still don't know too much abut the aztec civilisation.

Ok, I'll be "that guy": what are you going to do with it? Because you must find ways to promote it and, more than that, you have to motivate people to learn it.

Other than that, good effort, but it's up to you to make it popular.

Don't want to be rude, but this appears to be a self-promotion post. The user has only one post and the only post has a link of an obscure app. Sounds fishy to me, not to say that there is a different section for these type of posts.

On 10/8/2016 at 9:40 PM, poftim said:

Hungarian must be up there. I was in Budapest for a few hours yesterday and on most of the signs there was just nothing to go on. Hungarian has several dozen noun cases I think. I'm currently in Timișoara in Romania and today I met an American who has lived in Budapest for ten years but only knows a few words of Hungarian. Totally believable.

Not really. Once you get accustomed with the basic vocabulary, it's not that hard. Most of the young Hungarian people do speak English, therefore it's easy to ask for directions, not to say that there are dozens of speaking guides that show you the basic phrases.

As for Romanian, feel free to send me a PM whenever you want.

On 7/28/2016 at 7:38 PM, reverserewind said:

I guess you can just simply ask them in a pretty much straightforward manner. They will understand your desire. Also, they are going to appreciate that. Most of the time.

This. A thousand times this. Ask them to correct you when you are wrong and how would they use your phrases to make them sound better. Especially the older germans, they are very proud people who value education more than the younger folks do

Russian isn't as difficult as it seems, but their alphabet ruins any form of motivation. I've tried to, considering that we are pretty close to Russia, but it's pretty much impossible to learn on your own and to understand their alphabet, either that, or it takes a lot.

The question is: why do you want to learn Russian, will it bring any advantage?

This is a good resource for the people who want to practice the language they're learning, but not a good resource to learn. It's impossible to learn German without understanding their grammar rules. There are so many of them and some of them are pretty obscure, but if you don't understand them, the progress to master the language will be terribly slow.

Oh yes, undoubtedly. I've tried to learn Russian and Arabic, but I had to quit eventually. Why? Because I realized that I wouldn't use them anytime soon. Why waste time on something that you will forget? So I started to focus on German and Hungarian, but also on improving my English language.

I've never heard of this, honestly, and I am pretty much an Internet junkey. Are you sure it's a widely used concept? Because, otherwise, there is a big chance I would of heard of it.

I honestly think that it's a matter of discipline. Even if you don't find time when you are at home, you definitely have time when you are commuting. I am a big fan of the Duolingo app and I am using it whenever I know I will spend more than 20-30 minutes on the bus or on the train. After all, even a small progress is better than no progress at all.

This is why I really love the spaced repetition system Duolingo has it. If you keep repeating the things you learned at a certain time, eventually they will stick and will seem natural.

Another way to avoid what you tend to forget is to get a language learning pal, preferably a native speaker of the language you are trying to learn.

What's really frustrating about these tools is the fact that they teach a somewhat different language than the one who is used currently. Try understand what a native French is saying. I think that the way we speak in our native language is a bit different than the way the language is taught in classes, reason why people, including myself, have problems immersing themselves in the languages we are trying to learn.

Offtopic kind of: do you actually find Memrise effective? Because I've heard a lot of mixed opinions on the app and wouldn't really want to waste time on something that doesn't bring any real value, honestly.

On 9/14/2016 at 9:54 AM, poftim said:

Romanian, the language I'm learning, has no word for "the" at all. Instead you change the ending of the word.

Cat = pisică
The cat = pisica (the accent disappears)

Dog = câine
The dog = câinele

Chair = scaun
The chair = scaunul

Coffee = cafea
The coffee = cafeaua (four vowels in a row: nice!)

Offtopic: I am always glad when I see other Romanian fellows on foreign forums. Awesome way of explaining as well.

I think there is a difference between being proficient and being fluent in a language. Because You could easily talk in a certain language and be fluent, but you'd have to proficient in a language in order to master the grammar. There are a lot of obscure rules that must be known as well.

I think that this program is frankly obsolete. It used to be great, no doubt of that, but now there are far better resources, honestly, not to say that you have to pay for the program (or be a rebel an pirate it), while some other better ones can be used for free.

They are languages, but they don't allow the average speaker to use them. What's really different about the spoken languages is the fact that they must be used 100% correct in order to work. If there is a single bug, the computer will not understand the "language" 100%, while if some user tries to speak in a certain language, but does mistakes, the other people will definitely try to understand at least what he's talking about.

I'm looking forward to finding some apps that teach Arabic. I don't want to learn to write, but rather how to ask for directions, how to order food and other basic stuff. Normally, I would focus on learning this language, but there is a big possibility that I will be sent to Amman, the capital of Jordan, to work for a couple of months. I won't deal with native speakers at work, but I won't be sitting only in the hotel room, as I want to visit Petra and the Dead Sea.

I really believe that in order to develop an accent you have to practice hundreds of hours speaking that way. It's not natural for you to speak with that accent, therefor it won't be easy and frankly, speaking with an accent isn't really important. People will always be able to tell you are a foreigner. I'd rather focus on mastering the grammar and the vocabulary of the language I am studying rather than focusing on developing an accent.

I'm using the X Effect technique. You can find more about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/theXeffect/

Basically, you make a square card for the next 49 days with a certain habit that you are supposed to to daily. Everytime you do it, you make an X. Everytime you fail to do that thing in a day, you make a 0. It's an awesome technique for developing new habits, not to say that there is an entire community who will support you though your entire 49 days journey.

Just find the club of native speakers in your local area and befriend them. Getting directly immersed in their language and ask them to explain the words you do not understand. It's easier, it's free and more than that, you get to meet new people and see new places, which is the ultimate goal of learning a foreign language.

Does this app have English explanations? Because if it is only in English, I can't find a single reason why it would be useful.

I've used them both. Duolingo for mobile is not for language learning, but rather more for language practice, for mastering what you have already learned. Of course you can make some progress, but when people are using this app on their mobile devices, they are usually surounded by other people or are in noisy places. In other words, most of the time they can't focus.

Other than that, Duolingo is amazing. Even though it's not a complete resource to master a language, it can surely teach you the basics and how to handle an average conversation.