111kg

Definitely. At some point I was trying to learn Russian, but only from an audio course, without having even the slightest idea about how to read the slavic alphabet or what were some basic grammar rules. I soon realized I was going nowhere and  quit immediately. I do know how to swear in Russian however, haha.

I don't want to be rude, but the methods used by this website are pretty much obsolete. No, I don't want to learn the complete geography and about all the German rivers, for example. Although I can see how this would relates to the learning process, it's definitely not appealing to the beginner. There are far better platforms, honestly.

A lot of people are doing this in my field. Basically, once they get in the clinical years and closer to graduation of the medical school, a lot of future doctors start learning German or other west European languages so they could work as doctors once they finish the school. A doctor in a small part of Germany, for instance, can easily earn up to 6000 Euros, while the average salary of a resident here is only 300 Euros.

A lot of people here do not realize that most of us had learned the basics of English, for example, from a non-native teacher during school and highschool. As long as they know their stuff and are able to teach some basic vocabulary, the most important grammar rules and so on, I can't see any reason why learning from a non-native teacher wouldn't work.

It depends. From my point of view, I am dedicated, but not in the traditional way. For instance, I have house chores, I have 2 jobs, a girlfriend and I am also learning web development. The fact that I can find 30 minutes here and there every other day shows me that I am still motivated and dedicated to learning and mastering German, although the progress rate at this point is very slow.

If both of the partners an speak English at a decent level, there is no problem. However, at least from my point of view, how do you communicate at a deeper level with the one you are supposed to spend the rest of your life with? You can't simply say stuff like "wife, bed now!" "do dishes!" or stuff like that, because marriage is far more complex than that.

Highschool in general was a bad joke. As for learning foreign languages, English was taught at a decent level, but nothing serious. I learned a whole lot more by studying at home or learning with my clients. Honestly, learning on your own is by far a better choice rather than paying for courses, at least to get the basics.

First of all I would love to master English. I still have problems with certain aspects of grammar, unfortunately.

However, for the other four, I would like do learn:

1) German - because there is where I am heading once I will be a doctor.

2) Russian - because Russia is one of our neighbors and one of the most powerful countries in the world;

3) Spanish - because this language is spoken by millions of people in the whole world;

4) French - mainly for the same reason as the above.

What exactly do you call a rare language? Because my language, Romanian, is spoken only by 20 million people and we are more than 7 billion people on this Earth. However, I highly doubt that Romanian is considered to be a rare language.

I can totally understand why and, honestly, with a few exceptions, it's a good thing. Not everyone is intelligent enough to learn certain languages, nor do we HAVE TO learn obscure languages in order to communicate better with people from certain parts of the world. Don't worry, the big languages will never die and this is why we have to focus on learning at least one of them instead of learning God knows what obscure language that we'll never use in real life.

The fact that native speakers speak a lot faster than most of my tutors and teachers. I am now at a decent German speaker but I still have to ask my native speaking friends to speak slowly. The same thing with my Spanish learning friends and so on. When you get to immersed in the native culture, the situation is way more different from the grammar books.

On 3/31/2016 at 5:49 PM, rustedrazors said:

I don't agree that it's not worth it to learn a language if you're not going to use it in that language's culture. There have been studies that show how the process of learning new languages actually causes positive changes in your brain that can have a lot of benefits, even if you don't remember the language forever. For one thing, once you have those connections in your brain, it allows you to learn languages more easily in the future. It also helps you with things like critical thinking and abstract problem solving. Definitely not a waste of time.

This may be too late, but here goes: Yes, I still maintain my point of view. Why would anyone waste time on learning a new language that they won't use. They will simply forget it, because that is what happens when you don't get to use what you learned.

You could still learn a new useful language and have the same benefits.

I think that a good way to use flash cards is to use the spaced repetition technique. Don't just use them again and again, because you'll waste a lot of time repeating the things you already mastered. I'm trying to say that you should focus more on the things that you don't master, so make a separate place for the flash cards with difficult answers.

It's good to get tested by a professor. Even if you pay him/her for tests or for teaching you, you know that there is someone holding your accountable, reason why the progress made is a lot faster when compared to the progress made by those studying without a professional teacher.

I honestly think that learning Latin without using it is silly. I'd rather recommend learning dictons and phrases in Latin, that are still being used nowadays, but I would never recommend anyone to start learning about grammar and other stuff like that. Honestly, where would they use it?

On 3/22/2016 at 7:16 AM, CyanHeart said:

That's how I learned English as a child - by watching Cartoon Network. Now as I'm trying to learn German I try to watch Galileo every night, which is this informative program about culture, science and life in general. But honestly I think I learned a lot more by watching German let's plays on YouTube.

It's pretty hard to learn German, mainly because German isn't intuitive, or at least, not as intuitive as Spanish, Italian or Romanian, for a complete beginner. I too watch German TV shows, mainly to improve my pronounciation, but not to learn more words.

It's pretty hard to learn languages from rap music, mainly because the rappers don't always speak correct and mix words in order to make the rhymes sound better. While I do agree that, once your are pretty savy of a certain language, you can easily improve your language, but it's most definitely not a method for a beginner.

I don't think that the brain rejects the new information. Maybe your approach isn't the correct one. As a person who studied chemistry and biology, but also German and Hungarian from scratch, I can tell you that the brain is just like a sponge: it attracts a lot of information, but you need to find out how to do it to be more efficient. Maybe you lack discipline, maybe your resources aren't beginner friendly or maybe you have to change your way of learning a new language.

28 minutes ago, StevenCox said:

I do believe that some languages are easier to learn than other ones. For example, English is much easier to learn in comparison with Japanese, for example, simply because it is encountered all around us (especially on the internet), it has easier grammar and you don't need to learn 3 alphabets to write it. Also, the more you like how a language sounds, the more likely you are to master it quicker. 

Glad to see another Romanian on this forum.

Now, I do believe that there is no point in learning a foreign language if you don't plan to immerse in that culture or at least be in touch with it. Why? Because once you stop using it for a while, you lose it. You wasted so much time of your life just so you can brag that you know a language you'll never use inreal life.

Moreover, I do believe that English and Spanish are the easiest languages you can learn. For the Europeans living within the former Roman empire borders, it's quite easy to learn Italian, French and Spanish or even Portuguese (but with a little bit of struggle).

I think most of us (non native English speakers) learned English from Cartoon Network. Watching TV in a foreign language, especially with some good subtitles, is an amazing away of getting immersed in that specific language.

Well, I am looking forward to studying medicine and I have no income, nor can I apply for student loans. There is a part time job possibility for the German speaking students that would allow me to work during the weekends, which is kind of cool if you ask me. Therefore, I don't want to learn German, I have to learn German.

I think it's Ginko Biloba. Yeah, it's an amazing supplement for the brain and is working really well. It's sold over the counter and you don't really need specifically for learning languages, but for focusing better and for learning in general.

As a person who's struggling to learn German from Duolingo and a couple of other apps and videos, thank you for this resource. I am really looking forward to getting a part time job where I speak in German, therefore I really have to improve my language and grammar, but also my vocabulary.

I've spent some time with this site and I don't really how this can actually help a person who wants to learn only one language. For instance, if i want to learn how to write "Good Morning" in German, I should be able to do that immediately without having to search through that huge list of translations in different languages.

How do you people learn? I mean... do you talk via FB/Skype and decide to talk in a certain language on a certain subject. More exactly, how do you do this... exchange? I've finally found a person to talk German with, but I don't know how to do it to make it efficient for both of us.