foolsgold

Perfect advice. Somewhat related to number 7 is to play a game of sorts where you will try to drop the word into a conversation no matter how unrelated. It helps you be more creative as well

I think they elicit different but closely related responses from me. Like a different vein of "scared-ness" if there was such a word. Thrillers are exciting to watch because they keep you on your toes. It's the anticipation of not knowing what happens that make them great. Horror with monsters/gore on the other hand, you know what is there physically and usually they are just meant to surprise you. Or overwhelm you with the imagery. I personally prefer thrillers as they make me think more.

They seem easy to go through but I find that it's quite difficult to focus on my listening if I'm doing something else. I haven't tried listening to audio books while travelling though but I guess they are best used in that scenario.I have issues understanding accents too. I once tried listening to Three Men in a Boat in Spotify but Hugh Laurie's accent was hard to follow. To each his own though.

Go for the Classics. Just make sure that you read something that interests you first rather than forcing it on you. It would be such a shame if you are turned off by the first books you read and never try to jump into it again. I'd recommend 1984 and Animal Farm. They're short novels but has aged really well and still applies today. They're also quite easy to read so it wouldn't be such a chore to read them.

Oooh another mystery language. I am still awaiting the answer for another voice message in another thread. I think this one could be Turkish or a language from a nearby area.

I guess it's because not everyone is creative. And another thing that came to mind is because of the entertainment the kids consume these days doesn't really allow for much imagination to happen. Everything is handed out to them, or they're all in their phones looking at blurbs of someone else's life. What you can do is have a simple activity that involves everyone and gets them to think creatively. If you encourage them as a group to sit down and think, then maybe you can tap into the passive creativity hiding out there. An activity I'm thinking is something like complete the sentence, or something similar. Sorry, what a terrible example haha but you get what I mean.

Doing this would take away the language barrier and solve many problems BUT, and I cannot stress it enough that infrequency of using our native tongue endangers the life of the language. There are already so many endangered (and extinct sadly) languages in the world and we simply cannot afford more to go down the drain. Language is part of our culture which defines and identifies our identity. Losing it is scary and wasting away thousands of years of history.

I'm not sure if going to Chinatown or the like would work for proper language learning. Immersion is good but I think it needs to be for a long stretch of time kind of like an exchange program. But it is a unique idea and not only do you learn the language, but the culture as well. It's definitely a good supplement to language learning.

I think you'll have to identify what kind of learner you are. I'm a visual learner so I like seeing things. It could be flash cards, books, anything that involve visuals. The thing about reading is that when you run into an unfamiliar word, you can easily look at the word and look it up. So this will help you remember the meaning but also the spelling of the word which are some of the things you could miss when only listening to a song/watching a movie. They are good supplementary sources of learning though.

Both! The online aspect really helps you build the initial confidence to go in and immerse yourself in the new language. Sometimes learning vocabulary and grammar (and mastery of the two of course) is best done on your own. The offline aspect involves a more social experience of learning which in real life will be very beneficial. Obviously, to retain all that knowledge you will have to keep using the language and communicating with others. The two just go hand in hand.

I must say that that takes a lot of effort whether or not they actually achieve fluency in any one of them. Finding the motivation to study just one is hard enough. I can't imagine having to go through five at once. Maybe if I had a photographic memory then surely the learning process would be easier. But alas, I have not been gifted the skill. Kudos to these people though, I envy their dedication.

I've seen the movie Run Lola Run and not only is it an amazing movie, I think you can pick up a few lines here and there. I'm not anywhere near fluent in German but the movie could help! And thank you for posting tv links, I have been looking all over for these!

Great news! I haven't even come close to completing 50% in my German lessons but I'm eager to try out Hungarian. Is there a Filipino/Tagalog option there?

It sounds like a Middle Eastern/South Asian language to me but I can't pin down the exact one. It sounds like it is a news broadcast though or maybe a movie clip? I am curious to know what this is!

Filipino here! Tagalog, our national language, is gender neutral. Not only does it make learning so much easier (not having to memorize a word's gender like German or Spanish), it's effectively promoting equality too.

I'm a huge history buff and enjoy etymology trivia which really helped develop a keen interest in studying language. Also in grade school everyone has sort of "romanticized" travelling to Europe and seeing the Ruins and Greece, so everyone wanted to go to Italy and Greece and learn their language. Then when I was 10-12, I was always watching Discovery Channel and a travel channel (I forget the name of the channel) and it sparked a wanderlust in me. I guess along with that came the desire to communicate in the native tongue.

Certainly! This usually happens due to infrequent use. Although I think it's more believable to say that you've lost the capability to speak fluently since understanding a language, even if you don't know the words exactly, is a bit harder to "forget". A funny, slightly unrelated thing that could happen is forgetting what a word is in your native language when you've been using other languages most of the time. One time I forgot what mango is in my language and a split second later remembering it was mangga... just a couple letters off

Start young! It was already mentioned above but kids really do pick up languages really well. As an adult, the easiest and least intimidating way for me was through duolingo. I can play/learn at my own pace and will not get judgment from anyone (that's just me being too self-conscious though) . I haven't moved past the basics of German so I can't take the next step yet, but the plan is to enroll in a German class. It really helps to constantly use the language in everyday settings. Then in my free time, I am planning to read children's books and maybe the newspaper to familiarize myself. I also watch casual German lessons on Youtube which really help as well.