Duolingo for a foreign language

[IaninSheffield]

There's a post here by an online learning professional outlining the features of Duolingo which make it effective at what it does.

 

[All uphill]

You may all know this already but I've just discovered that abebooks and ebay are good cheap sources of foreign language books.

I'm supplementing my daily Duolingo Dutch with some reading. I am finding that the books get me back into thinking Dutch rather than translating backwards and forwards from/to English.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

You may all know this already but I've just discovered that abebooks and ebay are good cheap sources of foreign language books.

I'm supplementing my daily Duolingo Dutch with some reading. I am finding that the books get me back into thinking Dutch rather than translating backwards and forwards from/to English.

The thing with reading and writing is that there's still a leap to be made when it comes to speaking and listening - but, of course, everybody's needs are different.
I can read a question no problem at all, write out a perfectly good response but tie my tongue in knots actually trying to say it "in real time"


A couple of hints
On youtube you can adjust the speed to slow down the speech (and make it a bit easier to understand). Oftentimes subtitles are available too.

Ditto Netflix if you have it. Speed can be reduced, subtitles (in whatever language) are available too. There is also an add on for Netflix on Chrome (watch in the browser) that has different options for speed and text displays - I can't use it only having a phone/tablet so can't vouch for it.

Speaking of Dutch, I realised a while ago that every last bit of Dutch I had had fallen out of my head! It's back now though, for some reason.

Succes!

 

[All uphill]

The thing with reading and writing is that there's still a leap to be made when it comes to speaking and listening - but, of course, everybody's needs are different.
I can read a question no problem at all, write out a perfectly good response but tie my tongue in knots actually trying to say it "in real time"


A couple of hints
On youtube you can adjust the speed to slow down the speech (and make it a bit easier to understand). Oftentimes subtitles are available too.

Ditto Netflix if you have it. Speed can be reduced, subtitles (in whatever language) are available too. There is also an add on for Netflix on Chrome (watch in the browser) that has different options for speed and text displays - I can't use it only having a phone/tablet so can't vouch for it.

Speaking of Dutch, I realised a while ago that every last bit of Dutch I had had fallen out of my head! It's back now though, for some reason.

Succes!

Thanks!

For conversation I have a lovely Dutch son who is mostly patient with my struggling.😁

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Thanks!

For conversation I have a lovely Dutch son who is mostly patient with my struggling.😁

You're lucky!
Once upon many years ago I had a Dutch girlfriend who asked me to stop speaking Dutch to her....
Apparently my basic Dutch made her feel like a baby snatcher 😄

 

[All uphill]

You're lucky!
Once upon many years ago I had a Dutch girlfriend who asked me to stop speaking Dutch to her....
Apparently my basic Dutch made her feel like a baby snatcher 😄

When my son wants to make life a little difficult for me he asks me to explain Brexit to him in Dutch.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

When my son wants to make life a little difficult for me he asks me to explain Brexit to him in Dutch.

Are you sure he's not telling you to feck off? 😄

 

[All uphill]

After seven years of doing five/ten minutes a day I've come to the end of Duolingo's Dutch lessons.

I've dramatically improved my grammar in that time and have moved on to reading Dutch language books now.

I went to live in NL in 1980 so I'm only 44 years late in learning the language!

I'm now starting French and hope to be fluent around my 120th birthday.

Anyone else learning a language?

 

[Sallar55]

One other thing I’ve noticed is if Duolingo gives you the basics to ask for a coffee ,bun,or whatever then do it, the locals appreciate even a bungled attempt at asking & will help, just speaking English understandably gets their back up

Best to get out in the big bad world and pic up useful phrases., You have to remember that foreign countries also have an abundance of acents just like the UK.

 

[Tenkaykev]

After seven years of doing five/ten minutes a day I've come to the end of Duolingo's Dutch lessons.

I've dramatically improved my grammar in that time and have moved on to reading Dutch language books now.

I went to live in NL in 1980 so I'm only 44 years late in learning the language!

I'm now starting French and hope to be fluent around my 120th birthday.

Anyone else learning a language?

The usual French at school in the 60's ( yes, I'm old 😁 ) then I did Spanish for a couple of terms at night school in 1969 as I was headed to the 70 world cup and wanted to at least have a bit of basic Spanish. I started learning German when my daughter was working in Berlin, really enjoyed it, I was using Duolingo at first and then started the excellent " Dino lernt Deutsch " short stories which really helped. My German learning became more intermittent since our daughter returned from Germany a few years ago. I do have a new challenge though. Daughter in Law is of Chinese origin and speaks better English than I do, 5 year old granddaughter is bilingual and so I thought why not? and have recently started learning Mandarin. I'm sure I'll fumble the words and cause much hilarity, but it's an interesting excercise, and although I have noticed my memory isn't what it was hopefully the challenge will keep more of the neurons firing🤞

 

[Julia9054]

Currently using Duolingo to brush up on my O’level German (showing my age) ahead of my touring holiday this summer. Have also bought a grammar book as the “learning by osmosis and repetition” doesn’t sit well with me. I know that it is tried and tested and based on how people learn languages but I like to understand the rules!
Also the English translations are American which can be a bit jarring at times. Do they really say “quarter till and quarter after“ the hour when telling the time?

 

[bluenotebob]

Anyone else learning a language?

Yes .. every day is a school day here in France.

I came back here about 20 years ago with four languages in my head: English, Italian, Slovenian and some German .. little trace of French - but over the years, I've lost my ability to converse in Italian and German (but I've still got a smattering of Slovenian) - and I speak French all the time (English rarely - perhaps 10 minutes a week).

I'm impressed that you can read books in Dutch - I've tried to read French books but I haven't got the patience. I read English books very quickly and I think that's what frustrates me when it comes to French .. it all takes too long. I can handle newspaper articles - but that's about it.

I've also become a bit of a devotee to the BBC ALBA channel ... I'd love to be able to speak a little Gaelic but I simply can't get a handle on it. Can anyone recommend a Gaelic grammar guide?

 

[All uphill]

Yes .. every day is a school day here in France.

I came back here about 20 years ago with four languages in my head: English, Italian, Slovenian and some German .. little trace of French - but over the years, I've lost my ability to converse in Italian and German (but I've still got a smattering of Slovenian) - and I speak French all the time (English rarely - perhaps 10 minutes a week).

I'm impressed that you can read books in Dutch - I've tried to read French books but I haven't got the patience. I read English books very quickly and I think that's what frustrates me when it comes to French .. it all takes too long. I can handle newspaper articles - but that's about it.

I've also become a bit of a devotee to the BBC ALBA channel ... I'd love to be able to speak a little Gaelic but I simply can't get a handle on it. Can anyone recommend a Gaelic grammar guide?

Ms AU is doing Irish on Duolingo if that's any good.

I find I'm slow reading the first few pages in Dutch then I get caught up in the story and forget what language I'm reading in.

 

[bluenotebob]

then I get caught up in the story and forget what language I'm reading in.

That sounds perfect !

Thanks for the info about Irish Duolingo.

Not sure I'm up for a Duolingo course. I assume it's internet-based and inter-active - and I spend far too much time on the internet as it is.

I "know" about Germanic, Slavic and Romance languages (in the sense that each follow - to a certain extent - similar rules and have some common vocabulary). But I know next to nothing about Celtic/Brythonic languages .. and I'm curious at an intellectual level. I'm not interested in becoming conversant in them .. but I'd love to know how they hang together... which is why a grammar guide might give me some insights.

One of the things I love about Italian is that what you see is how it sounds .. one of the things that bewilders me about Scots Gaelic is that the word looks nothing like it's pronounced.... and that's possibly why there are a lot more Scots who can speak Gaelic than there are those who can write it.

Anyway .. good luck with the Dutch and Irish learning.

 

[Alex321]

One of the things I love about Italian is that what you see is how it sounds .. one of the things that bewilders me about Scots Gaelic is that the word looks nothing like it's pronounced.... and that's possibly why there are a lot more Scots who can speak Gaelic than there are those who can write it.

That is not actually quite true. And it is very much the same with Welsh. The words in both languages tend to sound very different rom how you would pronounce the same sequence of letters in English, but they are in fact very phonetic. If you see a word written down, you should know how to pronounce it if you have any reasonable knowledge of the language at all.