HobbesOnTour
Guru
- Location
- España
Since I reached a 40 day streak today I thought I'd throw up a recommendation for Duolingo as an accessible and fun way to get some confidence in a foreign language.
It's free to use (although that only allows a certain number of mistakes a day until it shuts down) and can be done on a phone/tablet or PC.
It focuses on the practical rather than the theory so sometimes I'm left scratching my head as to why a sentence is structured the way it is. There are online forums where some helpful people provide more info which can be quite helpful. (On the flip side there are some people with waaaaaaay too much time on their hands there too!).
Lessons are organised by theme and can be done in bite size pieces, maybe 5 minutes at a time.
There's a lot of listening and some speaking to be done (it listens to you). Linked to the app are Podcasts with more aural exercises.
There are League tables with promotion and relegation every week so you can compete if you're that way inclined
Having done a month of one on one Spanish lessons back in Jan/Febish I find this a great way to build up on what I learned and supplement the (basic) notes I have from that time. What I have noticed is the constant repitition of vocabulary makes it easier (for me) to learn it.
If you already have the basics of a language you can jump in at a higher level - I suppose it would be handy for keeping your foreign language(s) alive too.
Lord knows when foreign travel will be possible, or desirable, again but in the meantime Duolingo is a pretty nifty (and fun) way of getting a bit of practise in!
It's free to use (although that only allows a certain number of mistakes a day until it shuts down) and can be done on a phone/tablet or PC.
It focuses on the practical rather than the theory so sometimes I'm left scratching my head as to why a sentence is structured the way it is. There are online forums where some helpful people provide more info which can be quite helpful. (On the flip side there are some people with waaaaaaay too much time on their hands there too!).
Lessons are organised by theme and can be done in bite size pieces, maybe 5 minutes at a time.
There's a lot of listening and some speaking to be done (it listens to you). Linked to the app are Podcasts with more aural exercises.
There are League tables with promotion and relegation every week so you can compete if you're that way inclined
Having done a month of one on one Spanish lessons back in Jan/Febish I find this a great way to build up on what I learned and supplement the (basic) notes I have from that time. What I have noticed is the constant repitition of vocabulary makes it easier (for me) to learn it.
If you already have the basics of a language you can jump in at a higher level - I suppose it would be handy for keeping your foreign language(s) alive too.
Lord knows when foreign travel will be possible, or desirable, again but in the meantime Duolingo is a pretty nifty (and fun) way of getting a bit of practise in!