Language learning friends!

[stormflower]

On another note I love Japanese but the Hiragana has always eluded me but watching anime growing up I’ve picked up more of that than Mandarin and it drives my husband crazy lol. I’ve watched more Chinese dramas lately and it’s kinda maybe helped(not really) xP

 

[Shaddaling]

I had rl bs happen did nothing and now just getting around to adding the phone apps to learn Japanese.

I think with me it is partly that the shapes sometimes catch me up but just at times it the sounds and it like what is this sound. WHY are you not making the sound I KNOW YOU DOOO AND WHY IS IT LIKE THIS NOW>

Japanese and counting things has started to trip me up..

 

[MoonRazor]

The "I can read, but can't really converse anymore" is real for me with French. I really wanted to pick up some German a couple years ago, but for me the Duolingo format is great for improving something I already know (French) but did not work at all for learning a new language. My brain needs to know the language rules. I couldn't just figure out the conjugations through memorization.

But if anyone wants to learn Chinese, I can help!

 

[sharkberrypizza]

hH I would like to learn Chinese someday, but I'm booked up with French, then Korean fluency after Japanese.

I hope that it goes easier for you, storm. Hh​

 

[Shaddaling]

Kanji radicals made simple
They go over ten common radicals and it makes a lot more sense to know the radicals that make up the kanji.

 

[Azael]

I'm so glad I stumbled across this thread! I downloaded Duolingo and it's pretty neat. I'm not very far into it, but I love how you can see/read/quiz to learn. I've been wanting a new study book/system and this being direct on my phone is super duper convenient. <3

I used to learn languages like crazy when I was younger. I took French in school, and practiced speaking with my mother (who learned it and used it when she had traveled). A bit of Italian, but not enough to actually converse with my grandmother. Started Hungarian but I could only practice the text since the tapes were broken/lost. And Japanese was a major love, I absorbed the Hiragana and Katakana like crazy. So much so, that my friend and I would write notes to each other at school in 'broken' Japanese using hiragana or katakana where appropriate. Unfortunately...now I'm super rusty and can't remember a single thing of 'em. XD;;

I also tried to study Mandarin/Cantonese but...I got my wires crossed and was learning the opposite enunciation or something. But one day I'll try again!

What's really funny is that my sister HATED that I would practice French with my mother and she didn't understand. We wouldn't talk about her or anything, it literally was practicing what I learned in class. But she would get furious. Fast forward to high school, and suddenly she had this huge interest in learning languages. So she took Italian at the community college, it was around this time that it donned on us that our grandma had a dialect so talking to her in basic Italian wouldn't go too well. XD Then she took Spanish in high school where her teacher would have to constantly remind her that she had an Italian 'accent'. In college she learned Portuguese (and Spanish?) - she's fairly fluent now, plus it helped that she had the opportunity to study abroad. And she's also traveled for work because she could speak those languages/translate.

Anyways! I think for some people languages come by easier than others BUT with the right study technique anyone can learn.​

 

[belloblossom]

I just uploaded Duolingo at the request of my brother-in-law who wanted a buddy to study Japanese with. I ended up uploading it for Japanese and Spanish and neither of them are coming easy to me. I got through Japanese Hirigana 4, but have been struggling to get through those.

As a result of insecurity, I've opted to pausing my Duolingo work and pulling out my old textbook for ASL 1 and 2 instead. Signing's always come more easily to me than verbal languages, haha.

 

[Azael]

Sometimes it's good to focus on our strengths instead, no shame in that!

I really struggled with hiragana/katakana/kanji this time around. Whereas when I was a kid I'd be writing notes to my friend in hiragana (though mostly katakana so we could get away with pseudo-english stuff).

A month or so ago I stopped studying with Duolingo...but I'm thinking of picking it back up again. I guess that's the nice thing about learning a language for fun, there's no real time limit?​

 

[astralprogenitor]

Something as different as hiragana tho that's part of it - just keep practicing! The repetition really does help. I stopped for a while because I was frustrated too but I've picked it back up again and I think I'm slowly getting it ... again. There's no time limit which is nice, but I *wanna learn faster*, lol - there's a lot of things I want Japanese for 99% of them being old videogames that were never translated.

I remember making up my own language ciphers as a kid. I actually made a syllabary before I even knew what one was, lol! Fun times XD
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[Ruler]

I’m at 43 days straight of German on Duolingo! It’s not much, but it feels good. I have a friend who’s fluent who’s also been helping me converse textually, which has been a really nice help.

Other than that, I took 7 years of Spanish (I guarantee you’re overestimating me) and 4 years of Latin. I have a lot of fun with language for sure.