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Topic: Best language resource(s) to use?  (Read 14641 times)

Re: Best language resource(s) to use?

Reply #25 –
FWIW, I’ve still yet to have time to thoroughly study either French or German as I’d intended. Work is having me do a lot of hours. Has been for 3 years now.

Re: Best language resource(s) to use?

Reply #26 –
Comme on dit en français, c'est la vie. :)

Re: Best language resource(s) to use?

Reply #27 –
Duolingo is quite OK. It got that needed interactivity fine. It is not sufficient, mind you, but a reasonably fine way to do that necessary practice.

Re: Best language resource(s) to use?

Reply #28 –
Quite OK seems a bit of an overstatement even if it's praise adjacent at most. I went through their French thing a bit a few years back and a lot of the pronunciations were just plain wrong. But the general principle is useful for some of the basics at least.

The pronunciations being computer-generated and wrong may not be the biggest issue if you could just turn off the sound, but there are literally speaking exercises where you should repeat the sample…

Re: Best language resource(s) to use?

Reply #29 –
Computer-generated pronunciations? Eww.. I can recommend Speakly. I updated (or kind of upheld rather) my French there when they had a free campaign for a while. No computer-generated nonsense. No real-life interaction either, but if you just want some conversation phrases in writing read out to you so you can repeat, it's fine.

The best conversation exercise is still live interaction. This cannot be changed. Find a real-life friend among native speakers, if you are really serious. (I am not that serious.)

Re: Best language resource(s) to use?

Reply #30 –
I don't consider computer-speak to be a major issue (though sometimes it is grating). To get proper pronunciation you need more focused work anyway.

The biggest problem is the one language-fits-all approach. Each language is different, and you need to learn the specifics of that language, from a teacher who not only knows the language, but how learners learn it.

But most of language learning is chore, and DuoLingo does that chore well. Use specialised resources to get the rest.

Re: Best language resource(s) to use?

Reply #32 –
An Estonian dude tried to learn Japanese. Not too bad, I'd say. Literacy in Japanese and Chinese are lifetime projects even for the natives.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVAcg1FuyOY[/video]

Re: Best language resource(s) to use?

Reply #33 –
Here's the "direct line" conference that Putin tends to do every once in a while, about once a year. Enjoy the beautiful Russian language, observe the oratorical eloquence, lend an ear to the mellow voice, the tender tones, the coruscating consonants of the head of state, who is going to give it to you straight, clarify the conundrums, dazzle us with logic...[1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xat0JUvLJ-M
1 Yup, it's a Monty Python reference.↵

Re: Best language resource(s) to use?

Reply #35 –
I didn't watch much of the posted video... But I'd have to agree: Lots of people (on the Left) want NewSpeak-like control over even the vocabulary people are "allowed" to use.
Ask them why and listen to their word-salad response! :)
BTW: How can I take the guy seriously, when he didn't clearly state his preferred pronouns?!
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