I had tried to learn some languages using online resources on the net(freely accessible ones tho). Didn’t actually commit to it with a plan.
Curious on how others went about it.
Do mention the resources that you liked/found useful.
The usual, some introductory books and then some more advanced for my needs. As an actuarie, the languages more useful for me were R and Python, I chose Python because is more versatile for things beyond data sciences. If you said your specific needs, maybe someone can give you a guide from where to start.
I know some Python, but have never gone beyond normal stuff.
I have downloaded online pdf’s on Python. Sometimes I read it without trying it out and forget how it is used. Or just jump into something and get confused. When I try to read code on github, I take some time to understand what the functions do and stuff.
Maybe I’m learning on and off, and it’ll take time.
Currently, I’m trying out stuff using Gcollab and it seems to be fun and easy to access, since I grew up using a phone more than a pc/laptop.
What method/plan did you use?
Duolingo was mentioned.
But one of the good things about AAA games is that they’re often voiced and captioned in multiple languages.
So, after picking up some basics – give a new player + playthrough of something you’re already familiar with in a new language.
Any android/mobile games that you’d recommend?
PC gaming is rare for me nowadays, that too only Supertuxkart.
A quick glance says Stardew valley supports multiple languages – but honestly not sure as I’m usually around a PC.
wait I’m not the only one who tried the video game thing? On my second playthrough of Horizon Zero Dawn I decided to swap to my target language just because I thought it would be funny, but it’s actually been a kinda nice experience pausing during dialogue, tabbing over to a browser, and then looking up any words i don’t know
I haven’t tried it yet but I read in a similar post about Language Transfer.
It’s FOSS and they have an app. The languages are limited in number but most main ones are there (except Italian!).
It’s basically recordings of lessons that you pause and repeat back, which sounds crap but seems to be done really well. The recordings are stored on several platforms for preferred access.
It has a music theory intro as well, which is why I’m sitting on it.
Oh, music theory? How intro is it? I’ve wanted to learn some for some time, enough to maybe understand why my favourite songs work.
I took classes when I was a kid but wasn’t interested, several years later I was really into classical and jazz and I was able to play by ear but it literally takes me a minute to recognize notes on a sheet, nevermind recall notes. Some of the inside baseball stuff might as well be binary, too. Just incomprehensible.
I used Language Transfer to get started on Spanish, and it was incredibly effective. He connects concepts between English and the target languages that help build vocabulary more quickly. He also explains verb forms in a way that makes more sense to me than the actual Spanish classes I took in school. Duolingo, Rosetta Stone, and others like those never cut it for me for some reason.
I’m now reading webcomics and listening to other podcasts in Spanish to get a feel for more natural conversations. I practice speaking Spanish at work with bilingual coworkers, with the goal to be bilingual myself, too!
(A similar teaching style that I found enjoyable and enlightening is the American Sign Language course by Bill Vicars on YouTube and lifeprint.com.)
I started the music theory course and it is very math-heavy at the beginning. It turned me off, but if that’s an interest of yours, it might be a good fit for you! It’s a course that is still in the works, so I’m waiting to see the next edition of it to see if I can connect to it more easily later.
If you want to learn a language, surround yourself with it. Watch shows, play games, read articles, change language of your phone. If you don’t understand something, translate it. Use it. Apps are just empty practice if you don’t apply it
