Learned english through games (slept through actual school) and trying to understand torrent sites. Can affirm a lot is tied to what motivates you. Heh.
Comment on That escalated quickly đŹ
Lyre@lemmy.ca â¨5⊠â¨months⊠agoThis is kind of the hot take going around right now but honestly duo has a lot of advantages. Huge selection of languages, gameified lessons, and the app is really streamlined and responsive.
Im not sure if its better or worse for learning than other apps, but i suspect âlearningâ a language has a lot more to do with personal drive and dedication than whatever app you chose to learn with
Demdaru@lemmy.world â¨5⊠â¨months⊠ago
bdonvr@thelemmy.club â¨5⊠â¨months⊠ago
I mean yes a ton of it has to do with motivation, but the âgamificationâ is hugely overstated. It is incredibly, unbearably, repetitive and bland. Most people start with a lot of desire and determination, see little result for the time they put in, get bored of the same three formats of questions, then quit or just do the absolute bare minimum to keep their streak for a while before eventually missing that. The way they present the questions makes it so easy to guess that you hardly have to think a lot of times. The larger courses are so dauntingly long that once you realize how much time youâre going to have to spend selecting words from a bank, clicking the corresponding icon, or typing what you hear.
Iâve tried many times. Many people Iâve known have been through the same cycle. I donât think Iâve seen it work.
This time around I wanted to learn Spanish, and tried the Comprehensible Input method. Man, for me at least, it has worked so so much better that itâs not even comparable. In terms of progress, fun, and motivation itâs been great for me. It basically boils down to listening to a ton of the language, but at a level you can at least follow along even if you donât know every word. You start with really simple stuff with lots of visual aids, hand gestures, repetition. After a while you move on to content with a little less aids, and shows for young children, etc. No translation or teaching of grammar.
Iâve been at it for about four months and have listened to over 300 hours of content in Spanish. The beginning is absolutely a slog still because at that level you canât understand much thatâs actually interesting, but the moment you get to the point that you can follow some simpler dubbed content and easier stuff like travel/lifestyle vlogs on YouTube it becomes ridiculously easy. You become more focused on the CONTENT than the language. Reading comes later when youâve really got the sounds of the language ingrained in your brain, so you donât practice/reinforce bad pronunciation as you read.
Admittedly though, in most languages you will find it incredibly hard to find content for the very beginner level like this. Spanish has Dreaming Spanish which is a godsend, English has plenty of resources. Perhaps for most languages youâll have to use more traditional methods to work your way up to the point that you can understand. Or have a patient one on one teacher (friend) that can do whatâs called âcrosstalkâ in which you speak your language to them, and they speak to you in the language youâre learning. (With as much visual aid as necessary for your level). Thereâs been effort to create more beginner content for languages other than Spanish, but I donât think anything has touched the library of content Dreaming Spanish has yet.
At this point, I can follow most day to day conversations if they donât stray into odd topics. I can watch dubbed shows for kids/young adults (just finished Avatar: The Last Airbender) and follow enough to be more than enjoyable. News and simpler unscripted content is no issue as well. Native media, especially scripted media, is still too hard. I notice I struggle far less with abstract things other learners seem to have problems with like âser vs estarâ, âpor vs paraâ, etc. One just feels more right in whatever situation but I couldnât tell you why. For only four months self-directed learning for a few hours a day I think thatâs pretty incredible. I can tell week by week that Iâm improving.
For a more thorough explanation check out this playlist (turn on subtitles itâs in Spanish.) youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlpPf-YgbU7GrtxQ9yde-JâŚ
angrystego@lemmy.world â¨5⊠â¨months⊠ago
I guess there are different kinds of people and for some, Duo works, while for others it doesnât. I still think itâs a great tool
Sweetpeaches69@lemmy.world â¨5⊠â¨months⊠ago
Duolingo has helped me get to a very learned point.