Anyone know any good resources for learning languages?

Original post by mgill17

Like websites or books? If it's a website preferably it'd be free, but books obviously I'm willing to buy.

I find languages really interesting but I find I can only stick with languages if I'm taught the sentence structures and grammatical principles and then I separately learn vocab rather than those textbooks or websites that don't show you how to conjugate or just teach you sentences without explaining why that word is the way it is.

As for the language, I am open to looking at any language right now to see what I like the look of but also I kind of want to start learn German like it's such a nice sounding language and I have German family (although they all speak English pretty great so...).

Memrise is very good for vocab, and it doesn't restrict you to popular European languages either-you can learn Mandarin, Zulu and Tibetan, to name but a few, alongside the standard French and Spanish.

You have to create an account but it's 100% free

Reply 6

umar39

10

Duolingo is pretty good.
Checkout Memrise

Wie bist du mein Freund?
Wie lange has du Deutsche lernen?
Kannst du gute Deutsche sprechen?

Ich habe fur drei Jahre Deutsche gelernen. Fur zwei Jahre (year 7-8) , habe ich Franzosisich gelernen aber das war langweillig fur mich. Ich denke Duetsche ist viel besser als Franzosisich? Was denkst du?

Babbel☺️

OP

Original post by Bananapeeler

Hey, maybe start with this http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/grammatik/index.html? I don't know any grammar books but I'd stick to free resources until you're committed to learning the language

I'll check it out, never seen it before so thanks!

Original post by pizzanomics

There's looooooads.

Duolingo, Mondly, Quizlet, /r/german, /r/languagelearning, Anki, get some PDFs of grammar books online, Clozemaster, DeutscheWelle.
All of those are free, and that's not even scratching the surface.

Check here for a good, full list.

Don't pay for anything. With the exception of lessons (which aren't even neccesary, only take them if you want to), then you don't need to pay a single penny to learn a language. All you need is motivation. Instead of spending £150 on Rosetta Stone, buy yourself a plane ticket to Germany and speak with local people.

THANKS SO MUCH...some of the ones you provided I've never heard of so I'll check them out...I definitely would not be paying anything until I was sure I wanted to learn it. I'm certain I want to pick up another language because they're ever so useful and I definitely have the motivation. My issue is I learn a beginners amount then leave it there because I can't find anything that helps me learn conjugation and more complex sentences...I like to understand why I'm saying what I'm saying that way.

Original post by HyruleTenshi

Duolingo is great, I've been using it alongside my A-level German studies for about 3 years now and have found it really useful :smile:

I started using that for German actually a while ago but I think it's best as a support for learning whilst doing outside studying. It doesn't help my with conjugation at all..perhaps I didn't stick with it long enough?...also hi Jin :h:

Original post by super_kawaii

Memrise is very good for vocab, and it doesn't restrict you to popular European languages either-you can learn Mandarin, Zulu and Tibetan, to name but a few, alongside the standard French and Spanish.

You have to create an account but it's 100% free

I actually have a memrise account that I used for French vocab years ago in high school..I keep starting courses on it then never finishing them because I can't learn the more complex stuff through it. Again my only issue with memrise is it doesn't teach conjugation or principles, I see it as a support tool. I end up just knowing a bunch of words but I can't string them together :frown:

Reply 9

Original post by mgill17

I actually have a memrise account that I used for French vocab years ago in high school..I keep starting courses on it then never finishing them because I can't learn the more complex stuff through it. Again my only issue with memrise is it doesn't teach conjugation or principles, I see it as a support tool. I end up just knowing a bunch of words but I can't string them together :frown:

Conjugation and word order are what grammar books are for. Memrise is supposed to be used as an aid alongside other materials.

If you learn the dictionary forms of the verbs and memorise the rules for them, you will become fluent in the language.

I studied Mandarin and Japanese at uni, so I know what I'm talking about :smile:

Reply 10

OP

Original post by umar39

Duolingo is pretty good.
Checkout Memrise

Wie bist du mein Freund?
Wie lange has du Deutsche lernen?
Kannst du gute Deutsche sprechen?

Ich habe fur drei Jahre Deutsche gelernen. Fur zwei Jahre (year 7-8) , habe ich Franzosisich gelernen aber das war langweillig fur mich. Ich denke Duetsche ist viel besser als Franzosisich? Was denkst du?

This makes me sad because years ago I could've probably strung some sentences together but now all I know is odd words.

Gut, danke. Wie geht es dir?

I did it a bit in high school on and off so I haven't really ever been 'learning it'. And I can't speak it very well at all haha

I wish I'd learnt more German than French at school, it's more useful to me personally :frown:

Reply 11

OP

Original post by super_kawaii

Conjugation and word order are what grammar books are for. Memrise is supposed to be used as an aid alongside other materials.

If you learn the dictionary forms of the verbs and memorise the rules for them, you will become fluent in the language.

I studied Mandarin and Japanese at uni, so I know what I'm talking about :smile:

Yes I understand that and that's why I'm looking for tools other than memrise/simple vocab memory tools..aka websites that can show me verb/adjective forms where applicable and how to make them comprehensible..that's what I am asking for but they seem to all want to make you pay absolutely loads and then other people complain how they're below par anyway so I avoid them. The main thing I am after now is a good conjugating guide since memorising the odd noun is pretty easy, that's what I tried getting across in my OP (maybe I should be practicing my English skills haha)

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 12

Original post by mgill17

Yes I understand that and that's why I'm looking for tools other than memrise/simple vocab memory tools..aka websites that can show me verb/adjective forms where applicable and how to make them comprehensible..that's what I am asking for but they seem to all want to make you pay absolutely loads and then other people complain how they're below par anyway so I avoid them. The main thing I am after now is a good conjugating guide since memorising the odd noun is pretty easy, that's what I tried getting across in my OP (maybe I should be practicing my English skills haha)

Grammar exercise books are your friend. In my opinion, online resources can never match paper documents. They go so much more in depth actually explaining the grammar, how it works, and the meanings and subtle nuances behind it. IMO, no online source can explain it in such depth.

Plus memrise goes very advanced for vocabulary. Also, don't disrespect vocabulary-you cannot learn a language on grammar alone

You can also access foreign newspapers online for free for reading practice as well.

Reply 13

OP

Original post by super_kawaii

Grammar exercise books are your friend. In my opinion, online resources can never match paper documents. They go so much more in depth actually explaining the grammar, how it works, and the meanings and subtle nuances behind it. IMO, no online source can explain it in such depth.

Plus memrise goes very advanced for vocabulary. Also, don't disrespect vocabulary-you cannot learn a language on grammar alone

You can also access foreign newspapers online for free for reading practice as well.

Then it looks like I'm investing in a good grammar book probably...I think I need to 100% decide whether German is what I want to learn. The uni I'm going to offer many different language classes with natives so I could wait until then and decide.

Foreign newspapers is something I didn't think of though and I'm definitely interested in that!

I'm not 'disrespecting' vocab either...it's just that generally memorising a word is a lot easier than wrapping your head around some of the seemingly odd grammar some languages have, even you must be able to admit that, no?
Memorising words until they're second nature and I don't have to give it thought is pretty easy for me, it's just the retention..my retention is okay but I don't have good retention if I'm not using the language..and I can't use the language if I can't understand why this verb is written this way/ why this particle is use/ or why a certain principle isn't used in that situation.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 14

Original post by mgill17

Then it looks like I'm investing in a good grammar book probably...I think I need to 100% decide whether German is what I want to learn. The uni I'm going to offer many different language classes with natives so I could wait until then and decide.

I'm not 'disrespecting' vocab either...it's just that generally memorising a word is a lot easier than wrapping your head around some of the seemingly odd grammar some languages have, even you must be able to admit that, no?
Memorising words until they're second nature and I don't have to give it thought is pretty easy for me, it's just the retention..my retention is okay but I don't have good retention if I'm not using the language..and I can't use the language if I can't understand why this verb is written this way/ why this particle is use/ or why a certain principle isn't used in that situation.

To me they're just as easy to learn.

If you're not retaining the vocab, you're not learning it until it's second nature.

The best way to retain a language is by using it. You will make mistakes but that's all part of the learning process-it helps expose you to how the language is actually used and can help you understand why it's used like that. Researching the history and culture of the country of the language you're learning is integral, as it has such a huge, yet underrated, impact on how language is used.

Reply 15

James_mc

2

Original post by umar39

Duolingo is pretty good.
Checkout Memrise

Wie bist du mein Freund?
Wie lange has du Deutsche lernen?
Kannst du gute Deutsche sprechen?

Ich habe fur drei Jahre Deutsche gelernen. Fur zwei Jahre (year 7-8) , habe ich Franzosisich gelernen aber das war langweillig fur mich. Ich denke Duetsche ist viel besser als Franzosisich? Was denkst du?

Your German grammar is really quite horrid

Reply 16

umar39

10

Original post by James_mc

Your German grammar is really quite horrid

Explain?

Spoiler

Reply 17

Asolare

Original post by James_mc

Your German grammar is really quite horrid

Whilst I agree there are grammar mistakes in their post, it would actually be helpful for you to point out their mistakes as opposed to just being a patronising ass and puking up a *****y insult instead.

Don't bother posting unless you actually have something to contribute.

Reply 18

OP

Original post by super_kawaii

To me they're just as easy to learn.

If you're not retaining the vocab, you're not learning it until it's second nature.

The best way to retain a language is by using it. You will make mistakes but that's all part of the learning process-it helps expose you to how the language is actually used and can help you understand why it's used like that. Researching the history and culture of the country of the language you're learning is integral, as it has such a huge, yet underrated, impact on how language is used.

To someone who did two languages at a degree study level maybe. But we're all individual. The point is you're not saying that memorising words is harder at all. You said just as easy. Of course this is dependent on the language too.

And by second nature I meant as in the point where you don't have to 'translate' a word, like you can look at an object/hear the word without needing that (albeit short) mental time to swap it into English (I'm not sure if that makes sense but usually in the early stages I have to spend those little mental minutes changing the words due to unfamiliarity). And by bad retention I'm not talking like a few days/weeks or even months here. I can retain words for about a year, but that's still bad retention if long-term communication is the goal...in fact I haven't looked at French since pre-GCSE and I found one of my old vocab books and remembered pretty much all of it. My issue is that, like I said to someone else, because I'm not learning these principles..because I'm not learning how to equip the language (sometimes even in simple sentences - that just depends on what language it is) I don't actively further my study in it, because if all I can do is learn more words that I can't put together then all I'm doing is learning words, not a language. I can't use a language if I don't even know the fundamentals of structures...of course I'm going to make mistakes. I still make mistakes in English but then how do I learn the correct structures if I can't find the resources. Literally the whole point of this thread is me looking for a structural source.

And in terms of the cultural influences. I tend to look into the culture of countries a lot. Like that interests me anyway. Obviously not to major depth in terms of the linguistic effects and I do get that if I gained a low intermediate skill I would need to do more. Which I'd find more enjoyable than anything.
But, some countries especially, have such unique and delicate cultural histories that are absolutely amazing, regardless of whether someone wants to learn the language, I think culture is a great thing to look at and acknowledge.

Reply 19

Josb