Without formal education/classes, what are the best ways to become fluent in another language? I would like to increase my ability to speak German and begin to learn Russian by using many different resources. Advice?
Ask HN: How did you teach yourself a second language?
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Re: Ask HN: How did you teach yourself a second language?
#2Live there. Immersion. Anything else is a distant 2nd and you will never "feel" the language.
Re: Ask HN: How did you teach yourself a second language?
#3ajatt.com
Re: Ask HN: How did you teach yourself a second language?
#4I have started learning French few months ago. I started with Duolingo for couple of weeks to get the basics. I liked there tutorials. The APP even has a built-in messenger where you can chat in French with a bot(guessing same for German too).
The first book I read was Beauty and the beast in french. It's a short story to start with. It took me a long time to just read some sentences with proper pronunciation and I'm still working on it. I look up youtube videos for some extra info. The frenchpod101 videos are good. I guess you might have already tried these, but just wanted to mention it anyways. Hope this helps! Good Luck!
Re: Ask HN: How did you teach yourself a second language?
#5I wasted 8 years studying English at school without being able to write this sentence (I'm sure I'm still making mistakes but you get the idea.) I could read basic software documentation and school books, but nothing real. Then I subscribed to Newsweek and started playing Nethack. Both built my vocabulary. Reading Newsweek was a pain at first, one article per week with the dictionary constantly open.
Eventually that let me read anything. A couple of years of English courses paid by my company made me able to understand people. I understood 50% before that. Then the Internet, movies, TV.
If you're not in Germany or Russia, get a teacher with a small class. Mine was 4 people so we could speak and exercise a lot.
Re: Ask HN: How did you teach yourself a second language?
#6Okay you gotta immerse yourself as much as possible.
From experience, you gotta learn that language is like a filter through which ones' mind/heart/intentions are shaped. Then, you master getting into the pre-language state of mind that has no language, and from there you train yourself to see the world with a different organization of concepts.
First, learn the 200 most common words in the language. Do whatever it takes to learn all the verb conjugations. Spend countless hours listening to real humans talk in conversation and repeat exactly as well as you can over the tracks whilst listening (like singing along to a song) so you can master the ups and downs of tonation in pronunciation.
Top 2 tips: One) 15 minutes every day is worth so much more than 150 minutes in one day every 10 days. Meaning: frequency is key, and quality over quantity.
Two) to truly become "fluent," that is, to make the leap from "this is something I can use" to "re-experiencing life through the frame of a German person / Japanese person / Swedish person / whatever" you must spend time in a place culturally saturated in the language.
That said, you can spend 2-3 years of your life immersing yourself in radio, news, television, movies, and learning mnemonic methods (whacky stories and images that help you retain meanings) and make incredible progress.
Re: Ask HN: How did you teach yourself a second language?
#7I've had success with Duolingo.
I've been doing Duolingo's French lessons every day for 15-20 minutes during my commute to work. I find it quite engaging and useful.
Re: Ask HN: How did you teach yourself a second language?
#8Okay you gotta immerse yourself as much as possible. From experience, you gotta learn that language is like a filter through which ones' mind/heart/intentions are shaped. Then, you master getting into the pre-language state of mind that has no language, and from there you train yourself to see the world with a different organization of concepts. First, learn the 200 most common words in the language. Do whatever it t…
I've recently moved from Scotland to Finland, and I agree with your post 100%. Immersion is what made me learn more than anything else - just being able to pronounce the difference between "o" and "ö" was hard at first, but with more exposure it became natural.
I'd also suggest learning sets of words, as you say the most common. I started with days of the week, months of the year, numbers up to 20, and similar.
Though I'd probably suggest having lessons, be they official at a college/university/academic location, or low-key chats with locals over coffee/beer/cake is a good thing to do. I had a lot of questions about grammar and how to chain words that were easily resolved with chat.
Re: Ask HN: How did you teach yourself a second language?
#9Move there, live there. If there or not, a recent link from HN is global radio. Plenty of talk stations in different languages and dialects. http://radio.garden/live/
Re: Ask HN: How did you teach yourself a second language?
#10Okay you gotta immerse yourself as much as possible. From experience, you gotta learn that language is like a filter through which ones' mind/heart/intentions are shaped. Then, you master getting into the pre-language state of mind that has no language, and from there you train yourself to see the world with a different organization of concepts. First, learn the 200 most common words in the language. Do whatever it t…
I've recently moved from Scotland to Finland, and I agree with your post 100%. Immersion is what made me learn more than anything else - just being able to pronounce the difference between "o" and "ö" was hard at first, but with more exposure it became natural. I'd also suggest learning sets of words, as you say the most common. I started with days of the week, months of the year, numbers up to 20, and similar. Thoug…
I second your lesson suggestion. I was lucky enough to have lessons, and was very happy I did.
That said, if one can't do the lessons, I fully suggest working through some of the adult learner workbooks - the ones for immigrants. Some are more grammar-heavy than others. The draw is twofold: You learn some common speaking terms plus you get introduced to grammar, complete with exercises.