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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?

#11

Post by Broken_Hippo »

Immersion helps.

But outside of that, there are some great suggestions. A few things I have to suggest:

Get ahold of some of the books and workbooks for adult learners. This is an easy way to learn grammar and common phrases. I'd use these in conjunction with other things.

Next, watch children's cartoons. Here (Norway), adult films often simply have subtitles and leave the English audio, but children's shows are dubbed with simple words and clear language. It is a bonus if it is a crossover - I watched many hours of "Spiderman" cartoons in Norwegian.

Read books, especialy ones you've read in English. Harry Potter, for example, is available in multiple languages. It'll be difficult at first, but you'll increase vocabulary from the repetition in the book. Terry Pratchett is another choice for German, at least (I can find some in Norwegian).

For speaking, Skype is popular for tutoring and speaking practice, though you might have to pay for this.

Good luck :)

Re: Ask HN: How did you teach yourself a second language?

#12

Post by pasbesoin »

Find shows, movies, music that interest you. Watch them (with subtitles). Listen to it.

A lot of language learning exists below the "level" of words and sentences. The sound of a language.

And even when you progress to words and sentences, phrases, idioms, and the like differ. Gender exists, or differs. Native speakers don't memorize these. They learn by absorption. You are fortunate in that, with today's connected world, so can you.

P.S. The rest of it, e.g. working through texts, tutoring videos, and all that, I leave to you. Just remember: EXPOSURE. And that you can't and shouldn't try to consciously process and monitor it all. Steep yourself in it, and let your whole mind (including sub-conscious, or whatever we're calling it) process it.

P.P.S. Approach it this way, and you will find that some of the "much harder than when a child" belief doesn't actually really of fully apply. I became conversational in French, starting from zero, in about seven weeks when I was 22. In the middle of Vermont.

Re: Ask HN: How did you teach yourself a second language?

#13

Post by dirktheman »

silvaben wrote: post #7

I'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.

I second Duolingo, and I also did it while commuting. I used it to learn rudimentary Russian, but it was enough to roughly understand the people there. Build your language skills from there.

Re: Ask HN: How did you teach yourself a second language?

#14

Post by seanccox »

Thirty minutes of TV every day. I'd pick a character and repeat all their lines after they delivered them. It helped me wrap my mind around the rhythm of the language and form words, prior to understanding anything. That, and a good grammar and dictionary for reference.
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