201–210 of 221 posts
Learning a language requires immersion. That's why classes with other students are more effective than flashcards. VR has potential to really make a difference here. Imagine you load a VR level. It's a busy outdoor market in Taipei. In your inventory you have some cash. NPCs with AI and chat logic are around you interacting. Your goal is to buy some bread and get to the subway. You see a vendor with some bread, but d…
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A lot of people have impressive streaks - https://duome.eu/
I don't think there's any way to verify these are legitimate streaks though, and haven't been paid for. The whole concept really fell apart after Duolingo started monetizing that aspect of the app.
Looking at a global streak leaderboard doesn't help you improve your foreign language skills, so I'm not sure what "fell apart."
Learning a language requires immersion. That's why classes with other students are more effective than flashcards. VR has potential to really make a difference here. Imagine you load a VR level. It's a busy outdoor market in Taipei. In your inventory you have some cash. NPCs with AI and chat logic are around you interacting. Your goal is to buy some bread and get to the subway. You see a vendor with some bread, but d…
I really wish this VR existed. Would be great.
Frustration with Duolingo and Memrise when learning German led me to build a tool that could generate sentences in German and English simultaneously, while obeying the grammar rules. In my opinion, the handful of hand crafted sentences they provide bundles way too much complexity together at random. In a traditional text book, you'd get a dozen questions that are very similar, changing one or two aspects of a sentenc…
Once you’re past a basic level you’re at least as well off using Anki cloze deletion cards for this. You take a news article or short story and break it into chunks and the app will show it to you with bits missing and you have to guess/remember what’s in the missing parts. So this is the source card with four possible deletions. [Alle glücklichen Familien_c1] [sind einander ähnlich_c2]; [aber jede unglückliche Famil…
I also used clozes; once you're reading newspapers with high retention I doubt there's much use to what I'd build. I can tell you that clozing children's books does not at all fulfill the same role having done both.
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I don't think there's any way to verify these are legitimate streaks though, and haven't been paid for. The whole concept really fell apart after Duolingo started monetizing that aspect of the app.
Well, do what works for you. I know first hand that letting a massive streak end can jeopardize your interest in starting again, so a strike revival system actively helps people. Looking at a global streak leaderboard doesn't help you improve your foreign language skills, so I'm not sure what "fell apart."
It's a flawed concept to build a leaderboard on a pliable statistic. That's what I'm saying.
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> There are apps for watching movies for language learning (which adds subtitles, dictionaries, etc.) I've been searching for such apps (for watching movies/audio-visual content). Got any names to share? Thanks.
I recently discovered https://languagelearningwithnetflix.com/ You get a nice overview of movies in a certain language available in your country. I don't use their Chrome extension though, so I can't say anything about that
We're working on YouTube support now for the extension.
Something else I've been working on: https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?t=8699
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> Classes with other students are just about the least effective way to learn a foreign language. Well, sure a private tutor is better, but that's a lot more expensive. Without a teacher of some sort that can provide feedback, I have no idea how I could have learned elementary Mandarin (that is produce and listen to sounds radically different from my native English). From what I've seen the ability for computers to g…
>> Classes with other students are just about the least effective way to learn a foreign language. > Well, sure a private tutor is better, but that's a lot more expensive. In my experience, a private tutor really is not any more expensive than an classroom environment when you factor in the reduced number of hours needed. I have been taking language lessons online with 1-on-1 tutors (via Skype) through italki. You ca…
Even after a long time of using Duolingo most users will not have the ability to have a simple discussion.
The Pimsleur method is infinitely better for learning to speak a new languuage. With Pimsleur, you can learn the response to given situations. Also waiting to learn reading, writing and the grammar of a language is probably better after you have a basic understanding of the language since you start to equate words with the way you would pronounce them in your language rather than the one you want to learn.
There is nothing like speaking the language to learn it. Duolingo is good as a side tool to help you learn but not your primary method.
If you want to learn a language there are better ways to get to fluency. Duolingo is good at keeping you engaged so use it in conjunction with another method to help you learn. Unfortunately, there are no easy ways to learn. You have to put the effort and time.
There is a method and book I used called Fluent Forever and I learned more Dutch before coming to live in NL over a few months than most people I've met who have lived there for many years. You can create immersion fairly trivially without being there physically...
Fluent forever (and their forthcoming app) works essentially like this:
- hearing and pronouncing new phonemes - 600 words in contextual sentences (with native speaker audio and self chosen images), using spaced repetition, helping you to absorb vocab and basic grammar without learning it directly. -continuing to build your own sentences and learn words while working occasionally with a tutor that you essentially employ to help you to get more words for flashcards and to speak in language for hours (italki is good for it). - buy grammar books and look for some good examples to apply rules into sentences about your own life / story so you can absorb more core grammar without verb tables etc.
I did buy frequency dictionary, target language native dictionary, grammar books, some literature and access to audio books in target language
It's not free but not super expensive either. Time commitment of ideally an hour a day 7 days a week was hard part.
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I recently discovered https://languagelearningwithnetflix.com/ You get a nice overview of movies in a certain language available in your country. I don't use their Chrome extension though, so I can't say anything about that
I'm one of the two developers, thanks for the mention. :-) We're working on YouTube support now for the extension. Something else I've been working on: https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?t=8699