It's an interactive and public app, so you can help others in your native language(s) while they help you with your target language. There are traditional game-type methods, but in general it works. If you're anything like me, I recommend getting a physical book and watching youtube videos while taking notes. It also depends on the language, as mentioned, and language learning strategies and success are very subjective. Good luck on your language learning journey!
1d ago
Related Recs
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im still a beginner myself but, I have been LOVING busuu!!! I’ve tried duolingo and wasn’t a fan, I feel like they keep taking away the good learning methods and making it feel like a game :(
Busuu has helped me an insane amount the last few months, you get to connect w native speakers and help each other learn the language either by speaking or text! I accidentally purchased premium while testing the trial but- i love it so much and its motivated me to actually learn + I know its genuine human speakers of the language correcting me on flow or proper usage rather than AI.
Music, TV & Film as well!! Immerse yourself in the language- you slowly start picking up on phrases, flow, etc. Have a language learning notebook and copy everything down, copy lyrics and film quotes, etc-
Feb 19, 2024
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Love this! I agree re: the above recommendation; you should start with Anki and use it to learn the 1000 most frequent words in whatever language you’re learning.
While you’re learning those words, it’s also helpful to start studying some basic grammar. Doesn’t have to be anything too intense. You could buy a grammar book and do one lesson a day, watch grammar lesson videos on YouTube, or use an online program like Kwiziq (depending on what language you want to learn).
Once you’re done learning the 1000 vocab words, I’d start consuming media! There are so many resources online depending on what your target language is—podcasts, children’s TV shows, newspapers, novels, etc. You can continue to make Anki vocab cards when you come across a word you don’t know, but it really depends on how you best learn.
I meet with my French tutor once a week and it’s helped me immensely with my speaking skills. You can find online tutors on Italki for pretty reasonable prices.
I also changed my phone and laptop language to French — it was frustrating at first but you get used to it pretty quickly and it helps with the learning process.
There’s also so many language learning resources online like r/languagelearning on Reddit. Good luck!
Feb 19, 2024
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Look learning a language isn't convenient, putting in the hard work in a textbook is so much better sit and study for 30m-1hr every night you'll learn more in the first chapter than months on the apps. Because why would the commercial apps ever want you to learn the language and stop paying? Language transfer tho is a free and non-profit app designed by linguists if you really need an app though. Textbook for Japanese is Genki 1 and hiragana for beginners
41m ago
Top Recs from @mangata
Watched this for a Spanish class recently, and I think it's my favorite movie ever. The depiction of different types of love and care, as well as grief and coping and the definition of authenticity, it's so beautiful and highly recommend. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, it just felt like the movie I was searching for, where it's just inherently beautiful to be trans and queer. I love everything about it truly.
Agrado is inherently iconic and authentic, and that one scene brings me so much joy.
12h ago
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it's k-pop, and I love it. It's not specifically been the best received song, but I believe it to be heavenly and I just love it.
1d ago
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I feel like they're so underrated, stories that are read in high school, and then never again in the future. But they work so well when you don't want to commit to a full book, but still want to read. Recently have been reading "The Best American Short Stories (2021)" that Jesmyn Ward edited.
My favorite story so far has been "The Miracle Girl" by Rita Chang-Eppig, I'll link to the review where it was published or a pdf or something, highly recommend reading it.
Okay so this is the only link I could find, but if you have a Project Muse login through a library or university/school, please please read it and rant about it to me.
13h ago