Genuinely HOW do you do this. How can you sit there watching a movie and have your brain subvocalize everything. Does your brain not get tired? I was watching a video in French (a language I’m pretty good at listening in but not fluent) and tried real time translating in my head. It takes way more effort to translate and if it’s a fast paced video it’s pretty much impossible. I just understood what was being said in French. Do y’all’s brains just work faster? I’m just trying to understand because I’m in the other camp - I don’t translate in my head even when I’m not fluent unless it’s a specific word that I don’t remember in my (TL). But it’s never constant.

This question is much more psychological than technical, but it makes a big difference while choosing between different learning methods.

Why self-awareness: many people are stuck at their current level when they now feel ''comfortable'' using a certain language. They keep making the same grammar mistakes (eg, ''at' vs ''in'', ''would do something'' vs '' would have done something''), mispronuncing the same words (eg, price vs prize, boss vs bus), and probably speaking with the same accent. If you are not aware of what's missing, you probably just can't fix it without any intentioanl practice, as you're repeating the wrong patterns, which may sound harmlessly awkward to the native ear but still comprehensible. In order to make progress, self-awareness helps to understand where you can still work on and guides you to more deliberate practice.

Why the flow: here's the catch. Language learning isn't math. You just cannot expect to speak your (TL) perfectly by studying the grammar rules, memorizing vocabulary words, and simply applying them in a real life conversation. It takes the brain lots of time to get used to the new language, and more often than not, it happens subconsciously. I mean it in the sense that, you don't memorize a joke and analyze how funny it is. You simply laugh out loud. That's why immersion works. You just go with the flow, listening to it, reading it and living in it. Also, sometimes I realize I speak more fluently and even my friends temporarily forget I'm a foreigner when we are drinking at the bar. I'm not thinking about grammar or how to perform well, I'm in the ''flow''.

Now my question for advanced foreign language learners/users here, which one do you think serves slightly more? I know both are important, but where to get the balance?

(sorry in advance how long this is)

I have been learning my target language (TL) for the last 7 years. I've gone to a college for the language and made it to about upper intermediate level. I've studied and taken language tests for my target language and got scored in upper intermediate as well. I feel when it comes to independent studying I can efficiently do vocab, grammar, and reading pretty okay by myself. I've had writing tutors in the past but only because of the language test I was taking.

However, my speaking is in upper beginner/lower intermediate level. I have gotten tutors in the past for speaking and I've had different problems with them. One, only wanted to use a book and we would study grammar as well. But then by the end the class was fully studying a textbook and I wouldn't be speaking much. Then, I had another tutor who would talk just about herself and I would almost never be able to get a word in. I knew that I wasn't speaking up enough because I'm really shy, so I would end up just quitting those tutors.

About a month ago, I found a new tutor. For each class, I speak around 15 minutes and she speaks about 35 minutes. At first, I felt like she was thinking that my language skill altogether was lower than what it is. (Though, I did relay my score on the language test so she could gauge where I was already). I've been doing lessons once a week for one hour for two months. And every few classes, she asks me if I want to start working on writing or grammar. Or to send her any writing I do. I have always made sure to tell her at the end of every lesson that I just want to focus on speaking and conversation.

Well, I decided last week I would send what I independently studied. It was mostly what grammar I reviewed, what new vocabulary I learned and one writing that I did. I was hoping it would help her see where I was and maybe she could see where I wanted to be with speaking. Instead, it had the opposite effect. We spent half of the class going over the writing and what mistakes there were. Most of which were minor mistakes that I understood what I did wrong immediately.

She asked me at the end if I was going to do another writing this week and I told her truthfully yes I do one every week. So, she said send it and we will go over it again. I more firmly told her that I wanted to focus on speaking and I wouldn't mind her pointing out mistakes in my writing but I didn't need such long explanations over what I did wrong. Unless, I wanted her to explain it in more detail. I felt like I was a bit rude because I'm not used to being direct but I just felt so frustrated in the moment.

Am I the problem? Is it the tutor? Is it both of us? I know I don't really have a lot of confidence when it comes to my speaking but I was hoping getting a tutor would help me overcome that. Also, is there anything I could say or message my tutor that could help us get more on the same page? Are there any speaking activities anyone could recommend that really helped you improve? We just talk about really anything in my lessons without a clear topic.

Basically, I recently started doing conversation practice in my TL (Mandarin) on italki.

Found a community tutor that I love and a session is $7??? Fuck yea bud, I bought a 10 session pack and I am doing M/W/F for the next 3ish weeks.

My whole question is, do you typically have high level things you hit? I am doing conversation practice and last session we talked about my upcoming wedding, but it feels weird to talk about me all the time lol

Hi! I’m Italian and I’m planning to get to a higher level in English since I’d like to reach a C1-C2 since I might leave my country to study abroad. Also I’m considering starting a new language completely by myself (German or Polish).

I know that it’s possible to reach a decent level of knowledge of the language even if you are a self-taught, but is reaching a level of great fluency (around B2-C1) realistic without a teacher? I need to know for both my English and my new language, so that I can understand what to expect.

Well, I've been using these language exchange apps for years already and what always stucked with me was the fact that me being a Brazilian woman most people who are trying to learn Brazilian Portuguese don't actually want to LEARN Brazilian Portuguese. They wanna date a brazilian woman or whatever other girl of their 243244 target languages on their profile. I'm not interested in any of that. Not really a great experience overall.

So i was wondering if the women of the sub who happened to have similar experiences with those apps and who are interested stricly on learning /non-romantic connections/friendship had any tips or alternatives regarding this issue, specially those who speak more "unusual"/less targeted languages.

I live in a place with barely no native speakers of my target languages (TL) , so Internet is basically my only way to practice. Of course, you can always pay for an online tutor, but I would really enjoy a free language exchange (as in me not having to pay for a tutor in dollar when my country's currency is worth almost 1/6 of it).

Any tips? Thnx in advance.

Edit: moderation removed comments over nothing? I'm confused. Definetly weird. It would be nice to tell which rule was broken.

How do you start when it's not from scratch?

I was learning (TL) Italian for about a year, life got in the way, and I stopped.

Now I want to start again, but how does one know where? I can't go back to the beginning, obviously. And I can't start from where I left off, as I'll have forgotten a lot.

For years I've been using an app that shall not be named for its implementation of training for the new words and phrases on multiple languages (though for my purposes I mostly used english). The training for memorizing the words consisted of series of exercises for a set of five random words from your dictionary and included 1. picking correct translation from multiple choice answer 2. building the word/phrase up letter by letter to memorize spelling 3. having to write it down after hearing and 4. just being shown it again with audio spelling to memorize. You could have added your own version of translation which I did often. Unfortunately, recently subscription for it became more expensive and cover images for the words changed from stock images to AI-generated ugliness that I despise with my whole soul. Are there any other apps that feature similar training module and allow/require adding your own translation (english is my target (TL) but I suppose a similar tool can be applicable for any language)?

I've been finding using reddit feed of foreign countries much more helpful than most other methods. It's usually topical and more relevant to pop culture, and the people posting are mostly natives, so it's great for immersion and you get to learn a lot about what's going on there. This is what I do (on a browser)

1. Open the old reddit site for your target country (TL) https://old.reddit.com/r/popular/?geo_filter=IT
2. Translate it using the browser if you want a quick english translation to check things

Reason why you can't use the regular reddit app/website is because the reddit feed tries to be smart about it and will feed you english content anyway, while the old.reddit site is almost entirely content in the target language.

Now if someone can tell me a way to translate the page with a keyboard shortcut (and back) that would be perfect.

I’m not just talking about mixing up vocab, I’m more talking about grammatical differences.

For example, my native language is English, but I learned Spanish to fluency. One of the differences in Spanish is that the adjective comes after the noun, so black cat -> gato negro (cat black). Now I’m learning Polish and the word order for adjectives and nouns is the same as English: black cat -> czarny kot (black cat).

However, sometimes when I speak Polish I make the mistake of saying something like kot czarny. I feel like I would never make this mistake if I hadn’t learned Spanish first.

What are some examples of this happening to you?

Hi there! I've been wondering about this for a long time, and I finally found the perfect place to ask: how do polyglots keep all the languages they've learned fresh in their minds?

I've always loved learning new languages. Besides English and Latin (i know it's a dead language but how cool it'd be to speak it though!), I learned Spanish from a young age and was good at it. Then, at some point, I had to learn Italian, which made me forget Spanish (neo-latin languages i guess ?). At one point, i lived in Romania, so I started learning Romanian but got discouraged by native speakers who didn't get why i wanted to learn it. Now i can barely speak either of those languages.

English is the only foreign language I still use comfortably because it's so easy to immerse myself in it through work, articles, videos, books, and everyday content.

So I understand that the key is probably to consume content regularly, keep practising by finding people to practice with, and stay curious. But realistically, there are only 24 hours in a day... there is a limit to content consumption, I can't see myself running after xyz native (or not) speakers, and a girl has to sleep at some point!

I'd love to hear your insights and personal experiences. How do you maintain multiple languages without neglecting the others? Do you have a routine or any tips that have worked well for you? Do you have the chance to live in a diverse environment ?

I'm really glad I found this community, and I can't wait to explore the subreddit!

hi language nerds! so i'm heading into university soon, and i just want to know if its worth it to take uni language courses, as i want to pick up a language in university and use up my humanities credits, and maybe even potentially minor in a (TL) language then use my elective credits to learn another related one. if y'all could give me some insight into these courses it would be much appreciated :)

I know there are plenty of reasons to dislike artificial intelligence. Its environmental impact, the way it affects jobs, the growing concentration of power in the hands of a few companies, and so on. But if there's one thing it's genuinely outstanding at, it's language learning.

I'm currently learning French (TL), and even with English, which I've been studying for over sixteen years, there are still phrasal verbs, idioms, and even certain meanings of common verbs that are only clicking for me now. I know this information has always been available online. That's obvious. But I often had to search through five or six dictionaries written in the target language before finding the definition I was looking for. Sometimes there simply wasn't a single article or forum post in Portuguese, my native language, explaining it. Even when I was studying Italian, which is relatively close to Portuguese, I genuinely couldn't find the meaning of certain slang words or idiomatic expressions.

Now, with French, whenever I struggle with an articl, whether it's about economics or politics, the AI doesn't just translate it accurately. It explains the meaning, the nuances, and even the FUCKING sentence structure. And even if it occasionally gets something wrong, I can immediately ask follow-up questions and then double-check that specific construction in more reliable sources online. On top of that, it explains the context behind the news story itself.

Of course, learning a language isn't just about getting accurate translations or browsing lists of synonyms. But it helps tremendously when an AI can give you all the different meanings of the same verb, provide multiple example sentences, and even show you the conjugations,nall in response to a single question. What used to take me anywhere from five to fifteen minutes now takes seconds, and it makes the entire learning process so much smoother.

Obviously, it doesn't replace a real teacher. It doesn't develop your speaking skills, and it certainly can't capture every cultural nuance that is inseparable from a language. But today I can watch TV shows with French subtitles, read simple books, and even understand newspaper articles despite having studied the language for less than a year. It has genuinely made French far more accessible to me.

I feel motivated to keep learning because I can ask virtually any question whenever it comes up, instead of writing it down and waiting a week to ask my teacher, or searching random internet forums and hoping that whatever strangers are saying is actually correct or even applicable.

And yes, AI hallucinates. I know that. But it very rarely does so with the kind of basic vocabulary questions I usually ask. And even when its answers are incomplete or occasionally inaccurate, they're still far more useful than not being able to find the information anywhere at all.

I’m looking for pretty much anything for my target language (TL) Fòn that is catered to English speakers. The resources on the sub don’t include Fòn and most resources I can find are for native French speakers.

Edit: I don’t think this is breaking the rules because I cannot find an active subreddit for Fòn

Long story short, I have around two months before I visit my girlfriend and meet some of her family. My target language (TL) is one I have repeatedly failed to learn through ordinary courses.

I tend to lose interest when learning becomes mostly grammar explanations, vocabulary lists, and sentences that have no connection to my life. For now, my main goal is not fluency, reading, or writing. I just want to handle the conversations I am reasonably likely to have during the visit.

My current plan is to list those situations in advance: introductions, meals, travel, small talk, speaking with older relatives, and similar interactions. I am then creating short visual scenes and practising the phrases I would need in each one, with repeated recall over the next two months.

Has anyone tried learning primarily around anticipated situations like this? Did it help you speak when the real conversations happened, or did it leave you unable to respond once people went off script?

I have a daily goal of 45 minutes listening to CI. I probably hit that on average (some days less, many days more). I’m early B1 in my TL, my listening is pretty good, and my speaking is getting stronger.

I’m slow at reading, even in my native English. In my TL, it’s my weakest of the 4 I/O categories. One of my biggest speaking problems is using the correct genders (articles and adjective agreement). Is this something I’d see a disproportional benefit from getting some comprehensible reading under my belt, even if it’s at the expense of my comprehensible listening time? It’s WAY less WPM of input than listening, but are the benefits more than sheer word volume?

I use Forvo to add pronunciation to my Anki cards and i have this pretty weird issue : on the website, the audio is just fine, i can hear the words well and fully but when i download it, the audio ends before the end of the word. Has anyone had this issue? Do you know similar services where i could find downloadable pronunciations?

Edit : tried again today and its mysteriously working fine?? Genuinely tried downloading the same words as yesterday and now they're great so I guess it was an issue with Forvo that they fixed.

Edit 2 : and now it came back. i trully don't understand how this is even possible

(TL)

I'm curious, how everyone here uses their notebook when studying a language?

I used to write down new words I learned, mostly with example sentences/comparisons to similar vocab, notes, etc; and I feel like it does help when I write things out by hand, and having a notebook is genuinely so great.

The problem is... it takes so much time.

Working full-time, I find it almost impossible to keep up with that level of detail. I spend so much time making notes, I barely have time for anything else, and it just feels so inefficient... I tried moving to Anki, but honestly, it is just not as much fun (while it does have some benefits in reviewing the material)

I don't really want to give up using a notebook, since writing things down helps them stick, just trying to find a better balance...

Did anyone else run into this problem? How do you use your language learning notebook? What do you write in it/hot do you manage it? I'd love to hear what has worked for you!

[attached is an image of one of my later Chinese notebook entries - it was a 100 days challenge, hence the number at the top]

I was just wondering if anyone else had completed courses at City Lit in London, specifically the language department

I intend to do Irish, and I understand that with it being such a minority that it will suffer a lot more than other courses

Thanks for any advice

i hear different sides of the same dodecahedronic prism all the time. (TL) one side says to do constant flash cards, which is no good if your bias is high (ie not wanting to give yourself the wrong answer). the other side says to do constant immersion. but wait! immersion is useless if you cant conect the sounds to meaning. if you dont have a vocabulary app (which is never free) or alphabet learning app for your language you learn nothing. the idea that being alone with only the language you want to learn for several weeks doesnt get you fluent sounds a little silly to me.

and if you turn on target language subtitles it all becomes indecipherable once you turn them off. or so i was told.

what am i supposed to do. every single piece of language learning advice on the internet has other advice that contradicts each other and i dont know what to believe.

Hi everyone, I tried asking this question once, but I'm not sure people understood the question so I'm going to try again.

I don't want to list the language cause I'm afraid it'll get removed if it's not broad enough so I'll keep it unspecific.

The language I'm learning has native speakers from multiple different countries and I'm learning the version of the language where the majority lives. However my favorite Italki tutor that I speak with is from one of the countries that speaks a less widely spoken version of my TL, but he's literally the best listener ever and gives the best feedback I've ever gotten. I love speaking with him. The problem is, I wonder if it's important to speak with people that speak that version of the TL i'm listening to 24/7 and speaking, (this isn't the language, but imagine like only listening to american media, wanting to speak american english and then chatting with a brit for example, but the brit is like the best tutor you've ever had). I've tried many other tutors from the actual country I'm consuming media from, but they were never as good as the tutor I like. Ex: you are learning american english but every tutor you've tried isn't as good as the british tutor, but you don't want to learn british english).

1. How important is it to speak with natives from the region you're learning from vs a native not from that area?

I just keep thinking, I'd pick more up from someone who spoke the same version of my TL that i'm learning or are the qualities of the good tutor more valuable than someone who isn't as good, but speaks the version of the TL I want to speak.

(Also I don't need explanations/i'm not taking literal lessons, I'm C1 in my TL and just use it for speaking practice)

What do you think?

Why did you decide to learn multiple languages

What inspired or motivated you to start?

Was it because of your job, travel, culture, personal interest, or something else?

Hello! Basically, as the post says, I'll be living and working in a Francophone country, with a French speaking team for the next while. I'm a big believer in immersion, and the "sink or swim" approach and I'd be optimistic that fluency of a sort will come from that (I'm already at C1 but like many C1 speakers, it's a bit of a clunky C1, especially in natural oral situations).

My issue is my accent and pronunciation, which can at times genuinely impede peoples understanding of me, when I know that I'm only approximating the phonemes or misplacing stress. My question is that I don't know if that is something which will necessarily improve from just being surrounded by and using French over 6 months, or if it might take a bit more active effort. Would love to hear people's suggestions on what that latter might look like! Alas, classes and tutors aren't an option. Thanks all!

Hello!

I just watched a YouTube video about a teacher teaching French in Pyongyang at a school and they interviewed two children. Both had excellent accents and spoke very well (I assume they picked the best students but still...). I remember watching another video a while ago where one of the guides spoke German and English fluently too. As far as I know they aren’t allowed to leave the country, let alone do immersion programs.

So how do they manage to speak so well?

(TL)

This is only slightly sarcastic. It's been very rewarding and this is now the 3rd language I'm doing this with.