Anyone else successfully learn a new language? (OFFICIAL COLI LANGUAGE THREAD)

[BigMan]

Link breh ?


The Brazilian London Carnaval is in 3 weeks ..... I'm going even if it's in Brixton

All the brazilians here are white but I do remember running into a pardo girl years ago
I handed her off to the homie but he flopped...when he spoke to her

The black portuguese people here are from Angola/PT...so that's not going to useful accent wise


Good thing I've been consuming Brazilian content like a mad man and flying through duolingo.

What's your plan breh ?

Duolingo+YouTube+music

I'm a big futebol fan so I'll just watch interviews and there's a huge Brazilian footprint on YouTube (music, soccer, vlogs, those bad ass natural hair gurus)

Find native speakers


Then Brazil one day

 

[Cynic]

Duolingo+YouTube+music

I'm a big futebol fan so I'll just watch interviews and there's a huge Brazilian footprint on YouTube (music, soccer, vlogs, those bad ass natural hair gurus)

Find native speakers


Then Brazil one day

Voce assistir vlogando ?

Lool. Duolingp is a life saver

I actually bought Avenida Brasil DVD

Still waiting on shipment....

 

[MAGNETO.]

I studied 2 years in the US and then spent a semester in China. After 3 years I had a pretty good handle on it.

TIPS:

1. Hang out on chinese-forums.com. Excellent threads about learning, grammar questions, cultural questions, etc. Zhongwen.com is a great starting online dictionary.
2. DO learn to read/write Chinese characters. I never understood how people think they can just get by speaking, the characters help reinforce a lot of stuff and they are easiest to practice without speaking buddies.
3. I would try to learn traditional characters (at least the most basic 1000) and learn simplified in parallel. It is easy and clear to jump from traditional to simplified but not vice versa. Most stuff in Chinese communities in the US (though this is rapidly changing) is in traditional characters.
4. Practice characters every day. I tried to learn 2-3 new ones every day by writing them 3 lines (on paper) the first day, two the second, and one the third. This helped me get a lot down over time.
5. Learn the radicals first and make sure you get stroke order down well. There are some animated gifs that are pretty good.
6. If there is a beginning Chinese course on nights/weekends at the local community college or a private language school, I would advise taking it for at least two sessions. The first 6 months of Chinese can be bewildering and there are certain things, like the four tones in speaking, you need a native speaker to make sure you learn right or you will pick up bad habits that are hard to break. They can give you a legit Chinese name (ask for a 3 character last name+ 2 first name) too.
7. Try to get opportunities to speak outside of class. This can be ordering at restaurants or (if you have the money) Skype sessions through eChineselearning.com. I studied 2 years and when I got to China I could not understand or be understood for about a month (though I could read great). Speaking Chinese can't be mastered with audio tapes, Rosetta stone, etc.
8. Get a good Chinese-English dictionary
9. Don't neglect Chinese history and culture--it is very entwined with the language. A good starting book on ancient Chinese history is The Ageless Chinese by Dun Li. Out of print but you can find on Alibris or in the library. Also learn about modern history (20th century) and the various festivals (Chinese New Year/Spring Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival etc.) Finally some major books like Romance of the Three Kingdoms (in English) are good but are long. Know the characters from Journey to the West they pop up everywhere.
10. Try to visit China or Taiwan for an extended period if you really want to be fluent. I was lucky in that I took the HSK (Chinese TOEFL) and got a good score and scholarship from the Chinese government to study for a semester. It came right when I got laid off from my job so was perfect timing. You should try to enroll in a university program while you are there are speak as little English as possible.

Finally, don't believe dudes that say getting a Chinese girlfriend will help you learn faster. I knew a lot of dudes who did this from the get go and the never progressed. The girl spoke English well and they resented her always correcting their bad Chinese so they eventually gave up since the difficulty was not helping the relationship. This was even true for people living in China. Every fluent Chinese person I know with a Chinese girl/spouse ironically met them after their Chinese was pretty fluent.

Appreciate this a lot fam. Salute.

 

[Givethanks]

Any spanish tips on how to roll your R's

 

[BigMan]

Thanks for the advice! I promise you that there is light where I'm studying these languages.





Here's the trick I used to learn how to roll R's....

Take English words that have a double letters in them (like battery, the word I used). Normally, these words have 3 syllables, but what you're going do is say the word with 2 syllables: instead of bat-te-ry, say bat-tery and say it fast. The double "t" will eventually roll like an "rr." The muscle memory(or tongue memory, in this case) in this exercise will teach you placement and movement in rolling.

It will sound silly at first, but you'll be rolling in a day, two tops.

Any spanish tips on how to roll your R's

 

[Yehuda]

german
english (not my mother language)
afrikaans

Is German still spoken by Black folks in Namibia?

 

[DrBanneker]

Is German still spoken by Black folks in Namibia?

No idea..I heard there are some Blacks in Brazil though that speak a narrow dialect of German because of missionaries from a while back.

 

[Yehuda]

No idea..I heard there are some Blacks in Brazil though that speak a narrow dialect of German because of missionaries from a while back.

I know people speak some German dialect in Brazil but they're actual descendants of Germans.

 

[mr.africa]

Is German still spoken by Black folks in Namibia?

nope
but some private/public schools offer it as a language to study/learn and we have 2 private german schools (that i know of)

 

[Golden.Frame]

I used to be so good in Japanese, the kanji came easy, vocab was easy,and it was fun. But, the older I get the less interest I have in Japanese culture. I used to be really into anime and manga, and I started learning in highschool, and I was so good I had a chance to go to Japan through my school. I know I've regressed, but I really want to get back into it, its a shame to just drop it, and I refuse to die knowing only 1 language.
I started learning French in college, took a year of it, and have been to Paris twice, and visited Senegal. But this is hard too, because I really care little for French culture or media. Its easier to learn than Japanese, but once again, I have no interest for the culture attached to the language (no offense) and it won't help me professionally.

I've put so much money,effort, and time into these two languages, that it sucks to just give up, I hoping this is just a phase.

TLDR:
It's hard af to learn a language without a "why"
Pick a language you'll have some use for

 

[pickles]

Any brehs here try Rosetta Stone?

Does it work or nah?

I am going to Italy in a couple of months, and don't want to be that American who doesn't understand anything and speaks only English.

 

[Cynic]

I can't wait till I can watch a full fledge debate and understand their talking points


Café Filosófico CPFL


TV Cultura turning out to be a force outchea

 

[dennis roadman]

Any brehs here try Rosetta Stone?

Does it work or nah?

I am going to Italy in a couple of months, and don't want to be that American who doesn't understand anything and speaks only English.

you will be

 

[DrBanneker]

Any brehs here try Rosetta Stone?

Does it work or nah?

I am going to Italy in a couple of months, and don't want to be that American who doesn't understand anything and speaks only English.

If that's what you want I would take a class or try to hire a tutor on Craigslist or something. Rosetta Stone ain't going to get you there to be comfortable conversing.

 

[Givethanks]

Progress up date: how is everyone doing? Any new progress?