#i’m seriously so thankful for memrise

[meandkorean]

#i’m seriously so thankful for memrise #i’ve learned so much because of it #memrise #studying turkish #turkish #langblr #app recommendation

[studynorwegian]

Hi!

Can you recommend any good language learning apps? I tried duolingo but they don’t offer Icelandic course yet, so I mainly use it for French.

Thank you :)

Hey!

Before I give recommend some apps I just want to say that I’m not sure if these offer Icelandic, as I’ve only studied French & Norwegian.

Babbel: A lot of people say this app feels a lot like a real language class. I’ve not personally used it, but a lot of people seem to like it!

Memrise: I’ve used this app before, and it seems like a good way to learn conversation. If I remember correctly it was teaching me a lot of casual conversation etc. Also it has videos of real locals speaking words/phrases just out on the streets. So that’s kinda cool.

Busuu: I’ve actually never used this app, and I only heard of it recently, but I was planning on trying it out soon. I don’t know anything about it except that it’s supposedly good for people who seriously want to learn a language. Again idk if this is true, I’ve not tried it yet.

HelloTalk: oh boy. Where to start with Hellotalk. The idea is to connect you to native speakers of your target language. Like if I am learning Norwegian, and a Norwegian person is learning English, we can chat (text, voice message, call etc) and help reach other. There are cool features like being able to correct someone’s text and it shows them what they typed and what you corrected etc. There is also forums to post on. I’ve made some good friends here in the past, I even met up with one when I was living in France. BUT I’ve since deleted the app. I used to spend so much time on there, but all the friends I made on there, we’ve moved to other platforms. We stopped using Hellotalk because it was taken over by kinda creepy men looking for relationships. I’ve not been on in a while, so Idk. But the last year I was on there some girls made a “girls only” group message, because we were being harassed and hit on so much. Hellotalk said they were working on fixing this problem: so maybe they did! I’ve just not logged back in to check. I really loved this app until I didn’t lol.

Rosetta Stone: I think they have an app now. I’m not sure if they charge you or how much they do (I know back in the day their dvd sets etc obviously cost money. So idk if the app does). But a lot of people really swear by Rosetta Stone, so maybe check that out?

Beelinguapp: this app teaches you languages through stories. The text, translations and audiobook recordings are available.

Mondly: never used it and I know nothing about it, but thought I’d mention it for you! I’ve seen it mentioned before, and since Icelandic is a fairly rare language to find on these apps I figured I should mention as many as I can think of 😂

#ask me literally anything #ask me #langblr #norwegian #language learning #bilingual #language #polyglot #language tumblr #studybrl #language learning apps #language apps #norsk #norway #learn norwegian #scandinavia #french #France #Icelandic

[not-a-polyglot]

Hi! May you please help me? I have been trying to learn German for a year but I can't grasp *how* to learn a language. I don't know what the steps are and I don't have the time or money to hire a tutor/ attend classes, I have Babbel but it's getting too pricey, and I don't know any native speakers. Where should I start? I heard that the CASE system is important, but I don't know how to tie everything together to where I can read/ write in the language fluently. What do you recommend (thanks!)

Hey there! Specifically for german I don’t have much of advice because just like you i have just started! But I can share how I usually do it, plus remember that there is plenty of material out there on the internet for you to study. (x, x, x, x - just examples!)

I would start, generally, with trying to proceed on different paths at the same time, them being:

- vocabulary/reading, 

- grammar,

- listening/speaking. 

It’s hard to practice one when you dont work on the other. 

So I’d say for example you choose a pdf/book/whatever for grammar (that’s what I did), let’s say you want to do two chapters a week, or even just one. Make sure there’s exercises so you can remember more easily! Usually re-writing rules or exercises help me with memorising. Or write down your own examples! I’m sure you’ll find someone to practice german with that can help you correct sentences and explain your mistakes. :) Also just a reminder: don’t be afraid to mess up or be perfect because learning a language is beautiful but also nasty af haha you’ll basically never feel like you’re doing enough, but you are. Even learning one new word is progress!

Together with your chapter/chapters of grammar you could practice your reading skills and learn new vocabulary while reading veeery easy dialogues or children’s books. Translate them and try to remember the new words you learn, maybe write down your own examples once again! Make them characteristic so that you can remember easily. 

Lastly theres plenty of choice on youtube for listening practice (x, x), and also for grammar revision, since maybe you can’t always understand something on your own. Also as I said, I’m sure you can find someone to practice with and another listening/speaking exercise could be trying to read out loud recording yourself and asking for feedback. Or once you are able to have a basic conversation you can try sending audio messages talking about anything you like! 

Set a goal, have fun and don’t take it too seriously. We all procrastinate so don’t beat yourself up. 

I’ll leave you with this huge post of german resources, so you can try and see if there’s anything that you can find useful for you. Hope this was helpful!

!update: I usually use apps together with actual studying, but I never found them really necessary. They can be fun tho! I’ve tried Duolingo, Memrise and HelloTalk so far. I’m sure you already know them and that they were already in the resources post, but thought I might still share.

#replies #slipperyslumber #german #deutsch #langblr

[eurolinguiste]

I recently announced that I am revising a language that I studied in the past – Korean. 

My first time around with Korean was a struggle. At the time, I was between Japanese and Korean as my next language project, but when my good friend Lindsay of Lindsay Does Language expressed interest in learning Korean alongside me, I chose Korean over Japanese.

During those six months, I struggled with almost every aspect of the language – the pronunciation, the writing system, the grammar, and nothing seemed to stick. When Lindsay told me she was ready to move on to other language projects, I decided to set Korean aside. I planned to use the time to think about what I wanted to do about Korean – tackle it again or give it up.

Getting Re-Started with the Korean Language

Initially, I was certain that I would end up giving up Korean. It seemed as though the language and might not have been a good fit, so I spent a year working on several other languages, including a few new ones. It gave me the chance to experience a couple of big language learning wins and remind myself that just because I wasn’t able to learn Korean, I wasn’t a bad language learner.

  A post shared by Shannon Kennedy (@eurolinguiste) on Apr 23, 2018 at 7:59am PDT

I started trying to convince myself to let Korean go. I had already done it with German and Arabic, so doing it again shouldn’t have been hard. But there was just something about the language that led me to feel as though I should hang on to it. I couldn’t make a decision.

Recently, I started learning Japanese – a language that is often compared to Korean in terms of difficulty. My experience with Japanese wasn’t anything like my experience with Korean. I poured over my notes from my time with Korean, trying to figure out why — and then it hit me.

When I started seriously studying Japanese, I began taking lessons almost right away. When I studied Korean – I did all of the same things except lessons. I never really used the language with someone else. Instead, I convinced myself that my weekly meetings with my study buddy (which were in English) were enough. And while they kept me accountable and helped me find the motivation to study every day, everything that I learned was relatively meaningless because I wasn’t putting it into practice.

So I decided to give the language a second chance and to do it “right” this time. I’d do exchanges, take lessons, and start speaking the language sooner rather than later.

My Early Efforts at Learning Korean Weren’t For Nothing

To be completely honest, I was worried that the first six months I spent studying Korean were a total waste. Outside of a few basic expressions – hello, thank you, and goodbye – I remembered nothing. All the vocabulary, grammar, and practice I had done disappeared the moment I stopped studying the language.

I was convinced that everything that I had learned was gone – that I really didn’t remember any of it. 

But when I started back up with the language, it quickly came back. Things made sense much more quickly and I often found myself thinking, “oh yeah, I remember that.” The information was still there in my head – it was just buried.

And not only was it still there, but it also helped me to pick up new concepts and vocabulary much faster than I had in the past.

Tackling the Korean Writing System

When I first started studying Korean, I remember spending countless hours on Memrise trying to learn the alphabet. But no matter how often I reviewed the characters, it seemed like I couldn’t piece it all together. When I decided to start over, the first thing I returned to was that particular Memrise set. I reset my learning statistics and began studying from zero.

Memorizing the Korean writing system was suddenly as easy as other learners always claimed it to be. Yes, I still struggle with the more complex vowel sounds (particularly those with w), but after only a few hours, I could sound out entire words and phrases in Korean even if I couldn’t understand them. 

The Conversational Approach to Language Learning

As I said before, using Korean is very important to me this time around. When I studied the language before, I did try to use the language whenever I went to the doctor. I thought it made sense, but looking back, I realize that it really didn’t. My doctor appointments were important and it didn’t make sense to try to use Korean in them when I needed to have important discussions with my nurse and doctor. It also didn’t make sense because what I needed to know in that particular setting wasn’t useful to me at all in any other setting.

This time, I’m diving right in with tutors and exchange partners and I’m going to try to record more videos on Instagram – much like I did with Japanese.

The Resources I Plan to Use to Learn Korean

To start, I am using Memrise to pick up new vocabulary and keep the writing system in front of me. It’s my go-to resource for every language because I can customize my own decks (I add new words to my private deck after lessons) and study pre-made flashcards. I always have it with me since it’s loaded on my phone, so I can study anytime, anyplace. I’ve also found the Memrise Korean course (the course that Memrise itself makes for the language) to be extremely useful 

From there, I plan Korean Made Simple https://amzn.to/2K76h9v as my first course book and Pimsleur as my first audio program.

Eventually, I’ll add Assimil into the mix for both its book and its audio. On the side, I’m watching the Easy Languages Korean episodes as well as some of the KoreanClass101 video lessons. I’ve also had my first few lessons on iTalki.

To Sum Up

Much like with Japanese, I have a few different resources I’m interested in trying out, but as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t like to work with more than 3-5 language learning resources at any given time. It gets overwhelming and I find I’m not able to make as much progress when I study. As a part of the Add1Challenge (and just for my own records), I plan to make regular videos on Instagram and Youtube– so be sure to follow me there.

In the meantime, if you have any tips for me as a newish Korean language learner or if you have any resource recommendations that you couldn’t have lived without, please let me know in the comments below. 

I look forward to hearing from you!

The post So We Meet Again… My Second Attempt to Learn Korean & What I’m Doing Different appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

#IFTTT #WordPress #language learning #travel #eurolinguiste

[koreanstudentiseul]

April 15: Week 12- Resource overload.

This week I had a little bit of an epiphany, which probably should have been common sense but sometimes you need to make the mistake for yourself to realise it. Too many options, can be seriously overwhelming. I’d said a few weeks ago I was going to decide my study routine based off what I used most in a set time frame, but when you have 20 odd resources that can be paralysing. I only managed 2ish hours and all of that time was on memrise (though 20 minutes were reading he preface for my first 500 Korean words which arrived yesterday).

The problem I had is for everything I have multiple resources so even if I know I want to focus on say, vocab, I have near 10 different things I can use for vocab so I spend ten minutes trying to pick one and end up leaving it and doing nothing or just going onto memrise and reviewing the words I knew on there for however long it took depending how daft I was being. So with this in mind while I’d like to maintain the memrise revision as much as possible I’d like it to be daily to not forget everything I really need to have a bare bone plan and if I want to /feel up to doing more then I can look at the other resources and at least I’ll have done something instead of falling out the blocks.

This aside, I feel a bit better about the numbers systems after this week since I was having some serious problems with some of the native numbers. 여덟 has been my biggest problem both in retaining the spelling for, and for being able to pronounce correctly. The ㅂ really confused me for the longest time, my brain couldn’t comprehend that it was silent so yeah finally getting over that random hurdle.

Since I haven’t really done much this week there’s not a huge amount to talk about but for next week I am going to have a finalized study plan, no more putting it off, no more letting the depression affect what I want to do. I’m gonna create a nice space to work, gonna get some cute stickers and anything else that might help (bigger post-its would be nice, mine are barely bigger than a stamp) and try to make it as fun as possible since looking out the window just shows grey, cold and rainy weather and that’s just not motivating.

So, to recap. New study plan, bare bones basics to build on without feeling overwhelmed. Revamped workspace so it’s less bleak and miserable. New post-its, stickers, maybe some washi tape to make the notes as nice as possible so they also don’t look boring and miserable so its more interesting to look back over notes and revise and all that good stuff. I just want to restart my motivation after its been dragging it’s heels for the last few months while dealing with health things. But that’s everything for this week, thank you for reading and happy learning~  ♡

#StudyLog #KoreanStudyLog #studyblr #langblr #language #language blog #langblog #learningkorean

[spanishahora]

hi! your blog's pretty cool. i was wondering if you had any advice for someone who would need to largely self-teach themselves to learn spanish? gracias

Thanks for checking out my blog! As for self-studying, I know first hand how difficult that can be. It may go slower, or sometimes faster, than a traditional classroom, and here are some tips to keep you on track.

Vocabulary: There are two ways to go about this. Both are effective, and it’s all based on personal preference.

1. Categorized Vocab Lists: Apps such as Duolingo, Memrise, and most traditional textbooks are structured this way. You learn vocab based on categories such as pets, food, etc. This is good for specific information but is not good for being able to carry on a conversation quickly.

2. Most Common Words: this is taking the top 100, 500, etc. words used in a language and memorizing each one. The one app I know that’s structured this way is Lingvist. You get common verbs, nouns, and adjectives and go from there. The downside to this is that you can’t speak on specific topics, only general ones. A good mix of these two systems will bring you a long way.

Grammar: The most common resource for grammar is traditional textbooks. But if you want the cheap route, Lingvist has grammar lessons based on beginner, intermediate, and advanced topics. As a beginner, you can start with that. Once you get into more difficult topics, textbooks are your best resource.

Motivation: Look, we all know that self-studying is a tiring and frustrating feat. No one said it would be easy. But consistency in studying every day (or at the least, every week) is key to learning a language. To keep yourself motivated, chart your progress. Note every single new word you learn. Every verb conjugation. Every new grammar point. It really helps you feel accomplished.

Another way to do this is to start a blog (which you’ve already done). Do a word of the day or a list of the week. Post recordings of yourself. I made a point of posting one new word every single day so I wouldn’t fall behind. And boy, does it help. Especially when all of your followers are expecting a new word every day. It helps when people are watching your progress. They keep you motivated.

Random Points

1. QUIZLET IS YOUR FRIEND! Seriously, there are so many free vocab lists on there. Look up any topic and you’ll find dozen term lists in an instant. Use those free resources!

2. Talk to people. I know that’s what everyone always says, but it’s true. If you want to get better speaking, you can’t just practice reading and writing. Use the free apps to talk to native speakers. And for my more introverted learners, talk in the shower. Talk to your pets. Even to your bedside lamp. You don’t need to constantly be in front of people to practice speaking.

3. Record yourself. One of the best ways to improve your accent is to copy phrases that native speakers have said and compare your accent with theirs. When you copy their speech patterns, you are more likely to sound like a native. You can use speakers from a specific region and one dialect or a variety of accents and dialects.

But don’t just rely on one native speaker to copy. Even if they are from the same area, even the same city, use more than one source to copy your accent from.

3. Have fun! What’s the point in spending hundreds of hours studying if you hate every second of it? Make it a game and something you enjoy. I’m not saying you have to enjoy every second of it, but try to look forward to studying. It can be so thrilling and rewarding to learn a new language.

Sorry. This turned into a really long post. If you have any more questions, feel free to message me. ¡Buena suerte!

#ask

[purple-asphodel]

Getting to Know You tag

@nct-loves-exo tagged me. Thank you! 💞

Nickname - a lot of friends call me Kat and my dad usually called me Kitty, which are both nice. My mom used to call me Jojo, Joey, or Johanna Banana (since my middle name's Johanna); that's one of the reasons I love to call Zelo "Junhong Bunong," since it's a similar nickname and he said in an interview that he prefers "Junhong Bunong" over "MarshZelo." Also the reason SHINee's song Jojo is special to me. I also had a teacher who called me Andy all the time, cuz of my last name

Gender - Female

Zodiac - Leo

Height - 5′5"

Age - 24

Time - 3:58 PM

Favorite band/solo artist - for Kpop: BAP

non-Kpop: Bastille

Song stuck in my head - Say My Name by Ateez

Last movie I saw - i seriously don't remember. I watch shows more than movies. I think the last movie might've been Greta

Last thing I googled - smglobalshop

Other blogs - I don't have any

Why I chose my username - I'm a big Harry Potter fan, and I got a beta Pottermore account years ago. Purple Asphodel was the username that Pottermore created for me

Following - 109, but I barely use Tumblr anymore

Average amount of sleep - 6.5 to 7.5 hours on week nights. I sleep more on weekends

Lucky Number - superstition is evil, so I don't have lucky charms/numbers. But there are certain numbers I like: 1004 bc of 1004 Angel by BAP and 819 since August 19 is my birthday

What am I wearing - light yellow t-shirt with a peacock and peach-colored short shorts (I'm at home, so I'm wearing pajamas, lmao)

Dream job - I'd love to be a backup dancer for stage performances, but I don't have the skills or training. I can kinda dance, but I'd need a lot of practice

Dream trip - I really wanna go back to Croatia and Bosnia; the food was good, people were nice, and it'd be nice to go there for a pilgrimage again. I also wanna go to Prague, Spain, Korea... pretty much everywhere, lol. Since I was a kid, I always wanted to travel the world

Favourite food - Mexican food

Play any instruments - I played violin in the orchestra in 4th and 5th grade. I still have my violin but don't remember how to play

Favourite song - Impossible to choose an overall song, so I’ll just go with my current ones, which are IDC by Zelo, Snapping by Chungha, Bon Bon Chocolat by Everglow, and Who Do U Love? by Monsta X

Played any sports - was on the volleyball team in 4th grade. Played intramural volleyball as a junior in high school and freshman in college

Hair color - dark brown

Most iconic song - depends on my mood, lol. Limitless was my fave NCT song for a long time. I love Lotto by EXO, and it was like the best birthday present ever, since the mv was posted on my birthday in 2016

Languages you speak - native English speaker, studied some French in elementary school, took 3 years of Latin in high school, a year of German in college, and am using the Memrise app to learn Korean

Random fact - I love skeletons. A lot of people think they're scary. But when I see a skeleton, I don't see death; I just see it anatomically. I think skeletons are cool, but maybe it's just the little kid in me who wanted to be a paleontologist, lol

Describe yourself as an aesthetic - pastels or dark colors (I don't like bright/neon/hot colors)

[prideandpen]

Thank you so much for tagging me @minkys-studies! I didn’t think I’d get to do this one because I don’t have a ton of langblr friends. (also you’re learning Korean! That’s so exciting! Feel free to message me if you want, maybe we could be study buddies? Or at very least I might be able to point you in the direction of some resources for learning the Hangul)

1. What language/s are/have you studied? Spanish in high school. I tried really hard with French for a while, and I gave Danish a larger chance than I really should have because it really just didn’t go well from the beginning. A few others too, but those are the ones I put the most effort into. (and still didn’t succeed with.) And of course now I’m studying Korean.

2. How long have you been studying? I studied Spanish in school for 3 and a half years. It wasn’t a good fit for me.

Korean I’ve been studying for about 6-7 months now. I’m not as far as I’d like to be yet.

3. Did you learn through class or self-study (or both)? I was/am self study for everything but Spanish (seriously though I shouldn’t even count Spanish in this, I only remember a few sentences.)

4. Why did you decide to learn this language? Learning Korean started as what I assumed would be a passing interest and then I just loved it. It’s a beautiful language, and so expressive. I wish I knew how to explain what it’s like to fall in love with a language. If I ever figure it out I’ll let you know. But that’s why I decided to keep going with it. I fell in love with it.

5. What was a major highlight/milestone in studying this language? Learning through context. Some super simple words/phrases were ones I picked up through watching kdramas. The word for ‘so’ and to ask someone if they’re okay. to ask someone if they’re hurt. Being able to understand parts of a language without actively trying to learn it when you’re not far into the language is such a rush. That and recognizing words/phrases better than the subtitles picked them up. That was the moment I knew that I could really learn this language and do well at it, because I understood a scene better than the subs 

6. What was the hardest thing about studying the language? Vocab. I’m not good with memorization, I find it a little dull being repetitive all the time. so I need ton find ways to challenge myself with it because I get complacent. That and learning the ‘y’ sound characters in the Hangul. I still sometimes mix them up.

7. What resources did you find most useful for studying this language? -There was a comic floating around on Tumblr that got me started with the Hangul that was pretty good (though there was some confusion when I moved on to other sources) -Talk to me in Korean was a big help -Naver dictionary, is obviously esential because it’s a Korean based dictionary rather than an english one. Though still definitely not 100% accurate. I’ve had some entertaining translations -HowToStudyKorean.com is my favorite though. it doesn’t have audio posts which sucks. but the explanations for how the grammar works is really in depth and is a great help in actually understanding the language. -kdramas and kpop (especially music videos that include english subs)

8. Any top tips for studying this language? Recognize that the grammar is so different from English, and that direct translations are going to cause you more harm than good in the long run if you take them seriously.

9. What’s your next major language goal? Vocabulary for sure. I really can’t move past these basic sentence structures without upping my word bank. But I need to find a good method for it. Also learning the proper strokes for how to write the Hangul might be a good idea. Because I can write it pretty well, I just know I’m not doing it the way I’m supposed to.

10. Anything we can do in the Tumblr community to get you there? Be supportive! Ask me how my language studies are going, interact with my language posts. Your positivity about my studies helps me to stay positive about them.  Tell me what you do to memorize vocabulary words and prevent it from feeling boring and repetitive (because my adhd brain just cannot with the repetitive) Seriously for the love of god please someone tell me how to vocabulary other than just flash cards and/or memrise Tags tags! @elphabun, @boothewriter, @presh-s, @whoknowswhatisgoingon, @milktealangblr, @quipsterlotte-studies, @theonejlove, @writerintraining-us (sorry if I tagged anyone not studying a language I was struggling to remember which of my mutuals were language learners and which weren't)

[all-languages-are-gay]

My language journey

I was tagged by @languagesanddoggos so long ago  thank you! ^^

1. What languages are you/have studied? 

English, obviously, German, Italian, Japanese and Russian. Nothing besides my current target languages plus English 2. How long have you been studying? I took English in school/course for 11 years, lately it’s been just using it, not really “studing” per se 9 years of German in school gave my some knowledge of grammar but little vocab and no confidence in active lang skills I took a semester of Italian and Russian in uni and have been self-studying more or less since June Self-studying Japanese I started back in April when I rather learned hiragana than physical chemistry 3. Did you learn through class or self-study (or both)? ^ 4. Why did you decide to learn this language? English was chosen for me by my parents, German by my school (but I decided to take classes later on on my own). Italian and Russian were kind of a coincidence bc Japanese wouldn’t have worked out with my schedule and all places in Spanish and Sweish classes were taken. I like the sound of Japanese and, obviously, I’d like to be able to watch anime and read manga in original. 5. What was a major highlight/milestone in studying this language? Getting puns in English Learning all kana in Japanese Learning cirilic alphabet in Russian None yet for German and Italian 6. What was the hardest thing about studying this language? Studying English was just not fun. Even though my teacher taught my with a method that worked well with me, all logical and almost mathematical. But then I got an extremely annoying teacher in middle school I outright HATED. still do For German it’s definitely comparing it to English and seeing how much less I can say even though it’s only 2 years later than English that I started learning German German, Italian and Russian are also quite gendered so it’s annoying, for sure In Italian I think it might be the speed of natives talking? In Japanese? Kanji. What else did you expect? even though I have only just begun studying it seriously 7. What resources did you find most useful for studying this language? I really like Memrise for Italian and German, Lingvist is quite random but fun (German + Russian), I also use Duo for all 4 of my target langs (I either like it or ignore it for months, nothing inbetween), talking with natives is terrifying but so effective omg, Genki is so much fun and explains things very clear (Japanese) 8. Any top tips for studying this language?

Find someonwho learns the same lang to motivate each other. You can hold practice sessions together. bonus points: native speaker is present to correct you and answer any questions

Studying “mainstream” langs gives you more resources and conversation partners

9. What’s your next major language goal? 

Feeling confident in German. So I can start learning Hungarian or Dutch or Finnish. Then Italian to “unlock” Spanish. Finishing Genki 1.

10. Anything we can do in the tumblr community to get you there?

There’s one sure-fire methos to get me motivated: start learning Polish and ask me for advice/practice excercises. And please don’t tempt me too much with other langs, I’m a quite weak-willed language nerd

Anyone who wants to do it can go ahead and say I tagged them. Have fun!

#about #tag games #idk how to tag it rip