Was chatting with Mrs Weeksy this morning.

When i get to the office each morning it’s quiet… I’m in IT so i don’t need to communicate etc.

We were discussing a few things, usually i listen to music, but she suggested “why don’t you learn a language etc…”

So I thought “hmmm good idea” Most of our family holidays are in France, so better French would be a good plan.

What’s the best way ?

Duolingo works well for spare minutes anywhere.

Yeah, Duolingo user here. Working well with me learning Swedish anyway.

I’m in IT so i don’t need to communicate etc.

🤣👍🤷‍♂️

Classic.

Bilingual non-communication.

Mate used michel Thomas cds. Learnt French really comprehensively and now lives in France. Just realised though that he can’t write it at all well and is struggling to help teach his kids…

The cds just sent me to sleep..

Mrs Gti has been doing French on Duolingo for well over a year now, I must admit that I’m impressed by her determination because she also goes to an evening class once a week. Her grammar is excellent but thanks to lack of practice her comprehension and verbal skills are lagging behind. I speak fluent French and sometimes we try to converse but my French is quite colloquial and she finds it frustrating trying to understand me. Also my own understanding of formal grammar is rusty so sometimes I have difficulty in explaining why things are the way they are.

To add to her frustration she got to the end of a full year on Duolingo and accumulated lots of credits (or whatever) then suddenly it re-set itself to day one and she had to start again from the beginning, which is very common apparently.

^^^ Is a fair point.

I have Duolingo is good for me to learn the reading and written (ok, typed, see earlier comment about IT workers…), but can be weaker on spoken and listening. I work in a Swedish company, so a lot of my conversations are in English, but when people do talk Swedish, the conversation goes pretty ‘Chewbacca’… They talk in Swedish, I understand the gist of the sentence and reply back in English. Apparently that is funny.

A lot of the time, the lack of words frustrates me more than anything else. People can always talk slower to me, I don’t mind that, but I hate running out of words.

Duolingo is certainly convenient, but I feel like I’m not going to actually progress until I take time to reinforce what Duolingo is trying to teach me. Whether that be time spent writing it out or actually speaking out loud. The latter is key in learning a language for me.

Using Duoling just makes you really good a Duolingo IME…

I don’t mind that, but I hate running out of words.

Interestingly Thomas quotes a study (I think his method is very good btw) from a good quality US newspaper analysis that determined you only need around 600 words to be able to speak a language well.

tbh you really need to combine studying it with using it, regularly. I can read a fair chunk of spanish, can get the jist half the time, but when it comes to speaking, I generally flap cause I never practice it. I think speaking and listening are also heavily linked too, cause I’ve always struggled to understand native folks, CD’s and stuff, generally are much easier to understand than real life. Accents are very much a thing!

I’d really should move to Spain for a year or something and get right into total immersion, ye do always find towards the end of say a holiday, you feel a wee bit more confident, then it’s time to come home, then it’s a reboot when you go back.

So find somewhere you can regularly immerse yourself in the language, with native people, would be my top tip.

I really should start up my learning again.

So find somewhere you can regularly immerse yourself in the language, with native people, would be my top tip.

You mean France then 🙂

Get a French au pair?

weeksy

You mean France then 🙂

Ideally, yes! But in lieu of that, my biggest mistake i’d say would have not been getting involved in “intercambio” groups and the like. Or trying to get involved with some spanish speakers over here regularly. If you can find local groups I’d think that can go some way to helping.

I started learning spanish via Duolingo becuase i play online with a few spanish friends, Duo lingo is great at teaching the comprehension but i have to try really hard to practice speaking it as much as possible for it to sink in.

Regards

My wife likes the “Coffee Break” Italian courses – I went through them in a couple of weeks on my drive to/from work before a 3 week trip last year, just to bring me up to speed and I think they helped. Admittedly, she also does an adult education course with the local FE college and we’ve both had lessons in Italy, but Coffee Break may be worth a look – I think there’s some freebies to give you a taster.

Interestingly Thomas quotes a study (I think his method is very good btw) from a good quality US newspaper analysis that determined you only need around 600 words to be able to speak a language well.

Was in the news last year…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-44569277

Michel Thomas all the way if you want to learn to converse. Start now and you’ll be able to hold reasonable conversations by the summer hols. I did 5 years of French at school and could read and write it reasonably but had the conversational skills of a 5 year old. Just the beginners course sorted it (25 years later right enough but hey ho).

Wow, those Michel Thomas books are expensive.

Guess that drives the commitment to learn though.

They are podcasts not books

Not got anything useful to add about how you do it, but good luck – go for it.

We were in Bala at the weekend in an Italian restaurant. The waiter kept waffling to the missus in German to our confusion (she is, but how the heck did he know)
To level the score a bit I asked for the bill in Italian, at which point he replied in English that he was actually Turkish.

So after a couple of seconds to gather my thoughts I introduced myself and asked for the bill again…. in Turkish.

The look on his face was priceless. Well worth the effort.

Love it when we go places with the kids and they happily go off and try to speak the local lingo.

By far the most difficult part of speaking foreign is overcoming the initial embarasment.

I’ve found Duolingo really good. I’ve been learning Spanish since the turn of the year and my grammar is pretty good and I can have some basic conversations. It really helps to try to talk in the language as often possible though. I’m lucky that I have a couple of South American friends that I can gibber at.

By far the most difficult part of speaking foreign is overcoming the initial embarasment.

Absolutely, which is why the best way to learn a language is to go to the place, find a bar, become a regular, drink plenty and get chatting with locals. The alcohol removes your inhibitions.

Vrai dat.

Buy French/Italian/whatever TV series that has English subtitles.
Why do you think the Belgians and Dutch speak English so well – 50% of their TV programmes are in English with Nederlandse subtitles.

In bed with a native speaker. According to Harry Flashman anyway.