The Language-Learning Thread

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Fatal Exception
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Fatal Exception » Mon Aug 15, 2011 7:57 pm

Fluenz yeah 8-)

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John Galt
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by John Galt » Mon Aug 15, 2011 8:29 pm

Fatal Exception wrote:I want to... 'find' Fluenz Mandarin. I'm having trouble though :(


From what those of you who have used this have seen, how useful do you think it would be to someone who has an ~intermediate knowledge of the language? I've barely done any Mandarin work over the past few weeks due to work but I've got about a month between finishing work and the start of uni where I'm hoping to put a lot of time in and something like this would be ideal just to break up the textbook work.

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Osito
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Osito » Mon Aug 15, 2011 8:41 pm

I really like it as it explains the sentence structure etc. very well. However, I don't think it ever goes into characters, it only uses Pinyin, so it's use may be limited. It would probably be helpful as a revision aid though, and is better than textbook work, so I'll send you some links. It's all quite straightforward so far, but, as I haven't got to the more advanced content yet, I'm not sure how useful it will be to you.

Edit- Just loaded up Mandarin 3, and it seems to be quite work based (office stuff, etc.), which might be what you're after.

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John Galt
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by John Galt » Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:35 pm

final-fx wrote:I really like it as it explains the sentence structure etc. very well. However, I don't think it ever goes into characters, it only uses Pinyin, so it's use may be limited. It would probably be helpful as a revision aid though, and is better than textbook work, so I'll send you some links. It's all quite straightforward so far, but, as I haven't got to the more advanced content yet, I'm not sure how useful it will be to you.

Edit- Just loaded up Mandarin 3, and it seems to be quite work based (office stuff, etc.), which might be what you're after.


Are there not even characters on the higher level? I think it would probably be a step back if I started learning solely from pinyin again. Thanks for the links though - I'll definitely check it out.

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Osito
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Osito » Tue Aug 23, 2011 3:59 pm

I'm starting to get the hang of the trilled r now. I can do it on by itself or at the start of a word, but still have to work on it if it's in the middle or at the end. Making solid progress though. Sounds lovely when it works, Spanish is such a sexy sounding language. :wub:

Making solid progress with the Chinese characters too, I'd say I could recognise 100 or so. Not really bothering with stroke order, as I don't feel it's massively important for me at the moment, and I can always go back and learn it if I need to. This has led me to use Fluenz Mandarin less frequently (though Spanish still gets used a lot), as I prefer something that has a few characters now. Mainly using the ___pod sites now, which are excellent. Used my free Chinese trial (and still am, as it keeps going if you stay logged in :shifty: ), and am well into my Spanish one, and will probably sign up to the praxis package when it expires. It really is excellent, and I would highly recommend it.

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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Osito » Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:30 pm

If anyone is after some of the ___101 podcasts (frenchpod101, spanishpod101, chineseclass101 etc.) they do a 50% discount code for every extra language you learn, but it works on the first one as well ( 8-) ). This means that you can get a years basic subscription for under £19, or two years for under £30. This has all of the transcripts, complete audio archives, feeds, etc.

You can also get a years premium subscription for just over £50, if you want flashcards etc. If you're interested, send me a PM and I'll send you the code.

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Sputnik
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Sputnik » Fri Sep 02, 2011 11:58 pm

Can anyone translate this from Japanese, please?

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This is malignant for diapered cartoon girls crutches as well

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Qikz
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Qikz » Sat Sep 03, 2011 12:02 am

Darkside? What's that from?

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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Sputnik » Sat Sep 03, 2011 12:03 am


This is malignant for diapered cartoon girls crutches as well

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Fade
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Fade » Sat Sep 03, 2011 12:43 am

Anybody know some good websites for learning Francais? >_>

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John Galt
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by John Galt » Fri Sep 16, 2011 5:50 pm

For those of you currently learning Chinese (or those thinking about taking it up), I've just found an excellent site for reading practice. It has articles in beginner, intermediate and advance categories and all the text is interactive so if you don't know a word or character you can just scroll over it and find its meaning and pronunciation.

http://chinesereadingpractice.com/

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Lotus
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Lotus » Fri Sep 16, 2011 5:54 pm

Does anyone having experience of learning French to a good level?

I did GCSE French, which taught me about as much as I'd need to know on holiday, but I want to get my French up to a decent standard.

I can still remember a lot of the basics, which I'm guessing will help, but the trick is finding the best way of continuing to learn and taking it to the next level. Any recommendations on courses/books/CDs/etc?

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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Osito » Fri Sep 16, 2011 6:38 pm

John Galt wrote:For those of you currently learning Chinese (or those thinking about taking it up), I've just found an excellent site for reading practice. It has articles in beginner, intermediate and advance categories and all the text is interactive so if you don't know a word or character you can just scroll over it and find its meaning and pronunciation.

http://chinesereadingpractice.com/


Cheers. :wub: Slowly but surely trying to reduce the amount of pinyin I use, so that looks superb.


Fade wrote:Anybody know some good websites for learning Francais? >_>


What level are you at currently? If you're a beginner, I've got a copy of Fluenz French 1 that's good, so I could send you that. The BBC website is also very helpful, and, especially for beginners, there are a load of podcasts freely available (Coffee Break French and frenchpod, for example). There is loads of software freely available ( :shifty: ) so you can easily find a program that suits you.

http://french.about.com/ is an excellent site too.

Lotus wrote:Does anyone having experience of learning French to a good level?

I did GCSE French, which taught me about as much as I'd need to know on holiday, but I want to get my French up to a decent standard.

I can still remember a lot of the basics, which I'm guessing will help, but the trick is finding the best way of continuing to learn and taking it to the next level. Any recommendations on courses/books/CDs/etc?


I found that, after stopping learning for a while, my vocab had essentially gone, and, I had to increase the speed of my speaking/listening, but the reading and writing remained pretty decent. I'd imagine that's the case for a lot of people, so I'd recommend more audio-based content.

In addition to what I've mentioned above, the BBC website is good for an intermediate learner, they have a course called Ma France which is for post-beginners, so it's worth trying that. You might want to check your level against the bitesize content, too. The podcasts I've mentioned above would be helpful (especially CBF, as that is freely available to a higher level). There are audio based courses as well (Michel Thomas and Paul Noble for example, again, easily found), and I can send you the first level of Fluenz (it only covers the basics, but I found it to be a nice little recap) if you want it.

For vocab, I'm currently using a site called memrise http://www.memrise.com/home/ which is solid, but there are loads of flash card type apps for iphones etc. which can easily be acquired.

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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Lotus » Fri Sep 16, 2011 7:57 pm

Cheers buddy, will check those out.

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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Qikz » Mon Sep 19, 2011 12:05 pm

Just grabbed myself an ameba account to start blogging on there as well as wordpress (ameba being circulated by way more Japanese people than wordpress is). Some on lang8 suggested I should do it. My language learning is going ok I think and I feel I'm getting better. I just need to improve my vocab more I think.

まずい日本語で申し訳ないですが、読んでくれてありがとうございました。

I've been using this sentance on the back end of my blog for months now, but recently after getting corrections on lang8 I've had people telling me I shouldn't really use it anymore as my Japanese isn't as bad as I think it is. Hopefully venturing more into the Japanese internet will help my reading and writing. My speaking is still pretty bad as I never really get chances to speak it other than to myself, but hopefully if my reading/writing gets better, when it comes down to it my speaking will be better than if I just wasn't learning anything at all.

How's everyones language learning going now? Parksey, are you still learning Chinese? ^^

The Watching Artist wrote:I feel so inept next to Qikz...
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Osito
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Osito » Mon Sep 19, 2011 4:07 pm

Out of curiosity, how much do you split your time between reading, listening, etc?

Lotus wrote:Cheers buddy, will check those out.


A couple of others:
The FSI courses have a good few languages http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php
http://www.ielanguages.com/
http://frenchtasticpeople.com/

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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Qikz » Tue Sep 20, 2011 1:22 am

final-fx wrote:Out of curiosity, how much do you split your time between reading, listening, etc?


Is that aimed at me? If it isn't, I'm sorry but I'm going to answer. I don't really have a structure for my learning. For me, it's not so much a sit down and do for the benefit of learning. Admittedly it was in the beginning.

I feel I have a good grasp of the grammer I know already, although of course there is a lot more I'm encountering every day which I'm trying to learn. I don't really sit down like I did in my first year to drill grammer as I'm learning it by using it. I don't have proper study methods, I study just doing things I enjoy. I'm learning new words via surfing the net, chatting to people and playing games. I of course watch a lot of anime, this season I've not been using subs and I've been understanding quite a lot of what I'm watching, although some parts are hard to comprehend.

I've also got my blog that I write which helps with my writing/grammer/vocab. If anything, my blog is one of the main things that helps me use words/grammer more often as I can keep using it over and over while writing to drill it into my skull that way. A guy commented on my blog post which I posted up on lang8 and said my Japanese was easy to read and he couldn't find anything needing correcting and it was on one of my longer posts, so I'm happy with that.

TL;DR - I don't have any set structure as it all comes from just doing things I enjoy. Games/Manga/Anime/Music/Net surfing take up a lot of my time during the day so I learn through them rather than have a set study regime. It's working out for me I feel so I'll keep on truckin'.

The Watching Artist wrote:I feel so inept next to Qikz...
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G-Rat
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by G-Rat » Tue Sep 20, 2011 2:27 am

Link to the blog StayDead?

Want a copy of my 6 page company report? :shifty: :x

Anung wrote:Destroying Japan from the inside like an alcoholic Nagasaki.
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Qikz
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by Qikz » Tue Sep 20, 2011 3:07 am

G-Ratasaurus Rex wrote:Link to the blog StayDead?

Want a copy of my 6 page company report? :shifty: :x


My Japanese isn't very good, but here you go. http://qikzsd.wordpress.com/ Oh, a warning. I wouldn't read it if you can't handle the inner otaku inside of me. I just write about the anime I watch normally and after reading back now over the past few days entries I've noticed a few more mistakes that I didn't notice first time. I'm hoping if I keep at it, I'll improve more and iron out the mistakes I'm making.

If you want, feel free to send me a copy of your company report. It'll probably be too difficult for me to read, but I'll do my best to try and read it and pick up some new business related words. :mrgreen:

The Watching Artist wrote:I feel so inept next to Qikz...
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PostRe: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)
by G-Rat » Tue Sep 20, 2011 5:37 am

Can I read this gay anime gooseberry fool at work, or is it full of pictures that will make everyone think I'm otaku? ;)

PM me your email address. If you're anything at the level your posts describe, then you should be fine.

Anung wrote:Destroying Japan from the inside like an alcoholic Nagasaki.

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