The Language Learning Thread - Interested in learning a new language? Already learning a language and wanna share your experiences? Need to find a partner to practice with? Come sperg here!

[Monkey Shoulder]

I see! I don't really have a chance in my day to day life to speak in English at all so I mostly stick to just writing and reading, I wish I knew any native speakers irl, I can imagine talking with one on a regular basis would be helpful. Also, I can't shake the feeling that some things get inevitably lost in translation, it bothers me to know that there are certain expressions or phrases that can't be translated from one language to another, so when I think of something I want to say I usually do it in my native language first and then try to write it out in English. Often times what I end up writing is not exactly what I meant, lol. I guess I might have to make an effort to expand my vocabulary, that might help.

Languages are hard, man.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Consoooming English/American media is actually a good way to pick up on expressions and phrases, as well as browsings forums and such. Eventually they just "click" in your brain.
One fun thing I discovered while talking to an especially slavic individual is that my English pretty much degraded to his level, both in terms of vocabulary and intonation.

 

[issue]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Consoooming English/American media is actually a good way to pick up on expressions and phrases, as well as browsings forums and such. Eventually they just "click" in your brain.
One fun thing I discovered while talking to an especially slavic individual is that my English pretty much degraded to his level, both in terms of vocabulary and intonation.

Heh, that's funny. It's crazy that you can't really take breaks from language learning if you want to get somewhere with it lol, it's a great hobby to have because you'll never run out of space to improve. All I really want is to feel comfy when speaking and not have to second-guess everything I'm saying, it can get pretty exhausting after a while.

 

[Least Concern]

I see! I don't really have a chance in my day to day life to speak in English at all

As much as I generally hate Discord, it makes it really easy to do voice calls with people, and for that reason it's quite popular among language learners online. I suggest you search for Discord servers for both ESL learners and learners of your native language. Often these servers will have open chat channels that you can join, and there's no shame in just listening if you're too shy or unconfident to talk yet. You might also meet someone to do a language exchange with; a native English speaker will chat with you in English and correct your mistakes for ten minutes or so, then you'll switch and they will speak with you in your language while you correct.

That said, it's still definitely better to learn in person if possible, because being able to see peoples' body language and mouth movements helps a lot in communication even among two native speakers of the same language.

 

[issue]

As much as I generally hate Discord, it makes it really easy to do voice calls with people, and for that reason it's quite popular among language learners online. I suggest you search for Discord servers for both ESL learners and learners of your native language. Often these servers will have open chat channels that you can join, and there's no shame in just listening if you're too shy or unconfident to talk yet. You might also meet someone to do a language exchange with; a native English speaker will chat with you in English and correct your mistakes for ten minutes or so, then you'll switch and they will speak with you in your language while you correct.

That said, it's still definitely better to learn in person if possible, because being able to see peoples' body language and mouth movements helps a lot in communication even among two native speakers of the same language.

I avoid Discord like the plague so it never occurred to me that there might be actual helpful communities there but now that you mention it, it makes sense for language learning. It does sound like a great opportunity to improve my English so I'll try it out, thank you for the tip fren!

 

[Realistic Elephant]

OP - I would STRONGLY advise against learning Russian to use in most, if not all Eastern European countries. That is not a period of history viewed fondly by people in any of those countries and the use of the Russian language was symbolic of their oppression and status as client states of the Soviet Union. Shoot, if you tried that in the Baltic states you might get killed if you come across the wrong way.

For me, I'd like to work on my German again. I took enough courses when I was in college to almost minor in the language.

 

[Dread First]

OP - I would STRONGLY advise against learning Russian to use in most, if not all Eastern European countries. That is not a period of history viewed fondly by people in any of those countries and the use of the Russian language was symbolic of their oppression and status as client states of the Soviet Union. Shoot, if you tried that in the Baltic states you might get killed if you come across the wrong way.

For me, I'd like to work on my German again. I took enough courses when I was in college to almost minor in the language.

Perhaps I should've clarified where I wanna visit: I was thinking more along the lines of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine rather than Poland, the Baltic states, etc. I know that Ukraine is in a bit of of a contentious situation so maybe Russian wouldn't be the best option, but hey: more people in Belarus speak Russian than Belarusian to begin with.

 

[Realistic Elephant]

Perhaps I should've clarified where I wanna visit: I was thinking more along the lines of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine rather than Poland, the Baltic states, etc. I know that Ukraine is in a bit of of a contentious situation so maybe Russian wouldn't be the best option, but hey: more people in Belarus speak Russian than Belarusian to begin with.

Ohhh...that's a little different. Probably would be completely fine in that case.