Language Learning + Motivation!

[lucybelle]

lucybelle - Another great idea I have the first Harry Potter book in Swedish, but I'm still struggling through the first sentence. Perhaps I should try with a smaller book? But it's certainly a book I know inside out and back to front which I think would be great for learning, just perhaps not yet until I have a bit more of a solid footing on grammar, sentence structure and common words. I do hope to be able to read through it one day with my SO, even if it's just a page a day to begin with. I wonder if you find it easier to read through the book once more in your native language before you start on the other language so it is very fresh in your mind? Or even try reading both at the same time to compare (like a page in English and a page in Swedish)? Or do you think that then becomes too much?

I guess the major thing for me is just turning it into a daily habit

I had a friend who used to compare books like that- page to page, but I think that'd be very tiresome. The first book I read in Spanish was Alice in Wonderland, skipping the song/poems. If you are struggling with Harry Potter, get a shorter, easier book. Even a kid's book to start with. One that's like "this apple is red" and has a picture of a red apple. It'll teach you basic vocab and sentence structure. Then you can go from there.

[differentcountries]

SmileyK: Karlek is a lovely word indeed, the similar New-Norwegian word kjærleik was voted the most beautiful word. And it IS a dear game, too

[Dziubka]

If you have a basis of the language, try reading. It takes a long time but for me it worked really well. Start with books you've already read or know the story so you're not trying to figure out what's happening. Then go from there. Never look up every word, just the important ones that repeat.

This!
I would never have made it through a whole book in the beginning, though.
When I started learning Polish I read all kinds of housewife-y magazines. You know, the ones that have stories like "My son's gay and I'm so happy for him", "How my husband's illness brought us closer together", etc, recipes, "fashion advice" and "Is princess soAndso hiding a baby belly under her summer dress?"
Those magazines don't cost a lot (you could ask your SO to send them to you) and the language is simple and (sometimes) colloquial and the articles are pretty short. So even if you don't know the language very well, you'll still be able to understand (and learn) a lot.


I actually still have a subscribton to the Polish cosmopolitan.

[Cristiana]

I tried Duolingo too and it helped a lot! But I'm not constant with anything so I gave up, I've done many levels and now I can remember just few words.. I think I'll sign up one more time and try doing it steadily.
Luckily I have romanian family friends that can help me, and moreover me and my boyfriend had this deal in which he teaches me romanian and I teach him italian
Sometimes I give him italian replies explaining each meaning or I ask him to do the same, and this can be both constructive to learn the language and a cute thing to do together

I find reading simple books or articles a great idea too, I'll definitively try it!

[Chillosaurus]

[...] Chillosaurus & conejita_hada - Not quite sure what you're trying to say, but the corrections certainly help to see where I'm going wrong and understand more about why something is the way it is. [...]

It's supposed to be a much easier way of learning a language by putting the focus on expression rather than grammar. It's the way babys learn and closer to your vision of being able to express yourself in that language. More details are in the talk. Also about the idea of a language-parent, someone who takes you right from where you are at and adjusted their way of speaking to your learning progress - like parents do when raising children...

[merlinkitty]

I do help her, or at least I try. And she's made a lot of progress. The problem comes when she starts going "but whyyyyy"

This is great lol I figured you were helping her since she wrote a letter to your sister. It's a family project!! Language is like math to me I've tried to learn not to question it...

merlinkitty - Haha, don't worry, I've had to correct my SO on some Australian English

...except when my SO "corrects" my English and tells me things like sweaters are "jumpers" and pants are "trousers" lol I wish you both the best! You'll get there SmileyK be patient and keep trying

[Inspirement]

This is great lol I figured you were helping her since she wrote a letter to your sister. It's a family project!! Language is like math to me I've tried to learn not to question it...



...except when my SO "corrects" my English and tells me things like sweaters are "jumpers" and pants are "trousers" lol I wish you both the best! You'll get there SmileyK be patient and keep trying

Omg, I keep saying sweaters and she's like "no, it's jumpers!" xD I think I'm slowly adjusting my English to the Australian vocabulary though xD The fact that I've been learning most of my English from the internet (high percentage of American English) prefer (preferred?) British English and have spoken to an Australian daily for one and a half year makes my vocabulary a grotesque mess of different wordings and spellings xD I do try to keep them apart though and favour the British words and spelling when I can. And make a concious effort to say "jumpers", not "sweaters" xD

[Inspirement]

It's supposed to be a much easier way of learning a language by putting the focus on expression rather than grammar. It's the way babys learn and closer to your vision of being able to express yourself in that language. More details are in the talk. Also about the idea of a language-parent, someone who takes you right from where you are at and adjusted their way of speaking to your learning progress - like parents do when raising children...

I guess this makes sense. And after all, it's cute when she makes the little mistakes <3

But I think I'd still have a hard time not correcting her xD

[Cristiana]

I found a super great site !!
internetpolyglot dot com; there are plenty of languages and you can choose your language too. There are a lot of lessons, you can hear pronunciation of each word and in the end you can press "Play" to do exercises (with needed corrections) and see your results! All for free obv!

It's awsome! I really recommend it

[ittybittypilot]

I found a super great site !!
internetpolyglot dot com; there are plenty of languages and you can choose your language too. There are a lot of lessons, you can hear pronunciation of each word and in the end you can press "Play" to do exercises (with needed corrections) and see your results! All for free obv!

It's awsome! I really recommend it

NO AFRIKAANS!!!


But thanks for the idea!

[Cristiana]

NO AFRIKAANS!!!


But thanks for the idea!

Are you sure is Afrikans? I knew that depending on which area is, the language changes and has different names.
I don't know in which specific part is your SO, but I searched on the site and there are -Swahili, spoken in east-Afrika; Amharic, spoken in Ethiopia; and Arabic, spoken in North Afrika.

[Ahava]

Thanks for this thread. I went on Duolingo and started brushing up my Spanish just for fun and because we are going on hols to Spain in the autumn with SO.
I've learnt the basics of it years ago and it is easy to pick up.
Might have to check out other language sites later on but at the moment I am sticking with Duolingo

[ittybittypilot]

Are you sure is Afrikans? I knew that depending on which area is, the language changes and has different names.
I don't know in which specific part is your SO, but I searched on the site and there are -Swahili, spoken in east-Afrika; Amharic, spoken in Ethiopia; and Arabic, spoken in North Afrika.

Definitely Afrikaans. :-)
He was born in an Afrikaans speaking area (KwaZula-Natal) and English is his second language. I'm looking for different ways to help learn while he's sleeping (8 hour time difference, so what little time we have to chat, we play "catch up" and try to get some important matters in. I'd like to speak some by time I go visit SA. :-)

[SmileyK]

My SO's little sisters ewe watching Frozen last night and so of course that sparked a new idea for me I now have the dubbed Swedish version waiting to be watched on my computer with both English and Swedish subtitles. Think I'll try Swedish dubbing and English subtitles first to focus on pronunciation and maybe eventually Swedish subtitles (maybe with the English dub?) when I want to focus more on the spelling. Let it go, let it go, I'll rise like the break of dawn... I guess this'll be a bit of a change for me...

[Alle1770]

My SO's little sisters ewe watching Frozen last night and so of course that sparked a new idea for me I now have the dubbed Swedish version waiting to be watched on my computer with both English and Swedish subtitles. Think I'll try Swedish dubbing and English subtitles first to focus on pronunciation and maybe eventually Swedish subtitles (maybe with the English dub?) when I want to focus more on the spelling. Let it go, let it go, I'll rise like the break of dawn... I guess this'll be a bit of a change for me...

This is actually an awesome idea! Slå dig loooooss, slå dig friiiii, den tiden den är förbiiii.... The funny thing is that the lyrics are pretty much the exact opposite of the English ones, but you know, anyways I will now steal it and apply it to me learning Spanish - thanks!

Other than that, I know exactly how you feel about the motivation - I was soooo motivated to learn Spanish seriously when I met my SO (I'd studied Spanish in school for like 4 years prior to that), and I really tried for like 6 months, but then I just got so bored and couldn't find the motivation again. And I don't know why it disappeared, considering that it's a language I'll need to know fluently eventually, to be able to talk to his dad and other relatives, to be able to find a job and so forth.... But nope, no motivation!

It comes and goes, for me. One day I wake up and I'm all "Hell yeah, gonna learn some Spanish today!" and I focus almost solely on that for like 3 days, but then I'm back to square one. I have a couple books in Spanish that I've tried reading, among them the first HP book and a book with poetry, and it's been a great source of learning vocabulary for me - even though I haven't even read half of either book xD Otherwise I highly recommend Duolingo as others have already said, if they are bringing a Swedish version of it!

You could maybe try to get Inspirement to speak only Swedish with you for a day or something every now and then, to force you to listen and learn new things, and maybe even answering back in Swedish! It's worked somewhat for me anyways, so figured I'd throw the tip out there

Maybe get a Swedish vocabulary and go through it, learning a new word each day or something like that?

Anyways, I'm rambling now, so I'll stop Best of luck anyways, I'm sure one day you'll be fluent despite some lack of motivation every now and then - just keep at it!