i am learning welsh obviously (plus brushing up french)
the welsh is going badly -- french is telling me i am 24% fluent, which is a fib imo
― mark s, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:23 (one year ago) Permalink
should I install this and see how bad my German has become, y/n
― the Hannah Montana of the Korean War (DJP), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:28 (one year ago) Permalink
(I'm already downloading it)
― the Hannah Montana of the Korean War (DJP), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:29 (one year ago) Permalink
Duolingo is a great way to absorb language basics and grammar rules, but once you have that stuff down and are in the mode of adding vocabulary I found it kind of inefficient.
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:29 (one year ago) Permalink
xp You will learn many duck-related German sentences ime
― JoeStork, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:32 (one year ago) Permalink
i have been surprised how much french i still know in terms of vocab: my grammar was and is terrible
― mark s, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:33 (one year ago) Permalink
polyphonic otm, I finished the French tree and have never gone back, currently use Memrise (and used Lingvist until I ran out of words) to build vocab
― rob, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:35 (one year ago) Permalink
in welsh i have discovered nothing about ducks but i have encountered a DRAGON (draig)
― mark s, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:38 (one year ago) Permalink
I completed the Japanese Duolingo and it is good for absorbing things by wrote but I grew frustrated with never having any of the grammar explained to me. It’s provided a good base.
There’s some more discussion of Duolingo
Do You Speak A Second Language? 日本語は話せます 🇯🇵
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:39 (one year ago) Permalink
pimsleur >> duolingo
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:39 (one year ago) Permalink
well but Duolingo is free
― rob, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:44 (one year ago) Permalink
honestly DL is more like a fun app that helps you read stuff in a foreign language
― rob, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:45 (one year ago) Permalink
huh 46% fluent
not bad I guess
― the Hannah Montana of the Korean War (DJP), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:45 (one year ago) Permalink
Was going to say, however tell me more about why pimsleur is good? Everything else I have been trying has been lower cost but really falls down on getting me to speak. I’d pay for some live interaction.
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 19:51 (one year ago) Permalink
I used to be fluent in Portuguese but haven't used in 20 years - wonder if this could get me back on my bullshit.
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 20:27 (one year ago) Permalink
Duolingo fluency shield suffers from grade inflation especially when you are progressing through, say, the first third of the course or have just taken the placement test. At some points if starts to drop off and decay and you may regret giving into your ex-clever schoolboy’s craving for this particular form of external gratification.
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 21:49 (one year ago) Permalink
Think last word should have been "validation."
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 22:00 (one year ago) Permalink
whenever i type "nos lau" (thursday night) it tells me i have a typo and that the correct spelling is "nos lau"
― mark s, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 09:20 (one year ago) Permalink
Did you type a lower case “el” (wrong) or a capital “eye” (correct)?
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 09:42 (one year ago) Permalink
oh right that makes sense yes
― mark s, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 09:43 (one year ago) Permalink
That was really it? Some of the answers in some of the courses are messed up so that it will tell you about an alternate answer or typo which seems to be dependent on some punctuation, or even some other “invisible punctuation.” There seem to even be cases where it is supposed to accept some letters from say, a standard English alphabet, without certain diacritical and just tell you to “mind the accents” but it gets into some looking glass world where it doesn’t accept the correct foreign alphabet letter. Feel like I️ saw this happen in Turkish, with the non-dotted i, the ı.
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 09:56 (one year ago) Permalink
i haven't gone back in and checked but yes, it's quite likely tha:, since i realised when i read yr post that i was listening to DL's pronunciation of Iau and thinking "wow the initial i sound in front of those vowels is really like an L isn't it?" -- based on assuming my grasp of welsh pronunciation is actually worse than it is
(the pronunciation i learnt as a kid IS different to the version they're using: spoken welsh has surprisingly strong regional variation: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/13474058/Dialects-much-more-than-a-simple-north-south-divide)
(but it's not really the consonants that vary)
― mark s, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:04 (one year ago) Permalink
Ah, some weird keyboard autocorrect is now putting something strange when I type the letter capital “eye” I.Speaking of which, at some point iOS seems to have added a Welsh keyboard, which may um, assist you in your answers.
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:04 (one year ago) Permalink
"wow the initial i sound in front of those vowels is really like an L isn't it?"
or maybe the other way round, anyway i was struck by how different their pronunciation was than mine would be -- which is because i was misreading the letter
― mark s, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:06 (one year ago) Permalink
Sometimes wonder if the Welsh as taught is just some sort of approximation standard that is in fact spoken by no one at all, like Bokmål/Nynorsk, I️ think.How is your pronunciation of the letter double el?
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:12 (one year ago) Permalink
Ach, still the weird “ego problem” or “ego trip” with the capital eye. Think I️ need to delete my autocorrect dictionary.
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:13 (one year ago) Permalink
Tom, delete ILX all my bookmarks my autocorrect dictionary now!
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:15 (one year ago) Permalink
Ah, that didn’t seem to work. I’m stymied.
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:16 (one year ago) Permalink
my double ll pronunciation is p good i think! the nearest large town to where we went on family holidays when i was a kid is machynlleth and i know how ppl who live in it say it
this was before welsh was actually taught in schools -- indeed, it was actively discouraged in schools back then, and i know someone who was made to leave school at 16 because he preferred to speak welsh (as did his entire family, of hill farmers)
(he became a mechanic and a builder, and is now very comfortably off and owns half the town)
― mark s, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:18 (one year ago) Permalink
Ah. I have never been in the presence of a Welsh speaker as far as I know, apart from John Cale at an instore.
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:25 (one year ago) Permalink
I against I against I
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:27 (one year ago) Permalink
(Had to chose the *RONG* spelling for each of those eyes to get the correct one)Seems to me the pronunciation of Welsh, especially the “ll,” involves a lot more spittle than, say, English.
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:30 (one year ago) Permalink
At one point I was having some problems with the days of the week with when to put the word for day in there, such as “dydd Iau.” Seem to have sorted it, can’t remember what the problem really was.
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:39 (one year ago) Permalink
The other thing to remember of course about the “i” is that the word for Thursday starts with j for Jupiter-or Jove! do u see?! in most Romance languages.
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:47 (one year ago) Permalink
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/14295031/Dydd-Mercher-a-Dydd-Iau
yes i haven't worked out when not to use Dydd yet!
(tho i also haven't yet been marked wrong on either, and have been assuming -- perhaps wrongly -- that they are effectively interchangeable, at least in this limited context)
ooh handy steer on the root of the day names, i'd spotted they were "a bit like French" but hadn't taken it any further
― mark s, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 10:50 (one year ago) Permalink
To throw a spanner in your welsh works - Memrise has a course in Belter Cant.
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Wednesday, 8 November 2017 11:01 (one year ago) Permalink
Sut mae, Marc? Sut dych chi?
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 9 November 2017 01:13 (one year ago) Permalink
Dych chi eisiau coffi?
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 9 November 2017 01:17 (one year ago) Permalink
Learning Dutch thru this atm and I like it.
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 9 November 2017 01:17 (one year ago) Permalink
Hartelijk gefeliciteerd!
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 9 November 2017 01:25 (one year ago) Permalink
Both the Dutch and Welsh courses have been spruced up in the past few months, so you guys are on the cutting edge.
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 9 November 2017 01:27 (one year ago) Permalink
/too much time on Duolingo
― Bazooka Jobim (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 9 November 2017 02:50 (one year ago) Permalink
"The grapheme k was also used more commonly than in the modern alphabet, particularly before front vowels.[3] The disuse of this letter is at least partly due to the publication of William Morgan's Welsh Bible, whose English printers, with type letter frequencies set for English and Latin, did not have enough k letters in their type cases to spell every /k/ sound as k, so the order went "C for K, because the printers have not so many as the Welsh requireth";[5] this was not liked at the time, but has become standard usage."
"why doesn't welsh have the letter k?""we ran out that one time and never restocked"
― mark s, Thursday, 9 November 2017 09:46 (one year ago) Permalink
grrrr i am just as bad now at grammatical gender in french as i was aged 13: le cheval but la souris whyyyyyyyyyyyy pourquooooooiii
― mark s, Friday, 10 November 2017 11:06 (one year ago) Permalink
some rules and patterns here (but of course no clue why le cheval but la souris): http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/grammar/le_or_la_in_french.shtml
― mark s, Friday, 10 November 2017 11:07 (one year ago) Permalink
my devoted year+ on duolingo french got me enough of the basics that I was able to get a civil servant job in France where I speak French full time. it helped that I was living in France most of that time and that I'd already spent a lot of time reading french (or trying to, with much dictionary use) and that I already spoke Spanish pretty well (son of a native speaker but didn't grow up speaking it, only learned it in school). so I am yay duolingo!
I spent some time on the japanese tree earlier this year as I learn that language next but I'm going to need more than just duolingo to do it because I don't have a great sense of the grammar whereas learning a second romance language, I already grokked the main structures, what I really needed was enough confidence in applying those structures to go ahead and speak it irl.
although I think the japanese accent is easier than the french accent, so duolingo may be ok in that regard (japanese mostly sounds like it looks, unlike french)
― droit au butt (Euler), Friday, 10 November 2017 15:55 (one year ago) Permalink
I'm doing German which I'm already sorta conversational in as my Dad is from there. I wasn't raised speaking it though and what I do know is only what I've picked up listening to him speak with friends and relatives and the times that I've spent there. I'm really enjoying it so far though and am excited to improve :).
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Friday, 10 November 2017 16:03 (one year ago) Permalink
i just discovered the chats-with-bots feature (after several days of just ignoring the you-have-mail signal): i like that it goes "excellent response!" after what is (in another, more accurate sense) a pretty basic not-actually-rude response
― mark s, Friday, 10 November 2017 16:14 (one year ago) Permalink
I can recommend the ‘Human Japanese’ App for this.
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Friday, 10 November 2017 20:29 (one year ago) Permalink
Zegt u het eens, beste meneer Redd and the Blecchs?
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 30 April 2019 13:51 (one month ago) Permalink
Heb je een beter idee?
― Theory of Every Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 30 April 2019 14:45 (one month ago) Permalink
Opzij!
― Theory of Every Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 1 May 2019 00:04 (one month ago) Permalink
Sorry, kunt u een beetje opzij gaan, alstublieft?
― Theory of Every Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 1 May 2019 00:26 (one month ago) Permalink
Van harte gefeliciteerd. Hieperdepiep, hoera!
― Theory of Every Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 1 May 2019 00:27 (one month ago) Permalink
Eet men pindakaas in Nederland?
― Theory of Every Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 1 May 2019 12:39 (one month ago) Permalink
https://www.aldi.nl/content/dam/aldi/netherlands/aldi_merken/2908_01.png/_jcr_content/renditions/opt.1250w.png.res/1551084072446/opt.1250w.png
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 1 May 2019 12:51 (one month ago) Permalink
In België eten we geen pindakaas. In Nederland is het zeer populair. Ik eet liever speculaas pasta.
― nathom, Wednesday, 1 May 2019 13:04 (one month ago) Permalink
DUO hebt me net gezegd: een dag zonder jou is zoals een tuin zonder bloemen.
― Theory of Every Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 1 May 2019 19:14 (one month ago) Permalink
Waarom “IJ” in IJzeren Gordijn?
― Theory of Every Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 3 May 2019 01:29 (one month ago) Permalink
Heb je even?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IJ_(digraph)tl;dr: it’s considered one letter.(Also, it’s “DUO *heeft* me net gezegd...”)
― breastcrawl, Friday, 3 May 2019 07:22 (one month ago) Permalink
Dankjewel!Think my verbal confusion was coming fromDUO heeft/hebt me gezegd.
― Theory of Every Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 3 May 2019 11:56 (one month ago) Permalink
In Amsterdam dialect it would be: “DUO hep me net gezegd (sounds like: gesegt), so you were sort of fine-ish anyway...
― breastcrawl, Friday, 3 May 2019 13:09 (one month ago) Permalink
Yeah, I actually almost spelled it with a ‘t’ at the end.
― Theory of Every Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 3 May 2019 13:37 (one month ago) Permalink
Ik ga weg, maar ik weet niet waarnaartoe.
― How I Redd One of the Blecchs (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 May 2019 16:29 (one month ago) Permalink
Ben je ergens bezorgd over?
― How I Redd One of the Blecchs (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 May 2019 18:04 (one month ago) Permalink
Is it waar naartoe or waarnaartoe? I'd say the former.
― nathom, Sunday, 5 May 2019 18:33 (one month ago) Permalink
DUO said the latter. Was interested in that long word, which is why I posted that.
― How I Redd One of the Blecchs (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 May 2019 18:55 (one month ago) Permalink
Discussion here: https://taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/566/waar_naar_toe_waar_naartoe/
― How I Redd One of the Blecchs (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 May 2019 18:59 (one month ago) Permalink
Also this seems like it may be useful to me https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/3733010/Grammar-Dutch-Word-Order
― How I Redd One of the Blecchs (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 May 2019 19:00 (one month ago) Permalink
Took a break from Dutch and am working on Greek a little bit, which is fun and interesting for various reasons I can elaborate on if you like.
― Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 May 2019 20:24 (one month ago) Permalink
Omg isn't it hella hard? My kid is still undecided to continue Old Greek
― nathom, Monday, 13 May 2019 11:15 (one month ago) Permalink
Doesn’t seem so to me, but I am learning at my own pace
― Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 May 2019 12:19 (one month ago) Permalink
I can dance a tango, I can read Greek — easy.
― Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 May 2019 12:57 (one month ago) Permalink
Modern Greek is easier than (the) Ancient Greek(s)... but it's still quite hard for English speakers to learn! On par with Russian, definitely harder than Dutch. But easier than Arabic or Mandarin.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 13 May 2019 14:14 (one month ago) Permalink
Ah, you are right, f. hazel, it is in the second hardest category. Very hard to shake that feeling of “In just a short period of time I have learned a few simple greetings, phrases and grammar points — it’s all downhill from here!”
― Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 May 2019 17:17 (one month ago) Permalink
But easier than Arabic or Mandarin.
― Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 May 2019 17:19 (one month ago) Permalink
Japanese is pretty easy. Apparently Korean is easier? Ancient Greek is still taught in schools here but less and less kids want to study it. I would love if Ophelia continues but it's up to her.
― nathom, Monday, 13 May 2019 17:25 (one month ago) Permalink
How do you all do it: do you randomly pick a theme or finish one before heading to the next one?
― nathom, Monday, 13 May 2019 17:38 (one month ago) Permalink
Japanese is not easy
― Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 May 2019 17:55 (one month ago) Permalink
I studied Japanese for three years, it feels easy at the very beginning (no subject/verb agreement, no plurals, very few sounds not already present in English) and then rapidly destroys your self-confidence (honorifics, counters, ten-year investment in memorizing Kanji if you ever want to read a newspaper headline)
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 13 May 2019 18:37 (one month ago) Permalink
^otm
― Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 May 2019 18:53 (one month ago) Permalink
Well, true, the honorifics are quite hard. But compared to dutch (and other languages) it felt easier. Much less exceptions. It feels more structured compared to my language. Granted, languages come easily to me.
― nathom, Monday, 13 May 2019 19:05 (one month ago) Permalink
Also I read a book on how the Japanese think. (Sociology, psychology,... and how that relates to the language.) It was eye opening and hence made studying the language easier for me.
― nathom, Monday, 13 May 2019 19:07 (one month ago) Permalink
Did you visit Japan or take any sort of certification test?
― Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 May 2019 19:11 (one month ago) Permalink
I remember my Japanese-as-in-from-Japan professor being asked if she was going to move back to Japan and her momentary abandonment of her usual formal-Japanese-professor aspect to exclaim "absolutely not, I hate living there!" and then she spent the rest of the class saying how great Japan was to make up for it. Not mentioned in textbooks: it really sucks to be a woman there.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 13 May 2019 20:06 (one month ago) Permalink
Also I read a book on how the Japanese think. (Sociology, psychology,... and how that relates to the language.) It was eye opening and hence made studying the language easier for me.― nathom, Tuesday, 14 May 2019 5:07 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― nathom, Tuesday, 14 May 2019 5:07 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I would like to read this book.
As for kanji, I find that relatively easy. I’m thirty weeks into a kanji learning programme and I can read most of what a 6th grader can a lot of what a high schooler can. Actually I’m slowing down that to bring my grammar and comprehension up to a similar level. It’s been a real boon to be able to read so much more, though.
Position of women in japan is pretty shocking, if slowly getting better.
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Monday, 13 May 2019 20:56 (one month ago) Permalink
Yeah, but aren’t you actually in Japan now? Don’t you think that makes it a wee bit easier as well?
― Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 May 2019 21:15 (one month ago) Permalink
I’m only occasionally in japan. In Australia till August. I’ve just started using an iTalki tutor which is helping.
日本語の文法を覚えるくらい難しいことはない。
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Monday, 13 May 2019 21:26 (one month ago) Permalink
I'll look in the attic, Ed. It's been two decades since I read it. Lol
― nathom, Tuesday, 14 May 2019 07:43 (one month ago) Permalink
Wat voor noten hebben jullie?
― Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 11:53 (one month ago) Permalink
Meneer beer eet een peer.
― Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 14 May 2019 11:56 (one month ago) Permalink
I'm doing the Irish course and it's bizarrely obsessed with menus and apples.
― Plinka Trinka Banga Tink (Eliza D.), Wednesday, 22 May 2019 17:00 (four weeks ago) Permalink
Yeah. I looked at that one for a bit and it seemed to be missing something, not a lot of audio for one thing, and also the kind of stuff you are describing.
― Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 May 2019 17:03 (four weeks ago) Permalink
1000 day streak today!
¡Hoy he logrado una racha de mil días!
― brain (krakow), Friday, 24 May 2019 21:13 (three weeks ago) Permalink
Waaaaht. Omg. I'm on day 120. Slipped off the top 20. Thanks to returning to FB. LOL
― nathom, Saturday, 25 May 2019 06:41 (three weeks ago) Permalink
I'm a creature of habit and many days just do a quick couple of lessons, but more when I have time (I'm at 55000XP over those 1000+ days). I've always maintained my streak freeze, which has saved me a few times along the way when life got particularly busy.
― brain (krakow), Saturday, 25 May 2019 10:09 (three weeks ago) Permalink
I'm at the stage I want to purchase a grammah book bec it feels duolingo is fun but not informative enough (in that regard).
― nathom, Saturday, 25 May 2019 17:48 (three weeks ago) Permalink
Sounds like a good idea.
This page might be useful for those willing to follow into the Modern Greek rabbit hole: https://www.foundalis.com/lan/greek.htm
― TS The Students vs. The Regents (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 June 2019 19:00 (two weeks ago) Permalink
Ophelia started Japanese! So proud of her.
― nathom, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 09:42 (two weeks ago) Permalink