Language Learning

Sorry for the late post. It escaped me that we're back at Sunday already!

How has your week gone, learning-wise?

Are you still making progress?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/58317578

Ownership of open source flashcard app Anki transferred to for-profit AnkiHub

As always, let's take some time to reflect on and share progress. Any wins lately? Hit any setbacks?

The week was exhausting.... Because I tried my hardest to use my target language and it takes a lot of effort. But the week has been full of positive encounters and it went ok!

You all have had a good langlearning week, I hope?

I'm at the level where I must start forming sentences. The best exercise I've found for this is roleplay. So let's make a forum game out of this!!

In character roleplay will be done in German only. Meta-discussion (rules questions, edits, takebacks...) will be done in English only.

Rules:

1. No AI, make sentences of your own accord. Correct other people's mistakes with your own effort.

2. Set the topic to sort-by-new. Try to work off the most recent post.

3. Reply in a thread if you think someone else made a grammar mistake, explain the mistake in English so that we know it is 'out of character's. If making a correction post, please include your rough level (A0, A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, or native).

4. Wait for either 24 hours before replying to yourself (as the other character), or wait for some human to respond. IE: if two people are logged in at the same time, feel free to keep roleplaying with each other in German.

5. You may play both roles, as long as you aren't repeatably responding to yourself. (24 hour delay before responding to yourself as per rule #4).

6. Try to keep the roleplay words to the level of the topic. If A1 is too easy, make a new topic aiming for a higher level.

7. Start every roleplay with a character name, making it clear 'who is talking'.

Roleplay situation: Alice has just called Hanz, and Hanz has picked up the phone. Alice wants to invite Hanz and hang out over the weekend. Try to figure out the time and schedule of each other in German.

I'll start with

Hanz:Hallo. Ich bin Hanz.

I am so god damn proud of you all. Every week I read of wins and struggles and it's exciting and inspiring following your langlearning journey.

Everytime I get frustrated I come back to the weekly discussion thread and get that small spark of motivation that helps me push through that next pit of despair :)

Najo, ned so schlecht. I hob etwas neu gelernt.

First week of the year and first lessons of the year.

Tell me: how do you say "happy new year" in your target language?

I know there are others learning German here so I'll use the Austrian version:

Prosit Neujahr!

A1+ German learner here. A huge part of my studies over the last 3 months have been songs, specifically Kinderlieder (aka: Children Songs). I'll list off my recommended songs for beginners and my overall opinions of them here.

I'll order songs roughly by difficulty. Beginners should start at the top of the list and work their way down. From zero, it took me months of listening to these songs before I could track them and eventually understand them. And only after going through their lyrics and translating word-by-word.

There's so many german songs out there, just keep translating them as daily exercise. Get the words and put them in your Anki deck.

Overall plan:

1. Listen to the song a few times -- If you like the song, keep working at it! If you don't like it, move on to the next song.

2. Try singing along!! Don't try to get all the words right. Just get the words you can get.

3. Download the lyrics, and perform a word-by-word translation. As we are trying to learn German, it becomes important to know every single word and its meaning. Do NOT use ChatGPT, Google Translate or DeepL. This is "too much", because you MUST learn how to "think in German grammar" yourself. (These translation programs translates the grammar for you, and that's counter-productive to learning).

4. Reword the words/lines into your own English understanding. This is a crutch, but at the A1 / A2 levels its a useful crutch. This is your "check". In the long-term, you want to be able to "think in German", but by rewording it in English you are now figuring out and memorizing these lines on your own terms. If you are unable to reword it into English, perhaps your understanding of German grammar is off. Go seek some help (maybe post here for some help!)

Absolute Beginner Songs (A1-)

This is as easy as I can find, so this is where we begin. Don't be intimidated!! Pre-schoolers do NOT understand these songs on their first listen. Just try to get used to the rhythm and slowly your brain will pick it up as you practice.

• Bruder Jakob https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frb-w7qyb88 / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzF0C6Wc1bw

• • Nominally, this song is harder than everything else in this category... But its a "Rosetta Stone" for us Americans. Frere Jacques is a very well known song in USA, and hearing it in German is a great way to begin your German studies! If you aren't familiar with this song though, skip to the next song as it'd be easier. Its not quite the same lyrics in all three languages. But its close enough.

• Große Uhren machen tick tack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQdtm-ymjPE

• • The first song I mastered. A simple "round" song covering a few different types of clocks, with barely any grammar.

• Tschu Tschu wa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6CkQkcY1cs

• • Mostly nonsense words for the rhythm. A basic dance for children that helps you learn anatomy. (Hände, Faust, Daumen, Kopf...). Its obvious if you watch the video / dance. Excellent preposition practice!!

• A B C-Lied https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgx0RTx0aFg

• • The classic, but the German version. A great place to start.

• Old MacDonald hat ne Farm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwMxNqIAqd4

• • Popular song in USA, it should be easy for Americans to pick up the German version

• Meine Hände sind verschwunden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtJGAJrvFu8

• • We now have the first song with proper grammar. "sind" is among the first verbs you learn ("are" in English). "My hands are gone (as the singer hides their hands behind their body). Oh, my hands are back again!". A simple song, especially with the cartoon, to help learn various body parts, while also teaching complete (though simple) sentences). Keep an eye on "sind" ("are") vs "es" (is), as some body parts are plural (ex: Hände, plural for "hands") or singular (ex: Nase, singular for "nose").

• Kopf und Schultern, Knie und Fuß https://youtu.be/vyTNuVCdUzw

• • Head Shoulder Knees and Toes (feet!!! in German) is very easy. You'll be surprised how many words German and English share with this one!

• Grün grün grün sind alle meine Kleider https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGrsasgsFuQ / https://www.singkinderlieder.de/video/gruen-gruen-gruen-sind-alle-meine-kleider

• • A repetitive/looping "colors" song. The "template" changes with color vs profession. The singer says her clothes and even everything she has are grün / rot / weiße / (etc. etc.). Then in the final line, she explains that's because her "Schatz" ("Treasure", or slang for sweetheart) is a Jäger (grün / Green for Hunter), Reiter (rot / Red for Rider), etc. etc.

• Backe backe Kuchen https://www.singkinderlieder.de/video/backe-backe-kuchen

• • 200ish year old German Kinderlieder. Bake a cake!

• Hände waschen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFLT4Q_i7Hg

• • Repetitive/Looping bath song about washing the hands, foot, or head. Harder than earlier songs.

Middle A1 Songs

As you get into your A1 studies, your vocabulary will grow into hundreds of words. You'll also be able to follow more complex grammar and subject matters.

• Imse Bimse Spinne https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3BFZEeC2jY

• • Itsy Bitsy Spider. Americans know this one (and THIS specific version is reasonably close to "our" version).

• Krokodillied / Ei, was kommt deen da? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfg-4ICLBfY

• • More complex grammar. A call-and-response between the Crocodile and the various Humans. (Crocodile tells the human to get into its mouth. Human says no). Focus on "Krokodil, lass das sein" in the Imperative (aka: Command) grammar. Also note how the song talks about how various characters interact and talk/command each other.

• Die Räder vom Bus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1hLy1zxHTY

• • A rather large amount of vocabulary words in a short song! We USA-ians are very familiar with "The Wheels on the Bus"

• Augen Ohren Nase https://youtu.be/m3YjA3ciRYk

• • Good song!! If you've mastered Augen Ohren Nase (Eyes, Ears and Nose), this song ties the body-parts to Der Sinne (the senses). A fun way to expand your vocabulary from all that body-part practice from earlier. You're reaching some B1-level grammar concepts here (dazu), so don't try to reach full understanding of everything. But you should be able to listen and hear how the "Sehen Sehen Sehen dazu sind die Augen da!!"

• Fünf Kleine Fische https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p51c5g1iNzw

• • A counting-backwards song. I find this grammatically complex for A1 and is probably an A2++ song for understanding. But with the Youtube video you probably can figure out what's going on!

• Alle meine Fingerlein wollen heute Tiere sein https://youtu.be/bYVxxVpNEVY

• • Fingers + Animal combo-song.

• Das ist gerade, das is schief https://youtu.be/rJWZhitXWzI

• • I'm calling bullshit on this "song". This is just vocabulary practice, isn't it? More seriously though: its a lot of adjectives/adverbs listed in terms of opposites. Gerade means straight, while schief is crooked. Its rather impressive how they made it all rhyme, and honestly keeping the opposites next to each other helps connect these words together.

A break for St. Martin's Day!!

Apparently Germans have this... St. Martins Day thing? And its big?? A huge number of children-songs are about the lantern walks, or St. Martin, or other such events of the German November Holiday.

I've been told that the young German children learn these songs and often sing them for school recitals. If the young Germans can learn them, so can you even at A1 level!

The general pattern is about Laterne (Lanterns), gehen / geh / gehe (going), scheinen (shining), die Sonne (sun), der Mond (moon), der Stern (stars), kalt (cold), schön (beautiful), "durch die Nacht" (through the night)... oben (over), unter (under), etc. etc.

Its kind of a nifty little "sub-vocabulary". Because these songs all share the same theme, you can learn lots of vocabulary by focusing on these songs in general just for this one holiday.

• Ich geh mit meiner Laterne https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_yBTKBxZiI

• Laterne, Laterne https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBV594t8Jpk / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cV1o_JlgWY

• Sankt Martin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrFwtGQyjfM

• Meine kleine Laterne leuchtet schön https://youtu.be/Oz-4cQXgXY0

• Sing mit mir Laternenlieden-Mix https://youtu.be/932K0Ng_bXU (10 minutes, multiple songs together).

• Kommt wir woll'n Laterne laufen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qevZkMfqXOg

Harder but more interesting Children songs

Children songs are catchy and all, but they do get boring if you only listen to them. The following songs are still children songs, but change the rhythm to something more complex (as well as increasing the vocabulary/grammar to A2+ or even B1- levels).

• In meiner Bi-Ba-Badewanne https://youtu.be/BErxt3YAZg0

• • More complex grammar / vocabulary to an otherwise bath-song about basic body parts (Kopf, Haals, Po, Gesicht...)

• Nudeltag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1QK9G5efyY

• • Nominally about the days of the week, but closer to A2+ or even B1- level to comprehend. Focus on only the days of the week and you should be good as a beginner, don't try to understand the whole song.

• Die Zahnfeuerwehr https://youtu.be/VPAQ17jGK9Y

• • The tooth-firetruck comes in to save your teeth!

• Der Banenbrot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yDrbEhp6Sg

• • A fun spoof of the USA-famous "Deyyyyo - Bananna Boat song".

A2ish or so?

I'm not... at A2 level. These songs feel like I'm just about ready to tackle them and are next on my todo list.

• Wer will fleißige Handwerker sehn https://youtu.be/-jSvfhXl0pQ

• • Basic professions and jobs.

• Im Walde von Toulouse https://youtu.be/ZaqBgQyTzug

• • Woah, an actual story! Robbers, horses, stuff? Something is going on for sure, I'll tell you what when I translate it, lol.

• Die Maus auf Weltraumreise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj315AKAUTM

• • This is the German version of "Bump on a log in a hole on the bottom of the sea". A bunch of random crap this mouse needs to pack into his suitcase, leading to a rather complex set of vocabulary to memorize. Simple grammar but vocabulary practice.

• Alle Vögel sind schon da https://youtu.be/YZaLjkp0QY4

• • Lots and lots of words for birds, lol. Simple grammar and tune, but lots of vocabulary.

Native level songs

I mean, don't just listen to beginner stuff. Also branch out and listen to the full native speed stuff.

• 99 Luftballoons https://youtu.be/Fpu5a0Bl8eY

• • USA-famous Classic German song. German-native song

• Peter Schilling - Major Tom (Völlig losgelöst...) https://youtu.be/KQRaj1vcnrs

• • USA Famous but from 1982. German-native

• Lagtrain (Jinja Version) https://youtu.be/Lz1qJnwfF04

• • German VTuber dubs her own version of Vocaloid's Lagtrain.

• Idol (Yuko Version) https://youtu.be/TCZ5JbdbJOg

• • German dub of "Idol", a top anime opening from the anime hit Oshi no Ko.

• Applaus Applaus https://youtu.be/H0oRftpQs7w

• • An easier-end song. Slower rhythm than other songs, still faster than any children's song. But maybe the slowest you'll get for a "real" song these days.

• Auf anderen Wegen https://youtu.be/m-Ik3yy728Y

• Nacht voll Schatten https://youtu.be/3F-8XEF3r24

• • Moonlight Shadow got dubbed over in German as Nacht voll Schatten.

• Nüsse sind Gesund https://youtu.be/WVTIbV1Ug6A / (Jinja cover) https://youtu.be/dBkooYLztzI

• • Actually, this one might be A1 level lol.

That's all for now!

I know resolutions can be a little silly and get dropped quickly. But setting goals is good practice, and any excuse for self-reflection is a valid one.

So yeah, what goals do you have in mind? Bonus points if you can be specific, realisitic, and/or measurable.

Do you plan to start a new language this year? Hit new milestones with ones you're already learning?

I haven't had any time to learn this week, but I did try to watch news in my target language. Understood 20% for sure and the rest, well not so sure about the rest.

Also: sorry for not replying to your messages lately in weekly threads. I read them all, but get caught up with holiday stuff before I can properly write an answer.

cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/32876348

!learn_russian@discuss.online

привет! i am learning russian for my heritage and i want to practice with someone who is either speaking or learning russian :3

I was thinking if can learn a sign language, preferably the one not completely localized, but what I got is a total confusion. There are different SLs for China, India, US, Russia and other countries, all seem incompatible between each other. Is there one to pick if I want to be compatible with EU people, but also as much others as possible?

I am currently trying relearn some vocabulary in German because I forgot to learn the definitive articles with the words themselves.

This website collects a wide variety of resources for a wide variety of languages. Mainly it's the Comprehensible Input flavored Youtube channels and podcasts. In some cases they have other input-focused stuff too, like children's material or easier native content. Overall, super useful!

As always, the less popular languages have less resources available; but at least in this case, many languages are represented. Here's the ones that at least have a page:

And it's a wiki, so if you know of good resources that are missing, I imagine contributions are welcome!

cross-posted from: https://libretechni.ca/post/559409

All words ending in “tion” or “ty” are both French and English. Apart from that, English gets many words from both Dutch and French that are similar. But there is no effort to exploit this because so many people are brainwashed to believe you should forget the existence of your 1st language when learning a new one.

I am firmly outside of that school of thought. When someone uttered the opening sentence of this post to me, I probably learnt ~6000+¹ words in French in 5 seconds. You cannot beat that. This would have taken years of playing charades using the popular immersion teaching style.

So the question is, are there any language learning tools whereby you specify two langauges and it produces a list or dictionary of true friends? The idea is that you can make a quick gain in vocabulary before progressing into unfamiliar/alienating words.

There are instances where I am writing a bilingual paper in English and French. The French column is a machine translation. Knowing some French (but not fluent), there are situations where the translation tool chooses a synonym for a true friend. If the machine had chosen a true friend, it would be easier for me to verify the quality of the translation and also easier for me to learn from. Considering my reader(s) are often native French and /possibly/ decent with English, there are also situations where I fail to choose an English word that would be easier for a francophone. So it would be useful as well if a translation tool would reverse the French back to English while trying to select true friends in English.

Furthermore, a reader of my French-English text may be a native Dutch speaker. So I would like an translation tool that adds some secondary gravity toward choosing English-Dutch friends when English-French falls short. Or another way to state this: I want a bilingual text that minimises the frequency of unique original words that are not borrowed by any of the relevant languages.

I realise gravitating toward true friends may cause a longer text in some cases, so I suppose I would also want to set a threshold of tolerance on additional words or syllables. In the end there would be some manual effort in the end anyway.

¹ $ grep -iE '(ty|tion)$' /usr/share/dict/american-english-huge | wc -l

Did you have any big or small wins?

I had an interaction in my target language, a bit longer one, that went really smoothly. Definitely made some grammar mistakes, but communication worked out pretty well.

TL;DR: I built a web app called LangGlitch that aggregates comprehensible‑input videos (and soon podcasts/graded readers) for multiple languages, starting with German, Vietnamese, and English. I want it to become a one‑stop place for comprehensible input for every language, including small/obscure ones, and would love your feedback and language requests.

Hey folks, I’m Stefan, a guy from Germany who loves travelling and getting lost in new cultures and languages. In school I was terrible at languages and grammar never really made sense to me, but at some point I realised I had somehow become fluent in English just by playing games and watching YouTube in English.

Looking back, what worked for me was basically “comprehensible input”: content that I mostly understood and actually cared about, consumed for fun rather than as “study”. These days I always try to learn new languages that way, but I kept running into the same problem: unless you’re learning something huge like Spanish or Japanese, good comprehensible‑input content is scattered and hard to find.

So I decided to build something for myself and ended up turning it into a proper project: LangGlitch – a little web app that aggregates comprehensible‑input videos for language learners. Right now it supports German, Vietnamese, and English, with playlists grouped by difficulty, tags, and creators. You can sort for “easiest”, filter for topics you like, and then just watch your way through material instead of hunting for the next decent video.

I’d love for LangGlitch to eventually cover every language out there, including the really small and “obscure” ones, so it can be a genuine one‑stop place for comprehensible input. If there’s a language you’re passionate about and want to see added sooner rather than later, tell me in the comments or message me and I’ll do my best to prioritise it.

I’ve just put it into free open beta, so anyone can sign up and play around with it. I’m planning to add more languages over time, plus podcasts and graded readers, and if it ever makes enough money to pay its own bills I’d love to commission new comprehensible‑input content for underrepresented languages as well.

If you try it, I’d really appreciate honest feedback: confusing UI, missing features, annoying bugs, anything. You can leave comments here, DM me, or join the Discord (linked on the site) and yell at me there. Screenshots in the comments so you can get a feel for how it looks.

I admit, I did nothing :( but want get back into it this week. I needed a break with all the ongoing christmas preparations...

I've been trying to do more Spanish listening. I've realized I don't know of many podcasts

Dreaming Spanish kind of sets the standard for comprehensible input videos, so I did look and see that they have a podcast. It's pretty good, but slow. I've listened to a couple of video game podcasts before - Viciados and Reload. The former seemed kinda mumbly and hard to hear, the latter has long episodes but isn't bad.

So give me your recs. I'd like to have something that splits the difference - closer to natural speed than Dreaming Spanish, but still very clear spoken. Don't worry about that tho, throw out any podcasts you like, targeted at native speakers or learners.