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re: Easiest language to learn as an adult? Considering German.
Posted on 4/8/21 at 11:29 pm to Cactus Tiger
Posted on 4/8/21 at 11:29 pm to Cactus Tiger
quote:
'm over a year into German on Duolingo. I can read a lot now but watching German tv I'm lost.
My wife is German and I live there. The further you get into it the more tricky it is. I can follow the news now for the most part ,but comedy is really hard. Also some dialects are harder to follow than others.
3
Posted on 4/8/21 at 11:36 pm to Slippy
quote:
I started Italian on Duolingo over a year ago in preparation for a planned trip to Italy, which was canceled due to Covid. I actually was doing well with it but I stopped.
Been watching Babylon Berlin on Netflix and I think I could pick up German pretty easily. It has sentence structures that are very much like English and not a bunch of gender rules.
Anybody learned German on an app? Worth a shot?
The one you have the strongest reason to learn. You need a good enough reason to stick with it. Otherwise when you hit a portion that's difficult you're more likely to stop. Also having strong motivation will make you study and practice longer and more consistently, helping you get better faster. On the other hand, if you're just doing this for kicks, it doesn't matter what you learn. Just pick something you like and go with it until you get bored.
Spanish is probably the most practical to learn.
Also lol at the posters who say that, as an adult, you can just pick up a language. Yes, you can pick up phrases and words. But as an adult it is very rare to simply learn through immersion and no study enough to be conversational. It is pretty well settled that it takes a child 14 and under 2 years to get fluent through immersion. Adults cannot do that.
Posted on 4/8/21 at 11:41 pm to stelly1025
quote:
Also some dialects are harder to follow than others.
That's what has always tricked me up the most. Most German taught and learned in the U.S. is of the southern variety (Bavarian, Swabian, Austrian, Alemannic, etc.), and northern accents are like a non-native English speaker trying to learn English but then hearing an urban Baltimore or New Orleans accent.
This post was edited on 4/8/21 at 11:44 pm
Posted on 4/9/21 at 12:14 am to Slippy
I’ll go a different route and say the one with the most engaging (free) content online. I’ve heard Dutch is the most similar to English but I doubt there’s a ton of Dutch videos on Youtube that would keep you interested in learning it.
Along those lines finding a foreign version of an American show that you already know is like gold for language learning. I watched the shite out of Masterchef Italia and Esci Con Me (Take Me Out) before they started removing seasons hardcore. If you’re still into Italian there’s a ton of Quattro Ristoranti ‘s still up. Excellent show
Along those lines finding a foreign version of an American show that you already know is like gold for language learning. I watched the shite out of Masterchef Italia and Esci Con Me (Take Me Out) before they started removing seasons hardcore. If you’re still into Italian there’s a ton of Quattro Ristoranti ‘s still up. Excellent show
Posted on 4/9/21 at 8:36 am to stelly1025
quote:
German
quote:
comedy
Those two things are mutually exclusive.
Posted on 4/9/21 at 8:50 am to Slippy
Gaeilge. Go for it.
Posted on 4/9/21 at 9:00 am to Slippy
You've probably been exposed to latin rooted languages that one of them shouldn't be hard to pick up. Plus, once you know one, the rest are fairly easy to pick up.
Posted on 4/9/21 at 9:05 am to stelly1025
quote:
Also some dialects are harder to follow than others.
Yup. Get in to the deep countryside of Bayern or Thueringen, and it's like trying to understand billy bob from the holler here.
Posted on 4/9/21 at 9:09 am to Centinel
quote:
Walmarks
Credik
Skrimp
That's racist.
But funny as hell.
Posted on 4/9/21 at 9:25 am to Slippy
English is the international language of choice for business. It’s also wildly popular among young people everywhere. I think American culture is the driving force behind the world wide adoption of English for international communication.
Europe is a perfect example of countries communicating with each other in English. There are so many languages in the EU that it’s better for everyone to learn American English (which is far easier to learn than the “Queen’s English”) than to struggle with the 25 or so languages in the trading bloc.
Europe is a perfect example of countries communicating with each other in English. There are so many languages in the EU that it’s better for everyone to learn American English (which is far easier to learn than the “Queen’s English”) than to struggle with the 25 or so languages in the trading bloc.
Posted on 4/9/21 at 11:11 am to arcalades
quote:
all European languages are descendants of latin
Why do so many people believe this? Only the modern Romance languages come from Latin, and Latin itself is just one of the branches of the larger Indo-European language family spoken in Europe. Other branches are Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, Greek, etc. They share certain core vocabulary and grammar, but are distinct.
And quite a few European languages belong to different families. Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian and Sami are Finno-Ugric languages and Turkish is Altaic, as notable exceptions.
This post was edited on 4/9/21 at 11:37 am
Posted on 4/9/21 at 1:16 pm to Slippy
Lived in Germany for seven months, 2019 into 2020. A majority of my DNA is German. Was going to get a residence permit but needed to learn basic German. Couldn’t hack it. I hardly picked up any German at all while there. Probably ADD.
Posted on 4/9/21 at 2:43 pm to SaintsTiger
quote:
Also lol at the posters who say that, as an adult, you can just pick up a language. Yes, you can pick up phrases and words. But as an adult it is very rare to simply learn through immersion and no study enough to be conversational. It is pretty well settled that it takes a child 14 and under 2 years to get fluent through immersion. Adults cannot do that.
YouTube
Mark from Coffee Break series begs to differ. Seems like there are competing theories. The evidence is that adults don’t learn as quickly as kids, but they don’t know if it’s because the brain changes and limits that ability or if adults just don’t have the same opportunities as they have more obligations than kids
Posted on 4/9/21 at 3:00 pm to Slippy
Woke language. It's a lot like English just with a lot isms added to certain words. It will be America's official language soon might as well learn.
IAS French is easy. Only hard part is masculine/feminine. How are you supposed to remember if a chair is masculine or feminine?
IAS French is easy. Only hard part is masculine/feminine. How are you supposed to remember if a chair is masculine or feminine?
Posted on 4/9/21 at 4:47 pm to Kafka
quote:
"cion" in Portuguese
Exactly the same thing in Spanish.
Posted on 4/9/21 at 4:49 pm to Paul Allen
quote:
Portuguese
Why the frick would Portuguese be the easiest language for an English-speaking adult to learn? I swear sometimes you try too hard to be different.
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