EPTLanguage Exchange and Learning Tools - Page 2
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AirbladeOrange
United States2573 Posts
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YoruWaAkeru
41 Posts
On October 27 2012 00:35 AirbladeOrange wrote: Yes yes YES! I've been trying to learn German but it's been tough for me to find things beyond vocabulary. I took some German in high school and college but I forgot most of it because I didn't use it. Could you give me a site where I can get a decent vocabulary? | ||
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anatase
France532 Posts
Being in a group might be kind of impressive to the point you fear to speak but being in group also mean you can get more support, meet more people, improve fast because of more conversation. | ||
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501TFX
Austria345 Posts
On October 27 2012 00:43 anatase wrote: Another thing we can propose is some kind of Mumbles/TS meeting where it is not only 2 peoples but let say 3/4 - maximum 6 i would say. Being in a group might be kind of impressive to the point you fear to speak but being in group also mean you can get more support, meet more people, improve fast because of more conversation. I really like the idea of this, in a group it is so much easier to just speak freely, since it is not so direct imo. Would be cool if something like this could be set up | ||
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solidbebe
Netherlands4921 Posts
On October 27 2012 00:43 YoruWaAkeru wrote: Could you give me a site where I can get a decent vocabulary? memrise.com | ||
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Toadesstern
Germany16350 Posts
Native german (from Hessen, so no Bavarian. Just plain old normal german^^). If someone wants to talk via skype or TL.pms from time to time feel free to send me a PM. Skype information is available via TL.pm. I'm learning Japanese but nowhere good enough to really talk yet so I'm fine with talking german+english atm. Hopefully I'll add japanese next year. | ||
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REDBLUEGREEN
Germany1904 Posts
If you want to go up the walls out of frustration, if you want to feel you brain explode, I suggest taking a look at some polysynthetic languages like Salish, Chukchi, Kalaallisut, Nahuatl, Blackfoot, Navajo etc On October 27 2012 00:43 YoruWaAkeru wrote: Could you give me a site where I can get a decent vocabulary? If you don't want to follow the vocab of some book I suggest using frequency lists, which are lists that order words depending on how often they appear. You can create your own flash card deck in anki and include pronounciation audio files of native speakers. At first it might take you a bit longer to create your own cards but if you do it for a while it shouldn't take longer then 30 seconds to create one. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Frequency_lists/German_subtitles_1000 click on lemma form, copy paste that shit into your flashcard, download audiofile, add audio to flashcard, done. | ||
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Marimokkori
United States306 Posts
On October 26 2012 23:03 solidbebe wrote: Great to see this thread created, nothing keeps you more motivated than learning with others  Im learning japanese and Im wondering if there are any written works where the kanjis are written out in hiragana (best would be if the reading was written next to the kanji). I can read hiragana/katakana but I know about 5 kanjis, which still leaves me unable to read things. Does anything like that exist or do I have to learn a good amount of kanji before I can start reading things? The characters you are talking about actually have a name. They are called furigana, and they appear mainly in children's and young adult books/manga. They will never appear in other material unless the kanji or reading is incredibly rare. On October 27 2012 00:32 Nanikure wrote: I think a lot of people start Japanese because they watch a lot of anime and want to be super cool guys; those people usually quit pretty early. Personally I've always wanted to tell people I can speak three languages, but I didn't want any of the languages to be similar at all (English, Spanish, French for example.) I also like the way Japanese sounds as opposed to other languages like Mandarin (Thai sounds the coolest though.) I'm learning Japanese because I love the culture. Origami was my gateway drug to Japan. I actually don't like anime that much, most of it is garbage. I've been to Japan twice, including Tokyo, Nagoya, and Sapporo. I absolutely love it there and can not wait to return. I'll be moving there once I finish school (with a degree in Japanese). However, you are correct. Most people interested in Japan and/or the language get there interest from anime. ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XAR2J.jpg) | ||
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LA_Morello
Brazil143 Posts
I started studying japanese a few months ago - my interest comes from anime and japanese games. I know kana, about 40 kanjis and very few words. Would love to study with another fans of Starcraft. TL: LA_Morello Skype: caiomorello Native Lang: Portuguese Spoken Lang: Portuguese and English Target lang : Japanese Comment: i'm not thaaaaat fluent in English and I do have a strange accent, haha. We can play some games, for sure. | ||
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JieXian
Malaysia4677 Posts
Native/Spoken languages : English, Chinese, Malay Target Languages: French (B2), Spanish (B1), Portugese - functional, German and Russian - terrible with all the grammar but functional with the internet by my side <-- that's how I learnt my Spanish, never been to classes ...to be learning: Arabic/Italian :D I don't speak like the English or anything but I can definitely help you since I've been using these 3 languages all my life. I'm learning languages because I find it fascinating because it's about it's history, culture and moreover, people. And it feels bloody awesome to be able to talk to someone who you otherwise wouldn't be able to or wouldn't be talking to or understand that song you've liked or understand the subtleties that translations miss in movies and music. Please PM me and we'll chat via Skype or MSN, or if you just want to chat with someone from Malaysia, especially if you love music :D ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Conversationexchange.com is a great place to find people too. My sister and I found way better people from there than from sharedtalk. I learn by listening to audiobooks such as Michel Thomas (not really useful for Chinese or Japanese) and Pimsleur. Both have their pros and cons but both of them complement each other really well. I recommend finishing Michel Thomas then listening to Pimsleur and go back again. Michel Thomas Pros: Builds a strong foundation enabling you to understand the structure of the language. Cons: lacking badly in vocab Pimsleur Pros: Builds fluency and aides remembering phrases and grammar effortlessly, listen to the native speak in imaginary scenarios. Cons : It's targeted for married businessmen, doesn't explain the grammar rules in detail, just makes you repeat it, which is why I recommend listening to Michel Thomas first. Vocab is better than Michel Thomas but not better than Memrise or Anki but at least you get to hear the words in sentences. Russian one has phrases which are quite different than what a native would say, I don't know why On October 27 2012 01:10 Toadesstern wrote: Hey there. Can you add me please? Native german (from Hessen, so no Bavarian. Just plain old normal german^^). If someone wants to talk via skype or TL.pms from time to time feel free to send me a PM. Skype information is available via TL.pm. I'm learning Japanese but nowhere good enough to really talk yet so I'm fine with talking german+english atm. Hopefully I'll add japanese next year. oh you Germans haha | ||
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NibbloniaN
United States377 Posts
Something I found real useful when I was learning spanish was reading a book in spanish, one that I knew pretty well in english, out loud. Reading a familiar book makes it so you can piece together what is being said and reading out loud helps with pronunciation. | ||
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Flip9
Germany151 Posts
My tip for all new japanese learners is to learn and use kana pretty early, it makes things easier and you can use more learning resorces. regarding japanese textbooks, I recommend the Minna no Nihongo books. Imo this are pretty good books if you learned for 1-2 months already and know the totaly basics. What I especially like in it are the exercises. z-Kanji is a pretty good program you can download for free, its a english-japanese dictionary with some nice little features, you can f.e. display the JLPT level or the stroke order of the kanji please add me to the list: TL: Flip9 Skype: please PM me for info Spoken Lang: German (mother language), English (Fluently, learned it almost 10 years at school) Target lang : Japanese (between JLPT N4 and N3) Comment: I seriously study japanese for 3 years but unfortunately have to learn the most on my own. I like learning kanji, but my grammar and speaking skills are very poor. If you speak no Japanese and want to chat in german, thats OK for me too. Just PM me your skype name please | ||
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anatase
France532 Posts
If i may add something more: This thread is dedicated to the Partners/langague exchange. It is the same as the SC2 partners Thread: Come give your informations there and let this topic flourish on tool and experience/advices if, obviously it suits everyone. | ||
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Marimokkori
United States306 Posts
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anatase
France532 Posts
While the other would be exclusively for people to add information and to be some kind of database. I would be easier I think. Ofc i would delete the other one if nobody uses it | ||
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Toadesstern
Germany16350 Posts
I guess using one thread is just fine. Way less confusing as well. ///Edit:/// On October 27 2012 00:32 Nanikure wrote: I think a lot of people start Japanese because they watch a lot of anime and want to be super cool guys; those people usually quit pretty early. Personally I've always wanted to tell people I can speak three languages, but I didn't want any of the languages to be similar at all (English, Spanish, French for example.) I also like the way Japanese sounds as opposed to other languages like Mandarin (Thai sounds the coolest though.) Mmmh idk. For me it's kind of the other way around. I started watching anime once I started learning japanese hoping it would help. Does that make me one of those who are going to quit soon or one of those who are going to stick with it? It's actually pretty simple: My friends know about it therefore I can't just quit, would be way to embarrassing :p Not to mention that it's INCREDIBLY funny. It's really like playing an instrument. Sure, technically speaking you're working but it doesn't feel that way and you're doing it because you WANT to. | ||
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cLAN.Anax
United States2847 Posts
 ) There's a voice screaming at me in the back of my mind for not learning mandarin Chinese yet. My department is full of native Chinese students and I really would like to communicate better with them.Lol, anatase, I lol'ed your example. X-D ... [in-game] if you want to say "i'm getting badly raped there i need help" you should try to say "je me fais défoncer, j'ai besoin d'aide" On October 27 2012 00:32 Nanikure wrote: I think a lot of people start Japanese because they watch a lot of anime and want to be super cool guys; those people usually quit pretty early. I watched a fair bit of anime myself a couple years ago. It actually helped me learn some of the basic terms repeated often across shows. It's definitely not enough instruction compared to formal/actual teaching, but it was a start. Church had an old cassette tape learning tool, put 2 and 2 together, and wa-bam: thought to myself, "I CAN DO THIS!!" + Show Spoiler + ...yeah, it's largely tapered off by now, lol X-D You're right, though. It's extremely easy to quit that way.... | ||
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AirbladeOrange
United States2573 Posts
Yeah, that's the best place I've found for vocabulary so far. | ||
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DuunSuhuy
United States3 Posts
http://www.pleco.com/ It's available on iOS and Android. Another one is Scritter, it's 9.99 a month, but it's a good spaced repetition program for learning to write Chinese characters. For more advanced learners, some great TV shows can be found on youtube and tv.sohu.com. I would definitely check out: 非诚勿扰 - https://www.youtube.com/user/JSTVFeichengwurao (dating gameshow) 屌丝男士 - http://tv.sohu.com/s2012/diorsman/ (comedy sketches. A lot is funny even without knowing Chinese) Both of these are great for colloquialisms and comedy. If anyone wants to PM me I can help find TV or Movies that would interest you. Another resource for lesson type material is ChinesePOD. They have updated a lot of their material and it has exercises pre-built for a lot of their lessons. A great learning structure. They have free podcasts, but the lessons are subscription based. General language exchange and lesson sites I have found are: www.fluentin3months.com - This guy goes and learns a bunch of languages and blogs about it. An interesting website with some really useful information. www.livemocha.com - This has some basic lessons for free. It's ok, anyone beyond the very basics will find it too easy. But it is a nice platform to find and interact with native speakers. Busuu.com - same as livemocha. This is just a basic list of resources. If you are looking for something specific for language learning in any language please let me know. I love language. I intend to get a degree in Linguistics focusing on second language acquisition. | ||
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Toadesstern
Germany16350 Posts
 I really thought we had more people on TL learning languages so maybe it's just because the thread was up for such a short time? Anayways a little update: I've been in contact with Flicky for a week now. We're chatting in german on skype for something like an hour or maybe up to two hours like 2 or 3 times a week and frankly speaking I think he's already better than last week lol. At least it looks like he's having an easier time writing "freely" from what I've seen yesterday. Oh and btw it's hilariously difficult to write properly in your own language on the internet if you're used to internet chit-chat. I keep forgetting to capitalize words properly and of course getting rid of all those abbreviations is hard as well :p But it's really astonishing that he's able to understand me so easily when talking german because I'm not holding back grammar-wise at all. | ||
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