
Ask HN: How do I learn a spoken language? - Grimm1
I always see posts about being multilingual and I feel bad. I&#x27;m able to stick with Babble&#x2F;Duolingo for several months but I never have the interaction required to build the lasting connections with speaking the language. However, I pick up programming languages like drinking water and I chalk that up to having a tangible use case for them. In the contrived setting of modern language learning platforms it just doesn&#x27;t have the same kind of staying power for me because I never wind up actually using the language for something real. This leaves me with a second grade German and French and Spanish. I have one french friend for instance but monopolizing her time in conversation doesn&#x27;t seem optimal or even desirable from either of our standpoints. For people who were able to overcome this issue what platforms,techniques,groups etc did you engage that you felt gave you a proper experience with using the language and let you overcome the issue that the limited platforms &#x2F; lack of real usage?
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yesenadam
About 10 years ago I accidentally made some spanish-only-speaking friends
online, then had to learn spanish! It takes so much work, you can really only
last the distance if you _have_ to speak it, something I've heard others say.
I've since had many thousands of conversations in spanish with friends in many
countries, which has been amazing. Constant chatting every day; most of my
communication every day was in spanish for years.

Also I joined 2 free language-exchange sites (This was 5-10 years ago, I think
those sites are different now, but I'm sure others have taken their place) -
where they matched me with spanish-speakers who wanted to learn english, we
taught each other. One when I'd just started, another about 5 years later.
Both people became very dear friends, and we chatted a _lot_ , about
everything, not just our languages. I wouldn't try that for a second with my
other online spanish-speaking friends–being matched with people who want to
teach and learn the right language is invaluable. Both times I met the perfect
teacher within a few days of being on the site, and so left. Also I have my
computer set to spanish (so the internet thinks I'm a spanish speaker!), watch
lots of spanish-language movies/tv series.. and in the early years especially
I studied spanish grammar _a lot_.

I feel I've learnt as much about english as about spanish! (and latin, french
etc) Good luck!

(p.s. One unfortunate side-effect has been that using capital letters for
languages/nationalities now seems super-weird to me)

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dddddaviddddd
I've found Benny Lewis's book 'Fluent in 3 months' helpful. My main takeaway
was that practice directed to the intended skill is most effective. With
language learning it's usually speaking, hence this should be prioritized in
your learning. Likewise, speaking with people is an effective motivation
because it motivates learning as much as performance. I'm a native English
speaker, have studied French for a few years and now studying at a French-
language university.

~~~
Grimm1
Thanks for the book recommendation I'll check it out!

With the speaking aspect, obviously now you are surrounded by French speakers,
but what were some of the avenues you used for speaking when you were first
learning the language?

~~~
dddddaviddddd
Other than passive sources like books, movies, radio, I worked a lot with
tutors both in person and through iTalki. One tutor (now back in France)
became a good friend, which was validating for my language learning goals
(being able to connect with people I wouldn't have otherwise due to a language
barrier). Lots of up and downs along the way, and currently, but I've found
that the more I work the better I see what I need to do differently. I also
did a couple group classes but found tutoring gave better value.

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antoineMoPa
My techniques: Listen to movies in the languages you are learning. Listen to
foreign radio while you work. Examples:

101.ru

deutschland.fm

radio-italiane.it/radio-italia

Listen to a lot of content even if you don't understand. Don't try to pay
attention all the time. Your brain will work in the background. Platforms can
help with vocabulary and grammar, but without real content to listen, you
don't get the full experience (listening skills, cultural contact, fluidity,
etc.).

~~~
rococode
I've also found music to be very helpful for pronunciation. It feels easier to
"sing along" to unfamiliar sounds than to "speak along" to unfamiliar words.

~~~
m_ke
Yeah I've been doing that with Spanish and have been tempted to make a music
based language learning app where you listen/sing along in the language that
you're learning and can pull up the lyrics at any point and see how it
translates to your native language.

Nice part about music is that it's usually memorable and you're willing to
listen to it more than once. You also get to hear a native speaker pronouncing
the words and it's not weird to try to sing along.

Another option would be to find an app that can connect you with people who
speak the language that you're learning and are trying to learn a language
that you know. Having a text and phone conversation with them is a great way
to learn.

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omosubi
I'm learning Spanish now and listening to a lot of radio and podcasts has
helped my understanding of it.

Translating easier children's books is really helpful, especially if you can
find a book in both English and the target language.

Also, anki decks that have full phrases/sentences are really helpful.

I want to try baselang.com for a month or two to improve my conversational
skills. It's only for Spanish, but I wonder if there are equivalent services
for other languages (unlimited conversation sessions for a flat fee per
month). I haven't tried this yet though so I can't say how effective it is.

Italki is a good place to find people to talk to as well. Basically everyone
there wants to learn English so that's nice.

