What method have you used to learn a new language?
By Hanni Harel
@Hannihar (130213)
Israel
September 6, 2019 9:18am CST
I moved to Israel in 1986 and the language of the country is Hebrew. The Hebrew I learned in the States was not how they talk here so had to learn practically from scratch. We have places where new people go to learn Hebrew. I went to many of those places and for a long time was afraid to open my mouth so one day words just came pouring out. So, what was your way when you had to learn a new language?
26 people like this
26 responses
@snowy22315 (182194)
• United States
6 Sep 19
Other than school, none really. I have fooled around with some of the language learning apps and CD's though.
4 people like this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
8 Sep 19
@snowy22315
At least you were curious and that is good.
2 people like this
@birjudanak (14320)
• India
6 Sep 19
I mostly learned some language with the help of online friends as many times pronunciation and the reading spell is different so they learn and after speaking they will tell that is it ok or not. i also use language converter.
3 people like this
@birjudanak (14320)
• India
6 Sep 19
@Hannihar it will convert language from any to any other language.
1 person likes this
@birjudanak (14320)
• India
6 Sep 19
@Hannihar not accurate but very useful and it has also an audio option too.
1 person likes this
@Tampa_girl7 (50524)
• United States
6 Sep 19
Unfortunately I've never fluently learned any others. So are you from the United States ?
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
8 Sep 19
@Tampa_girl7
I was born in Minneapolis and left in 1986 to come live in Israel.
1 person likes this
@Tampa_girl7 (50524)
• United States
8 Sep 19
@Hannihar that's cool. What brought you there ? Was it a lifelong dream ? I'd love to visit Israel.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
9 Sep 19
@Tampa_girl7
It was time for me to come Home. As a Jew is is the only Homeland we have. I could not live anywhere else after living here almost 33 years now. I went back twice but that was all.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (83103)
• United States
6 Sep 19
I never learned a new language. I've only spoken English
It must have been hard having to learn to speak Hebrew all over again.
2 people like this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
8 Sep 19
@Marilynda1225
Thanks Marilyn. Yes, Hebrew is a hard language to learn.
@Loverabbit (3401)
• Karachi, Pakistan
7 Sep 19
I simply downloaded the application for spanish and dutch
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
8 Sep 19
@Loverabbit
So they are different ones. Why do you like them?
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
8 Sep 19
@Loverabbit
What app did you download to learn Spanish and Dutch?
1 person likes this
@Loverabbit (3401)
• Karachi, Pakistan
8 Sep 19
@Hannihar fast lingo for spanish.....drops sth for dutch
1 person likes this
@porwest (92624)
• United States
18 Sep 19
@Hannihar I had the same problem. The thing is, or the SECRET is, the vernacular. No one really speaks formally in any language, and if you can figure out how everyone actually speaks it makes the whole process of learning and communicating much more easy and much more genuine.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
24 Sep 19
I learned English, German, French and Japanese at school (in my own country) I learned Italian when I was living in Italy. Today I learn languages on Duolingo (Spanish, Russian, Chinese and a couple of other languages)
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
25 Sep 19
@Hannihar I have always liked languages. My mother has studied English, German, Spanish and Russian and as a child I liked to look at her dictionaries and other books.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
25 Sep 19
@Porcospino
You sound like you are good at learning languages. I am not.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
25 Sep 19
@Porcospino
You are a very curious person. I was always curious but still not good at learning languages. My father was born near Russia and my mother's parents were from the Ukraine. I do not know if they spoke Russian there but in the United States they spoke in Yiddish and English.
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70022)
• United States
8 Sep 19
Well my relatives are Sicilian and Irish so I did not have to go far to learn some of the languages.
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70022)
• United States
8 Sep 19
@Hannihar Well I am not fluent Hanni but know smatterings of it.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
8 Sep 19
@TiarasOceanView
You are lucky that they taught those languages.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
8 Sep 19
@TiarasOceanView
I know smattering of things too.
1 person likes this
@smileyhema (4606)
• United States
11 Sep 19
We pick any languages through listening power. I learnt a new language(my husband's native language)after my marriage just through listening to the conversations that was happening.
I also believe every newborn picks up their mother's language through listening skills.
Along with this, one can try to decode a language to his/her native language. This will help the person to learn more words and map the meaning of words which can help them in sentence construction.
1 person likes this
@smileyhema (4606)
• United States
16 Sep 19
@Hannihar Oh I understand dear. Even I'm kind of not so fluent with the language. But I can easily manage.
His language is "Kannada" which is mostly spoken in Karnataka(a state in India)..
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
11 Sep 19
@smileyhema
Not everyone is good at learning languages. I am one that is not good at learning them. I came to live in Israel at the age of 36 and had to learn Hebrew. That is the language of the country. It took a while. I am not fluent but get by a lot of the time. What is your husband's native language?
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
16 Sep 19
@smileyhema
Thanks for explaining that. Sometimes I get tongue-tied and cannot remember any language.
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39509)
• United States
6 Sep 19
i took spanish'n high school 'n 'nother 2 yrs'n college. sadly such 'tis 'f no use where i reside. what i learnt 'twas castillian 'n these folks speak 'bout 20 diff'rent variations 'f mexican spanish.
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39509)
• United States
8 Sep 19
@Hannihar 'tis been so long (o'er 40 yrs now), i'm certain i'd make quite the fool 'f myself if'n i tried, lol.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
9 Sep 19
@crazyhorseladycx
Do you remember any of what you learned? If so, find someone to try it out on if you want or just do not do it.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
8 Sep 19
@crazyhorseladycx
Too bad you cannot use it.
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (20040)
• United States
10 Sep 19
I learned some French in high school. But I was learning French on duolingo. I stopped learning it, but I would love to get back on the website.
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (20040)
• United States
16 Sep 19
@Hannihar no. I always want to go to Paris.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
16 Sep 19
@JESSY3236
Why do you want to go to Paris?
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
13 Sep 19
@JESSY3236
I hope you can learn more. Do you have someone to speak to in French?
1 person likes this
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
8 Sep 19
When I was at school I learned French for five years. I really liked talking French most of all. I decided to learn basic German so I got out some language learning materials from my local library. I wished to learn Spanish when I was in my 30's/ I went to an evening class and my mum baby sat for me while I was out at that class. My teacher came from Venezuela. I was pregnant with my daughter and later in my pregnancy I just wanted to rest. Hebrew sounds a lovely language. I visited Israel in 1997 and really enjoyed it.
1 person likes this
@psanasangma (7280)
• India
9 Sep 19
When I move to different place where people speak their native language I prefer to get local books and then try to understand their dialect often they speaks
1 person likes this
@psanasangma (7280)
• India
9 Sep 19
@Hannihar Yes, it happen to me that i need to communicate with non English or Hindi Speaker back then ... in Sign language ... but i hope later on somehow I learn basic ... .. By the time I start learning .. i left the place
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
9 Sep 19
@psanasangma
It is important when living among those that you do not understand. Aren't there places to learn the language?
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
9 Sep 19
@psanasangma
That is too bad when you got the hang of it you left.
@Metsrock69 (3582)
• United States
6 Sep 19
I only know some of italian,spanish,and greek. I need to learn polish as well
1 person likes this
@Metsrock69 (3582)
• United States
8 Sep 19
@Hannihar I work with a lot of polish people and would like to understand more to communicate better
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
8 Sep 19
@Metsrock69
Now, I see and that makes sense.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
8 Sep 19
@Metsrock69
Why do you need to learn Polish?
1 person likes this
@SophiaMorros (5044)
• Belews Creek, North Carolina
6 Sep 19
Right now I'm working on three languages on Duolingo. Two are for review:Dutch, which I grew up with, German, which I studied in highschool and college. And one I'm trying to learn from scratch: Spanish--which is REALLY slow going.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
8 Sep 19
@SophiaMorros
I see. I will stick to things I can check out on my desktop computer.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
8 Sep 19
@SophiaMorros
I have heard others mention Duolingo here.
1 person likes this
@SophiaMorros (5044)
• Belews Creek, North Carolina
8 Sep 19
@Hannihar it's a free smartphone app. Not spectacular, but useable.
1 person likes this