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Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 9:23 am
by Tafdolphin
Je t'encule a sec.

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 8:04 pm
by Errkal
It rather enjoying using this duolingo app, dunno if it will work but I'm certainly remember more and that so we will see

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 8:48 pm
by Cumberdanes
Errkal wrote:It rather enjoying using this duolingo app, dunno if it will work but I'm certainly remember more and that so we will see


Well I think I have finally learned the difference between sind and seid so it's doing something right and I can now introduce myself in a fourth language in addition to the three I could already do it in.

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 4:06 pm
by Errkal
Keep getting really pissed off when i do the app stuff at the moment, keep strawberry floating up my words like mange, manges, etc. I'm gooseberry fool at knowing the right one, I'll get it but it is so frustrating getting wrong over and over as i learn it!

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2017 2:10 am
by Parksey
How long have you been learning French? You'll mess up verb forms for a long time into the future, so don't get too frustrated.

You're going to be gooseberry fool at more than that too. You're going to make mistakes almost constantly for a few years. This isn't to discourage you, more that it's going to happen. It happened with English too but you were about two years old so don't remember.

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2017 7:00 am
by Errkal
I did it at school but it has only a week or two with the Duolingo app, I'm just very impatient :D

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2017 9:06 am
by Tafdolphin
Right, which one of you Duolingo banana splits is Richard Bradley? I mean, great first name and all, but if you think you'll be at the top for long you're sorely mistaken...

Also, I'm going to sign up to do a 10 week, 30 hour French course sometime this week, with Alliance Francais. Apparently they're all associated with the Embassy and stuff, so hopefully it's at least a little bit legit.

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2017 9:45 pm
by Oblomov Boblomov
I can't figure out how to join the GRcade Duolingo club...

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 12:16 am
by Lotus
Okay, for the Japanese speakers/learners on here, how do you pronounce ら? I'm learning from multiple sources and just today I've heard:

Ra
Na
Da
La

Which is it? :x

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 6:34 am
by Errkal
Oblomov Boblomov wrote:I can't figure out how to join the GRcade Duolingo club...


In the app go to Clubs (sheild icon at the bottom), enter the blub code fome somewhere in this trhead and bingo bagel.

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 6:51 am
by Parksey
Lotus wrote:Okay, for the Japanese speakers/learners on here, how do you pronounce ら? I'm learning from multiple sources and just today I've heard:

Ra
Na
Da
La

Which is it? :x


It's definitely not "na" or "da", as they have their own sounds, with na being な and da being だ.

It's a tricky one to explain, as you're teaching a sound a native speaker makes but trying to explain it in English which has a whole other set of sounds.

Best way I have ever heard it described is a mix between "ra" and "la". It's sloppier and not as "solid" as our "ra" sounds but it's not as soft or as loose as our "la" sound.
and
Try and say a soft or sloppy "ra" sound and you might get it. I form it by basically putting my tongue at the top of my teeth/mouth and saying "ra", so you get an element of the "la" sound too.

It seems closer to "ra" from what I can hear, but is a little softer. I wouldn't say it as "la" though.

You should pick it up from more listening.

The other sound to be careful of is ふ fu. Don't make a harsh "f" sound on it, but instead sort of say it almost like you're exhaling and saying the word "who" at the same time.

Re: Learning Japanese/Chinese (The Language Thread)

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 8:13 am
by Parksey
Qikz wrote:
Have you ever been to Japan at all?


Not yet, but damnit I will go. I'm going to try signing up to the JET Program this year to see if I get in, if I don't I'll try again next year. (Basically it's a program where you're paid by the Japanese Government to live in Japan for a year and teach schoolkids English or something) but it's a year in Japan paid for by someone else and I'm going to keep trying until I get in (you can do it up until the age of 40 apparently).

If that fails this year, I'm going to either go the end of next year or the start of the next when I have some more money for a month, so either way it's a long wait and a long time to try and focus my language learning. :P


Also, this quote is a bit of a blast from the past, but did you ever end up applying to JET over the years, SD?

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 8:29 am
by Qikz
Lotus wrote:Okay, for the Japanese speakers/learners on here, how do you pronounce ら? I'm learning from multiple sources and just today I've heard:

Ra
Na
Da
La

Which is it? :x


Well it's definitely not Da or Na.

It sounds like a mix between Ra and La. To get the sound right you need to start the character with your tounge at the tip of the front of your mouth. I'm not exactly sure the best way of describing it, but if you look at Japanese media or Dramas you can see it "in person" as it were.

Also Parksey, no I didn't. I only just finished my degree this year and I'm in work, which I don't think I can afford to leave for now to go spend a year teaching. If I'm honest If I was going to move to Japan I wouldn't want to do teaching anyway. I'd like to stay in the field I'm in and go. I know I can do it, I just need a few more years of experience.

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:59 am
by Lotus
Thanks for those replies guys. I guess the downside of using umpteen sources is that some of them sound a little off. With a bit of practise I've been able to get the sound down to some extent. The problem comes with words like arigatou. It sounds so much like a 'r' sound in words like that, yet when people just pronounce the letters individually in hiragana, it sounds more like la li lu le lo. Guess overthinking it doesn't help. :slol:

Anyway I'm nearly there with hiragana now, and the 'modified characters' as well, at least in terms of speaking/reading/listening. It's funny in that I could barely write any of them if asked, but I can identify them straight away when I see them written down.

On to katakana soon... :dread:

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 7:38 am
by Oblomov Boblomov
Broke my 149 day streak on Duolingo :slol:.

I've completed all subjects, so I'm going to move on to Babbel, which is a lot better anyway.

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 9:35 am
by Lex-Man
Lotus wrote:Thanks for those replies guys. I guess the downside of using umpteen sources is that some of them sound a little off. With a bit of practise I've been able to get the sound down to some extent. The problem comes with words like arigatou. It sounds so much like a 'r' sound in words like that, yet when people just pronounce the letters individually in hiragana, it sounds more like la li lu le lo. Guess overthinking it doesn't help. :slol:

Anyway I'm nearly there with hiragana now, and the 'modified characters' as well, at least in terms of speaking/reading/listening. It's funny in that I could barely write any of them if asked, but I can identify them straight away when I see them written down.

On to katakana soon... :dread:


As someone who has lived in Japan I can say the sound for ら can be anything between ra and la. Most Japanese people can't tell the difference between ra and la, unless they have studied a lot of English. Their pronunciation varies depending on accent but normally it falls between ra and la.

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 9:50 am
by Lotus
Okay thanks for that, good to know.

While I'm learning the kana, can anybody recommend some podcasts that I can listen to on my commute? I want to up my vocabulary/pronuncition as much as I can. I've done some Japanese Podcast 101, which was good, but I think you have to pay for a lot of it (which is fine, but I'd rather exploit the free stuff if I can). Tried a bit of Learn Japanese from Zero but found the guy pretty annoying.

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 10:44 pm
by Lex-Man
Lotus wrote:Okay thanks for that, good to know.

While I'm learning the kana, can anybody recommend some podcasts that I can listen to on my commute? I want to up my vocabulary/pronuncition as much as I can. I've done some Japanese Podcast 101, which was good, but I think you have to pay for a lot of it (which is fine, but I'd rather exploit the free stuff if I can). Tried a bit of Learn Japanese from Zero but found the guy pretty annoying.


The only one I know of is slow Japanese news, but that may be a bit difficult for you at the moment. You could have a look at NHK easy news, although again it might be a touch hard.

http://newsinslowjapanese.com/
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/

I found this while pulling the other links

http://mykikitori.com/#

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 12:27 am
by Lotus
Thanks, I'll take a look. The last one looks more my level for now. :slol:

Have bookmarked for future use though. :toot:

Re: The Language-Learning Thread

Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 3:24 am
by Tafdolphin
Oblomov Boblomov wrote:Broke my 149 day streak on Duolingo :slol:.

I've completed all subjects, so I'm going to move on to Babbel, which is a lot better anyway.


Have you actually found that it's helped you? Duolingo I mean.

Had a quick look at Babble. Looks good, but I don't want to pay for an online course at the moment as I'm about to start a full time set of classes