/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.17217193]

Is Duolingo a good place to learn a language, so you can read books in their original language?

[Anonymous No.17217202]

>>17217193
If you're planning on reading Harry Potter tier stuff

[Anonymous No.17217206]

No. I had three years of shitty Italian under a lazy teacher and aced the final exam on my first try without trying any of the other courses first. And yet I'm still awful making conversation, let alone reading an original.

[Anonymous No.17217208]

>>17217193
it's a good start, you'll get used to the language and see if you will enjoy learning it

t. completed German duolingo course, can understand what's being said in most German conversations and texts, but can't speak it at all

[Anonymous No.17217209]

>>17217193
Unironically yes. If you read the tips, don't cheat and do it every day, you'll make progress. Just make sure to use it in conjunction with other learning tools.

[Anonymous No.17217221]

>>17217193
Duolingo is utter crap, I took a Chinese course and the sentence examples are few, the globohomo illustrations are annoying (how many niggers are there in China even?), the vocabulary is shallow and the fucking Bohemian Grove owl keeps pestering with e-mails.

[Anonymous No.17217228]

>>17217209
this, don't limit yourself to one single resource when theres thousands and thousands of different input sources out there.

>italki
>pimsleur
>lingvist
>clozemaster
>anki

these are the most commonly recommended language learning apps. if you're only interested in reading texts you should check out the book German for Reading by Sanderberg. it's a really helpful textbook albeit somewhat boring at times so

[Anonymous No.17217239]

>>17217193
Duolingo is better as a supplement, rather than a course by itself.

[Anonymous No.17217364]

>>17217228
I'm a big fan of the language transfer app although it's limited to only a few languages and some of the courses are quite short.

[Anonymous No.17217370]

>>17217208
>can understand what's being said in most German conversations and texts
bull fucking shit you lying cocksucker

[Anonymous No.17217428]

>>17217206
American or British?

[Anonymous No.17217481]

>>17217428
Neither.

[Anonymous No.17217598]

>>17217193
It's a waste of time unless you are completely dishonest and thus willing to grade the knowledge of a meagre amount of words paired with the ability to form sentences along the lines of "Cat go house yes that it doed elephant" as fluency. An hour in front of an actual language learning resource is more valuable than a thousand of hours on duolingo. Rest assured though that the majority have no scruples whatsoever and will unequivocally claim that duolingo is indeed the optimal learning route.

[Anonymous No.17217665]

>>17217193
Its decent as a supplementary material. Dont focus entirely on it

[Anonymous No.17217688]

Use it as a supplement to a proper course. I use it to increase my exposure to the language but I would never again waste my time using it as my sole method of language learning because it got me nowhere on its own.

[Anonymous No.17217706]

>>17217193
Get a grammar book. It is the single most important thing from just knowing phrases to a real understanding of the language.

[Anonymous No.17217764]

>>17217598
Duolingo is fine for easy internalization of syntax/vocabulary. But yes, dedicating an hour to it a day is not a good idea. Perhaps 15-20 minutes or if you're stuck in line somewhere. And then use a proper learning resource in conjunction.

[Anonymous No.17217820]

>>17217193
It's good, you learn the basics/some advanced stuff. Just do it daily and don't forget to also read the tips.

[Anonymous No.17217834]

>>17217598
LMAO, you never reached a point to the more advanced exercises

[Anonymous No.17218009]

I assume this is the language thread
Where can I find pdfs of language textbooks
Im being asked one for a french course im taking

[Anonymous No.17218028]

>>17218009
French for reading by sandberg (there's also one for German) One of the best books for French by far.

[Anonymous No.17218036]

>>17218009
Libgen has some stuff. Rutracker isn't bad either. There are also a lot of groups on VK with this kind of thing.

God bless the Russians!

[Anonymous No.17218039]

>>17218028
Forgot to add it's on libgen

[Anonymous No.17218073]

I'm trying to learn Mandarin and then Tibetan. What are some good resources for learning Mandarin?

[Anonymous No.17218077]

>>17218073
There's so many of them just go outside and talk to them

[Anonymous No.17218412]

>>17217193
The German female voice on duolingo gives me a boner

[Anonymous No.17218907]

>>17217193
Babbel for vocab/grammar (unlike duolingo, it puts shit into context rather than giving you the same nonsensical phrase 50 times; plus it's faster and has a lot more content)
Pimsleur for convo

[Anonymous No.17218992]

>>17217598
This made me laugh really hard. Thanks anon.

[Anonymous No.17219010]

>>17217193
>>17218907
oh, and along with babbel + pimsleur, ACTUALLY READ A FUCKING BOOK in the respective language

[Anonymous No.17219119]

>>17217428
The relevance being?

[Anonymous No.17219136]

>>17217193
don't be a lazy fuck. in modern academia, scholars are put through intensive grammar courses so that they may read untranslated material. speaking the language fluently is another skill they must acquire outside.

[Anonymous No.17219289]

>>17217208
This, it's a good start. Use it alongside a grammar manual. Then watch all you can watch in the language with subtitles in said language. Then find a place where you can speak the language regularly, or even better, go full immersion in a country where it is spoken.

T. used it for spanish as an introduction. Helped me get some basics, and a taste for the language.

[Anonymous No.17219293]

>>17218907
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[Anonymous No.17219472]

>>17218907
I will seek my revenge on you for this web'em

[Anonymous No.17219542]

yes... pay for the tests for this

[Anonymous No.17219566]

>>17217209
what other resources are recommended that won't require me paying for it? I want to learn russian and I've been doing a single course every day for the past month or so and maybe in a written conversation I can understand the gist of it, but that's pretty much it.

If I were to pay for me to learn a language I'd prefer a teacher to do it IRL for me

[Anonymous No.17219572]

>>17219566
a teacher will just tell you what resources to buy and in which order to work through them
see >>17218907
>>17219010

[Anonymous No.17219658]

>>17219542
C2 proficiency guaranteed.

[Anonymous No.17219742]

>>17217706
Do you happen to know a good Spanish grammar book? Spanish is incredibly popular so it's hard to choose.

[Anonymous No.17219746]

>>17219542
That is literally the day one first lesson.

[Anonymous No.17219750]

>>17217193
it's good, just not alone

maybe try some memrise, learning with texts and that site where you can find somebody that speaks your learning language and that wants to learn your native tongue

[Anonymous No.17219752]

>>17219566
Download books on the internet. I got that Penguin Russian course. It is old af, but after checking out other courses seemed the best one for self-study. And definitely get in touch with natives or someone who knows Russian.

[Anonymous No.17219753]

>>17219542
>pay
?

[Anonymous No.17219759]

>>17219753
You can get paid certificates to put on your curriculum.

[Anonymous No.17219764]

>>17218907

[Anonymous No.17219769]

>>17219759
And the example you posted is from a test for the certificate?

[Anonymous No.17219775]

>>17219769
I'm not the quoted anon. I just remember seeing an ad about it,

[Anonymous No.17219785]

>>17217208
Yeah, no shit you can't speak it. The proper way to learn a language is in a small class environment taught by a native speaker teacher. The reason why is that you get to practice orally with other people while the teacher corrects you if there's a need. In this way you build up confidence and the language starts to "build up" in your brain. This only works for the basics though, you will need to move to the country where that language is spoken to become truly fluent.
Only dead languages can be learnt on your own such as a Latin and ancient Greek since no one really speaks it anymore outside of Church.