Oh but I completed two lessons and it sent me right to Level 2
― Rudy’s Mood For Dub (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 9 April 2018 03:00 (six years ago) link
Seems to be a new leaf called Gallicism
― Rudy’s Mood For Dub (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 9 April 2018 03:05 (six years ago) link
Okay, one more thing. On most trees, for those lessons I had placed out of I was assigned three crowns, whereas for other lessons I had to work at one by one I got one or two crowns.
― Rudy’s Mood For Dub (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 9 April 2018 03:46 (six years ago) link
Some explanation of these kind of things here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/26739837 in particular....
"We went one step further and actually used how many times you’ve seen the words in a skill and how many times you got those words right to determine whether to place you at Level 1, 2, or 3. Since levels get harder as you go up, we didn’t feel comfortable placing anyone at Level 4 or 5, since the old system didn’t give hard enough exercises to place into these levels. Of course, if you already know the language very well, this may not be the right level. But, it is still more challenging than what was offered before."
― brain (krakow), Monday, 9 April 2018 08:09 (six years ago) link
Thanks. Had seen that but needed go reread more carefully. Interesting that that spaced repetition, which seemed to be the shibboleth, or perhaps the backbone of this and other systems, has now been pushed way into the background. In my experience, it works great until it doesn’t, so that’s okay I guess.
― Rudy’s Mood For Dub (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 9 April 2018 10:35 (six years ago) link
the french tree got completely made over about a week before the crown system took effect
― maura, Monday, 9 April 2018 13:46 (six years ago) link
Thanks, maura.
This Dutch continuous tense is interesting .
― Made in the Shadow Blaster (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 13 April 2018 02:27 (six years ago) link
moved to Portugal in late September and have been doing my best to learn Portuguese:
- Completed all the Duolingo courses (didn't reach 100%, but it seemed to me I finished the game)- Had private classes, 10 lessons, 60 minutes each- Read all the Harry Potter books in Portuguese (as ebooks on my phone, easy to look up words using Linguee)- Spoke a lot of Portuguese with new friends
Where am I now? I am able to read a novel, currently reading "My Brilliant Friend" in Portuguese and I can follow the plot, although there are of course many words I am unfamiliar with.
There's a big difference between reading and verbal communication though. Yesterday went to a restaurant to celebrate a friend's birthday, conversation was all in (Brazilian) Portuguese and if I was to put a number on how much I was able to follow, I dunno, I'd probably say somewhere around 75%. I understand what they're talking about, most of the time also what they're saying, but the details often escape me - especially if I don't pay close attention (and I find it surprisingly easy to zone out when listening to a foreign language). And I still feel quite limited in my powers of expression, telling stories is a big challenge.
All in all, ~6 months in I feel I'm doing pretty well. I did not know any Portuguese going in, but I've always been good at learning languages and I had a good grasp of Spanish and French before attempting Portuguese (similar grammar, lots of similar words). I hope to reach fluency within a year, but let's see how it goes. Learning a new language is truly difficult and any ad/book/course that promises to teach you a foreign language in a month is an obvious scam.
― niels, Friday, 13 April 2018 06:56 (six years ago) link
Yup
― Made in the Shadow Blaster (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 13 April 2018 10:58 (six years ago) link
Yeah it’s a journey
― droit au butt (Euler), Friday, 13 April 2018 11:57 (six years ago) link
I’ve been working up a Japanese branch up to level 5 to see what would happen. There’s no new content to speak of and I was about to give up when, half way, through level 4, it added typing in kana as a test type.
Good in theory but frustrating as Duolingo inconsistently understands kanji, so it fails you if you use them. Not knowing that いえ is 家 so that いえの掃除をしてください is corect, while 家の掃除をしてください is incorrect, is pretty poor.
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Tuesday, 24 April 2018 23:02 (six years ago) link
Have you found a Japanese course yet that you really like yet, Ed? I tried busuu for a bit but then soured on if.
Also came to say that I have been doing that thing of going from the target language back to English which has ended up being more useful than expected.
― We’ll Take Chanhassen (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 April 2018 13:50 (six years ago) link
For one thing, Duo’s encouraging words in a foreign language sound so sweet:5 op een rij!Goed gedaan!
― We’ll Take Chanhassen (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 April 2018 14:01 (six years ago) link
Dat is juist
Perhaps a topic for another thread, but there is some kind of amusing ( and not “bemusing”, also a topic for another thread the one about frequently misused words and the language mavens they hurt) feeling of discovery when one finds that a word from an alien or invented language in sf is actually just a repurposed foreign language borrowing, such as the vodsels of Under the Skin or the baans of Viriconium.
― We’ll Take Chanhassen (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 April 2018 14:22 (six years ago) link
Goed gedaan James, ga zo door!
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 27 April 2018 14:29 (six years ago) link
Dank je wel, LBI!
― Dub (Webster’s Dictionary) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 April 2018 14:38 (six years ago) link
Les afgerond!161 dagreeksJe hebt je dagelijkse doel bereikt!Verder
― Dub (Webster’s Dictionary) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 April 2018 16:32 (six years ago) link
Note that the “dagreeks” includes any language, doesn’t mean I have continuously studied Dutch all that time
― Dub (Webster’s Dictionary) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 April 2018 16:33 (six years ago) link
Kies een kist als een beloning voor het behalen van je doel.
― Dub (Webster’s Dictionary) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 April 2018 16:39 (six years ago) link
Prachtig!
― Dub (Webster’s Dictionary) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 29 April 2018 11:16 (six years ago) link
Je bent een kei!
― Dub (Webster’s Dictionary) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 29 April 2018 11:47 (six years ago) link
Dutch is kicking my ass atm. Serious uphill struggle after I was doing so well : /
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Sunday, 29 April 2018 12:21 (six years ago) link
What lesson are you on now?
― Dub (Webster’s Dictionary) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 29 April 2018 12:26 (six years ago) link
I wanted to try out the reverse-learning method discussed here, but there's no "English for Swedish speakers" option, which is disappointing.
― grawlix (unperson), Sunday, 29 April 2018 13:46 (six years ago) link
xpost I'm currently on "Sep.Verbs". It's more that Dutch sentence structure twists my brain in knots. I'm a native English speaker.
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Sunday, 29 April 2018 15:46 (six years ago) link
Don't most Swedes speak some English already? Maybe there's just not much need for basic instruction at the Duolingo level.
― jmm, Sunday, 29 April 2018 15:53 (six years ago) link
Have you found a Japanese course yet that you really like yet, Ed? I tried busuu for a bit but then soured on if.Also came to say that I have been doing that thing of going from the target language back to English which has ended up being more useful than expected.― We’ll Take Chanhassen (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 April 2018 11:50 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― We’ll Take Chanhassen (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 27 April 2018 11:50 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Working through Genki and using Memrise and the genki apps for Flashcards.
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Sunday, 29 April 2018 20:22 (six years ago) link
I see.My understanding of the speakers of the three closely related Scandinavian languages is that they all mostly speak two languages, their own language and English, while they look askance at their immediate neighbors and their strange pronunciation,and they don’t really quite get why anyone wants to learn a foreign language especially their own, so extrapolating only a little it’s not surprising they wouldn’t bother to make an English language course, anybody who is anybody already speaks English. Best encouragement is in Hungarian, where for every correct answer it says “Helyes.”
― Dub (Webster’s Dictionary) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 1 May 2018 02:11 (six years ago) link
My understanding of the speakers of the three closely related Scandinavian languages is that they all mostly speak two languages, their own language and Englishso far so good
while they look askance at their immediate neighbors and their strange pronunciationlanguages are mutually intelligible (some linguists consider them to be only dialects), Danish pronunciation being the "weirdest" and hardest to understand across languages (there have been quite a few famous tv sketches picking fun at Danish)
they don’t really quite get why anyone wants to learn a foreign language especially their ownit's certainly a... surprise that anyone without a strong connection to Denmark would like to learn such a relatively useless and (because of the pronunciation) extremely complicated language, I mean if you really want to learn a Scandinavian language why not go with Swedish which at least has regular pronunciation, but anyway learning a foreign language besides English (usually German) is mandatory in primary school and in addition most high school students will study Spanish or French, these days languages like Japanese, Chinese and Arabic are also taught at many high schools
― niels, Tuesday, 1 May 2018 07:25 (six years ago) link
Okay, actually went there and started doing reverse Japanese to English. Very challenging but instructive.
― Nashville #9 Dream (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 4 May 2018 02:51 (six years ago) link
And now that I have told you guys this I have broken the spell and don’t have to do this anymore
― Nashville #9 Dream (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 4 May 2018 04:06 (six years ago) link
Danish pronunciation being the "weirdest" and hardest to understand across languages
My wife, who speaks German, tells me she has an easier time understanding spoken Danish than spoken Swedish.
― grawlix (unperson), Friday, 4 May 2018 13:58 (six years ago) link
that's interesting! working in an office with Norwegians and Swedes I'm used to being told how weird Danish sounds - and from studying many different languages myself (German, French, Spanish, Polish, Turkish, Hindi, Arabic) I can confirm that the distance between written and spoken Danish is quite impressive and not wholly unlike that of Arabic :P - but would be nice to throw a few Germans into the mix and hear their thoughts
cultural ties between Denmark and Germany are probably stronger (German was the royal language for centuries iirc) than those between Sweden and Germany, and I believe a lot of people in Schleswig are bilingual
I do believe this passage from wiki to be rather otm:
Danish has a very large vowel inventory comprising 27 phonemically distinctive vowels,[4] and its prosody is characterized by the distinctive phenomenon stød, a kind of laryngeal phonation type. Due to the many pronunciation differences that set apart Danish from its neighboring languages, particularly the vowels, difficult prosody and "weakly" pronounced consonants, it is sometimes considered to be a difficult language to learn and understand,[5] and some evidence shows that small children are slower to acquire the phonological distinctions of Danish.[6]
― niels, Friday, 4 May 2018 15:16 (six years ago) link
Een taal is nooit genoeg.
― Nashville #9 Dream (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 4 May 2018 22:46 (six years ago) link
Ik zal dit jaar tweetalig zijn
― Nashville #9 Dream (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 4 May 2018 22:50 (six years ago) link
Je hebt goed je best gedaan en hebt er 10 op en rij goed.
― Nashville #9 Dream (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 4 May 2018 22:56 (six years ago) link
Na und?
― omgneto and ittanium mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 26 May 2018 02:18 (five years ago) link
So I read about some other product called LingQ today.
― omgneto and ittanium mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 3 June 2018 00:43 (five years ago) link
LingQ no doubt allows you to go a lot further, but the interface seems kind of noisy and distracting, to me at least.
― And Nobody POLLS Like Me (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 16 June 2018 15:41 (five years ago) link
But really came to post: when willl Duo add Icelandic?
― And Nobody POLLS Like Me (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 16 June 2018 15:42 (five years ago) link
In any case, now speaking random phrases out loud in Danish
― And Nobody POLLS Like Me (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 16 June 2018 16:29 (five years ago) link
Hello, thread that I killed. Came to see that the Linguee dictionary seems to have a login feature, wonder what that actually does for you
― Uncle Redd in the Zingtime (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 23 June 2018 14:15 (five years ago) link
Hungarian course for English speakers kind of a joyless slog. Reverse direction much more manageable.
― Isora Clubland (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 July 2018 19:43 (five years ago) link
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/19937675/Has-anyone-finished-the-Hungarian-course-and-reached-level-25
― Isora Clubland (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 July 2018 19:45 (five years ago) link
It’s like they took that Monty Python sketch to heart
― Isora Clubland (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 22 July 2018 23:58 (five years ago) link
Brand new Hindi course looks really good though. So far web-only, not on apps yet.
― RONG Blecch Limo Wreck (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 4 August 2018 13:29 (five years ago) link
(thread is dead)
― RONG Blecch Limo Wreck (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 4 August 2018 13:30 (five years ago) link
(Oder besser gesagt: kaputt)
― RONG Blecch Limo Wreck (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 4 August 2018 13:52 (five years ago) link
(must get back on this, maybe when the heat is less and the book is out)
― mark s, Saturday, 4 August 2018 14:40 (five years ago) link