Things that you should do or at least try to learn a language these days

[Granrey]

What are things you recomend to do when learning a new language these days.

I'm using apps, podcast, self teaching books, double close captioning.

I'm curious what other things you are adding to the mix.

I noticed ados for online tutors, language exchange, AI, etc. Have you tried any of these?

[Keyrowg Ella]

I recently saw the YouTuber Language Simp using Google Translate to check the meaning of new, interesting phrases he came across while watching Easy Language videos. Once you've understood the meaning, hit the "swap languages" button on GT and try to construct similar or tangential sentences.

I would never have thought of doing so, but it seems so interactive and engaging that I'll have to give it a try! The main advantage, as I see it, is you're dealing with natural speech and can choose videos based on your interests. Something to supplement textbook study.

[Cainntear]

I recently saw the YouTuber Language Simp using Google Translate to check the meaning of new, interesting phrases he came across while watching Easy Language videos. Once you've understood the meaning, hit the "swap languages" button on GT and try to construct similar or tangential sentences.

I would never have thought of doing so, but it seems so interactive and engaging that I'll have to give it a try! The main advantage, as I see it, is you're dealing with natural speech and can choose videos based on your interests. Something to supplement textbook study.

Warning: Language Simp is a parody channel.

The guy behind it is apparently quite an accomplished polyglot, and he is quite cynical of the idea of "hacks" and various internet fads for learning a language.

To me, this sounds like a classic Language Simp skit on stupid hacks -- it sounds like he's acting like he doesn't know that Google Translate is hilariously unreliable and I imagine he's presenting it like it 's some kind of amazing thing that's never talked about and is wonderful.

He's mocking the way that these "hacks" generally find ways to convince the user that it's working, and typing something in your own language into Google Translate and it spitting out something that's possibly wrong in your target language is a great example: you won't know it's wrong, but if you convince yourself that you did something really good, you'll get quicker endorphin release than if you actually learnt the language...

[Keyrowg Ella]

Thanks for the warning. I'm well-aware of the type of parody he engages in.

I'm actually referring to a video on his patreon page where he publishes serious videos about his methods without the online persona. It's genuinely a part of his method for learning. He recently began learning German and is making great progress. Have a look at some of the "lives" on his YouTube channel to get a better idea.

Though I do agree, it sounds like classic Language Simp type content.

[Uncle Roger]

What are things you recomend to do when learning a new language these days.

I'm using apps, podcast, self teaching books, double close captioning.

I'm curious what other things you are adding to the mix.

I noticed ados for online tutors, language exchange, AI, etc. Have you tried any of these?

I've come to the conclusion that a good approach is a twofold approach. I'm personally against the more recent trends of delusion, of (younger?) people expecting to be able to learn quickly, easily, while having fun and without paying money. That is, I am against that approach as the only approach.
I do believe that old fashioned studying still beats anything else, at least until B2. But all the other more "leisurely" activities should be done. On top of studying, not instead of studying. But they should be done.

For the rest-

New but overrated: generative AI. I was an early enthusiast and still a paying user of ChatGPT. I should discontinue it. I've seen it go from a reliable tool to an hallucinating application more concerned with a pretense of coherent, seemingly intelligent output than with a correct one.

Not so new but still underrated: spaced repetition. Like it or not a new language is A LOT of memorisation and nothing does it better than spaced rep.

[pomme-manzana]

I'm a bit of a luddite in this aspect, I think the best possible resources for language learning are a teacher, a textbook, and writing things by hand. Of course, not all of these are available easily for all languages

[Picaboo]

I'd argue that generative AI is valuable. I use it every day to make me vocab lists from comprehensible input videos. I also ask it about Kanji (where there is a mixed result, sometimes laughable... but whatever). Its grammar answers are amazing.

-
Just as an example, I noticed that relative clauses seem much simpler in Japanese than Korean.
I asked Bing about it, and I was blown away on how good the answer was:


You are right, Korean and Japanese have different ways of forming relative clauses. In Korean, the verb in the relative clause is modified into an adjective by adding a suffix, such as -ㄴ, -는, or -ㄹ. For example:

[NP [ pro 만난] 사람] the person pro met
[NP [ pro 만나는] 사람] the person pro is meeting
[NP [ pro 만날] 사람] the person pro will meet

In these cases, the verb 만나다 (to meet) is changed into an adjective by adding the suffixes -ㄴ, -는, or -ㄹ, which indicate the tense and aspect of the verb. The adjective then modifies the noun 사람 (person).
In Japanese, however, the verb in the relative clause is not modified into an adjective, but remains a verb. The verb is marked by the past tense suffix -た or the non-past suffix -る, and the relative clause is followed by the noun it modifies. For example:

[NP [ pro 会 ( あ ) った] 人 ( ひと ) ] the person pro met
[NP [ pro 会 ( あ ) う] 人 ( ひと ) ] the person pro is meeting
[NP [ pro 会 ( あ ) う] 人 ( ひと ) ] the person pro will meet
In these cases, the verb 会う (to meet) is not changed into an adjective, but remains a verb. The verb is marked by the past tense suffix -た or the non-past suffix -る, and the relative clause is followed by the noun 人 (person).

The difference between Korean and Japanese relative clauses is related to the morphological typology of these languages. Korean is an agglutinative language, which means that it attaches many suffixes to the verb stem to express grammatical functions. Japanese is a fusional language, which means that it attaches fewer suffixes to the verb stem, and each suffix can express multiple grammatical functions. For more information, you can read this article or this article. 

I don't know where else I'd find such a precise answer to a question like that.

[youarethephotograph]

What are things you recomend to do when learning a new language these days.

I'm using apps, podcast, self teaching books, double close captioning.

I'm curious what other things you are adding to the mix.

I noticed ados for online tutors, language exchange, AI, etc. Have you tried any of these?

In my case, I learn from self teaching books and also watching movies with the language I want to learn. I did try using online tutors once but I did stop because I become so busy that I forgot to attend.