Introduce yourself here

General discussion about learning languages
mokiku
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2023 12:46 am
Languages: English (N), German (?)
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Re: Introduce yourself here

Postby mokiku » Wed Apr 12, 2023 6:19 pm

Hello, guten Tag, and all that! My name is Moki, and I'm not familiar with communities in this particular format, so please excuse any initial mistakes. :)

My language-learning journey began about two years ago, when I was trying to find something to help me break, of all things, a shopping addiction! I was obsessed with things like Funko Pops. For whatever reason, language-learning scratches the right parts of my brain.

Right now, I'm working on German (not speaking--due to some medical issues, it's very difficult to speak even English). In the future, I'd love to learn Spanish, Thai, Japanese, Russian, and French--in that order.
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LexiHope
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Apr 15, 2023 4:14 am
Languages: English - Native
French - Lower intermediate?
Egyptian - Beginner
Korean - Beginner
Japanese - A2ish
Spanish - Beginner
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Re: Introduce yourself here

Postby LexiHope » Sat Apr 15, 2023 4:38 am

Hi everybody!

I was on HTLAL many many years ago, and was thinking lately that I missed being part of a language learning forum.
Due to a combination of shifting priorities and poor mental health it's been a while since I interacted with language learning (study or practice) in a sustained way, but I'm feeling pretty good lately so hoping to get back into it.

French is my top priority, but I might do a bit with some others without any real goals.

Happy to be here!
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legerdemain
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Apr 16, 2023 5:47 pm
Languages: Native: English, Tagalog
Learning: German, Japanese
Dabbling: French, ASL, Esperanto
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19105
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Re: Introduce yourself here

Postby legerdemain » Mon Apr 17, 2023 2:07 pm

Howdy,

English and Tagalog native speaker here. I would go through phases and cycles of interest in studying other languages, but nothing truly consistent. Ergo, I signed up here in hopes of changing that and to meet other people who enjoy this hobby.

I lovingly blame the Youtubers Langfocus and NativLang for sparking my interest in languages. I took a year of French and another of Mandarin, as well as flirted with Japanese and Esperanto, but not much has stuck with me until now. Perhaps I'll reconnect with my high school sweethearts one day.

Right now, my goal is to reach a conversational level in German. In the hopefully not-so-far future, I would love to read Remarque and Jünger in their original form.

Have a great rest of your day,
Ren
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emk
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1620
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:07 pm
Location: Vermont, USA
Languages: English (N), French (B2+)
Badly neglected "just for fun" languages: Middle Egyptian, Spanish.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=723
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Re: Introduce yourself here

Postby emk » Mon Apr 17, 2023 2:34 pm

legerdemain wrote:Right now, my goal is to reach a conversational level in German. In the hopefully not-so-far future, I would love to read Remarque and Jünger in their original form.

Welcome to the forum! It's great to have you here.

Your goals are 100% achievable. They will take time and work, obviously. But if you use good techniques, you will get there! (And there are lots of different good techniques.)

30 minutes a day for 6 months is often enough to get basically functional, around an A2 level. B1 often takes around 250-350 hours for English speakers learning major western European languages. And after that, your conversational and reading abilities will "snowball" as you use them.

And the people on this forum have a huge amount of language-learning experience. We have remarkable polyglots. And we have many people who showed up one day with basic language skills, stuck with it, and now speak a foreign language well enough to do college-level work.
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legerdemain
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Apr 16, 2023 5:47 pm
Languages: Native: English, Tagalog
Learning: German, Japanese
Dabbling: French, ASL, Esperanto
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19105
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Re: Introduce yourself here

Postby legerdemain » Mon Apr 17, 2023 4:16 pm

emk wrote:Your goals are 100% achievable. [...] And the people on this forum have a huge amount of language-learning experience. We have remarkable polyglots. And we have many people who showed up one day with basic language skills, stuck with it, and now speak a foreign language well enough to do college-level work.

Thank you for the warm welcome.

The saying that it's harder to learn languages as an adult can be a bit disheartening, so your last paragraph is reassuring and motivating. :) Let's all work hard and achieve our goals!
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emk
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1620
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:07 pm
Location: Vermont, USA
Languages: English (N), French (B2+)
Badly neglected "just for fun" languages: Middle Egyptian, Spanish.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=723
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Contact:

Re: Introduce yourself here

Postby emk » Mon Apr 17, 2023 5:01 pm

legerdemain wrote:The saying that it's harder to learn languages as an adult can be a bit disheartening, so your last paragraph is reassuring and motivating. :) Let's all work hard and achieve our goals!

Children below age 6 have an undeniable advantage with accents. Some people can get a perfect accent as old as 12, I believe. After that, it's very rare.

But everything else? Adults still do fine! I know lots of kids raised in bilingual households. And as a general rule, their language skills usually turn out to be exactly as good as they need those language skills to be. Kids will learn languages very fast and very well under one condition: When it's the path of least resistance. And here's the thing: Kids don't have a lot of control over their environments. If everyone at school speaks Swedish, then kids will learn Swedish. Adults, on the other hand, have a lot of control over their lives. Adults can go to remarkable lengths to build a "bubble" of their native language around them, preventing them from ever needing to learn a second language. Adult English speakers in Sweden can very easily arrange their lives to avoid needing Swedish.

But what if you take an adult, and put them in an environment where learning a language is the path of least of resistance? Well, it turns out that adults will also learn a language really quickly. In some cases, given an equivalent level of necessity, adults will learn faster than the kids. They'll almost always have more trouble with the accent, and they may develop a few "stuck" grammar issues. But adults, given a great enough need, will reach a point where they can read literature, have intelligent conversations, and work in their profession. Provided, of course, that they were interested in those things.

And of course, the "bubble" trick can work in reverse. You can create a "bubble" of German in your life, fill it with interesting things to do in German, and your learning speed may surprise you! I basically did this in French, and progressed from A2 ("can ask for directions and buy life essentials") to B2 ("could be admitted to college as a foreign student, but the first 6 months would be brutal") in 4 months of full-time study. And I did this in my 30s. Yeah, my academic French is a bit rusty at the moment, because I don't use it as much as I should these days. But my social French is a lot stronger than when I took my B2 exam.

I've seen a lot of people arrive in this forum and start studying. And basically everyone who used a halfway decent technique and put in the effort eventually reached B2 or C1 in a second language, no matter their age. This isn't some esoteric skill that only a few people can master. Learning languages is a human birthright. It's just a matter of putting in the work.
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rehmanali12
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2023 1:08 pm
Languages: English
x 6

Re: Introduce yourself here

Postby rehmanali12 » Wed Apr 19, 2023 1:16 pm

Hello everyone,

My name is Rehman and I'm an English student . I'm excited to be a part of this language forum and look forward to learning and sharing with all of you. English is not my native language, but I'm passionate about improving my skills and becoming more confident in my ability to communicate effectively in English. I enjoy reading and watching videos to improve my vocabulary and grammar, and I also love practicing with native speakers. In my free time, I like to travel and explore new cultures, which has given me a greater appreciation for the importance of language learning. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this community and can't wait to connect with others who share the same passion for language learning as I do.

Best regards,
Rehman
6 x

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diaconia
Yellow Belt
Posts: 68
Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2023 4:31 pm
Location: Germany
Languages: English (N), German (C1 in 2004), Russian (beginner), Ancient Greek (beginner), French (needs refreshing)
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Re: Introduce yourself here

Postby diaconia » Mon Apr 24, 2023 6:36 pm

Hello fellow learners!

The complete newbie that I am, I've already posted my intro in the Russian group. I'll just keep it short and sweet:

I'm a native English speaker living in Germany. I started learning Russian because I visit a Russian church and the whole liturgy is in Russian. A whole new world would open up for me if I could learn it, so I'm super motivated.

I'm also in my first year of nursing school and I work full-time at a home care facility for the elderly.

My German is 20 years old. Even though I tend to speak colloquially with some Platt mixed in (dialect), I'll try to be helpful in that area :)
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zjfict
White Belt
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Mar 18, 2023 5:59 pm
Languages: English (N)
Spanish (Inter)
German (Beg)
French (Beg)
x 130

Re: Introduce yourself here

Postby zjfict » Tue Apr 25, 2023 5:18 pm

rehmanali12 wrote:Hello everyone,

My name is Rehman and I'm an English student . I'm excited to be a part of this language forum and look forward to learning and sharing with all of you. English is not my native language, but I'm passionate about improving my skills and becoming more confident in my ability to communicate effectively in English. I enjoy reading and watching videos to improve my vocabulary and grammar, and I also love practicing with native speakers. In my free time, I like to travel and explore new cultures, which has given me a greater appreciation for the importance of language learning. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this community and can't wait to connect with others who share the same passion for language learning as I do.

Best regards,
Rehman


Welcome. May I ask what your native language is?
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asdrubalivan
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2023 1:32 am
Languages: Spanish (N)
English (C1)
French (B1)
Ukrainian (A1)
x 6

Re: Introduce yourself here

Postby asdrubalivan » Sun Apr 30, 2023 1:43 am

Hello everyone, I'm Asdrúbal, from Venezuela. I found this forum because I'm studying Ukrainian and I could see good resources here :)

I'm from Venezuela. My native language is Spanish, I speak English and intermediate French! Glad to be here!
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