Has anyone learned a second language in recent years?

[taranaki]

I did Spanish in secondary school (so over 20 years ago) and i would love to take it up again. I have one more year of being a SAHM (kids are 5 and 6) so i have free time. Just wondering has anyone learnt a language and if so was it using Duolingo, a real life class or a tutor. I don't expect to be fluent or anything like it but I'd love to be able to speak to a decent level.

I’m doing French through Duolingo. Its good as you can do it when you have time and I’ve been told I’m getting quite good.

I've only ever got good at a language through immersion.

I have been learning spanish at a steady pace for a few years but I am not a confident speaker unless drunk. Apparently I have the accent down to a t.

At one point I felt like I got stuck and wasn't able to learn more but managed to push on. I didn't learn a language past the simple primary school french lessons so there is hope for you with some high school learning. Grammar and all the french verb tenses went right over my head in high school, since studied up to intermediate french at college but it was mandatory so I haven't embraced it.

For spanish I used podcasts initially. Coffee break spanish on spotify and other podcast apps is what I started with, duolingo didn't really help for in depth learning tbh but I do use the story lessons on it now as they are very entertaining, Duolingo also has a great podcast too for intermediate listening. They are stories with real dialogue and based on real life events/people so again very good.

Babbel is much better than duolingo imo as it explains things clearly and has multiple ways it teaches you so you don't get bored of the same old. Memrise is good for vocabulary.

SpanishDict (dictionary) is also a really good site/app. You can have word of the day sent to your email inbox every day. You can select vocabulary lists based on your level to learn or subject interest like travel and do vocab drills. It is also an in depth online dictionary that is well laid out.

Last but not least italki for online tutoring or for finding free language exchange from anyone in the world, it also has a forum.
One more..Meetup app for finding local language exchange groups.

Hth

My list is of things I have used over the years so it might be a bit overwhelming to begin with. Best thing to do is to try one thing and get stuck in of you feel it getting boring or not enough then add something else to the mix. Podcasts are good for when you are cleaning the house or on a solo walk. And duolingo etc is good if you have ten mins to kill. The best bit about most of the stuff is they are mostly free. Plenty of free resources out there.

Fantastic thanks so much everyone. I had been using duolingo on and off but feel like i was only ever going over things i already knew. I walk my dog twice daily so I'll check out those Spotify podcasts.

I also signed up to Babel but chickened out when it wanted €60. Not much in the scheme of what I'd get out of it.

Wonder if i can change my Netflix to Spanish now and again. I could watch familiar shows.

I have been learning Welsh for the last couple of years with a tutor at college. I got on much quicker this way than when I tried duo lingo as I had to go to the lessons and do the homework as paid for it, they explained why things were the way they were, practice conversation. I wrote and received my first full on emails in Welsh at work today discussing Covid regs so it finally feels like it is really paying off.

I don't find Duolingo that good if you already have some language, it seemed to go over and over the same things and I didn't find it very stimulating. We're using Paul Noble for French, which is really enjoyable. Also using the language as much as possible when in the country which really helps.

That's what i found with duolingo, i did a test to set the level once but i did too well on it abd was placed at top high a level. But I'm not a beginner either. My reading skills are much better than my aural or oral because i can stop abd think and figure stuff out.

Maybe i should find a Spanish person who is trying to improve their English and buddy up for chats.

I've dragged duolingo back out because I want to teach DD a bit of French (she's not yet two) but my god does it suck to be doing basics when I can read well, listen fairly well but can't just speak it. DD watches cartoons in French and I pick up stuff there, not so much with trying to watch adult tv in French

@Tiggles

I have been learning Welsh for the last couple of years with a tutor at college. I got on much quicker this way than when I tried duo lingo as I had to go to the lessons and do the homework as paid for it, they explained why things were the way they were, practice conversation. I wrote and received my first full on emails in Welsh at work today discussing Covid regs so it finally feels like it is really paying off.

@Tiggles do you live in Wales? I was brought up with welsh as my second language but now I live in an area where they don't speak welsh and I've lost so much of it

I taught myself Spanish through selling on a Spanish website. Only part of it is translated into English and the rest is in Spanish. And of course most of my customers are Spanish.

@toiletpaper I do, having moved here. I learnt a small bit when the kids were small to teach them colours and numbers etc but now they are at secondary I realised how little welsh I knew.

I learned Spanish a few years ago, starting in my late 20s from very little. I did live in Spain and did get a teacher for one or one BUT I progressed A LOT using Notes in Spanish podcasts. They are fantastic! It's a British guy and his Madridleño wife. Give it a go - they do various levels and it's really interesting too. Free to listen to and you can buy worksheets if you want to. I learned loads with them.

I'm learning Spanish in a small group with a tutor but found the Busuu app very helpful during lockdown. There's a YouTube programme called Spanish with Paul which is good and I also like Coffee Break Spanish podcasts. My tutor recommends we watch Peppa Pig etc in Spanish on YouTube too! On Netflix there's a series called Grand Hotel in Spanish which is a soap opera kind of thing.

I watch Reina de corazon on YouTube 😊

I relocated overseas a while ago, and began with DuoLingo, a Michel Thomas Method audiobook for complete beginners, and a short course on Coursera/FutureLearn/EdX (I cant remember which one) before I arrived. Between these three resources I managed to test into an A1 level class in my new country rather than one for complete beginners.

The class followed an intensive three month course, and at the end I had a lot of confidence and progressed quite quickly from there.

I returned to DuoLingo to finish the course because it's great for vocabulary, but with the listening exercises switched off, because by then I'd learned that the computer-generated pronunciation of my target language was really off. I still use DuoLingo every day, usually to practice grammar points that I don't completely understand, but mostly because I'm protective of my streak

I started watching children's tv shows on Netflix in the target language, and worked from there. Podcasts have been good for getting to know some of the country's different accents. Listen to the radio news, with the station's homepage open so you can read as you hear and pick up cues from images. You'd be surprised at how much vocabulary you can soak up quickly doing this!

When watching tv in English, I turn on subtitles in the target language as I find it's a great way to better understand its syntax rules.

There's also some great YouTube channels, run by language teachers. Spanish is about a million times more widely spoken than the language I'm learning, so I imagine you'll have plenty of choice there!

Good luck OP, and have fun!

Not a language exactly. My husband is Nigerian and I have learnt the slang language, its called Pidgin English. Its basically broken English with Nigerian sland and ai peak it perfectly now, to the extent of if we are out and about no one knows what I am saying.

I'm also trying to learn Arabic as I have also become a Muslim and its such a lovely language.

Its basically broken English with Nigerian slang and I speak it perfectly *

I just wanted to comment on learning a language through T.V. One of my aunties came over here from India as a teenager and just missed out on secondary school by a few months. She soon learnt how to speak perfect English though by repeatedly watching Neighbours on the telly so it can work!

I have done Beginner's German evening classes twice (several years apart) completed Duolingo German and now have a German friend to practise with.
The classes are good because you learn Grammar and can ask questions. Duolingo has given me a great vocabulary and obviously having someone to talk to in their native language gives me the opportunity to think about how I need to phrase things.
I also follow a German newspaper on Facebook.
I really like the repetitive nature of Duolingo, and I can do a few minutes every day.
In the end it comes down to how you learn best OP. There are lots of things online. I used to watch German children's TV at one point!
There will be lots in Spanish, I am sure.

I am learning a language now. am up to level b2 now according to a test I did.

mixture of babbel, face to face lessons, watching tv listening to podcasts. and trying to speak as much as possible.

try to find something on tv that's contemporary and switch on the subtitles of the target language.

I watch news and a midsomer murders type programme. but I think the over enunciation in those programmes doesn't help much in small talk situations.

I have met a few people who have learned to speak English almost exclusively through watching TV. It's great for accents too.

I like to listen to radio or podcasts of my target language.

Sometimes I watch YouTube vloggers in the language too.

I don't really like watching English language programmes with target language subtitles because I feel it's literally just a translation. It misses an opportunity to hear how the language is really spoken and millions of very tiny cultural things related to social situations. So watching anything in the language with subtitles in the same language is really helpful for me. The spoken language usually condenses words. Then you end up going to the country/speaking to a native speaker and not having a clue what they're saying, even though you would know if it was written down. It can be helpful to pause and rewatch a scene with English subtitles and then a third time in target language (as a studying exercise rather than just watching and hoping to understand something).

I studied languages at uni when the internet was still quite new. I think it's incredible how much the internet has changed language learning possibilities. I spent a year learning a language I'd never heard a single word of before, and during that year only heard one native speaker, once a week for an hour. I got 10 minutes maximum when I could speak it per week. There are actually so many options now it's amazing.

I am picking up ( not quite where I left off!) with a-level French at the tender age of 42. I have an online Zoom class once a week which is wholly in French and this is great. Lots of opportunities for conversation, a bit of grammar. Coffee Break French has helped my vocabulary no end. We have a house in France but that doesn't help beyond chatting in shops as we are surrounded by English fluent neighbours!

I started learning french and spanish with duolingo and memrise. Overall, I found memrise better.

I'm learning kiswahili at the minute through an app that specializes in that language. I'm finding it easier to stay motivated because I love Kenya( intend to work there one day so it will come in useful), grammatically kiswahili is similar to English and it is an absolutely beautiful language.