Anyone gain any benefit from language learning apps?

Benthedrummer

Benthedrummer

Silver Member
Hi everyone.

I was wondering if anyone has used language learning apps in order to improve their language when travelling overseas.

I've been using Duolingo and I guess I know more Indonesian than I did before I started using it.

Ultimately the best way would be tutors, mixing with communities that speak the language fluently......I understand that.

But in regards to the apps like Babbel, Duolingo etc......has anyone actually gained enough proficiency solely through using an app?

I tried Rosetta Stone but it doesn't list Indonesian.
 
I tried Duolingo German for a while. I took five years of German in school, and have forgotten most of it because I never had anyone with whom to speak the language. I thought Duolingo would help, but it really didn't because it moved too slowly. I gave up on it. Babbel might be better.
 
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BobC said:
I tried Duolingo German for a while. I took five years of German in school, and have forgotten most of it because I never had anyone with whom to speak the language. I thought Duolingo would help, but it really didn't because it moved to slowly. I gave up on it. Babbel might be better.
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Thanks Bob.

Yeah, I think that's the kicker......you really need someone proficient in the particular language to converse with.

Then apps like Duolingo would be far more practical and efficient.
 
My wife and I started learning Dutch via Duolingo about a month 😇 before going on holiday to the Netherlands. We were able to order ice cream or pay at a checkout counter, but conversing with locals on the street was... adventurous. Seeing that Dutch and German are very similar, I don't think we would even have gotten that far with Spanish or something.
 
WayOldGuy said:
I tried a ton of them to try and learn spanish. No joy. I find the complexities of gender and syntax incomprehensible. On the other hand I learned tons of computer languages and operating system commands with ease.
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A lot of other languages use gender for things and people. in Russian the last names are gender based if male for example Gorbachov, if female it would be Gorbachova. Asian languages are way harder because their grammar structure is completely different.


 
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My son has had good success learning Norwegian before a trip to visit relatives there, but there are two caveats. One, he had someone to speak with to practice, and two, he's a linguist and language teacher, so it's right in his wheelhouse.

I have been unsuccessful learning any second language from any source, lol. I took Latin in high school, though, so I am often able to get the gist of several romance languages if I see them written. Forget grammar or syntax though. I just mean the roots of words. 😁
 
My Hispanic friends at work teach me Spanish. I get it down then go talk to another Hispanic friend and quote my teaching. Never again!. They were laughing as I made my journey and the receivers laughed their azz off to. Little did I know but I was saying I'm gay are you gay?. I learned quick not to take Spanish at work!.
 
I've never used an app to learn language, but I'm sure it can be helpful if it's accompanied by speaking with someone in the language. My native language is English, but I also speak Japanese and used to be proficient in German. Part of the value in speaking with people is making really dumb mistakes--you learn a lot from that, as Bozozoid notes. When I was learning Japanese I had a party at my house and I was trying to ask someone if she liked baseball (Yakyu). She had a horrified look on her face, because what I actually asked is if she liked drugs (Yaku).
 
I like to recommend Busuu, if it has the language you're looking for. It's a paid yearly subscription but well within reason, and the lessons are a bonafide language curriculum, structured around your learning goals (travel, conversation, full course, etc). The full course is organized around A1-2/B1-2 international language standards, and your work is crowdsourced: you correct other users learning your language, and they correct yours.

It's the best system I've seen for self-learning apps, but because of its depth they offer fewer languages than most of these other apps.
 
Palaeographical said:
I like to recommend Busuu, if it has the language you're looking for. It's a paid yearly subscription but well within reason, and the lessons are a bonafide language curriculum, structured around your learning goals (travel, conversation, full course, etc). The full course is organized around A1-2/B1-2 international language standards, and your work is crowdsourced: you correct other users learning your language, and they correct yours.

It's the best system I've seen for self-learning apps, but because of its depth they offer fewer languages than most of these other apps.
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Oh no! Busuu doesn't list Indonesian!!
 
ravenson said:
English was not my first language, but it is the one I think in .
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English was my first language that I had to re-learn because my parents got divorced when I was very little and my mother moved to Mexico so I learned Spanish (which again I had to learn after having started in English) not to mention that I didn't fit the general look (short and dark) so needless to say, I never really fit in that well in Mexico so I left as soon as I was able to.
The reality was that opportunities were much better in the US than in Mexico, I would have never been able to have the kind of life that I have now in Mexico (not legally at least).
Funny enough now in my old years (at 54) I want to retire in Spain, my wife will have to learn a third language but she wants to go there too.
Cost of living is not as ridiculous as the US, health care is better and much more affordable, life style is far removed from the rat race in the US. and with the way things are heading maybe not a bad move. I would like to give our politicians a fair chance but so far none of them have done anything significant to improve our country. I'll leave it at that because this is not a politics discussion.

When I had to re-learn English, I used the CC feature of the TV to be able to listen and read what was said, in a month I had to take it off because I was just reading and not listening, then I listened more and within 2 months I was speaking English, it also helped that I worked at a place where I was the only one who spoke Spanish so I had no one to talk to if I didn't speak English.

So maybe the OP can find a TV show or a YouTube video where they are speaking the language he wants to learn and keep listening and see how much he can learn from it. being immersed is the fastest way to learn anything.
 
I've used an program called Anki for learning Japanese vocab and kanji, and I found it useful. It's a so-called spaced repetition method whereby you get tested on your recall of words.
 
I was trying Babel for a while to try to learn Swedish, but it didn't really work. I think I figured out that I don't like to learn just by copying sounds and memorizing definitions. I was taught Spanish back in middle and high school in the same way I was taught English....learning grammar, verb conjugation, sentence structure AND vocabulary. I think that is how my mind works. So I am now tryign to find someone to help me learn Swedish that way.

the current plan is to maybe take some Swedish classes at Ohio State when I have the time
 
doggyd69b said:
English was my first language that I had to re-learn because my parents got divorced when I was very little and my mother moved to Mexico so I learned Spanish (which again I had to learn after having started in English) not to mention that I didn't fit the general look (short and dark) so needless to say, I never really fit in that well in Mexico so I left as soon as I was able to.
The reality was that opportunities were much better in the US than in Mexico, I would have never been able to have the kind of life that I have now in Mexico (not legally at least).
Funny enough now in my old years (at 54) I want to retire in Spain, my wife will have to learn a third language but she wants to go there too.
Cost of living is not as ridiculous as the US, health care is better and much more affordable, life style is far removed from the rat race in the US. and with the way things are heading maybe not a bad move. I would like to give our politicians a fair chance but so far none of them have done anything significant to improve our country. I'll leave it at that because this is not a politics discussion.

When I had to re-learn English, I used the CC feature of the TV to be able to listen and read what was said, in a month I had to take it off because I was just reading and not listening, then I listened more and within 2 months I was speaking English, it also helped that I worked at a place where I was the only one who spoke Spanish so I had no one to talk to if I didn't speak English.

So maybe the OP can find a TV show or a YouTube video where they are speaking the language he wants to learn and keep listening and see how much he can learn from it. being immersed is the fastest way to learn anything.
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Using closed captions on foreign movies is a GREAT idea doggy........ fo-shizzle.

There's a few good Indonesian movies bangin' around the place.
 
Benthedrummer said:
Using closed captions on foreign movies is a GREAT idea doggy........ fo-shizzle.

There's a few good Indonesian movies bangin' around the place.
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this is what a Swedish guy her in town told me to do. He said it is how he learned English. I tried it for a while, and had no idea how to synthesize and process it. If I had some idea of how the structure of the language worked, I would probably fare better
 
In my experience, immersing yourself in the country in which you wish to learn to speak the language is probably the best bet. Any leg up you can get from "distance learning" is a big help, but as other have said "you gotta be there." I don't think you'll achieve mastery or even proficiency without a coach or better yet coaches - both male and female. But if you can grasp the rudiments (there, I said it!) you will be well received.

I spent over two years in South Korea and found that any attempt at using/learning (wrecking!) the language was appreciated and (thankfully) tolerated by most folks. Obviously, I didn't look like a native, so was afforded a lot of latitude.

Funny note: most of the folks my age or younger wanted ME to speak English so they could hone their English speaking skills.

Funny note 2: My buddy married a local girl and learned conversational Korean. Of course, given the chance, he'd speak the native language wherever possible. One day a gentleman said to him, "You speak very good Korean. But sound like a girl." Apparently the gender thing works both ways! :)

Best of luck you language learners! We're headed to Fairbanks, Alaska, USA for a month in August. Hopefully they speak English! ;)
 
I'm too lazy to learn without a teacher... apps don't work for me. It's strange, because I can study really well on my own and find information and do homework, but in longer term it just becomes a forever-tomorrow task unless there's a real urgency (like a lesson). I used a couple of language exchange sites to find people to chat with and took some cheap lessons on iTalki. I have a bunch of Japanese penpals and still take a real lesson about once a month (after 15 years), and watching movies helps, too. But if I were a beginner I wouldn't waste my time trying to do it on my own.
 
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