Free language learning website.

[SmallFarm]

They have Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese. I've been doing it a couple of days now and it seems real fun and I'm improving and expanding my Spanish speaking skills. If you already know some words in the language you want to learn you can take a placement test to skip past stuff you already know. I thought some of you might be interested or would like to give it a review.
Edited to include link: https://www.duolingo.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[marc]

Do you have a link?

[SmallFarm]

Do you have a link?

Oops! Brain fart! :p
https://www.duolingo.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SmallFarm]

So have any of you tried it? Reviews?

[marc]

I haven't had time, but I am curious and interested. I speak three languages so learning a fourth sounds fun and interesting.

[SmallFarm]

I learned some Spanish idioms and proverbs today; my favorite: "Una boca cerrada, no entran moscas." (I think tha's right anyway)

[firebaptismglory]

I'll definitely take a look!

[firebaptismglory]

I took my placement test and scored really high in Spanish. I just missed some minor things with grammar mainly because I didn't care to accent when I needed to. The website looks great and I wish there was more user generated content that could be used to learn a language or review a language. Maybe a database of verbs, nouns, adjectives etc. I have printed from another website a list of 10,000 most commonly used words. What would be really neat too is to have a page of text that has errors and its your job to fix them ie. verbs in the wrong tense or a noun that doesn't agree in number or gender etc. Maybe you hear a conversation and have to answer simple questions to asses your understanding of the conversation. Have an activity to practice conjugating strictly all kinds of verbs in all the different tenses. It would be nice to have a picture or something and identify all the nouns you can see. I'm excited though, this website has great potential!

[SmallFarm]

I took my placement test and scored really high in Spanish. I just missed some minor things with grammar mainly because I didn't care to accent when I needed to. The website looks great and I wish there was more user generated content that could be used to learn a language or review a language. Maybe a database of verbs, nouns, adjectives etc. I have printed from another website a list of 10,000 most commonly used words. What would be really neat too is to have a page of text that has errors and its your job to fix them ie. verbs in the wrong tense or a noun that doesn't agree in number or gender etc. Maybe you hear a conversation and have to answer simple questions to asses your understanding of the conversation. Have an activity to practice conjugating strictly all kinds of verbs in all the different tenses. It would be nice to have a picture or something and identify all the nouns you can see. I'm excited though, this website has great potential!

Click on the button that says, "Immersion". You will see there documents that have been translated by other users and will be able to offer your own translations (or up-vote other users translations).

[firebaptismglory]

Very good, I have translated several of denver snuffers blog posts. Maybe I will upload those

[firebaptismglory]

Apparently there used to be a way to review vocab but was taken down from the site to undergo an upgrade in the algorithm to generate words. Hopefully that feature will be back up this may sometime.

[linj2fly]

I LOVE duolingo!! They have an app too.

Also if you haven't seen it you should watch the TED talk abt duolingo. Not only is it an effective program but they are translating the web behind the scenes. Totally fascinating. Google 'duolingo TED talk'

[SmallFarm]

Bump.... I stopped Duolingo for a while but have recently started again following a strong urging to learn more languages. I'm finishing up Spanish so I can start another one; Russian perhaps?

[Matchmaker]

Bump.... I stopped Duolingo for a while but have recently started again following a strong urging to learn more languages. I'm finishing up Spanish so I can start another one; Russian perhaps?

Me too, and I have no idea why. I'm not using any of the languages I have briefly studied previously (Spanish, German, Swedish, French, Russian), but I still have the strong desire to relearn Spanish & French and wouldn't mind learning some more Russian.

I'm thinking that soon the USA and the Intermountain West will become more of a melting pot than it is when the Europeans start trying to come over here to get away from the civil unrest that is going on in their own countries, or maybe some of us Ephraimites will be going to Israel to live in the land that has been set aside for our tribe.

[Robert Sinclair]

Interesting link, downloaded the app. Thank you for the info.♡

[SmallFarm]

Interesting link, downloaded the app. Thank you for the info.♡

You're welcome Robert. I've replaced all my gaming time on the computer with Duolingo. It's great fun.

[samizdat]

The Duolingo app is VERY nice. Finishing any tree will give you a B1-B2 knowledge of the target language. Duolingo also has another site on the side called WeSpeke where you would be able to converse with a native speaker of the target language, and you could get up to a C1 level with some effort.

I am learning German, Portuguese, and Russian via Duolingo. German first as it is a high priority language where I live (Puebla)

[SmallFarm]

The Duolingo app is VERY nice. Finishing any tree will give you a B1-B2 knowledge of the target language. Duolingo also has another site on the side called WeSpeke where you would be able to converse with a native speaker of the target language, and you could get up to a C1 level with some effort.

I am learning German, Portuguese, and Russian via Duolingo. German first as it is a high priority language where I live (Puebla)

Thanks samizdat. What is this "B1-B2 and C1 level" you speak of? Some kind of fluency scale?

[samizdat]

The Duolingo app is VERY nice. Finishing any tree will give you a B1-B2 knowledge of the target language. Duolingo also has another site on the side called WeSpeke where you would be able to converse with a native speaker of the target language, and you could get up to a C1 level with some effort.

I am learning German, Portuguese, and Russian via Duolingo. German first as it is a high priority language where I live (Puebla)

Thanks samizdat. What is this "B1-B2 and C1 level" you speak of? Some kind of fluency scale?

Similar. Being a EFL Teacher living outside the USA, the main levels that are used are known as the Common European Framework. This is how the 43 languages of Europe are measured, not so much on vocabulary but more so on competences.

It is divided into six concrete levels and a starters level before the concrete levels. I will give you examples in English.

Starter: The person can say "Hello", "Goodbye", count from 1-10 in English, etc.

A1: Basic. The person is able to use the simple tenses to describe himself or his activities in a brief manner. "My name is Samizdat. I post on LDS Freedom Forum. My best friends are Marc and SmallFarm. They live in the United States."

A2: Pre-Intermediate. The person is able to use more complex tenses such as the perfect tenses and is able to vividly describe activities that are of a personal interest to them. Most missionaries that are fresh into the mission field in a foreign language, enter with this knowledge.

"I have been in the field for three months. The Lord has commanded us to repent of our sins and be baptized by one holding the proper authority. We have set up a baptismal date for 04 April. Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized on that date?" That is A2 level English.

B1: Intermediate. The person is able to narrate events of his life or of the lives of others, or is able to provide detailed explanations about his experiences. He is able to understand the vast majority of concrete terms in the target language and can generally give some explanations about the subjects of his choice, or specifically give details about specific subjects of interest. Some missionaries return home with B1 though most will return with B2-C1 knowledge.

"I have been teaching, preaching, giving service, and making the lives of many better for the past year. This is thanks to hard work and dedication, and this can also be yours to grab too. Don't ever give up and fight for what you believe in." This is B1 standard English, probably told by a trainer to a new missionary from Chile that is learning the language for the first time.

B2: Upper Intermediate. The person is able to understand all of the concrete terms in the language and is starting to learn some of the abstract terms in the language. Here idiomatic expressions are learned and utilized well in a general manner. The person is able to obtain dominion of the local language spoken in the residence where he lives. Most missionaries come home with this knowledge.

C1: Advanced: The person now knows most of the abstract terms in the language with a near-native ability, as well as expressions from other regions where the language is spoken. Very few missionaries come back with this level of the language as this requires interaction with people from all over the world where the language is spoken. Most natives of the language end up at this level when they graduate from high school or do vocational work.

C2: Proficient; The person knows the nooks and the crannies, the ins and the outs of the language, and is able to communicate with other speakers of the language regardless of the regional expressions that they use. This is the true native speaker that has lived his life in the country or has exposed himself to multiple different facets of the language over a period of several years.

Traditional times for knowledge of a language via exposure:

Consider we talk for around 2 to 3 hours in a day on average.

Starter: 50 hours (classroom: 1 month and a half) (Immersion: 2-4 weeks)
A1: 100 hours additional (classroom: 3 months) (Immersion: 1 -2months)
A2: 200 hours additional (classroom: 6 months) (Immersion: 2-4 months)
B1: 400 hours additional (Classroom: 1 year) (Immersion: 4-8 months)
B2: 800 hours additional (Classroom: 2 years) (Immersion: 8-16 months)
C1: 1600 hours additional (Classroom: 4 years) (Immersion: 1 1/2-3 years)
C2: 3200 hours additional (Classroom: 8 years) (Immersion: 3-5 years)

[samizdat]

That is why the MTC time for people going to foreign language missions usually is 2 months long. And why most missionaries come back with a B2 level in the foreign language (the equivalent in English would be passing the TOEFL with a score of 520-550, which is what BYU requires for international student insertion)

[A Random Phrase]

Posting just so I can find this later in the mass of threads on this site.

[SmallFarm]

While investigating which language I should learn when I'm done with Spanish (I'm only half done with the Duolingo course), I found this interesting article.How to learn a third language while retaining your second one. Apparently, while some people have no problem learning and using multiple languages, most people can only retain two languages (their own and another). Anyway, I thought you guys would enjoy this so I'm using it as an opportunity to bump this thread. ;)

[alice]

Hey, I am learning Spanish to! I'm taking my TEFL course in Madrid which includes 1 year of Spanish lessons as well.
Check out this blog http://tefl-madrid.com/blog/74" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for tips, really good.