Duolingo
 

I’m really curious: anybody else here learning a new language via Duolingo?
https://www.duolingo.com/

It is fun, I’m doing 10 minutes of Danish everyday (but you can decide to do 5 or even 20 minutes a day). You get rewards that stimulate to do it every day. You can do it everywhere, on your phone or tablet.

It is possible to learn many many other languages (even Dutch), including Latin, Navajo, Welsh, Gaelic, Esperanto, Klingon, and High Valyrian. :)
I have tried Arabic and Russian, but I had difficulties with the letters. So I turned to a more familiar language - am doing this now for twee weeks (for free).

Yup, I’m enthusiastic!

I've heard about it but never tried.
But I'm interested in chinese as it's now the #1 steam language, the problem is I don't know what their writing means. :(

Thanks, will give it a shot. Tried french with assimil but stopped after a couple of months.

Yes, that is really a downside of Duolingo, there is no introduction of the writing.
I would have liked to learn Chinese too.

Keep me updated, I’m interested in your opinion about it. :)

I'm not sure an idiot like me can actually learn anything these days….

Mental stimulation, like learning a second language or starting to learn how to play an instrument - anything new - keeps your brain young. See for studies or articles Google/Duckduckgo. It can delay the onset of dementia, because new connections between nerve cells are made and new brain cells may be generated thus building up a functional reserve that provides a hedge against future cell loss.

So if you are already an idiot now, start with Duolingo right this minute, @you, before it is too late and you can not comprehend anything anymore! Not even how to feed your fish! ;)

Edit
Source:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/…ur-brain-young

I've been using Duolingo for 125 days now. The first 100+ days doing Spanish and recently adding Norwegian to it. Now I am alternating between them on a daily basis.
I've selected Spanish as I always felt it would be nice to understand Spanish. It is spoken in a lot of places :)
The selection of Norwegian just kind of happened. I was thinking of doing a Scandinavian language and was in the process of selecting either Danish, Swedish or Norwegian. I then went for Swedish, to find out after two days I accidentally selected Norwegian :)
At that point I figured it is just as good a Scandinavian language to learn than Swedish, so I am sticking with it.


The downside of Duolingo is that there is almost no theory. It is all about learning by doing. In the beginning that is fine. But after a while things get more complicated and for me it would be nice to have more background theory about the rules of the language.

@Myrthos: lykke til!

Btw: IMO selecting Norwegian is a good choice, because we're sort of betwern Danish and Swedish. In general we understand (and are understood by) Danes and Swedes better (methinks) than they undestand each other.

A pibbur who currently is learning Python.

Ps. There is a book available on amazon, Norwegian Verbs And Essentials of Grammar, which has got good user reviews. Ds.

Ps2. And of course, just ask if there's anything I can help you with. I know the language fairly well. Ds.

Is there any logic in using ‘et’ and ‘en’? Et æg, en dreng.
And pluriel. Why ‘drengene’ but ‘pigerne’? Why the ‘r’ in some and no ‘r’ in others? Especially the pluriel I find difficult.

Well, I don't know the finer details of Danish grammar, but I know something (because of the similarity to Norwegian).

1. "et", "en".
This has to do with grammatical gender. Danish has 2 genders. "æg" is of neuter gender, and those words use the particle "et" in undetermined form. "Dreng" is of the common gender, and those use the particle "en". Determined form is given by suffixes, "-et" for neuter and "-en" for common. Thus we have "drengen" (the boy) and "ægget" (the egg). Observe the extra 'g'.

So, how do we know whether a noun has neuter or common gender? You might think that neuter form is used for things, and people, animals use the common form, but that's not very reliable. "bog" (book) is of common gender. "fruentimmer" (one probably not often used word for woman) is neuter. You have to really make an effort to learn the gender for each noun.

BTW: "æg" can also mean the edge of a knife, and that word is of common gender (en æg, æggen).

2. Pluriel. I don't know the rule for the "-rne" form. I've checked a few examples, and it seems like nouns ending with an "-e" use that form, but I really don't know that.

a pibbur who is common in Danish

PS. A comparison with Norwegian: Most of us have (!) three genders. Neuter is similar to Danish neuter. Masculinum is similar to danish common. And then we have femininum which is given by "ei" and "-a": "Ei kvinne", "kvinna". One exception to the 3 gender rule: the dialect we (I) use in my home town Bergen, we have only two genders. DS.

PS2. We do have the plural "-rne" form in Norwegian as well, but not like they use it in Danish. We say "pikene", not "pikerne". We use the "-rne" form for nouns ending with "-er", such as "løper" ("runner") - "løpere"/"løperne" (undetermined/determined form). DS.

Thanks, pibbur. Much appreciated.

As for 1. I feared I just had to learn the right gender by heart, and you confirmed it. :(
As for 2. Thanks! I’ll pay more attention to the -e to see if that is the case.

I don’t envy @Myrthos having to learn 3 genders… I doubt duolingo offers the Bergen variant.

Anyway, so far Danish, to me, seems to be easier than Dutch, take the verb conjugations: jeg spiser, du spiser, han spiser, det spiser, vi spiser, i spiser, de spiser. I love it! :D
Often, when listening (not reading) Danish seems like a mixture of English, German and Dutch.

That language doesn't exist in Duolingo :)


Thanks I look into that


Thanks for the offer!

Ewe guise are two smart four me. Aye bearly no American.

Again I respond from the perspective of a Norwegian (but I suspect Danish isn't that different). In some ways the scandinavian languages are easier when it comes to verbs, in the sense that we don't conjugaet them depending on gender or singular/plural. OTOH in Norwegian we have a lot of irregular verbs. Look at the folowing regarding tense (non-finite, present, past), For instance "hoppe" (jump) is a regular verb: "hoppe" (to jump), "hopper" (I jump), "hoppet" (jumped), "har hoppet" (I have jumped), But we also have:

"gå" (go, walk), "går", "gikk" "har gått". And
"få" (receive), "får", "fikk", "har fått".

But:
"slå" (strike), "slår", "slo", "har slått"
"flå" (to skin), "flår", "flådde", "har flådd".

AFAIK these verbs are perceived as difficult by foreigners. And yes, you have to memorize each of them.

Regarding gender: From wikipedia, I understand that dutch have two genders (common and neuter) as well. Perhaps you can infer something from that, but not always. In German (my Dutch skill leaves something to be desired), "book" (Buch) is neuter, but "bog" is common (or masculine ("bok") in Norwegian).

As I said, in Norwegian we have three genders. However, using the same articles for femininum and masculinum is allowed, although not encouraged. Thus we have "sol" (sun) which should be "ei sol" (a sun) and "sola" (the sun). However you are allowed to write it like a masculine noun: "en sol", "solen". Should make it more easier, and in Bergen, no one will blame you from doing that.

a pibbur who consider himself masculine ("en pibbur", "pibburen").

I'm late on this thread, but I recommend Duolinguo to some parents of my kids to give them extra practice learning English. I think its pretty good for beginners in a language.

Do you seriously understand Danish? I've no problem reading it since the written language is very close to Swedish (or Norwegian for that matter), but listening to them speak…no. They mute the second half of the words…

Norwegian is a lot easier to understand, but I find it varies a lot between dialects. Oslo works just fine, Bergen…not so much. But still a lot easier than Danish to me.

Understanding spoken Danish is a challenge. But yes, I do understand it (maybe because they modify/simplify their talking when they learn that I'm a foreigner).

And yes, Norwegian dialects may also be a challenge, and in Norway dialects have a high status - people are encouraged to use their dialect almost everywhere. BTW the Bergen dialect is far from the worst.

The Oslo dialect (standard east-Norwegian) is as close to official Norwegian (which doesn't exist) as it gets.

One more thing: We have three official Norwegian written languages: Sami, New Norwegian, and "book Norwegian". The latter is derived from Danish (due to our 400 year union with Denmark) and is the form used by most (90%) Norwegians. New Norwegian is mostly derived from western dialects in Norway. Both versions are mutually comprehensible. But since "book Norwegian" is the most common version, that is IMO the version of choice for foreigners learning the language.

a pibbur who in New Norwegian would be "ein pibbur".

PS. Some claim (Norwegian comedians) that spoken Danish is incomprehensible to everyone, including the Danes. DS.

Ehhh right. I THOUGHT Danish was easy, but after reading the comments of you two, @a pibbur and @TomRon… :)
Yes, I have noticed that there is hardly any difference when hearing ‘æble’ and ‘aeblet’, and ‘vand’. and ‘vandet’. They swallow the ‘t’.
Also, the ‘d’ sound like an ‘l’ but pronounced as if you’re drunk, right? I have learned ‘edderkop’, and ‘skildpadde’, which sound like ‘ellerkop’, and ‘’skildpalle’. :)

About the verbs… I am at the earliest beginners level. So the present only.
And ‘bog’ is neuter in Dutch, just like in German.
The indefinite article in Dutch though is always ‘een’, no matter whether the word is masculine/feminine or a neuter. Definite article is ‘de’ or ‘het’ (= neuter).
So: en bog = een boek. Bogen = het boek.
The latter, ‘bogen’, is a bit confusing, because ‘bogen’ looks like our plural ‘boeken’.
When reading a word like ‘kvinden’ I tend to think of ‘women’ (‘vrouwen’) and not ‘the woman’, ‘manden’ I think of ‘men’ (‘mannen’), not of ‘the man’. But I hope that is just a matter of practice, the more I’ll practise the easier it will become.

Good luck with that! Everyone knows that not even the Danish understands each other in that absolutely horrible language :P

Kamelåså!!!!

In Norwegian we also do not pronounce the terminal 't' in the determined form of neuter nouns like "eplet" (the apple). So you will not hear the difference between the indetermined form "eple" and "eplet". However it's usually evident from the context what we mean: "jeg spiser et eple" (I eat an apple, but not a particular one), "jeg spiser eplet" (I eat the apple (the particular one that the wife saved for lunch)). Usually it's evident. When it''s not - well, languages can be confusing.

Been there, done that - yes you will get used to it.

a pibbur who knew about 3 dutch words before this thread. And who wants to be clear that when he considered himself masculine, it was obviously in the grammatical sense

PS. The Norwegian word for "speed" is "fart". Especially americans find that funny. DS.

I laughed for a good 15 seconds. I'm american.

Which language(s) did you try?

I started to use duolingo learning Spanish some years ago. It was quite fun and I learned. Then the children came and I stopped.

Would be a good time to start again now, so thanks for the thread.

However I know myself well enough that I forget things quickly when I don't use them in practice (not only languages).
And apart from holidays in Italy I don't escape my German/English bubble. Are there any movies/series originally produced in Spanish or Italian that anyone could recommend?

La casa del papel is very good.

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

Yeah, La casa del papel is very popular.

Some Spanish series that are on my to-watch list:
Contratiempo
Gran hotel
Frontera verde

Then there is (not on my list):
Las Chicas del Cable
Elite
Velvet

All of the above are on Netflix, afaik.

I have watched El Ministerio del Tiempo, a most imaginative story about time travel, but that one became boring in the last season.

Edit
O and I recently watched the Mexican series ‘Juana Inés’, but that one is no longer on Netflix.
Imdb:
“Juana Inés de la Cruz, a renowned writer, nun and influential political figure in 17th-century Mexico” Lesbian as well.
It was interesting to learn about this impressive woman, but the quality of the series was so so: 6/10.

Edit 2
Just learned La Catedral del Mar and the series Vis a Vis are on Netflix, I added those to my list just now. :)
Fariña gets a high score.

Edit 3
O and as for movies, director Pedro Almodóvar is world famous.

Edit 4
I remember having watched the movie El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth, director: Guillermo del Toro), weird movie, got 3 Oscars iirc.

Alex de la Iglesia also is very good if you like very dark (almost misanthropist) comedy.
I'd recommend La Communidad and Crimen Ferpecto. Mucho bueno!

NOT RECOMMENDED if movie violence turns you off, though.

Thread hijacked? :D

Okay then. One by one mentioned, my thoughts.
Casa papel - I ditched it fast and won't continue, regardless of it's popularity I find it too mediocre
Contratiempo - is a mustwatch timeloop movie, not series
Gran hotel - is on my to watch list for years but can't find the time for it :(
Frontera verde - a friend said it's boring style over substance, didn't try it myself
Las Chicas del Cable - not interested a single bit (plain drama)
Elite - a mustwatch modern young adults show that doesn't shy away from any topic
Velvet - never heard before, checked on imdb, doesn't strike me as something I'd like
El Ministerio del Tiempo - didn't watch the third season, love the first two
Juana Inés - biography+history=get off my property
La Catedral del Mar - same as above
Vis a Vis - a soap pretending not to be, IMO fun but not for everyone so try a few eps
Fariña - drug trafficking, I'm kinda tired of that topic so skipped, could be good though
Almodóvar - an oddball of a director who shomehow manages to present utterly boring stories in nonboring ways, watch any of his titles (aka if you hate plain dramas like me, pick any of his - you won't hate it)
El laberinto del fauno - the ultimate no_romance fantasy movie and I'd easily put it on some 10 best movies ever made list
La Communidad - absolutely crazy comedy about human nature, a mustwatch
Crimen Ferpecto - stinking for ages on my to watch list, couldn't find time for it so far :(

Instead of adding more titles I'll suggest googling for spanish thrillers. Not all results will be from Spain only, but will be on spanish language. There are many in past two decades, each one better than another.

Tried French a year ago then stopped… Now I'm trying again and it's going much better. I'm not turning off the pesky notifications since they seem to annoy you just enough to do an exercise a day in order to make it stop. What I do miss is more writing exercises.

If you like Spanish series, Narcos might be something that strikes your fancy, especially season 1 and 2, which revolve around Pablo Escobar, the infamous Colombian druglord.

Season 3 loses a lot of its charisma, but it has good bits too.

Perfectos Desconocidos is also an interesting film, built around the premise of a group of friends that, on a dare, agree to read out loud each other's phone messages without filtering or skipping anything. Things start getting interesting as some of them begin receiving messages they weren't so comfortable with sharing.

Late to this thread but curious about Duolingo now. I speak Spanish somewhat fluently and I'm certified to use it for work. But there's definitely a lot to learn still and I've gotten rusty during the pandemic. I find a lot of programs don't have a lot of options for advanced users though, I'm not sure how Duolingo is for that. I used to use Rosetta Stone a lot and I definitely liked it, although you obviously won't get fluent with that alone.

I was always looking for good Spanish tv shows to help me practice. I never found any that really grabbed me though. They tend to be really obsessed with crime shows which aren't my thing. Money Heist was decent though, but even there I didn't like it as much as most people did.

Yes I have tried with french language course for three moths.

Update. I have stopped learning Danish.

Doing Spanish now. Much easier (after having been taught French for 10 years as a teen).

I just started using Duolingo for Spanish. My GF is from Venezuela, and I want to develop at least a basic understanding of Spanish since some of her friends and family aren't fluent in English.

Are you doing it every day? How much time do you put into a session on average?

Yes, I am doing it every day. Most of the times two different lessons, rarely three, rarely one. So, ehm, 5-10 minutes a day?
I am at Unit 3 Stem Changes now. Usually I do the next lesson as well (in my case: Interests) but I can not start that one until I have completed all of 'Stem Changes'.

I wish Duolingo offered more exercises from English to Spanish, where you have to translate the entire sentence. I have the feeling I am learning in a passive way, understanding the language, as opposed to actively using the language yourself.

Which lesson(s) are you doing atm? And how often do you practise? Do you different lessons as well?

How often do you do the Duolingo stories?
I am at set 19, should do them more often but I somehow prefer the normal lessons.

I have still to complete the first lesson of the Audio lessons :blush: but 'Meeting People' Greetings was soooo easy and time consuming (ola, ola, ola, buenas dias, buenas dias, como estas).
You having a Venezualan girlfriend means you can skip those lessons and just listen to your girlfriend, her friends and family. Much nicer, much better. :)

I have tried to find a different app to learn Spanish, because I'd prefer to learn Spanish Spanish, instead of the Latin American version that Duo is offering.
I have tried Rosetta Stone, that one looked good and offered both versions, but I have to pay now. So I got back to Duolingo but I am thinking about starting with RosettaStone someday.

Lingvist offered the same, both versions of Spanish, but it gets very hard after a while. * Definitely not for real beginners like me.
Learning with Lingvist means learning really fast: you are learning much more in a shorter amount of time than with DuoLingo. Excellent app! It also offers a section where it explains the grammar and spelling rules in a very good way. I copied those sections just before the free lessons ended, because Duo fails as when it comes to explanation as you'll surely know. :)
I was willing to pay for that app, Lingvist, until the difficulty became a too big obstacle for me.

So I got back to Duo and might again start with Rosetta Stone later.

Edit
* Lingvist starts with different verb tenses early on. I'd have prefered staying with present tense a little longer. But Lingvist is great for improving your vocabulary.

I just started a couple day ago. Haven't done any stories yet. I'm beyond raw atm. :)

For me, it's much better that it's the Latin American version. There are a *lot* of people who speak that here, and I doubt I'll be going to Spain anytime soon. I can understand why you would want the Spanish version though. It makes more sense where you're at.

Never heard of Lingvist. Maybe I'll check that out once I've learned some basics.

Yes, of course, it would make absolutely no sense for you to study Spanish Spanish. :)
I'd do the same if I were you.

Nice to see you started learning Spanish. :thumbsup: I am sure you'll do fine when in an environment where the language is spoken regularly. Even if you don't follow the conversations you always pick up individual words, the accent and the melody of the language, if you get my drift.

What I am missing in Duolingo is some explanations about why a certain word is used like that in the sentence. If I get lucky someone already asked that and there is an answer. What sometimes eludes me is why the word på in Norwegian is used at that specific spot. It appears to be used as a replacement for in, on, at, to, for and some other words, unless it is not, when in is just i and to is til and for is for, etc. Duolingo flags it as a failure when I use the wrong word. So instead of understanding it, I just have a Pavlovian reaction to certain sentences.