So I've never really been one to want to study a whole new tongue; I speak English and (broken) French and get by fine, but I've gained an interest in Portuguese. I love how it sounds and I'm not gonna lie I love Brazilian music and food, so I set myself a goal to become at least conversational in it!

I'm trying to avoid Duolingo because it feels like a glorified game to me and I've never actually learned much from it in the past, so what do you guys use that actually helps you become conversational/fluent? I currently have been using Anki (a flash card app) with some personal decks, and been watching a few comprehensible input videos on YouTube (i fear those are great), also been consuming a bit of Portuguese media even if I don't understand 99% of it right now , just getting my brain buttered up to it.

So, what are you guys doing that actually works? It's time for... #AskATRL

Umm idk pay for a class

Começa a ver telenovelas

Find a (hot) Brazilian partner I'm sure it'll help

go to brazil for a year

Language exchanges - you kind of teach each other your language. I found it a fun way to meet new friends and learn a new language from a native speaker. I also try to fully immerse myself, like watching movies or shows in that language or listening to music.

Spotify has language learning tracks you can play in your car, or for your commute to work.

You can alternatively pay to take a class.

I think it's less about routine and more about genuine interest.

I learned English by watching movies, listening to music, reading (a lot) and talking to foreigners. I had English classes in school but they were ****.

Oh and if you can spend time in the country the language is spoken.

Most apps are glorified games so they aren't the best if you're actually serious about learning.

3 minutes ago, oceans said:

go to brazil for a year

I'd actually lov to, maybe when I get a lil better I'll start looking for jobs there

I'm learning Spanish in a group course. Duolingo is garbage. I listen to stuff that interest me and try to make sentences in my head

I'd love to learn Portuguese if anyone would be interested in teaching, I'm bad at writing but I already understand about 75% of the language itself.

Get a self-study book, sit down and learn vocabulary and grammar. Grammar drills is where it's at. It may be boring for most people but it is the only way to learn a language properly and cover all 4 comprehension areas - reading, writing, listening, and speaking (to an extent).

Anki is a great way of studying and retaining vocabulary but you need to gather vocabulary from somewhere. Textbooks usually have themed vocabulary per lesson.

Listening to music and picking up random words and phrases is fine but the chances of you using these words in a conversation are really low.

Finding a conversation partner is tough and I'd advise you to not bother with that online. These apps like iTalki or HelloTalk or whatever work only if you are a hot girl and even then people use these apps for romantic stuff. There are always Discord servers dedicated to studying specific languages but I find most people there condescending. You ask for help or explanation of grammar and they (advanced speakers) all gang up on you.

idk i have a memory of a gold fish so Arabic and English are more than enough for me and i can barely speak both as i get older lmao

but good luck

Marry a Brazilian?

But in reality, learning a language is generally a matter of sheer practice. It's a crude estimate, but you would need to likely do about 1000 hours of language study to gain proficiency. So if you do 30 minutes every single day, you would get there in 6 years.

Low key, I have been learning Spanish for the last year and a half with the goal of being able to be pretty fluent by 2035. It is a little demoralizing but I am continually improving.

just ignore pretérito mais que perfeito and you'll be fine

Edited April 13Apr 13 by SupremeGoddess

I would love to learn Spanish but I think it is too hard

1 minute ago, Jack Spears said:

I would love to learn Spanish but I think it is too hard

it really isn't. in part, it will depend on what your native tongue is. if it's english, it might take some time to get used to the different gendered nouns and some conjugations/tenses. it will take some time to perfect it, but you could achieve a decent conversational level in a few months, especially with all the media that is available in spanish.

It really depends. Duolingo is trash, and apps similiar to it. There are some cool Ai apps for conversation, if you don't have a partner.

Other than that best way is immersion.

In everyday life. Try thinking in that language. I do it, or for example when I read smtn in my language I try to translate it to the one I'm learning.

Music, movies, TV also can do wonders.

Anki is love, Anki is life.

Journaling or summarizing something in your own words in your target language is always useful

5 hours ago, Acuminatus said:

Anki is love, Anki is life.

i wish i knew about Anki when i was first started learning Japanese. back then i had to write down each vocabulary one by one on paper (which is actually far more effective imo but obviously it takes way too much time). i only started using it last year just to review stuff i might've forgot. and i still add to it whenever i come across vocabulary or kanji i'm unfamiliar with

I've been trying to learn Japanese for so long and tbh the best way to "quickly" learn any language is having someone to speak to in that language. Watching movies and listening to music is great but it will take decades before you finally gonna be able to speak/understand

I saw a lot of polyglot people recommend lingoda, gave it a try and it's been amazing so far.