I'm wanting to do some more active practice in my TL that's not just flashcards and the thought of these popped into my head. It's the short dialogues that go over a particular scenario like ordering a sandwich or going to the doctor. They seem to be in every learning text + a few on Duo, and I personally didn't like them when doing them in school, but thought maybe I'd give them another shot.

Is this too old-fashioned? Or is there better (or more fun?) way to practice more conversational/turn-taking skills at the beginner level that doesn't involve live AI chat?

(Note: Lezgi does not have a language-learning subreddit.)

Hi everyone! I was born and raised in Sweden, and my father's side of the family is of Lezgi origin. I didn't grow up speaking it, so I'm starting from scratch to connect with my roots.

Because there aren't any mainstream apps like Duolingo for Lezgi (TL), I'm making my own study routine.

For anyone here who speaks Lezgi, is learning it, or has experience self-studying other Northeast Caucasian languages:

1. What are the best free online resources, Telegram channels, YouTube channels, or reference materials (in English or Swedish) that you recommend?

2. How do you recommend making a self-study routine when structured beginner courses are hard to find?

Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone!
Reaching out to the collective brain of r/languagelearning. I've been living in the UK for past 7 years. I've got 2 degrees and use English (TL) on a daily basis, be it at work or with my family. The beginnings definitely weren't easy – I got a 7.5 IELTS score that I needed to study at the university, however, I often felt as if people lacked patience for me searching for the right words.
Since then, a lot has changed. I feel like I actually switched to English being my main language, picking up the local accent and some bad habits, while simultaneously maintaining certain quirks of my native language (e.g. an everlasting struggle with the use of articles).
My fluency in speaking has grown, but my awareness of grammatical nuances definitely dimmed.
Has anyone here found themselves in a similar situation? What helped? I was thinking about taking a C2 level language test and putting myself through a language learning journey once again – would you say it's worth it? I would like my grammar and synthax to be more refined and I wonder if the test could help in achieving that.

My native language is french, and I'm fully bilingual with english. I learned it in school but really improved it in my teenage years through just consuming enormous amounts of content in the language on Youtube and browsing the web, although school helped a lot with writing and grammar.

I also learned some spanish, now to B1 but with little practice. It was mainly due to the fact there were no other options and then once I was in university with more options I took the sunk cost and focused on that language. I can appreciate a lot of aspects of that culture and a trip to Spain where I had to use the language a fair bit has shown me I still have decent listening and some speaking skills, I don't really read or write much so that's not as good. I also studied german to A1 earlier this year but decided I wouldn't progress any further since I'm not really looking forward to moving to that part of Europe like I once did, maybe that will change in the future.

The problem is that now that I'm finishing uni, I'm basically stuck with either self-study or more expensive classes I wouldn't want to waste money on if I don't stick with it. But I'm not too great at self-study. Whenever I did placement tests for languages I self-studied for a bit to try and get into a better class (portuguese and japanese), I was put into the first basic A1 class. I seem to need structure to really succeed in language learning+interest in the culture to continue immersion. That is what happened with english. Two months of german classes got me infinitely further than a year of Duolingo. I can be diligent with learning something once I have a concrete aim to achieve and put it in my routine.

It's easy to find material for any of the languages I'd like to know, they are not too niche, getting immersed is another thing entirely. When I watched english Youtube and browsed the web, it didn't feel like work, but it does for the other languages and I get burnt out quickly.

My mother language is Bulgarian, I'm in my mid 30s and I've been speaking in English confidently ever since I'm 20 or so. I've been learning German on and off too.

God, when I'm tired, it's like I can't even speak sometimes. I slug words, I keep forgetting stuff, my accent gets MUCH worse.

Anyone else notice this?

I just want to hear some success stories, I feel very demoralized. I’ve been learning my heritage language, Khmer for a couple of years but I had to get an online tutor because the language is not common. I stopped a while ago because money was tight. I’ve tried speaking with my parents but they laugh at my mistakes so I stopped trying to talk to them.
I guess I also feel embarrassed that I’m fluent in Spanish but not my own language. I made a lot of progress on my own but it feels insurmountable sometimes.

(TL)

hi guys! so I’m kinda here to just vent abit on how hard it is to speak a language that isn’t your mother younger, and have people laugh and snicker at the smallest mistakes you made.

so I’m learning Chinese (I am chinese but I have immigrated to another country, so I suck in the language) and the thing is, I’ve always found it hard ever since I was a kid. whenever I spoke, I always had an accent, tones weren’t right and the grammar is so hard to correct.

throughout the years, I slowly finally started to gain confidence. speaking a couple sentences here and there. I‘ve accepted that my tones, accent and grammar may not be perfect, but at least I’m trying and I’ll eventually get there. realistically, I can actually express feelings, thoughts and ideas pretty well if it weren’t for this.

however today, my Chinese teacher embarassed me infront of the class by making fun of my pronounciation, and those kids that speak Chinese 24/7 kinda snickered and all. I’m used to this happening but it just sucks that when I FINALLY started to feel confident, i just get shut down and silenced once again. I fear in a community like this, I may never be able to speak the language due to fear of judgement. :(

Make friends in your TL.

That’s it. That’s the tip.

Of course, learn the grammar, drill the vocabulary, immerse, immerse, immerse.

But when you have enough preparation, make friends and talk. If you find it challenging to make friends, keep trying until you click with someone. Join forums, discords, language exchange apps. Keep trying until you click. Talk until it’s natural. Be curious and meet people who are also curious. Find the chit chatters and talk.

Hello everyone!

Like many self-taught learners, I’ve struggled with language learning for a long time. I often get stuck, see no progress, and end up quitting. I want to change my approach to studying a foreign language (TL) — I'm currently in a weird situation with a "fake" A1–A2 level: I know some grammar rules and vocabulary, but I can't read fluently, let alone speak. I think I lack a fundamental base, which is why I can't use it properly.

I analyzed my mistakes and built a system for self-learning. Does it seem reliable, or am I falling into the same trap again?

My Method

1. Level Determination: I choose a specific level on the CEFR scale (e.g., A1).

2. Vocabulary: I learn the vocabulary list for that level using Anki (spaced repetition, which many say is extremely effective).

3. Grammar: I study grammar rules that strictly correspond to that level using textbooks, structured websites, or video tutorials.

4. Active Practice & Consolidation: As soon as I finish learning all the words and grammar topics for a specific level, I immediately move on to content matching that level — graded readers, simple videos, and AI conversations.

The core idea: I should understand most of the text or audio, only occasionally glancing at the meanings of unfamiliar words or structures. I stay at this level until I start understanding it with almost no effort. Only then do I move to the next level ( A2 -> B1 ) and repeat the cycle.

I've heard that for B1/B2 levels, massive immersion becomes more important than studying, but my goal here is to use this step-by-step approach first to build a rock-solid foundation.

My Questions for You

• Is this a good plan to fix my broken foundation and finally break through the plateau?

• Are there any flaws in it?

I would be very grateful for any advice, criticism, or useful resources you can share. Thank you!

Hello!

I am fluent in several languages, but this is the first time I am learning a language in this specific language family.

I am at either a strong A1/low A2 level, and I have begun talking with a tutor in classes that are labeled as conversation-based for my given level.

After several classes, my tutor shared that we are going to work on my doing written translations while in class because they notice that I will say a sentence then switch back to English to wrap up the thought if I can’t do so in the target language (TL)/overall need for more vocabulary.

For example, today we switched away from speaking halfway through the class to doing these translations, and it felt overwhelming to think… do people who learn languages with cases, different word order, etc. just not practice speaking until they already perfect it? Is that the expectation?

I have no problem as the learner if half of what I say is in English because that 50% allows for the other 50% of my target language to be practiced.

I am cognizant that this might just mean that I need to change tutors or just stop it all together and do solo study. All in all, I have just always valued speaking, even in the most butchered way, over waiting for perfection.

What are your experiences?

Hi! Does anyone know an iPhone app where I can add my own vocabulary list and just listen to it? Something like: (TL) English word - pause - translation - next word.
I’d love to listen while walking or doing other things, without looking at my phone. Any recommendations?

When Im really in my element, comfortable, and have the words, I can speak pretty well about things I know how to speak about in french(TL), and one of the things ive never done is make my own sentences when learning words and structures. Im wondering whether my method is sufficient enough because i see everywhere that I have « make my own sentences » and Ive tried but I find it’s so incredibly inefficient and pointless if you 1. Don’t have the vocabulary(Also meaning you don’t know the natural way that vocab is used and are inclined to direct translate) for something you WANT to talk about so you have to look up the words which defeats the purpose of the exercise. 2. Simply don’t think creatively or outside the box. By that I mean there are some people who are awesome at formulating a sentence completely unrelated to what they’re currently in the middle of doing others not so much. Lastly, I just don’t see how it’s so much more different from encountering words and phrases, saying, repeating, making yourself encounter them again, and then becoming familiar in every aspect to the point you don’t even have to pause before you’re able to express yourself with what you learned when it actually matters to you in the moment. What do you guys think?

Do children learn languages quickly?

We have friends who arrived three years ago and put their children in a local school. One is fluent, the other is not. What factors play a role here?

I'm looking for a book that explains effective, research-backed methods for learning foreign languages. I plan to learn several languages, so I'm interested in approaches that can be applied broadly, not just to one specific language.

There are so many books out there, and I'd like to avoid popular self-help books based mostly on personal anecdotes rather than scientific research.

I'm planning to buy Polyglot by Kató Lomb, but I'd love another recommendation grounded in research on second language acquisition, cognitive science or linguistics.

Any suggestions?

the assumption is human translated ofc, so AI patterns and whatnot are not an issue.

this is mainly for more specific knowledge and vocabulary, rather than learning the structure of the language, for example learning science, history or philosophy in Arabic (TL). the thing I worry about is picking up translated idioms and patterns rather than how the language flows naturally, but is that really an issue? especially if the only works on the subject *are* translated works. I just want to up my proficiency from B2 composition/C1 understanding to truly fluent C2 in both, and I'm not sure how to approach doing that. fwiw, Arabic is technically my native language but having only used it for family:

a. the disparity between understanding and composition is large

b. while i understand words and sentences individually, sometimes I find it hard to keep track of larger bodies of text

c. when I compose, I sound like a broken machine because I have little to no awareness of idioms and conventional patterns

Hello! I feel like I've shot myself in the foot with how I've studied some of my target languages (TL) and I'm curious if anyone else has been in the same position or if people have suggestions for how to move forward.

In middle school I studied 4 years of Spanish, in high school I did 3 years of French (did the DELF cert at B2 level as well), for Italian I've done ~5 years of self-study as well as one year in uni (B1-B2 level course), and I did a year of Portuguese in uni as well plus self-study. I've had a relatively high level in all 4 languages at different points in time, but I've also lost a lot from all of them after I stopped actively studying them. I have friends and people around me who speak all 4 languages so I hear them at least on a weekly basis, although I generally communicate in English or my other native languages with these people.

I understand maybe 70-80% of all 4 languages, both spoken and written. Having studied all 4 has definitely allowed me to understand more from all of them since many words are similar. However I think I've managed to turn 4 separate languages into one megablob of romance language in my head and now it's difficult to separate them.

I struggle immensely when trying to produce speech or text. When I try to recall a word, it's a toss-up which language comes out. I can say something in what I thought was Spanish, only to realize afterwards that it was definitely Portuguese (but the person I was speaking to also understands both so they didn't react, which means I didn't even realize my mistake). I've tried to get back into studying one of the 4 several times, but every attempt has stalled. I can read and understand at a high level but have trouble remembering the absolute basics. When I try to study the basics, I feel like I'm just reminding myself rather than actually learning, and the information just gets assimilated back into the romance language megablob.

Something I think might contribute is that I speak 3 languages natively and use all three of them daily in my work, so I'm very used to code switching and I often find it difficult not to blend all three languages, so although I'm good at picking them up, I don't think my brain is very good at turning off other languages when they're not being used.

Any tips for how to dig myself out of this hole or similar experiences? At the moment Portuguese is my priority, with French in second place.

I’ve been studying languages now for over a decade. I enjoy studying languages and I enjoy reading and watching media. I can read adult novels in my languages with no problem. I can also understand most TV shows and movies. I am able to completely “think” in all my languages without resorting to English. And I am also good at accents, so my accent is very good. I’ve even done work as a written translator for a few years (into English only).

However, I recently applied for a bilingual position in what I consider my best language (the one I actually have a college degree in) and I discovered that, much to my dismay, even though I can have basic conversations with people and provide them with information, my speech is still hesitant and awkward with a lot of mistakes.

In a job interview, you are asked to describe past situations and how you handled them. Since these experiences were in English, I found that when describing them in another language, I suddenly realized that I was missing certain vocabulary or expressions that I never came across before. For example, I wanted to say “I had to find a solution on the fly” and couldn’t think of the Spanish expression “sobre la marcha”. And my speech was very slow and awkward, although I could eventually make myself understood, this was not appropriate for a professional position.

In other words, I can speak fluently when I control the direction of the conversation, but when asked to describe a specific situation, my fluency level goes down.

This is completely understandable since I’ve never actually used my languages in real life to speak to people at any great length of time or in any kind of professional environment. I realize that I could use a paid service or hire a tutor to practice conversations, but I don’t know if this is practical for 6+ languages and well, just sounds very artificial. And, to be honest, the part I enjoy is studying the grammar, reading books, watching TV, etc. with speaking just being a natural, but imperfect, bi-product.

The question is, can I still call myself a polyglot or a multilingual person if my reading and listening skills are C1, but my speaking skills are B1 or lower? When people hear that you “speak” 10 languages, they make certain assumptions about you and your abilities that are not necessarily the case and I always feel like a fraud or like I’m having imposter syndrome. If you say, I know French, people assume you can have a fluent conversation. Of course, I could just say "I can read and understand French" but it's not like I am completely mute and unable to say anything.

I am learning german and I have reached a level between B1 and B2. I am atm working through an anki premade dictionary (https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/790632871) ordered by frequency. But I feel like I am learning so many verbs that are not that useful, while I am missing some basic nouns (e.g. yesterday I noticed that I didn’t know how to say scissors). I am about 2k words in atm.
It could be that either it is not ordered in a thought way or that maybe I should change dictionary / approach regarding the vocabulary at this point.

What do you recommend?

Hello guys, currently learning English (TL).
I’m here to see if anyone has been through a similar experience to mine…

I’ve been living in Australia for almost two years, and I still feel stuck with my English. I live with my partner, and we both speak Spanish (NL) at home.
Lately, it’s become more frustrating. I recently took my PTE exam and barely scored 48 points.
I don’t have much time to study, as I’m self-employed and work around 50 h/w.
Has anyone managed to overcome exhaustion and make progress in learning a language under similar circumstances?
I’ve literally been thinking about making a rule for myself: if I don’t study English during the day, I won’t allow myself to eat or something like that.
I reckon that in a situation like this, I need to make some tough decisions

For someone who is deep in learning a language, whether it be for personal or professional reasons, what have you found to be the best way to prove yourself of being capable enough to converse in a language? Are there any good websites or online ways to test your comprehension through conversations? Do yall ever go for certifications or exam-style or just simply try and travel? I’ve spent a good bit of time learning Spanish (TL) through years in college and online as well and want to see how my experience actually would pan out with another speaker, and really test my knowledge best I can.

I know Korean since I was born there and English since I moved to Canada at 7 so I know both pretty well but I’ve recently picked up on learning Japanese(TL) but, I’m learning basic words like mizu so when ever I hear mizu I convert it English like “ah yes mizu=water” but for Korean and English it’s just so natural like I don’t think about what it means but rather what it is, kinda hard to explain. I just feel like when I start learning more japanese I’m afraid I would just translate it from English to japanese using my brain instead of just saying the words without translating the English word to the Japanese counterpart. Very hard to explain so if you ask questions I’ll try to answer them. But yeah can anyone that’s learned a new language as you got older tell me how they comprehend their new language

My TL level is right around B1. Having picked up reading more recently, I find that I'm looking up words and sentences I don't understand (it's quick with the kindle app translation). I definitely slows me down, but I'm a slow reader anyway even in English (native language). I understand at least 95% of what I read, but with that 5% I don't know, I feel like I'm leaving progress on the table by not looking up the translation. I've seen more than not that extensive reading (accepting ambiguity and not looking up words) is preferable for language learning. I'm not real motivated to do that though, it FEELS like I get more in terms of both comprehension and potential long-term learning to take the quick time to look up the translation. Is my process actually counterproductive? Or is it okay since it's quick with the Kindle app and not wasting too much time. I'm open to changing my strategy, I just have to actually believe it first.

EDIT:
I changed my comprehension quote from 90% to 95% to be more accurate after reviewing a few pages. My gut was off.

I've started a pattern of reading children's books(typically on my kindle) in my target language and I highlight words I struggle with.

I'll then create anki cards with translations.

Does anyone else do something similar to this or have any advice for a more effective way of learning?

Thanks (TL)