Language Learning Stack Exchange
Language Learning Stack Exchange

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1396 questions
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How to overcome demotivating interference from native language when learning a related language?

Situation: I had once attempted and am considering returning to self-learning Czech. My native language is Polish. The two languages are quite similar, to the extent that there are significant parts of Czech, particularly written, that I can either…
user2876
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5 answers

Next Step After Duolingo

I took four college semesters of Spanish decades ago and have been doing Duoling exercises twice a day now for over 530 days. I long ago completed all the lessons and started doing refresh lessons in the app. I continue to use it because it's easy.…
curt
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What are the implications of L2 learners being illiterate in L1 and how can they overcome them?

In other words, if you never fully learned to read in the first language that you were exposed to and start reading in a second language, what are the implications of this and how can you overcome them?
Frestrin
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How do I differentiate slang from non-slang?

A lot of times, I hear normal sentences without slang and sentences with slang. With my youth and inexperience with slang, it seems difficult for me to understand whether someone is using slang or not without asking the person. Other times, I assume…
Anthony Pham
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Is learning a language together with other non-native speakers risky?

My colleagues and I thought about speaking English at the office to improve our skills. I was not so excited about this. Sure, I'm also interested in improving my language skills, but I'm worried about learning the language incorrectly, especially…
nickel715
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Can a person read Braille characters using their skin instead of their fingertips?

If a person is blind and doesn't have sensitive fingertips or doesn't have fingers, then they read Braille characters using their skin? Background: I am trying to make a Braille device which produces Braille letters from a text file. I have used 6…
Dinesh Lama
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Should literacy in the L1 be taught before teaching reading & writing in an L2?

When teaching English as a foreign language to people who are not literate in their native language (L1), should learners first be taught to read and write in their native language? In other words, are learners more successful in learning a foreign…
Tsundoku
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What, besides frequency, gives a foreign word pedagogical priority in learning/teaching?

My understanding is that "survival" words in a language like numbers and days of the week are usually taught first, even though they may have a lower frequency than certain frequency used words like "politics" or President. What makes a word urgent…
Tom Au
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How can I use the weeks before starting a Korean course?

I'm planning to attend a weekly course for Korean starting on Thursday 27 April. I have about one or two months before the course starts (I'm doing a Russian course for one more month, but I could drop it if having two months of study before the…
Golden Cuy
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Literary translation production: How much does it help with a language?

Can anyone comment, preferably with evidence, on the benefit to language learners of translating literary works from their target language into their native language --specifically with a goal of maintaining the art, nuances, etc. of the…
SAH
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Improving my English handwriting in preparation for cursive Cyrillic

I'm currently studying Russian. Currently, our class is only using upright Cyrillic, but I assume that after we learn the whole alphabet, we'll start learning cursive. Unfortunately, my handwriting of English isn't very good. My handwriting is poor…
Golden Cuy
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Does a good pronunciation improve one's ability to learn a language?

My father is a native Spanish speaker. He struggles with English pronunciation, and even though he has studied many English courses, he seems to be stuck. Once I talked with a phonetics teacher, with whom I don't have any contact now, and he told me…
Vladimir Vargas
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How to certify language skills online

I am learning by myself Polish language and I would like to validate my skills by an official certificate. I did it when I was in school for English and Spanish with the CECR levels (European). I'm French, I got C1 for English and B1 for Spanish. I…
AymDev
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How can I put grammar rules into flashcards?

Putting vocabulary into flashcards is (relatively) a no-brainer: word -> translation, translation -> word. (Yes, it can be more complicated than that, but that's the gist of it.) Grammar rules, on the other hand, are a whole different monster: for…
Hatchet
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Does the law of diminishing returns apply to language practice?

Have there been any studies supporting the idea that the longer you practice a language each session, the less benefit you yield from it? I've always thought this was true, and thus I always tend to practice in short but frequent sessions. My…
fi12
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