I dropped Spanish which was the only language offered during my high school years. I regret it, and now I’m embarrassed to start learning as a uni-aged guy. I want to learn Mandarin because then I would know English and Mandarin which would cover like 50% of the populations speaking abilities.
Basically I just feel like a dumb American and being a Marxist I need to know another language.
It’s okay. I come from the same background, and worst part is I didn’t go to an actual school. Now I can speak German relatively well, and I’m on my way to figuring out Mandarin. All it takes is discipline. There is no time like the present, and don’t stall yourself mentally by speaking of regret. Want to learn Spanish? Slap open a dictionary, right now, start writing down words. Google resources on Spanish grammar, there’s plenty out there. Libgen is your friend if you ever need to get a PDF copy of certain textbooks. Want to learn Chinese? Also plenty of resources. If you like gamified learning and don’t feel like you can sit around to learn Mandarin, get Duolingo, do a few words a day. Yes, you probably won’t get a good grasp on the language that way, but every bit counts! Learning a language isn’t like going from 0% to 100%, often time it’s a life long struggle, and by no means am I trying to discourage you with this, but the way you need to see it is: learn a few words a day, phrases, learn grammar, consume media, however much you can tolerate at a given time, and you will be equipped with much more knowledge than before, possibly in the future with enough to engage in basic conversation. And the best part is with languages in my experience, once you get to a conversational level, everything else will come easily, vocabulary will be something you pick up the more you engage, and people will certainly be impressed. Don’t give up comrade, you’ve got this.
If you’ve got the big monies and like gamified learning go with Pimsleur over Duolingo. For any language but especially learning Asian languages as an English speaker. Duolingo is shit at them. Over 4 months of daily usage for Japanese, while living full time in Japan, and it’s still quizzing me on teriyaki and sushi. Did a single free Pimsleur lesson and learned more actual conversation and grammar than I’ve gotten in Duolingo this year.
Or 🏴☠️ the older workbooks and audio lessons instead of the app. It was originally a CIA program so it’s not like American money didn’t already pay for it. Their Spanish ones were quite good
In that vein, there’s always the old FSI courses. Designed to get US diplomats fluent as fast as possible. People say good things about them. It’s all audio, though, I think. So it depends what you like. Not sure if there’s a Japanese course.
To be fair, listening is probably the most important part of learning a foreign language (for most learners) and perhaps requires the most time to develop. In every day life, listening and thus conversation/exchanges requires instant comprehension, and that’s also a huge part of how we form social connections/associations with each other. With reading you can generally take your time to digest things.
Strongly agree. The accent has to be just right for me, though. Otherwise I can’t put my ears through it. That’s why I like listening-reading. I go by content and accent, and get 7–35+ hours with a voice that I can listen endlessly to.
Agreed, Duolingo might help with absolute basics, but it’s not great for Japanese. For Japanese kanji, I’d recommend an SRS like WaniKani (or an Anki deck if you don’t have the big monies).