5 ms·

So real quickly - how does this app differ from the little green bird?

blamazon 3y ago
I've not used the little green bird, but quoting the French Together website: [1] > Your French learning journey starts by listening to a fun and realistic conversation between Jérome, Elodie, Stéphane and the other professional voice actors who worked on this French. course. > They speak fast, don’t they? That’s how all French people speak (especially Parisians, they are the worst!) Don’t worry though, French Together comes with audio recorded at both slow and normal speed. > Listening to the slow audio helps you train your ears to recognize French sounds while listening to the normal audio prepares you for real life French. > Do this for a few weeks and you could dramatically improve your understanding of spoken French. Oh and the course also includes audio from a variety of speakers so you get used to different accents and intonations and don’t end up having to ask locals to repeat when you go to France. [1]: https://frenchtogether.com/?cta=blog-menu https://frenchtogether.com/?cta=blog-menu
- lisasays 3y ago
  C'est bon - thanks for tidy summary.
- codyb 3y ago
  Watching the Yankees in Spanish all season has really improved my ability to listen to Spanish. Combined with Anki spaced repetition flashcards (conjugation and vocabulary), Duo Lingo for some general practice, and Pimsleur for speaking and listening I suspect I'll be pretty decent by the end of the year! It's definitely a whole skill to be able to listen and disambiguate words spoken at a native speaker's pace in a second (or nth) language.
  - simonbarker87 3y ago
    I’m doing something similar for Spanish: listening to News in Slow Spanish podcast, Pimsleur, Memrise and then also paying for a tutor through Italki which has really been helping.
    - omgsean 3y ago
      Check out Dreaming Spanish, hours and hours and hours of free comprehensible input content, and then some premium content on top of that when you run out. It's been great for my listening comprehension.
    - lsllc 3y ago
      Try Language Transfer, it's really incredible. I realize now I've more or less wasted the last year learning Spanish on Duolingo. Now I have to go and unlearn stuff so I can relearn it properly. https://www.languagetransfer.org https://www.languagetransfer.org
      - simonbarker87 3y ago
        Just tried the first couple of lessons - nice starting point and more technical explanation than other things I have tried so looks promising. Thanks! And yes, DL teaches South American Spanish which has a fair few differences to European so that might be the source of the differences.
        lsllc 3y ago
        Actually, what I found was that in Duolingo I was learning random, specific versions of verbs such as Quiero (I want), Quiere (she/he wants), Quieres (you want). But I should have been learning the verb starting with the "to form", e.g. Querer (To want). From that you then learn how to conjugate the different variations based on the use-case, which isn't just I, she/he, you, they, we but also is different in the various tenses. But having blindly learned words in Duolingo without explanation is hampering me, I kept reaching for say Quiero and not Querer as I should and then the rules for breaking down the verb and adding the right ending don't work right. I wished I'd started with LT, learned the rules, then maybe Duolingo would have been ok for practice (although the gamification sort of annoys me). My Super Duolingo sub is up this summer, I think I might not renew and stick with LT and Dreaming Spanish. Regarding Latin American Spanish vs European -- in the LT lessons, they cover the differences in pronunciation when applicable and also differences in word usage (Carro vs El Auto) and even later on talks about "Spanish Idiolects" (e.g. the ways individuals speak Spanish).
  - canadiantim 3y ago
    Pimsleur pretty clutch
rozenmd 3y ago
Duolingo is useless for learning to speak to people, for one
- shagymoe 3y ago
  True but it's not totally useless. My comprehension is probably north of 80% but I can't speak as fast as I'd like, which is frustrating.
- sfblah 3y ago
  My experience: Essentially all consumer language learning apps are only useful for learning up to maybe CEFR A2 or B1. That makes sense, because that's all the typical consumer has patience for. Going beyond this basically requires hiring a tutor, because so few people ever progress to that point.
- omgsean 3y ago
  My wife has like a 230 day streak in Duolingo and every time I speak any Spanish to her (I'm like early intermediate level maybe) she doesn't understand. She's just hooked on making number go up.
  - KerrAvon 3y ago
    230 days is not very far in if you're doing the minimum each day, but something simple? ¿Donde esta el gato?
  - forgotusername6 3y ago
    I have a 1400+ day streak in Russian. I can only understand the odd word or two when I listen to a native speaker.
    - EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 3y ago
      Good news: you only need to know 5 words to get around in Russia.
      - 3y ago

I've not used the little green bird, but quoting the French Together website: [1] > Your French learning journey starts by listening to a fun and realistic conversation between Jérome, Elodie, Stéphane and the other professional voice actors who worked on this French. course. > They speak fast, don’t they? That’s how all French people speak (especially Parisians, they are the worst!) Don’t worry though, French Together comes with audio recorded at both slow and normal speed. > Listening to the slow audio helps you train your ears to recognize French sounds while listening to the normal audio prepares you for real life French. > Do this for a few weeks and you could dramatically improve your understanding of spoken French. Oh and the course also includes audio from a variety of speakers so you get used to different accents and intonations and don’t end up having to ask locals to repeat when you go to France. [1]: https://frenchtogether.com/?cta=blog-menu https://frenchtogether.com/?cta=blog-menu

lisasays 3y ago
C'est bon - thanks for tidy summary.
codyb 3y ago
Watching the Yankees in Spanish all season has really improved my ability to listen to Spanish. Combined with Anki spaced repetition flashcards (conjugation and vocabulary), Duo Lingo for some general practice, and Pimsleur for speaking and listening I suspect I'll be pretty decent by the end of the year! It's definitely a whole skill to be able to listen and disambiguate words spoken at a native speaker's pace in a second (or nth) language.
- simonbarker87 3y ago
  I’m doing something similar for Spanish: listening to News in Slow Spanish podcast, Pimsleur, Memrise and then also paying for a tutor through Italki which has really been helping.
  - omgsean 3y ago
    Check out Dreaming Spanish, hours and hours and hours of free comprehensible input content, and then some premium content on top of that when you run out. It's been great for my listening comprehension.
  - lsllc 3y ago
    Try Language Transfer, it's really incredible. I realize now I've more or less wasted the last year learning Spanish on Duolingo. Now I have to go and unlearn stuff so I can relearn it properly. https://www.languagetransfer.org https://www.languagetransfer.org
    - simonbarker87 3y ago
      Just tried the first couple of lessons - nice starting point and more technical explanation than other things I have tried so looks promising. Thanks! And yes, DL teaches South American Spanish which has a fair few differences to European so that might be the source of the differences.
      - lsllc 3y ago
        Actually, what I found was that in Duolingo I was learning random, specific versions of verbs such as Quiero (I want), Quiere (she/he wants), Quieres (you want). But I should have been learning the verb starting with the "to form", e.g. Querer (To want). From that you then learn how to conjugate the different variations based on the use-case, which isn't just I, she/he, you, they, we but also is different in the various tenses. But having blindly learned words in Duolingo without explanation is hampering me, I kept reaching for say Quiero and not Querer as I should and then the rules for breaking down the verb and adding the right ending don't work right. I wished I'd started with LT, learned the rules, then maybe Duolingo would have been ok for practice (although the gamification sort of annoys me). My Super Duolingo sub is up this summer, I think I might not renew and stick with LT and Dreaming Spanish. Regarding Latin American Spanish vs European -- in the LT lessons, they cover the differences in pronunciation when applicable and also differences in word usage (Carro vs El Auto) and even later on talks about "Spanish Idiolects" (e.g. the ways individuals speak Spanish).
- canadiantim 3y ago
  Pimsleur pretty clutch

rozenmd 3y ago

Duolingo is useless for learning to speak to people, for one

shagymoe 3y ago
True but it's not totally useless. My comprehension is probably north of 80% but I can't speak as fast as I'd like, which is frustrating.
sfblah 3y ago
My experience: Essentially all consumer language learning apps are only useful for learning up to maybe CEFR A2 or B1. That makes sense, because that's all the typical consumer has patience for. Going beyond this basically requires hiring a tutor, because so few people ever progress to that point.
omgsean 3y ago
My wife has like a 230 day streak in Duolingo and every time I speak any Spanish to her (I'm like early intermediate level maybe) she doesn't understand. She's just hooked on making number go up.
- KerrAvon 3y ago
  230 days is not very far in if you're doing the minimum each day, but something simple? ¿Donde esta el gato?
- forgotusername6 3y ago
  I have a 1400+ day streak in Russian. I can only understand the odd word or two when I listen to a native speaker.
  - EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 3y ago
    Good news: you only need to know 5 words to get around in Russia.
    - 3y ago