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Language Learning

Launched Q&A site for students, teachers, polyglots, and anyone interested in the techniques of second-language acquisition.

10
votes
1
answer

Fake languages?

apr 4 '16 at 13:38 Crissov 1,247
1
vote
1
answer

Should questions generally include information about the OPs native language? [closed]

mar 25 '16 at 13:08 YviDe 946
4
votes
1
answer

How is this different from individual language sites?

mar 14 '16 at 6:16 Community♦ 1
2
votes
1
answer

Using Tags in Language Learning [closed]

jan 17 '16 at 9:42 YviDe 946
19
votes
3
answers

Final Review: Is the proper title “Second-Language Acquisition”?

jan 11 '16 at 7:56 Community♦ 1

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discuss this proposal

61 Example Questions (1 closed)

active newest votes
up vote 15 down vote
Which strategy leads to better learning, speaking from day 1, or having a "silent period"?
added by michau Feb 6 '15 at 17:13
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What is silent period? Wikipedia has it but I don't understand. Why they have to keep silent? – Ooker Nov 26 '15 at 16:21
up vote 14 down vote
Are there any studies which address the effectiveness of studying multiple related languages (e.g. French/Spanish) simultaneously?
added by Flimzy Feb 5 '15 at 17:22
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up vote 11 down vote
Why is the use of flashcards considered very beneficial for learning the vocab of a language?
added by M.A.R., edited by Flimzy Mar 12 '15 at 2:22
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up vote 11 down vote
Are there any real advantages to follow an audio-only language course (like Pimsleur or Michael Thomas) instead a more traditional one?
added by Nicolás Mar 3 '15 at 14:32
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up vote 11 down vote
How efficient is Duolingo at teaching speaking in the language?
added by Pavel V. Mar 11 '15 at 15:45
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2  
I think evaluation of popular language resources is pertinent despite being somewhat subjective. This will probably end up being an advantages/disadvantages question. – brandaemon Aug 5 '15 at 14:53
DuoLingo claims it is efficient. They compared the results of some of their users to language tests to the results of university students to the same test. If there are independent studies, the question could be answered. The question may likely have to be edited to precise what "useful" means though. – John Butler Oct 24 '15 at 2:31
1  
@JohnButler: precision of the term "useful" should be in the question body - example questions can't be long enough for this. And I know about the study you mentioned - that's why I specified "speaking in the language" - the study measured efficiency at translating written texts, not speaking. – Pavel V. Oct 26 '15 at 7:02
I think we could change "useful" to "effective". – michau Nov 11 '15 at 12:14
@michau: or "efficient". Editted. – Pavel V. Nov 11 '15 at 12:25
show 1 more improvement suggestion
up vote 11 down vote
Should Chinese be learned before Japanese or Japanese before Chinese?
added by Earthliŋ May 8 '15 at 19:44
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up vote 10 down vote
When learning a new language to be conversational, is vocabulary practice from L1 to L2 or from L2 to L1 more effective?
added by Flimzy Feb 5 '15 at 17:20
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Incidentally, I already asked something like this some time ago on Linguistics.SE. – Flimzy Feb 7 '15 at 17:17
up vote 10 down vote
What are effective ways of memorising vocabulary?
added by michau Feb 6 '15 at 17:09
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7  
"Some good" sounds a bit vague. Is it fast? Free? Logical? Audial? Visual? Mnemonic? Vocabularies can be profession-specific and need another method. Also, language-specifics may impact the answer. – bytebuster Apr 8 '15 at 17:01
How about "effective"? – michau Nov 10 '15 at 12:37
up vote 10 down vote
Is one-on-one language teaching always more effective than larger classes?
added by michau, edited by Flimzy Feb 7 '15 at 17:10
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up vote 10 down vote
Which makes for a better learning experience in a language exchange (Where two languages are spoken alternately): A group setting or one-on-one?
added by Flimzy Feb 7 '15 at 21:53
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6  
Better is fairly subjective. it might be more concrete to ask specifically about research comparing the two, pros and cons of each, or to more precisely define your learning goals. – L. Blanc Sep 6 '15 at 13:53
up vote 10 down vote
How useful is studying Latin for learners of any of the romance languages?
added by Nicolás Mar 3 '15 at 21:30
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up vote 10 down vote
Is there any difference between native teachers and non-native teachers in teaching a language?
added by Ooker, edited by Flimzy Dec 10 '15 at 14:23
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up vote 10 down vote
What advantages and disadvantages do adult language learners face, relative to children?
added by L. Blanc Sep 6 '15 at 14:08
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up vote 10 down vote
How can I help an older learner learning English?
added by Ooker Sep 8 '15 at 7:51
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Can you be more specific? – OldBunny2800 Nov 14 '15 at 21:50
@OldBunny2800 she has spent a lot of money to study English, yet still struggle to remember vocabulary – Ooker Nov 15 '15 at 14:58
I still don't understand. What has or hasn't she done to learn? What's not working? – OldBunny2800 Nov 15 '15 at 19:21
she went study in a center. It provides a lot of service to help her. She also spent time every week to review the words. Yet she still felt hard to remember. I guess that's natural, but this made she lose her patience. – Ooker Nov 16 '15 at 8:44
1  
@OOker The problem with this question (in my mind) is that it's highly subjective - how your mom learns/what hasn't worked for her may not apply to others. A more generic version (and more widely applicable) of this question might be "How can I help an older learner who is having difficulty learning a language?" But that's my opinion. – tonysdg Dec 2 '15 at 18:55
show 6 more improvement suggestions
up vote 10 down vote
Is there anything I can do, before I start learning a language, that will reduce my eventual accent?
added by Gwenn Sep 17 '15 at 15:05
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up vote 10 down vote
Is there a list of online social learning site, e.g. Duolingo, Italki, SpeaQwithMe, etc.?
added by alvas Sep 25 '15 at 21:01
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up vote 10 down vote
How can we learn with multiple subtitles for a foreign language movie?
added by alvas Sep 25 '15 at 21:02
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up vote 10 down vote
Is there a way to limit Duolingo practice to only audio exercises translating into the target language?
added by Nathaniel Sep 26 '15 at 17:42
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up vote 10 down vote
Can I have C1-level proficiency in a foreign language even if my pronunciation is poor?
added by Nathaniel Sep 26 '15 at 18:04
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up vote 10 down vote
What's the most efficient way of learning a new language using prior knowledge from other languages?
added by 9t. Oct 12 '15 at 9:13
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Some examples of [known] and [learned] languages would be handy, this might be too broad. Depends on how closely related and what are the difficult parts of the language learned. – Pavel V. Oct 22 '15 at 13:06
7  
This is definitely too broad. It is trying to cover a really wide swath of what this entire site is about in one question. – Robert Cartaino Dec 18 '15 at 0:07
1  
@Robert I think we can learn a language without using another language – Ooker Dec 23 '15 at 16:13
up vote 10 down vote
What strategies can I use to learn the gender of substantives?
added by ANeves Oct 18 '15 at 0:28
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1  
That sounds a bit broad to me. Some languages have rules, some don't. – gmauch Dec 1 '15 at 14:54
Do you think, @gmauch , that it would be more appropriate to have one of these questions for each language (or set of similar languages)? There would be common techniques. For example, for me it's hard to learn German genders because plenty of them don't match the gender of that word for any other language I know. – ANeves Dec 2 '15 at 16:52
@ANeves, Exactly! It seems very sepcific to a language, and SE has a site (or a proposal) for many (most?) of them. Just to name a few, German has a few heuristics (substantives ended in "-ung" are feminine, but not every feminine substantive ends in "-ung") but no fixed rule. English has no gender declension. Portuguese has a fixed rule (substantives ending in "a" are feminine, ending in "o" are masculine with very few exceptions). So it seems to me that there is no general rule. – gmauch Dec 2 '15 at 17:07
up vote 10 down vote
How can I make the IPA sound /χ/?
added by ANeves Oct 18 '15 at 0:39
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1  
I think this question is better in Linguistics – Ooker Oct 26 '15 at 14:02
@ooker would it be on-topic on Linguistics, though? I think language learning is specifically off-topic there, and I can't find any similar examples of questions like this. – jimsug Nov 3 '15 at 21:44
1  
@jimsug: I think it's on-topic there. It can be on-topic here, but in my opinion you will get better answers there. The IPA is not only used for language learners, but also lexicographers. – Ooker Nov 4 '15 at 4:53
1  
@Ooker Lexicographers, even if they use IPA, usually don't need to know how to produce particular sounds. And language learners definitely need that. – michau Nov 11 '15 at 13:18
up vote 10 down vote
Is it a good idea to teach/learn some of the extinct languages, such as Latin and Ancient Greek, in an immersive way?
added by RexYuan Nov 2 '15 at 12:23
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1  
Rather than asking if it's a good idea, perhaps asking the main reasons to do so would be more objective. – Flimzy Dec 19 '15 at 9:52
up vote 10 down vote
What are advantages and disadvantages of using Spaced Repetition Systems as learning tools?
added by michau Nov 10 '15 at 12:41
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up vote 10 down vote
What are effective ways of learning Chinese/Japanese characters?
added by michau Nov 10 '15 at 12:42
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up vote 10 down vote
Who does better between an adult and a 4-year-old if they are assigned to remember the lyrics of a foreign song in a couple hours?
added by Damkerng T. Dec 18 '15 at 14:04
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1  
I asked about this because I'm curious about the myth that children are better than adults at language learning related tasks. – Damkerng T. Dec 18 '15 at 14:05
up vote 9 down vote
Can a person be `sound deaf` only in foreign languages not in their own?
added by anna s Mar 13 '15 at 17:26
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3  
A definition (or link to one) of "sound deaf" should be added to this question. – user3169 May 13 '15 at 23:08
up vote 9 down vote
What strategies can English language learners use to maximise corrections on Lang-8?
added by Andrew Grimm Jul 5 '15 at 4:59
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up vote 9 down vote
How useful is music at practicing listening skill?
added by Ooker Jul 10 '15 at 5:51
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2  
This has to do with listening to lyrics in foreign language music, not the music itself. Perhaps the title could be reworded. – user3169 Dec 18 '15 at 4:49
up vote 9 down vote
In using flashcard, is it better to hide the definitions first, or hide the vocabulary first?
added by Ooker Aug 6 '15 at 16:24
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up vote 9 down vote
Do any studies show what the effect is of skipping daily language practice for one day?
added by Nathaniel Sep 26 '15 at 17:52
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up vote 9 down vote
Has the "direct method" of language learning been shown to be superior to translation-based methods?
added by Nathaniel Sep 26 '15 at 17:55
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The body would link to wikipedia and describe how the direct method is an inductive approach in which only the target language is spoken/read. – Nathaniel Sep 26 '15 at 17:56
up vote 9 down vote
How do I figure out if words are more obscure/unused in speech?
added by 9t. Oct 12 '15 at 9:27
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up vote 9 down vote
Are vocabulary frequency lists useful to learn?
added by Muzaffar Nov 13 '15 at 14:43
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up vote 8 down vote
What are the main reasons to learn Esperanto?
added by Flimzy Feb 7 '15 at 17:19
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4  
I hope this isn't too subjective. Although of course there is always room for some opinion, I hope that some compelling, objective arguments can be made. I've read a couple of essays along this line, which make me think it might be possible to answer objectively. – Flimzy Feb 7 '15 at 17:20
up vote 8 down vote
How useful as studying material are tables with declension endings?
added by Nicolás Mar 3 '15 at 21:38
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up vote 8 down vote
How useful is to master the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in order to learn properly how to pronounce the words one is learning?
added by Nicolás May 13 '15 at 2:09
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up vote 8 down vote
Can learning kanji speed up the process of learning spoken Japanese?
added by Anachor Aug 23 '15 at 5:50
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up vote 8 down vote
What factors are shown to be correlated with rapid spoken language acquisition?
added by L. Blanc Sep 6 '15 at 13:57
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I'd suggest using slightly simpler language, e.g. "What circumstances are helpful for rapid learning of spoken language? Are there any scientific studies on this subject?" – michau Nov 10 '15 at 13:01
@michau: That's an entirely different question. – Flimzy Nov 12 '15 at 10:45
How is it entirely different? Perhaps I didn't understand what is meant by "factors", but that means that the question could be formulated a little bit better. – michau Nov 13 '15 at 16:46
up vote 8 down vote
Is there an optimal age for language learning? What is the critical period hypothesis?
added by alvas Sep 25 '15 at 21:03
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This sounds like two questions to me. – Flimzy Dec 7 '15 at 17:21
Also could be more on-topic in Linguistics. – Ivan Kapitonov Dec 26 '15 at 3:08
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