this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
92 points (95.1% liked)

Ask Lemmy

32976 readers
1726 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Μαθαίνω ελληνικά. - I am learning Greek.

I am at the point of being able to read Greek, introduce myself, ask and respond to "how are you" and how to say "I am still learning Greek can we speak English". haha

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Quazatron@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I'm learning Python. Not bad, but I prefer C.

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 day ago

I have no experience in C, but I do like Python.

[–] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 3 points 9 hours ago

Rust is calling to me

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Schwim@lemmy.zip 15 points 1 day ago (6 children)

2,337 days in on learning German. My goal is to understand all of the band Rammstein's library of work without needing a translator.

collapsed inline media

[–] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I just gave up Duolingo at 1770 days for French which hurt to do. I was mostly just maintaining a streak at this point and with the news of them using AI to replace their employees (even if they retracted it), I decided to quit.

I’ve switched to Babbel now which has been really good so far

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[–] Vinny_93@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I've been learning Portuguese for well over two years now. I think I've got a pretty good handle on sentence building. The grammar of verb tense is sometimes still somewhat confusing and I think I've got a lot of words to learn still.

But if I read posts on Lemmy in Brazilian Portuguese, I kinda get the gist of it.

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What made you decide to learn Portuguese?

[–] Vinny_93@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Portugal is a lovely country and I've decided to go visiting it a lot in my life. I feel more comfortable abroad if I at least kind of speak the language. English and German are no issue for me, French goes in a pinch so I'm pretty comfortable in western Europe but I'd like to be more comfortable with the Mediterranean languages. In due time I might try learning Italian as well.

[–] zaphodb2002@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 day ago (10 children)

こんにちは!日本語を勉強しています!

I'm 90 days into learning Japanese. Most of that has been learning kana and I'm now working on kanji and grammar. It's very different from English but I really like the way information is conveyed. I'm struggling with grammar stuff right now pretty bad, particularly conjugation, but it'll click eventually. Also the lack of spaces is definitely something to get used to.

[–] Hugin@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Watashi no nihongo wa warui desu yo.

[–] zaphodb2002@sh.itjust.works 3 points 22 hours ago

Watashi mo, but getting better every day.

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] Monster96@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (15 children)

はい、私は日本語勉強します。(Yes, I'm studying Japanese.) I've been doing it for the past year but not consistently. I can say and understand basic phrases but I'm far from being able to hold a conversation.

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Japanese is a language I have on the burner to learn. I have had a full course on it for years but never got around to getting beyond basic greetings.

After I am done learning Greek, I am going to refresh and learn more French, and then Japanese is next because I love Anime and Manga and want to watch/read it as it should be.

[–] Monster96@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's cool being to speak and understand multiple languages. I started learning it because I think it sounds neat when people speak it. Plus, I want to go there one day for a visit and I don't want to be a typical 外人 (Foreigner) haha

[–] karasu_sue@pf.korako.me 3 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

{日本語|にほんご}の{勉強|べんきょう}{頑張|がんば}ってください!

{日本|にほん}{旅行|りょこう}にきて{日本語|にほんご}ができなかったとしても{責|せ}める{人|ひと}はいませんが、ある{程度|ていど}{理解|りかい}できていたほうがたのしめますもんね!

{応援|おうえん}しています


On the other hand, I'm studying English myself. I'm still only at around a Japanese middle school level, but I hope to reach the point where I can interact with people in places like this.

That said, I'm still relying on AI to write this.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (14 replies)
[–] CommissarVulpin@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I’ve been learning Dutch, since the Netherlands seems like a nice place to go if I ever have to flee the US. Thinking about joining some Dutch communities here so I can get more “natural” language exposure.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] whotookkarl@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Tried learning Spanish in school but I never really had a reason to stick with it or keep going. Recently started relearning some vocab and grammar and phrases because there are places I'd like to visit that would be much easier with even just some basic phrases and books I'd like to read in the author's original words and phrases.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] Typewar@infosec.pub 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I have pretty much been studying a language every day for the past 4 years, 3 years with Japanese and now 1 year with German.

[–] SassyRamen@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago

Und wie weit bist du mit deinem Deutsch?

[–] faltryka@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I’m about a month into learning Mandarin Chinese. I expected the character set to be the challenge but really it has been the inflection and intonation that I’ve had the hardest time with so far.

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What got you interested in Mandarin?

[–] faltryka@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Honestly I love language and languages in general, so I rarely need an excuse to go study one haha.

That said, Mandarin Chinese was attractive to me for a few reasons.

Firstly, a LOT of people in this world speak it, so it has high utility potential and may even come in handy for me professionally.

Secondly, I think the culture and history of China is interesting and that my default lens for it is likely heavily biased. I’ve always found that reading source material and opposing positions or narratives has helped me understand the truth of a matter with more (albeit still imperfect) clarity.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 8 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

I'm learning English. I think I can manage. I'm reading more and faster than most native speakers.

Meine Muttersprache ist Deutsch.

[–] CoolThingAboutMe@aussie.zone 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Möchtest du mit mir sprechen? Mein Deutsch ist nicht sehr gut, aber ich will es lernen. Ich war im 2003 in Hesse, ich liebe Deutschland

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

A few years ago I considered learning Greek. Abandoned the plan because Greek has the triple whammy:

  • quite a hard language, with tricky grammar and different alphabet (phonetics easy tho)
  • only spoken in one small country - not very useful (tho good for general culture - 6% of English lexicon comes from Greek)
  • the locals all speak English (coz tourism) so you'll have trouble getting a chance to progress

So: good luck.

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago

I found the alphabet and grammar easy to understand personally, which is why I am able to read before I can do basically anything else.

Greek is spoken in Greece and numerous other countries because of the Greek diasporas in the world.

Coming from a Greek family, while the locals may speak English they generally prefer to and appreciate speaking in Greek especially in Greece.

Thank you for the well wishes.

[–] emb@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

I'm learning Japanese. On and off for years, but mainly the last couple. I'm still only at the advanced beginner stage, trying to work on my Kanji, reading, and listening.

Also learning Spanish, but I feel like I'm in a better spot with it. I took classes in school and have a decent foundation, just need way more practice. It's on the backburner since I'd rather build on my Japanese.

For fans of this thread/topic, check out !languagelearning@sopuli.xyz . They have a weekly thread for progress and a few active folks. Lemmy also has more specific language learning communities that could stand to be more active.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] Sonor@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I’m learning swedish, and have been on and off for almost ten years now. I can read a book in swedish on my kindle thanks to the built in dictionary, but it is so rare that I can talk to someone in swedish that i almost never do it. Listening to Swedish people in real life gets confusing fast as well, as I am just not used to the different pronunciations and the speed i need to process stuff at

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago

That is one of the harder things I have noticed about learning language in general. There is always a clear difference between how a language "should be spoken" and how it actually is in practice with native speakers.

[–] Signtist@bookwyr.me 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I've been doing a few Duolingo lessons a day in Japanese for a couple years now. At the rate I'm going it'll be a decade before I'm even slightly able to understand the language, but I don't mind - it's already been well over a decade since I first tried to learn it, so as long as this pace is sustainable, I'll still be a lot further along than if I'd tried too hard, gotten burned out, and quit for a decade again.

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

If you looked at my Duolingo, you'd think I was pretty fluent in Japanese. But if you look at me talking to a Japanese person, you'd think I knew very little Japanese.

[–] grinka@lemmy.zip 5 points 15 hours ago

I'm learning English and a little bit of Czech (stopped a while ago because of my lazyness but want to start learning Czech again). I think I'm still speak badly in English but I understand it very good.

I'm from Ukraine btw

(Also does programming languages count? I love Rust)

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 5 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (4 children)

I'm learning Esperanto because everything I do has to be esoteric. I understand the fundamentals of the language and my pronunciation is perfect i'd say. I've been learning for a few months and I can read and write basic sentences. I also want to learn Spanish (mostly to flirt) but it's hard to find the time. I'd also like to learn Indonesian, German and Afrikaans.

Edit: I'd also love to learn Polish but it's so fucking hard.

Edit 2: Oh and Finnish. I really like languages and I get excited about them.

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 3 points 15 hours ago (5 children)

Learning Spanish 2 before learning Spanish

Interesting

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

我的汉语越来越好,写,说,简单的没问题,但是比较复杂还要多的练习。其实说最近练习地不周到。

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I've been learning Japanese for a long time now. The funny thing is that I started at the wrong end by learning kanji first and then moving onto grammar and vocabulary in that order. Avoid what I did unless you want to be proficient at reading it without understanding it!

Although not all is lost, because I'm getting used to reading news and Wikipedia articles without much aid or effort anymore, and spoken Japanese is slowly getting easier. Understanding it is still proving to be a bitch from time to time but that's on me!

Btw, does anyone know of great websites to read Japanese? I browse Gigazine.net quite a bit and many news outlets, but I'd like to mix it up and move away from politics and news in general. I'm still a bit shy about online forums, but maybe I should do that next.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] M137@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

Am I learning a new language? No.
How far along am I? About halfway.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] supercriticalcheese@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

French; Next is to start B1 level

Μιλάω ελληνικά, το πιο δισκολο είναι η συγγραφή.

[–] freeman@sh.itjust.works 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

*δύσκολο Συγγραφή would be used to describe authoring a book. You could use γραφή or γράψιμο or a verb construction να γράφεις "to write".

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] percent@infosec.pub 4 points 13 hours ago

I've been learning Portuguese (Brazilian) off and on for a while. I'm mostly okay-ish at reading it, but it's nearly impossible for me to understand it when spoken.

[–] viking@infosec.pub 3 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

Learning Swedish now, since I already speak passable Norwegian, it's not the hardest endeavor.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Matriks404@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Да, я изучаю русский язык, но не знаю какой у меня уровень, может быть где-то B1-B2. К сожалению мне не с кем говорить в последнее время 😪

I am also trying to improve my English recently, mostly because I am pretty bad at speaking, and pronouncing stuff correctly.

I want to learn another language as well, maybe I will return to Czech (I was learning it for 1 month some time ago, and don't remember much, although I understand fairly amount because I am Polish).

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 3 points 18 hours ago

I started Korean a few days ago. I am still in the "learning how this all works" phase. I'm frustrated by my slow reading speed and inability to find something to help that readily.

[–] 2xsaiko@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

I started learning Russian 2 and a half years ago now maybe, mostly in uni classes. Haven’t done anything in a while though. I generally think slavic languages are cool and would like to learn another actually.

Я начинала учить русский может быть 2 с половиной года назад, в основном в универе, но ничего не делала за учение в последнее время. В общем я думаю, что славянские языки круто и действительно хочу бы учить другую.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] CoolThingAboutMe@aussie.zone 3 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

Ich lerne Deutsch, und

opiskelen suomea, ja

estoy aprendiendo español también.

Furthest along with Deutsch, because I did it at school (decades ago), not making huge progress gains with any of them because Duolingo, but it fits in my day so easily and the repetition is effective I think.

[–] slackassassin@sh.itjust.works 3 points 20 hours ago

Been studying French on and off since high school, but still don't feel far along at all. Ha. Much better than my Spanish and German though!

[–] frenchfryenjoyer@lemmings.world 3 points 19 hours ago

tryin to learn Korean, not very far since I JUST started learning lol

load more comments
view more: next ›