I would like to learn a couple of languages (polish and Japanese - I already learned Spanish to a decent degree) but it seems like every solution is closed source.

I would use books but listening (and speaking) are very important and books won’t help with those.

What would you guys recommend?

  • WigglyTortoise@dmv.social
    86·
    1 year ago

    The US Foreign Services Institute releases their learning materials, so if you’re okay with a lack of structure I hear they can be very useful, including both reading and listening.

    It can be accessed on several different sites. Here’s one that came up, but you can find a few more with some searching: https://www.livelingua.com/fsi/

    • Bombastic@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      25·
      1 year ago

      Holy shit this is an excellent resource. Thanks a lot

      Edit never mind just looked at the pdf for my native language and it’s full of errors for the most basic shit.

        • metiulekm@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          5·
          1 year ago

          Same for Polish. One funny thing I’ve noticed is that in one of the examples, the person tries to stay at a hotel, and the price is clearly in the old currency, which has not been used since 1997.

      • Dougas@lemmy.world
        2·
        1 year ago

        I just checked my native language and they are using an older version of the language that ceased to be used around 1975 or so.

    • speaker_hat
      9·
      1 year ago

      This. Lots of people use Anki for this purpose. When you get used to it, there is no way back.

  • bluGill@kbin.social
    25·
    1 year ago

    Duolingo is useful for wasting time while feeling like you are learning however it isn’t a great tool for learning if that is your goal.

    • pyrodorobo@feddit.nl
      11·
      1 year ago

      I hear this opinion a lot, and I’d just like to add it manages to help with some exposure and repetition at the very least. I’m sure you’re more knowledgeable than myself with learning languages, but I’ve been using Duolingo to learn Japanese for a little while now and have managed to pick out basic hiragana and katakana here and piece together small words.

      I don’t have any delusions that I’ll be fluent if I finish this course, but if it can help me learn the characters it’s worth the time to me.

    • ghost_laptop@lemmy.ml
      6·
      1 year ago

      I disagree, of course you can’t learn just using Duolingo, but it is like saying X textbook doesn’t teach you anything because you are only using that. Learning a language is a process that never ends and that requires a lot of different processes, maybe Duolingo doesn’t have absolutely all of them but if you finish a tree of the main languages and some other digging around you will have learnt quite a lot.

    • IuseArchbtw@feddit.de
      6·
      1 year ago

      A lot of people reduce Duolingo to their app, but they offer a big website on which you get a lot of explanations

    • IzzaMe@lemmy.ml
      1·
      1 year ago

      Have you tried this? Learning a language by listening to 5-10 minutes each day seems too good to be true but I might give it a shot 😄

  • unknowing8343@discuss.tchncs.de
    10·
    1 year ago

    If you like Duolingo’s style, which I honestly do (I mix it with podcasts on the road), then there’s probably no close enough alternative.

    If you want an open source version because of the ads, just go to your phone settings and set a “private DNS” with dns.adguard.com. There are other options too, but I’ll leave them for you to discover. This will filter out most ads on many apps and websites, such as Duolingo.

  • 👁️👄👁️@lemm.ee
    5·
    1 year ago

    A Spanish person lol

    I’m for open source, but something like Duolingo doesn’t really bother me if it’s closed source

  • ralC@lemmy.fmhy.ml
    5·
    1 year ago

    Most modern textbooks include a CD (or download code) with listening and pronounciation activities.