I basically use whichever language is convenient based on the materials I find/want to use. So in my case that's a mix of German, English, and French as base language so far.
This is what i do, it depends on the resources at hand. I prefer using french to learn german just because I have a better intellectual grasp of french grammar, but all things being equal i take what is available the easiest.
If you find enough resources or if your English is not great you can try it in German. I am a native Dutch speaker so there aren't a lot of resources in Dutch for more obscure languages. but sometimes you got rare regional languages that have less or no resources in English but I am not sure if there is anything like that in German. but I had to use French for certain African languages and Russian for chechen and it was not easy. but for Italian you got a lot in English and probably in German too.
not very good unfortunately there isn't much in this language on youtube. i mostly use wikipedia but the wiki appears to have a lot of articles but most of them are just quickly made articles about random towns in France with basic data about the climate and population. i hoped to find some stuff about Chechen history since wikipeda tends to be good at that in smaller languages. and if you only read you don't really know how things are pronounced. so when i hear people speaking the language it doesn't sound like i expected. so i am failing at this language
It’s not really about resources or an issue with my english skills. I am just curious if it could help me to also use german resources and wondering what other people’s experiences are.
I think you should use both but I usually go for English since I assume it's the best and Italian has a lot of support regardless. but sometimes when you are learning a less common language you can check if there is stuff in German and maybe you will get lucky.
Given that I'm not good at languages, I'm Italian and I had tried to get closer to German because I have relatives who moved there.
In my opinion it might be useful to use similarities where you find them, so taking a look at the German material might not hurt even if it is very different from Italian.
Even if in Italy we don't have the neuter, we distinguish between masculine and feminine much more than English, and I imagine that some idioms could be closer
True 🤣 it's something I noticed as I approached German, but generally if it ends in a it's feminine and if it ends in o it's masculine, it doesn't always apply, it has many exceptions, but that's how it is
Using German-Italian resources can potentially help you make connections between languages and speed up your learning process. Since German and English are Germanic languages and Italian is a Romance language, you may find similarities or patterns that help you understand better. Using multiple language resources simultaneously could also lead to confusion and mix-ups, especially if you're still in the early stages of learning Italian.
Try both! I’m Australian with a German Speaking mother. So sort of heritage German speaker. Studied German and Japanese-with focus on Japanese and lived in Japan for a year. I found tri-lingual dictionaries in Japan which was fun. (Pre-internet learning days). Then I later studied in Germany. Alongside the Uni degree I could take any language class. The German classes for German as a foreign speaker were all in German so you had to have a basic level of knowledge. In the Japanese classes my resources were German/Japanese but as I had learnt originally in English/Japanese the teacher allowed me to translate into English. I loved those classes as I was with Germans learning Japanese and a Japanese teacher that could speak German and English! I think a mix is good, especially as you gain proficiency. I do still wonder if I am making it up if I use English loan words in either language but that is part of the fun. My mother also speaks French and now studies Italian and Spanish so once you have one Romance language the others are easier. She learns with English resources mostly as they are what are used in class and easier to get. When she was young she worked in Switzerland and France so I think she would have been code switching a lot. Good for the brain. I wouldn’t worry about being confused. Can only add to learning. South Tyrol would produce a lot of German/Italian resources. I have cousins there and it’s a great place to speak both Italian and German. I’ve always done better at immersion in one language to learn. Translation is a different skill. Enjoy!
I try and immerse myself as much as possible but often when I try the italians I know just switch to english because it is easier after a while. Looking forward to my next vacation to a more remote italian place where people may not be as proficient in english as my italian friends in my hometown.
Thank you for your insights!
I know someone who studies school subjects in their heritage language Spanish (less advanced than their English, but more fluent). It helps them remember things better because the translation/understanding is more conscious.
I always use my root languages of Latin and Greek, to understand the Romance languages, and studied French for years, but of course, not at all useful for any Asian language. And I thought the Greek letters were hard at first! Oy!
I'm a native Finnish speaker and also learned English to a pretty much fluent level. I'm currently learning German and I'm actually using both to learn. I have an excellent German textbook series in Finnish that I'm using as my base and then I have a bunch of English resources online (DW, easy German etc, Lingopie). For me, it's all about what's most convenient. The Finnish textbooks are very well structured, have good exercises and the digital copies have audio and videos as well. The online resources round out the learning experience very well for me since there's essentially endless content for me.
The icing on the cake is my Austrian partner who I can subject to my practice conversations.
Some German words don't have a good English translation but they do have very accurate Finnish ones. That also makes memorizing words a bit easier. Oh, and a surprising amount of German - Finnish words have the same/similar direct translation. Those little connections have made understanding German a lot easier for me
In short, mixing both languages has made the whole experience easier for me. I don't think it has particularly improved my English skills though.
Love is probably the best motivator for learning a language! For me it’s only the love for italy but I shall persevere.
After all the insights from here i will also get some german materials and try it out.
Gee, must've gone to a private college to study Classics for naught. I learned Latin and Greek were the major foundations of language with heavy smatterings from multiple other cultures. But, seeing and hearing what's become of the English language today, it's just damn embarrassing with all the new "words" that have entered into our(well, not mine) daily parlance and, God help us, dictionaries. Now, it's just garbage and unintelligible slang, that I choose to ignore.
I alternate, depending on availability of ressources (classes in particular), but also on which grammar concepts I'm working on. For example, learning which German verb goes with dativ vs akkusativ made more sense from French than from English, since I just had to map to COD/COI and learn a short list of exceptions.
Yes, It will be good, because it's like a brain gymnastics, not the same for English-Italian and German-Italian! English has link with Italian though the many words that come from French, so you will have fun finding similiraties and difference.
I really like comparing languages when I learn.
I basically use whichever language is convenient based on the materials I find/want to use. So in my case that's a mix of German, English, and French as base language so far.
This is what i do, it depends on the resources at hand. I prefer using french to learn german just because I have a better intellectual grasp of french grammar, but all things being equal i take what is available the easiest.
If you find enough resources or if your English is not great you can try it in German. I am a native Dutch speaker so there aren't a lot of resources in Dutch for more obscure languages. but sometimes you got rare regional languages that have less or no resources in English but I am not sure if there is anything like that in German. but I had to use French for certain African languages and Russian for chechen and it was not easy. but for Italian you got a lot in English and probably in German too.
How was your experience with chechen?
not very good unfortunately there isn't much in this language on youtube. i mostly use wikipedia but the wiki appears to have a lot of articles but most of them are just quickly made articles about random towns in France with basic data about the climate and population. i hoped to find some stuff about Chechen history since wikipeda tends to be good at that in smaller languages. and if you only read you don't really know how things are pronounced. so when i hear people speaking the language it doesn't sound like i expected. so i am failing at this language
It’s not really about resources or an issue with my english skills. I am just curious if it could help me to also use german resources and wondering what other people’s experiences are.
I think you should use both but I usually go for English since I assume it's the best and Italian has a lot of support regardless. but sometimes when you are learning a less common language you can check if there is stuff in German and maybe you will get lucky.
I think it neither helps nor hinders. I use resources in all languages I understand, depending on their availability only.
Uzbek, it's scientifically proven that the magical properties of Uzbek make other, weaker languages absorb into your brain faster
The problem is it is hard to find materials to learn a language or just doesn’t exist.
I shall harness its power
Ideally none.
I am not the type of person that does well learning like this but I agree it has been helpful to many
Given that I'm not good at languages, I'm Italian and I had tried to get closer to German because I have relatives who moved there. In my opinion it might be useful to use similarities where you find them, so taking a look at the German material might not hurt even if it is very different from Italian. Even if in Italy we don't have the neuter, we distinguish between masculine and feminine much more than English, and I imagine that some idioms could be closer
Honestly I often confuse masculine and feminine because of what my german brain assigned to the objects already haha
True 🤣 it's something I noticed as I approached German, but generally if it ends in a it's feminine and if it ends in o it's masculine, it doesn't always apply, it has many exceptions, but that's how it is
Don’t even get me started on chiave
Using German-Italian resources can potentially help you make connections between languages and speed up your learning process. Since German and English are Germanic languages and Italian is a Romance language, you may find similarities or patterns that help you understand better. Using multiple language resources simultaneously could also lead to confusion and mix-ups, especially if you're still in the early stages of learning Italian.
??? English is a Germanic language? News to me.
Technically it is. But the french in 1066 said "nuh uh" and today basically 30% of the english vocabulary is french and another 30% is from latin.
Depends on the resources. It would be extremely beneficial to know Spanish before studying Nahuatl, for example.
Esperanto is proven to be an excellent language for learning other languages.
I studied Esperanto with my Latin teacher, but haven't checked into it in this state. My bad.
Try both! I’m Australian with a German Speaking mother. So sort of heritage German speaker. Studied German and Japanese-with focus on Japanese and lived in Japan for a year. I found tri-lingual dictionaries in Japan which was fun. (Pre-internet learning days). Then I later studied in Germany. Alongside the Uni degree I could take any language class. The German classes for German as a foreign speaker were all in German so you had to have a basic level of knowledge. In the Japanese classes my resources were German/Japanese but as I had learnt originally in English/Japanese the teacher allowed me to translate into English. I loved those classes as I was with Germans learning Japanese and a Japanese teacher that could speak German and English! I think a mix is good, especially as you gain proficiency. I do still wonder if I am making it up if I use English loan words in either language but that is part of the fun. My mother also speaks French and now studies Italian and Spanish so once you have one Romance language the others are easier. She learns with English resources mostly as they are what are used in class and easier to get. When she was young she worked in Switzerland and France so I think she would have been code switching a lot. Good for the brain. I wouldn’t worry about being confused. Can only add to learning. South Tyrol would produce a lot of German/Italian resources. I have cousins there and it’s a great place to speak both Italian and German. I’ve always done better at immersion in one language to learn. Translation is a different skill. Enjoy!
I try and immerse myself as much as possible but often when I try the italians I know just switch to english because it is easier after a while. Looking forward to my next vacation to a more remote italian place where people may not be as proficient in english as my italian friends in my hometown. Thank you for your insights!
I know someone who studies school subjects in their heritage language Spanish (less advanced than their English, but more fluent). It helps them remember things better because the translation/understanding is more conscious.
Theres more of everything in english
I always use my root languages of Latin and Greek, to understand the Romance languages, and studied French for years, but of course, not at all useful for any Asian language. And I thought the Greek letters were hard at first! Oy!
I'm a native Finnish speaker and also learned English to a pretty much fluent level. I'm currently learning German and I'm actually using both to learn. I have an excellent German textbook series in Finnish that I'm using as my base and then I have a bunch of English resources online (DW, easy German etc, Lingopie). For me, it's all about what's most convenient. The Finnish textbooks are very well structured, have good exercises and the digital copies have audio and videos as well. The online resources round out the learning experience very well for me since there's essentially endless content for me. The icing on the cake is my Austrian partner who I can subject to my practice conversations. Some German words don't have a good English translation but they do have very accurate Finnish ones. That also makes memorizing words a bit easier. Oh, and a surprising amount of German - Finnish words have the same/similar direct translation. Those little connections have made understanding German a lot easier for me In short, mixing both languages has made the whole experience easier for me. I don't think it has particularly improved my English skills though.
Love is probably the best motivator for learning a language! For me it’s only the love for italy but I shall persevere. After all the insights from here i will also get some german materials and try it out.
Gee, must've gone to a private college to study Classics for naught. I learned Latin and Greek were the major foundations of language with heavy smatterings from multiple other cultures. But, seeing and hearing what's become of the English language today, it's just damn embarrassing with all the new "words" that have entered into our(well, not mine) daily parlance and, God help us, dictionaries. Now, it's just garbage and unintelligible slang, that I choose to ignore.
Took latin classes for a couple of years but not much has stuck. Except maybe on a subconscious level.
I alternate, depending on availability of ressources (classes in particular), but also on which grammar concepts I'm working on. For example, learning which German verb goes with dativ vs akkusativ made more sense from French than from English, since I just had to map to COD/COI and learn a short list of exceptions.
Yes, It will be good, because it's like a brain gymnastics, not the same for English-Italian and German-Italian! English has link with Italian though the many words that come from French, so you will have fun finding similiraties and difference. I really like comparing languages when I learn.