Talk With The World

Have you ever learned languages on the net in informal contexts? YES! A few indeed

- What do you do online in order to learn a language? Chatting, blogging or posting? Surfing the web looking for nice sites? Listen to videos or podcast? Do you feel comfortable?

 

English: this was my first foreign language to learn and it is a no-brainer as music has always been playing in my house. As far as I know, I've liked The Beatles since I was in the belly. How deceived was 6-year-old me when discovered that they were singing in a language that could not be understood. Luckily my mom had gone through the same struggle in her teenage years and gave me the booklets that are included with CDs for me to read the lyrics while they were playing. I kept asking for the meanings of words, some were repeated in other many songs ("I", "love", "wanna", etc. were words constantly found in their songs. Once I got to use the computer in my house these were the kind of videos I watched:

 

 

 

I like thinking how much we despise literal translations now, it makes us forget how much of a great tool they are when learning a foreign language!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I grew older, my abilities with the computer improved, I became part of several fanbases and got to read a lot both in (South American) Spanish and English. 

 

 

Korean: My story with Korean was rather short and intense, I became interested in the country when I came across a couple of Canadian YouTubers that had moved to Seoul and shared their lives online. Here's one of the first videos I came across (I love cooking so this made them even more interesting):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These videos attracted me to the country and, consequently, its language. The alphabet is fairly easy to learn, in fact, it was simplified by Confucians to make it easier for illiterate citizens to learn. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see this is a way to learn the alphabet based on English, there's one of these for every single letter and I found it amazing and unexpected to be able to learn such a radically different alphabet with such ease. Unfortunately, language is more than the alphabet, and I couldn't find proper ways to learn the language online at the time and ended giving up. I did try to watch K-Dramas, they gave me great cultural insight but there was no way I could learn the language just from the subtitles, I couldn't distinguish a noun from a verb! I think I would've done better with the assistance and diligence a teacher could provide me, hopefully in the future, I'll find someone to help me finish this project!

 

Norwegian: Weird one, I know.  I discovered the language because a youtube video in Norwegian popped up in my recommended section on youtube (now that I think about it, maybe it was a Norwegian hacker that had used my account... ehrm... let's leave that conspiracy for summer). I, of course, didn't understand a thing the YouTuber was saying but I liked how the language sounded.  Thanks to that video more recommendations in Norwegian started appearing, one of them contained "(English subtitles)" and I clicked on it instantly. It was a classic-style late night show and the kind of humour they made turned out to actually be funny, something I didn't expect from such a country. I'll leave a video for you to let you know how it is:

 

 

 

 

I find it great to learn a language by watching this kind of videos where one is also interested by the content AND the language, it makes them way more enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But yet again, as it happened with Korean, I needed a teacher. Which brings us to the next question:

 

Do you think that is possible to learn a language only online? Which are the advantages and the disadvantages?

 

Advantages

Choice: You choose when and how you want to learn.

 

Interests: You are able to pick contents based on your hobbies, needs, etc. without the need to go through other topics you don't care about.

 

Informality: You can learn how the real language is spoken and written (hi twitter!)

 

 

Disadvantages

You are alone in this: With no guidance or somebody to correct you, how do you know you're doing well?

 

Constance: This one is linked to the first, not having a set time or homework really alters the learning schedule. You may be too lazy to learn that new verbal tense, so you give up on it. 

 

Correctness: How do you know the materials you're using are reliable?

 

 

 

 

My parents thought I spent too many hours in front of the screen and assumed I was just being lazy. Now they have seen the results of it and are still amazed. First, because of learning almost a whole language (English) and basics of others (Korean and Norwegian) with no external help. And second, because they didn't expect me to be so nerdy, as they thought I was playing games, not learning. 

 

I personally would recommend online learning for people who want to learn the basics of the language and/or the phonetics (remember, lots and lots of input). When the language starts to get harder one will need the help of somebody else that knows the language enough to aid improvement.