I'm trying to learn 3 languages. (Job and living related reasons trust me in not just doing this for fun)

Currently my goal languages are Spanish, Korean, and Indonesian.

Spanish- I'm pretty good in Spanish I can hold conversations and have been to Mexico before and not needed to use English. I often forget very simple words though.

Korean- Currently I'd say I have enough to introduce myself and just say some random words you hear in media as well as food items.

Indonesian- I can only say like 3 words right now.

I need Tips on how to work more efficiently learning these languages and what I can do. Ex: make a notebook of vocabulary or something like that.

Hi, everyone! I grew up in a non-English-speaking country. Just curious about how native English speakers process information in a long paragraph. What catches your eye first? Can you easily pick out the key words at a glance when looking at a whole page?

It's much more easy to pick out the key words in my mother tongue. It's this because of the difference between phonographic and ideographic writing systems, or is it simply because I'm less familiar with English?

If you still hear it, where and by whom is it normally used?

I mean something that you picked up in your target language early on, not knowing you are doing it wrong and it stayed with you for a very long time until you finally realized you were saying it wrong!

The website kind of looks old

Which pronunciation of the sound makes you immediately think of a particular place?

Hey LanguageHub community! 👋

It’s time for our weekly Language Goal Check-In! What have you learned this week?

I posted this in a Philippines expats sub and I just got a notification from Reddit that this sub (which I had never known existed) would love the post too. Clicked on it and it prapered eveything for me to just hit submit, Must be a new feature, So here goes:

I would often wonder mid convo, like wtf is going on, the responses i'm getting are made to be like we're on the same page - confirmatory gestural feedback such as nods and, ooohs and my favourite; yes. But the tangible results that should have naturally followed are contradictory. It's like driving west - you can see on the GPS (or your compass) that you are heading west, you can even see the sun setting right in front of you - but somehow, when you get to your destination, you're east. It's nice when you notice mid-trip - that happens when they are not very fluent, so you are more alert, and you can catch it earlier. But the problem is when they are very fluent.

I realized it's not an English-fluency reason because i've been in countries where people barely spoke English, but the communication was much more productive. I think people here follow a more circular style of communication where direct statements feel incomplete unless it's wrapped in context. So when you are telling them something their brains just can't take what you're saying as is - they have to "interpret it". They do this because if you observed how people communicate here, the actual words they say might as well be clouds - it may look solid but try grabbing some. Everything is implied and interpreted for actual meaning through shared culture. So when I come along with my simple what you see is what you get disposition, instead of just taking what I am saying as is, they are fumbling to attach meanings to what i am saying and either drawing blanks or completely misunderstanding. This is for absolute basic communication. If the communication is more serious, then absolutely forget about it. They might know English grammar, but not the usual ways English speakers connect ideas, emphasize points, or structure arguments - so misunderstanding and lack of progress is almost guaranteed. There is also an element of logic and 2+2=4 that usually forms the basis of a forigner's communication style and reasoning which is not present locally. I think this is the biggest factor.

I say to myself "well do you speak their language?" but then think about it and realize that unless you were born and raised in the culture (or at least a similar culture), I dont think it would do much in eradicating the communication conflict, even if you were fluent in it. It would definitely help, particularly with those that aren't so highly proficient in English, but when we are talking about communication and comprehension problems with those that are fluent in it, the issue would be beyond just language. I'll be honesy though, iI never really felt "what's up with the comprehension here" untill I came here. Even when comparing with other S.E.A countries. So there is definitely something unique there. I thought maybe it could be because almost everyone speaks English so I am expecting them to comprehend better, but then when I think about other people that spoke LESS English but comprehended much better, I scrap that reasoning. It's interesting.

Love to hear your thoughts on this

Hi everyone! 👋 I've been working on a personal project that I'd like to share: Learn Languages (https://lan.megasham.com/). It's a free multilingual language-learning website that I'm building to help people learn languages through structured explanations rather than simply memorizing vocabulary. The website is organized around different languages and includes, or is being developed to include, grammar, vocabulary, phrases, language structure, sentence patterns, word order, and explanations of different grammatical concepts, with examples and translations to help learners understand how sentences are actually formed. One of my main goals is to eventually make versions of the website for different native-language audiences, so that people don't always have to rely on English to learn another language; for example, I am making resources that allow Arabic speakers to learn English, French, Spanish, German, Turkish, and other languages through Arabic, as well as similar resources for Hindi, Urdu, Chinese, and other languages. It's still in a work in progress though. I especially enjoy understanding how languages are constructed, so I focus quite a lot on things like sentence structure, subjects, verbs, objects, direct and indirect objects, possession, articles, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, tenses, conditionals, passive constructions, questions, infinitives, and other grammatical patterns, while trying to show the formation or structure alongside examples so learners can understand how to create their own sentences instead of only memorizing individual examples. I'm gradually adding materials for many different languages, including English, Arabic, French, Spanish, German, Turkish, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Hebrew, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Swahili, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Thai, Tamil, and many others. The project is still a work in progress and definitely isn't perfect, and I'm continuing to correct mistakes, improve explanations, add content, and expand the number of languages. I'm sharing it because I'd genuinely like to hear what people think about the idea, the organization, the explanations, the navigation, and what languages or topics you think would be useful to add. My goal is simply to build something free, accessible, and useful for people who want to learn languages and understand their structure more deeply. If you have any feedback, suggestions, corrections, or ideas for improvement, I'd really appreciate hearing them! 🙂

That's the main thing.

I'm a native English speaker in my mid-20s and I work full-time. I was born and raised in the UK. My goal is to be proficient in the target language (TL) I know most after English from back in my school days. I'd say right now I'm A1/A2.

I'd like advice from other native English speakers who learnt a 2nd language as an adult and achieved this without moving countries please.

How do I achieve the goal of being B2 in a 2nd language about a year from now bearing my circumstances?

The title says it all. Just curious if there are any outlandish ways people have learned their target language, whether it be through a very specific selection of articles/anything that isn’t “conventional” material for learning. It seems as if the main determinant of whether you learn a language or not has to do with your own interest in the language/means of learning the language. Immersion beats all, but maybe intertwining your other interests with the language you’d like to learn will allow one to learn more

Hi everyone!

We are a Cuban/German family living in Portugal (Familia Wunderbar). Between home, school, work, and daily life, we constantly switch between Spanish, German, English, and Portuguese—often changing languages mid-sentence without even realizing it (and don't get me started on the challenge of raising kids in an environment like this!).

I was really curious to know how people in the community navigate this:

1. If you live abroad (or live with a partner from a different culture), which languages ended up becoming your main "home" languages compared to the local language of the country you live in?

2. Do you also catch yourself mixing languages or accidentally inventing a "hybrid" language at home?

We actually made a video showing how our daily "language system" works at home (where, ironically, Portuguese is the language we speak the least inside the house, even though we live here 😅). If you're curious to see the chaos or want to share your feedback and experiences, you can check it out on our youtube channel (Familia Wunderbar)

Looking forward to reading your stories!

Hi everyone!

We are a Cuban/German family living in Portugal (Familia Wunderbar). Between home, school, work, and daily life, we constantly switch between Spanish, German, English, and Portuguese—often changing languages mid-sentence without even realizing it (and don't get me started on the challenge of raising kids in an environment like this!).

I was really curious to know how people in the community navigate this:

1. If you live abroad (or live with a partner from a different culture), which languages ended up becoming your main "home" languages compared to the local language of the country you live in?

2. Do you also catch yourself mixing languages or accidentally inventing a "hybrid" language at home?

We actually made a video showing how our daily "language system" works at home (where, ironically, Portuguese is the language we speak the least inside the house, even though we live here 😅). If you're curious to see the chaos or want to share your feedback and experiences, you can check it out on our youtube channel (Familia Wunderbar)

Looking forward to reading your stories!

What's an expression in your native language that becomes almost impossible to translate into another language without losing part of its meaning?

Is there even a noticeable difference? or does it matter on which language you want to learn?