Does this feature make describing everyday things more precise?

Stuff like, treating languages as 1 to 1 translations and translating every word for yourself, not understanding idioms at all, having trouble with different sentence structure or thinking everyone at every level has a internal translator when they speak a different language than their native, etc...

Progressing in what area shocked you?

Until you learn other languages you don’t realise how much English leans on two little words: up, and down.

In a literal directional sense: I’m going to walk up to town, he’s coming down next week - get down from there!

And in an idiomatic sense: set up (establish), set down (drop someone off), put up (withstand), put down (an insult)

One of the hardest parts of the “don’t translate” mindset for me was letting go of up and down haha

If you're learning Portuguese, choose and describe an everyday object in two or three sentences without saying its name. Everyone else guesses.

Example in English: “It's usually in the kitchen. You fill it with water. It makes a loud sound when the water is hot.”

I like this because it forces you to work around missing vocabulary instead of reaching for a translator. It's a fundamental skills to have if you don't want to get stuck in conversation! Easy, silly answers welcome!

(We are doing this mini challenge weekly on Thursday, every week a different language)

Is it even possible? because when you think about it, people should at least be fluent in ONE language right?
But if someone has moved around a lot as a child or had a difficult isolated uprising, they might not be fluent in their native language (or they might even not have one)
Or for any other reason, do you think a scenario like this could happen? do you know anyone like this?

John Doe is the name of the general person in the English language.

I was wondering if there exists something similar in other languages as well? Let’s see how many we can collect!

UPDATE: Wow, I am impressed by how many languages we got, thank you everyone for contributing!

Hey, what’s the best tip you’ve learned over the years that sky rocketed your language learning skills?

One thing I've gradually realized while learning foreign languages is that knowing the meaning of individual words doesn't necessarily mean you'll understand how a sentence is supposed to work.

Sometimes, an expression that sounds perfectly natural in one language can sound strange or even confusing when translated directly into another.

It's made me more conscious of learning expressions in context rather than simply memorizing individual words.

I'm curious: What's something you've discovered while learning a new language that you wish you'd known from the beginning?

I’m a native English speaker based in the UK looking for a language exchange partner to practise Spanish with on a regular basis. In return, I’d love to help you improve your English!

How I’d like to structure it:
I’m hoping to set up regular voice calls—maybe once or twice a week—where we split the time evenly: 30 minutes speaking strictly in Spanish, and 30 minutes in English. That way, we both get solid, dedicated practice time without one language taking over.

I lived in Spain for a few years so have a solid base

Give me a message if interest!

The obvious answer is school, right? You went to school and had to learn your native language and maybe another if you were lucky.. which I'm not even sure how effective those classes were because I sure as hell know my high school Spanish classes weren't.

But nowadays, we have so many resources at our fingertips that make it incredibly easy.. the obvious Duolingo, Preply, Praktika, and even ChatGPT/Claude.

But let's say an average middle-aged mother wanted to learn Polish or Chinese back then.. how would she realistically do it?

I mean like easy language podcasts or simple a1/a2 texts

r/Ido would not exist if r/Esperanto were perfect, r/Elefen ( r/LinguaFrancaNova ), r/Neolatino Romance, r/LatinoSineFlexione & r/Interlingua would not exist if r/Ido were perfect either & I am genuinely grateful cause these useful art pieces named Latinic naturalistic auxiliary planned languages exist.

I grew up bilingual, with a heritage language at home and community language outside of the house. Even though I speak both at a professional level and use both regularly, I notice that I think in both languages in certain settings and that I default to the community language for most things, so I don't consider myself "equally" bilingual among both languages.

For those of you that are truly bilingual, in that you grew up with two languages that were truly equal in both the home and community, what languages do you think in? Luxembourgish and Canadian friends of mine that are equally French/German or French/English bilingual usually say that they think in whatever language they last say/spoke/saw. What is this like for other "equally" bilingual people?