this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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Μαθαίνω ελληνικά. - I am learning Greek.

I am at the point of being able to read Greek, introduce myself, ask and respond to "how are you" and how to say "I am still learning Greek can we speak English". haha

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[–] Quazatron@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I'm learning Python. Not bad, but I prefer C.

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 week ago

I have no experience in C, but I do like Python.

[–] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago

Rust is calling to me

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[–] Schwim@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 week ago (6 children)

2,337 days in on learning German. My goal is to understand all of the band Rammstein's library of work without needing a translator.

[–] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I just gave up Duolingo at 1770 days for French which hurt to do. I was mostly just maintaining a streak at this point and with the news of them using AI to replace their employees (even if they retracted it), I decided to quit.

I’ve switched to Babbel now which has been really good so far

[–] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

As a native french speaker, I can say with confidence that the duolingo french course sucks and that you're better off using something else.

I'd also recommend speaking to native speakers and watching shows in french, that's great for learning.

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[–] Vinny_93@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I've been learning Portuguese for well over two years now. I think I've got a pretty good handle on sentence building. The grammar of verb tense is sometimes still somewhat confusing and I think I've got a lot of words to learn still.

But if I read posts on Lemmy in Brazilian Portuguese, I kinda get the gist of it.

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What made you decide to learn Portuguese?

[–] Vinny_93@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Portugal is a lovely country and I've decided to go visiting it a lot in my life. I feel more comfortable abroad if I at least kind of speak the language. English and German are no issue for me, French goes in a pinch so I'm pretty comfortable in western Europe but I'd like to be more comfortable with the Mediterranean languages. In due time I might try learning Italian as well.

[–] zaphodb2002@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago (11 children)

こんにちは!日本語を勉強しています!

I'm 90 days into learning Japanese. Most of that has been learning kana and I'm now working on kanji and grammar. It's very different from English but I really like the way information is conveyed. I'm struggling with grammar stuff right now pretty bad, particularly conjugation, but it'll click eventually. Also the lack of spaces is definitely something to get used to.

[–] Hugin@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Watashi no nihongo wa warui desu yo.

[–] zaphodb2002@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

Watashi mo, but getting better every day.

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[–] Monster96@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (15 children)

はい、私は日本語勉強します。(Yes, I'm studying Japanese.) I've been doing it for the past year but not consistently. I can say and understand basic phrases but I'm far from being able to hold a conversation.

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Japanese is a language I have on the burner to learn. I have had a full course on it for years but never got around to getting beyond basic greetings.

After I am done learning Greek, I am going to refresh and learn more French, and then Japanese is next because I love Anime and Manga and want to watch/read it as it should be.

[–] Monster96@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That's cool being to speak and understand multiple languages. I started learning it because I think it sounds neat when people speak it. Plus, I want to go there one day for a visit and I don't want to be a typical 外人 (Foreigner) haha

[–] karasu_sue@pf.korako.me 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

{日本語|にほんご}の{勉強|べんきょう}{頑張|がんば}ってください!

{日本|にほん}{旅行|りょこう}にきて{日本語|にほんご}ができなかったとしても{責|せ}める{人|ひと}はいませんが、ある{程度|ていど}{理解|りかい}できていたほうがたのしめますもんね!

{応援|おうえん}しています


On the other hand, I'm studying English myself. I'm still only at around a Japanese middle school level, but I hope to reach the point where I can interact with people in places like this.

That said, I'm still relying on AI to write this.

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[–] CommissarVulpin@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I’ve been learning Dutch, since the Netherlands seems like a nice place to go if I ever have to flee the US. Thinking about joining some Dutch communities here so I can get more “natural” language exposure.

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (6 children)

I'm learning English. I think I can manage. I'm reading more and faster than most native speakers.

Meine Muttersprache ist Deutsch.

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[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (5 children)

I've been learning Japanese for a long time now. The funny thing is that I started at the wrong end by learning kanji first and then moving onto grammar and vocabulary in that order. Avoid what I did unless you want to be proficient at reading it without understanding it!

Although not all is lost, because I'm getting used to reading news and Wikipedia articles without much aid or effort anymore, and spoken Japanese is slowly getting easier. Understanding it is still proving to be a bitch from time to time but that's on me!

Btw, does anyone know of great websites to read Japanese? I browse Gigazine.net quite a bit and many news outlets, but I'd like to mix it up and move away from politics and news in general. I'm still a bit shy about online forums, but maybe I should do that next.

[–] emb@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Kanji first sounds pretty good to me. You didn't feel like it worked well?

I went through Genki I with Kanji mostly sidelined, and I felt like I wished I'd known Kanji better first. Having to look up how to write every character is a drag, and I don't think using kana is a much better alternative.

You say you could read but not understand... I feel like that's a step up from the reverse! (That being, "I'd totally understand thus if I could read it") And I find that learning Kanji now is making it way faster to remember vocab.

I guess the lesson is just that it's all important, skipping or putting off any of it doesn't work so well.

[–] Valencia@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I know you said transition away from news sites but Easynhk.com is always a staple

Twitter is honestly great since there's so much variety, not to mention there's a lot of artists who'll post full chapters of manga. You just have to curate who you follow to avoid musk stuff.

I'd also say just watch some YouTube videos. It's a good way to practice listening and most YouTubers will personally subtitle their videos as well so you can follow along while reading. A particular favorite way for me is to watch videos of Japanese people travelling/living in America/English speaking places. It's fun seeing their experiences with everyday stuff for us; a channel I watch a lot is called Kira Kira USA. They post videos frequently, use a lot of day to day Japanese, and get to see viewpoints from the various family members.

Good luck!

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[–] whotookkarl@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Tried learning Spanish in school but I never really had a reason to stick with it or keep going. Recently started relearning some vocab and grammar and phrases because there are places I'd like to visit that would be much easier with even just some basic phrases and books I'd like to read in the author's original words and phrases.

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[–] Typewar@infosec.pub 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I have pretty much been studying a language every day for the past 4 years, 3 years with Japanese and now 1 year with German.

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[–] faltryka@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I’m about a month into learning Mandarin Chinese. I expected the character set to be the challenge but really it has been the inflection and intonation that I’ve had the hardest time with so far.

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[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

A few years ago I considered learning Greek. Abandoned the plan because Greek has the triple whammy:

  • quite a hard language, with tricky grammar and different alphabet (phonetics easy tho)
  • only spoken in one small country - not very useful (tho good for general culture - 6% of English lexicon comes from Greek)
  • the locals all speak English (coz tourism) so you'll have trouble getting a chance to progress

So: good luck.

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 week ago

I found the alphabet and grammar easy to understand personally, which is why I am able to read before I can do basically anything else.

Greek is spoken in Greece and numerous other countries because of the Greek diasporas in the world.

Coming from a Greek family, while the locals may speak English they generally prefer to and appreciate speaking in Greek especially in Greece.

Thank you for the well wishes.

[–] emb@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (5 children)

I'm learning Japanese. On and off for years, but mainly the last couple. I'm still only at the advanced beginner stage, trying to work on my Kanji, reading, and listening.

Also learning Spanish, but I feel like I'm in a better spot with it. I took classes in school and have a decent foundation, just need way more practice. It's on the backburner since I'd rather build on my Japanese.

For fans of this thread/topic, check out !languagelearning@sopuli.xyz . They have a weekly thread for progress and a few active folks. Lemmy also has more specific language learning communities that could stand to be more active.

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[–] thymos@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I started learning Swedish yesterday. My native language is Dutch. I started by reading a pronunciation guide, but (and this is so childish) I had to put the book away for laughing so hard after reading the Swedish word for meatballs: köttbullar.

ProfanityIn Dutch, the word "kut" means "cunt". It isn't as profane as the English word and is also often used for the well-known genitals. The guide explained that Swedish "ö" is pronounced like Dutch short "u". After this I opened my Swedish story book and the first picture had the word köttbullar in it. I then heard myself very carefully enunciate what in Dutch sounds like "cunt balls". Couldn't stop laughing.

Today I will make a second attempt. I hope I can keep it contained to a short chuckle.

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[–] Sonor@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I’m learning swedish, and have been on and off for almost ten years now. I can read a book in swedish on my kindle thanks to the built in dictionary, but it is so rare that I can talk to someone in swedish that i almost never do it. Listening to Swedish people in real life gets confusing fast as well, as I am just not used to the different pronunciations and the speed i need to process stuff at

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 week ago

That is one of the harder things I have noticed about learning language in general. There is always a clear difference between how a language "should be spoken" and how it actually is in practice with native speakers.

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (13 children)

I'm learning Esperanto because everything I do has to be esoteric. I understand the fundamentals of the language and my pronunciation is perfect i'd say. I've been learning for a few months and I can read and write basic sentences. I also want to learn Spanish (mostly to flirt) but it's hard to find the time. I'd also like to learn Indonesian, German and Afrikaans.

Edit: I'd also love to learn Polish but it's so fucking hard.

Edit 2: Oh and Finnish. I really like languages and I get excited about them.

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[–] Signtist@bookwyr.me 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I've been doing a few Duolingo lessons a day in Japanese for a couple years now. At the rate I'm going it'll be a decade before I'm even slightly able to understand the language, but I don't mind - it's already been well over a decade since I first tried to learn it, so as long as this pace is sustainable, I'll still be a lot further along than if I'd tried too hard, gotten burned out, and quit for a decade again.

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

If you looked at my Duolingo, you'd think I was pretty fluent in Japanese. But if you look at me talking to a Japanese person, you'd think I knew very little Japanese.

[–] CptInsane0@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Currently taking Japanese classes for fun. I'm about two years in and can have very basic conversations.

Took three years of German 20+ years ago and have German friends (and read German lemmy) so can practice sometimes.

I'm terrible at all of them and not that great at English either. I tend to "vomit language" moreso than speak well.

[–] percent@infosec.pub 5 points 1 week ago

I've been learning Portuguese (Brazilian) off and on for a while. I'm mostly okay-ish at reading it, but it's nearly impossible for me to understand it when spoken.

[–] grinka@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 week ago

I'm learning English and a little bit of Czech (stopped a while ago because of my lazyness but want to start learning Czech again). I think I'm still speak badly in English but I understand it very good.

I'm from Ukraine btw

(Also does programming languages count? I love Rust)

[–] Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

我的汉语越来越好,写,说,简单的没问题,但是比较复杂还要多的练习。其实说最近练习地不周到。

[–] M137@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Am I learning a new language? No.
How far along am I? About halfway.

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[–] supercriticalcheese@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

French; Next is to start B1 level

Μιλάω ελληνικά, το πιο δισκολο είναι η συγγραφή.

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[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (6 children)

J'apprends le français, C''est ma troisième langue. Il va ça va, et je suis A2 après ~8 mois, mais j'ai un amie qui m'aide aussi

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tryin to learn Korean, not very far since I JUST started learning lol

[–] callyral@pawb.social 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Nederlands (Dutch), my native language is Portuguese and I also speak English.

"Hallo, ik ben Cally en ik spreek een beetje Nederlands." probably translates to "Hello, I am Cally and I speak a bit of Dutch."

I kinda suck at learning languages so I'm still at what I assume is A1 level, I think my pronunciation is ok, though. Idk how to speed up language learning but I have set my phone to Dutch and that kinda helps. For example, "Instellingen" means "Settings"

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[–] jpablo68@infosec.pub 3 points 1 week ago

I am learning German and I can read simple sentences with context, I still can't understand it by listening

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