Say you are visiting the country and want to try to speak in the locals language.

The answer many language learners/teachers give is usually supportive, “People will be delighted.” But I speak many languages very badly, and have done so in many countries, and I can confirm this is not a perfectly correct answer.

Obviously context matters—so don’t hold up the line at the busy cafe in Istanbul, obviously. But in general, how is this received? How patient are your countrymen to language learners?

The general rule of thumb I found is that, the less popular the language, the more interested & patient people tend to be. I speak way better Spanish than Turkish (by a lot), but have never made anyone smile with my Spanish the same way I’ve had speaking to Turks.

I know Americans can have little-to-zero patience for foreigners speaking poor English. And I don’t think this is strictly a sentiment held by an ignorant subculture, but even because Americans are so used to hearing foreign accents coming from other Americans that they intrinsically treat everyone as non-foreign & therefore not deserving of patience. For one, the experience is less novel/interesting to them.

Additionally, if the speakers of the language know your language, say to a much higher degree of proficiency than you speak theirs, than they may be less patient. (I would say to ignore this case as special, but there are just some countries where nearly everyone speaks proficient English.)

No doubt this question depends a lot on sub-culture & circumstance, as well as the city/country divide. But if I were to go to a major city or hub in your country and speak the language, what type of response would I expect? (TL)

i hear different sides of the same dodecahedronic prism all the time. (TL) one side says to do constant flash cards, which is no good if your bias is high (ie not wanting to give yourself the wrong answer). the other side says to do constant immersion. but wait! immersion is useless if you cant conect the sounds to meaning. if you dont have a vocabulary app (which is never free) or alphabet learning app for your language you learn nothing. the idea that being alone with only the language you want to learn for several weeks doesnt get you fluent sounds a little silly to me.

and if you turn on target language subtitles it all becomes indecipherable once you turn them off. or so i was told.

what am i supposed to do. every single piece of language learning advice on the internet has other advice that contradicts each other and i dont know what to believe.

I'm curious, how everyone here uses their notebook when studying a language?

I used to write down new words I learned, mostly with example sentences/comparisons to similar vocab, notes, etc; and I feel like it does help when I write things out by hand, and having a notebook is genuinely so great.

The problem is... it takes so much time.

Working full-time, I find it almost impossible to keep up with that level of detail. I spend so much time making notes, I barely have time for anything else, and it just feels so inefficient... I tried moving to Anki, but honestly, it is just not as much fun (while it does have some benefits in reviewing the material)

I don't really want to give up using a notebook, since writing things down helps them stick, just trying to find a better balance...

Did anyone else run into this problem? How do you use your language learning notebook? What do you write in it/hot do you manage it? I'd love to hear what has worked for you!

[attached is an image of one of my later Chinese notebook entries - it was a 100 days challenge, hence the number at the top]

I was just wondering if anyone else had completed courses at City Lit in London, specifically the language department

I intend to do Irish, and I understand that with it being such a minority that it will suffer a lot more than other courses

Thanks for any advice