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user-inactivated  ·  1732 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Linguists of Hubski, what are some ways you learn a new language outside of a formal, educational setting?

Thank you. Right now I'm trying to learn Spanish, something I should have done twenty years ago and didn't and now I'm coming to regret it. But thank God there's plenty of tomorrows to fix that. I'm doing a few things now to work on it that kind of involve immersion but not really.

Youtube- I'm not doing any sewing or bookbinding at the moment as I nurse a minor hand injury, but I've found a few good channels on there. Once I pick up making stuff again, I'm gonna watch videos as I work. Kind of a two birds with one stone kind of thing.

Netflix- I've been watching their cartoons with spanish audio and english subtitles and I'm also watching native spanish shows and movies with english subtitles. It's hard because people often mumble or talk too fast and I just know that the subtitles often aren't literal translations, so it's a bit flawed. It helps in picking up minor phrases and words, like "bruja" means witch or "lo siento" means "I'm sorry." I asked Dala the spelling on both those words, by the way, which leads me to the next one.

People in my life- My wife took a few years of spanish in school, so I ask her questions and if she knows, she'll tell me. She's not anywhere close to fluent, but I say simple phrases to her to try and learn words. I talk with her the most, because I don't have to be embarrassed about trying. I also know a couple of native spanish speakers but I'm pretty nervous trying with them yet because my spanish is still beyond awful and I don't want to frustrate them. One if them though, I ask questions like the differences between ayuda and ayudame or en serio and verdad and they try to explain things to me. Truth be told, it's all very confusing sometimes and I'm pretty intimidated about asking them questions, let alone asking more directly if they'll passively help me learn. Tomorrow I'm visiting one of them and I'm gonna try and work up the courage to ask for more help. Nothing big, but questions like "What's the word for this" or "How do I say this sentence?"

Labels- Multilingual labels are everywhere. Appliances, work signs, products for the house, etc. I try to read the spanish sections whenever I pass them to pick up vocabulary.

Reading and Writing- I'm gonna try to pick up a few children's books and/or comics in spanish to start out. I think once a week too, I might write lists of words I know and sentences I can make with them.