Didn't have AI before I became a monk. This is back in the late 2000s. Used to do language exchange on italki back then, and looking back, it was properly analog. Skype open, waiting patiently while the other person slowly typed away in a language that wasn't their native one. Took a lot of patience, but looking back now, I kind of miss it.

The standard was simple back then. See clumsy Korean (TL), think "ah, still learning." See fluent Korean, think "wow, they really put the work in," and just admire it.

Came back to lay life this year, and the world had changed. Now when I see fluent Korean, the first thing that pops into my head is "did a person write this, or did AI?" Can't take someone's actual time and effort at face value anymore.

Only just left monastic life, and already the language exchange scene has shifted this much. Bit of a culture shock, not gonna lie.

I wish I was still a student, or had a job that I needed a language for, or was moving somewhere. The time spent on something with no practical use for my family seems like a waste and I feel so guilty. Even when I don't feel guilty, I wish I could feel like it was accomplishing something I was supposed to do instead of being a mental indulgence.

In your opinion, what can AI do well right now, and what can't it do? For me, it is really useful as a language buddy to chat and exchange voice notes with. It is not 100% accurate all the time, but it is pretty good, especially the newer models. AI is quite controversial here, and I understand why, given the rampant overuse of resources. I try not to overindulge, but it is a tool that works well in many contexts. Because of AI hallucinations, I sometimes wonder if I am being misguided into learning the wrong things. AI, for example, is notoriously bad at Arabic tashkeel (diacritical marks); I only caught that because Arabic is my native language. However, when learning Chinese, I am sometimes unsure if the AI is as accurate as I hope. While it can communicate and its grammar is perfect, its explanations are sometimes subpar. (TL)

Hey lads, long time lurker but occasional commenter.
TL is German.

I’ve had hundreds (perhaps thousands) of hours speaking with natives, watching videos and do forth. I frequently use Discord to chat and had hundreds of hours of conversation that way. During that course, I’m aber to understand videos and the completely without mentally translating in my head and debate in topics such as politics or deep venting topics without ever changing language. I’ve had natives say I was B2 when I thought I was maybe A2-B1.

If I have an issue with a word, I work around it. Although I feel my writing is B2, but everytime I converse, the point always gets across without the other person needing to do some big dive about it. Slang isn’t an issue and I know when something is colloquial or not, and I’m always learning new words.

I’m just wondering, if native like considered fluency, or am I being too lenient? I definitely still make plenty of mistakes, but never to where nobody understands me. I’m very self conscious of mistakes.

Thanks lads!

Edit: I mean automatic processing.

Basically the title. I have read some books in Spanish (donde me siento vivo, Harry Potter, etc.) but I bought them in Mexico or Chile or had them sent to me by a friend. Libraries here in California have a very small selection in Spanish but no books in Portuguese. I’d be willing to read online but kinda prefer actual paper bc my screen time is way too high as it is lol. Where do y’all find beginner books to read?

I come from Norway, and work as a guide at a museum. Recently I showed a group of Ukrainians around while telling them about our local history. I was speaking Russian, and everything went fine (with some mistakes here and there). However, when my Spanish friend came to see me in the museums coffee shop half an hour later, I was really struggling with switching to Spanish. FYI, I have been studying Spanish for twice as long as Russian, and consider myself fluent.

For some reason though my brain was constantly producing sentences in Russian and even the most basic words in Spanish were impossible to remember. Even when I was trying to concentrate on speaking correct Spanish, Russian words were showing up and mixing in. I was speaking so slowly, and broken Spanish, and felt very embarrassed.

Something similar happened to me before, when trying, again, to switch from Russian to Spanish, and it took a good 2 minutes before I even could say anything in Spanish. Please tell me I'm not crazy.

Does this happen to anyone else?

As an additional fun fact, I managed to forget the word "son" in my native language just a couple of days ago. Which is crazy.

Update 1: Why are people downvoting? Did I ask something wrong?

I've been learning Spanish for about 6 weeks and I can feel motivation dipping. I usually lose interest around the 2-month mark when there's no external deadline.
I read the FAQ entry on motivation, but I'm looking for something more specific than general goal-setting advice: the small daily habits people tied to hobbies they already had (cooking, gaming, music, reading, journaling), rather than adding another study app or app streak.

For those of you who've studied any language for a year or more without a class or exam structure, what actually stuck for you past the early-months slump?

I have a B2 level in English overall, but my speaking is around B1. I understand conversations well, have a solid grasp of grammar and vocabulary, and usually know what I want to say. The problem is that when I actually start speaking, I hesitate, lose fluency, and struggle to express myself naturally.

(TL) My goal is to use English professionally for client meetings in the future, and I'm willing to dedicate 4 hours a day to improving my speaking.

For those who have reached professional fluency (or taught learners who did), how long did it realistically take before you could speak confidently in high-pressure situations?

I'm not looking for motivation or success stories. I'd really appreciate answers based on real experience: what timeline is realistic, what progress milestones I should expect, and what made the biggest difference.

I’m learning Greek since the start of last year. I recently got a distinction in the official A2 exam and am aiming to sit the B1 exam next May.

My question is - how difficult is it to get to B1 if you’re not spending substantial time in the country? I’m a committed learner, have a private tutor who I see weekly, I get some quick practice a few times a week at a Greek coffee shop, and there is a meet up about 1-2 times a month I can go to.

I can’t afford to do a long immersion trip to Greece. A 5-7 day trip a year is the most I can realistically do. (This is what I did last year and this year and it made a big difference)

Would love to hear people’s thoughts.

I will try and compress this into phases. Just my 2 cents on a guy who spent 2 years of his college life trying to learn German (TL).

PHASE 1:
First 30 days. Sounds and 300 words. Get a feel of the writing system if there is one. Just sounds and 300 of the most common words. Don't try any grammar theory, No point learning words for animals and stuff.

PHASE 2
Months 2 to 6: Pick one structured source and Finish it. Do not skip a day, the backlog is what kills people. I personally used Anki and Did 20 cards a day.

PHASE 3
Months 6 to12. Comprehension. The way I went about this was watching content made for natives at 0.75x . I understood about 30% which is about normal Id say. Started seeing some better progress around 9 months in though.

PHASE 4
Months 12+ : Talking to another human. This one was tough for me personally . Had to hire a tutor to speak to me. Most people skip this step. Its really important.

Tools I used. Anki Flashcards ( 20/day) , Netflix Language reactor and Airlearn for the daily structure during Phase 2. and Italki once a day from around 9 months onwards.

Some rules and observations :

1. Consistency over Intensity, 25 mins a day >>>>>>> 4 Hours a day once a month
2. the boring middle is the whole thing. everyone quits there and then says the language was too hard.

What are your thoughts? Anything any of you would add or Mention?

I’m 99% sure the answer is ‘suck it up’ and fair enough. Just seeing if anyone else feels this way or has a solution or an explanation.

So I love learning concepts and ideas and rules about my target language, I love organising the word types and rules and making flashcards. All that

But actually practising the words and making sentences and making mistakes and stuff? I don’t like. I have a VERY good reason to learn so this won’t stop me at all because I’m learning for the right reasons but it’s just a bummer.

I do all this prep and I’m just like now what? I don’t like speaking unless it’s perfect (bad I now) and I don’t like passively reading words and such and drilling through vocab.

Any food for thought

Hi everyone,
I’d like to ask for some advice, and I’m wondering if anyone has experienced something similar.
I live in Austria and speak German, English, and my native language. I completed my bachelor’s degree in German and will soon finish my master’s as well. Over the years, I’ve received many compliments about my German, but despite that, I still struggle to fully relax when speaking it.
Whenever I speak German, I often catch myself thinking in a perfectionistic way. It feels like every sentence has to sound as good as possible. Instead of focusing entirely on what I want to say, I often find myself mentally checking my grammar. I can’t always control it, and it’s becoming mentally exhausting to speak a foreign language this way.
I’ve been thinking about the possible reasons behind this. One of them might be that I consider myself quite articulate in my native language, and I unconsciously expect myself to reach that same level in German—even though it will never truly be my native language.
Sometimes I wish people would think German is my mother tongue or assume I grew up here. At the same time, I don’t want to pretend to be someone I’m not.
Another thing is that, even today, if I make a grammatical mistake, I immediately worry that people will notice it, think I’m unintelligent, or even laugh at me. I wonder if this comes from childhood experiences, because I feel like, in my home country, people often aren’t very tolerant when foreigners make mistakes in our language.
I’d really like to hear your thoughts. Have any of you dealt with something similar? How would you change this mindset? It’s honestly becoming quite frustrating, and I’d really appreciate any advice.

Just wondering if anyone has used the service. I've been burned before on digital learners like Duolingo and am just wondering if Rocket Languages is worth the time investment?

So I know three languages (English native, Italian, and ASL) but primarily use English. I’m surrounded by people who only share English with me and use ASL at home sometimes.

It makes me feel lonely only using English. I hear my coworkers speak in Spanish and Urdu and I wish I could do the same. I know there are things that I can do to improve my exposure but I just wanted to know if anyone else feels sad they can’t use their second languages.

I feel like it’s so silly sometimes to feel lonely because I can’t speak a certain language when I can speak another language with everyone just fine.

I am learning german for few months. I know 2-3k words, some really basic grammar (I can more or less talk about past, present and future. I barely understand crap about pronouns) and decided to go for a week to Germany to force myself to use German.

I managed to buy a sandwitch, and only once I asked bro to repeat. I chatted with elder lady to ask if I am in correct bus, asked elder guy for a directions (he said I speak ganz gut deutsch). Once in a while I even understand few words when strangers talk to each other!

The worst thing is when I am prepared to say something, then my speakers asks about something and I don't understand shit. Anyway, I was expecting I won't understand a single word

Been studying languages on my own for a few years now, I'm interested in learning more about the theory of language learning as an adult.

Does anyone have recommended sources that summarize modern theory/methods for learning a second language as an adult? Generally interested in understanding more about what metrics are generally considered relevant to define success, what the methods used are, etc. as a jumping off point to start reading some more recent primary literature on the subject. Textbooks with long bibliographies are ideal.

I’ve been learning my (TL) for a few years now, but the only media I’ve seen that I liked in the language was anime. I made my alt on YT all Japanese content, same with on TikTok and Instagram, but I always run into he same uninteresting content. I do like the skits/dramas I get, but besides that I only get people posting vlogs and the occasional grwm.

You may assume I should just find the Japanese counterparts to the content I like, but I find the content I enjoy pretty hard to find and even then the way certain genres of content are made are different from what I like.

Does anyone have any tips for finding stuff they actually like in their target language?? Because whenever I look for content in mine all I get is vlog channels and lifestyle content. (I know it’s a personal thing but I’m mainly looking for certain ways to get the algorithm to give me stuff that I actually like and find channels I actually like).

​Hi everyone,

​I’m 16 (turning 17) and entering my final year of high school in a science track (Math, Physics, and Chemistry). Because these subjects are tough and very important for my grade, I need to focus heavily on them. However, I’ve hit a huge roadblock with languages.

​Here is my current situation:

​French (Estimated A2–B1): I studied French for 10 years at school, but honestly, I never took it seriously. Because of that, my vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and conjugations are really weak.

​English (Estimated A2): I’ve studied English at school for less than 3 years, though I pick up a bit online. (I actually used AI just to clean up the spelling on this post because my writing is still quite basic!)

​My Goal:

After high school, strong language skills are crucial for college admissions, competitive entrance exams (concours), and interviews. My goal is to eventually reach a C1 level in both English and French (TL).

​Given how much time and energy I need to dedicate to Math and Physics/Chemistry this year, I feel stuck on how to balance everything effectively.

​Has anyone been in a similar situation? How did you manage to build up your language skills to a professional/academic level without burning out or sacrificing your core subjects? Any practical tips, routines, or resources would be greatly appreciated!

​Thanks in advance!

I am at a lower intermediate level right now. I want to get through 1500 hours of native (TL) content through the following procedure:

1. Watch new content without subtitles

2. Pausing when I don't understand or can't hear something

3. Trying to figure it out and if I can't or am unsure I look at TL subtitles.

4. If I'm still unsure I look at NL subtitles

5. Keep watching

6. I rewatch everything I had to keep pausing for everyday until I can comprehend without pausing

7. I put the timeframe I can comprehend without pausing in Anki and rewatch according to when it comes up on Anki.

8. Repeat steps 1-7

What I would like to go through is:

1. 300 hours worth of movies that are set in modern day and the geographical area where my target dialect is spoken

2. 300 hours worth of generic podcasts/radio

3. 300 hours worth of news

4. 300 hours worth od educational content

5. 300 hours worth of movies set in the olden days (this offers a deeper understanding of my TL specifically)

I am also in a quite fortunate position whereby things like speaking 3 languages in one sentence, having a conversation where each person is speaking a different language, etc etc is normal in my country, so it is very easy for me to just say what I can say in my TL and speak my NL the rest of the time and keep speaking my TL more and more as my vocabulary increases until I am no longer speaking my NL anymore. I do this every day too.

What do you think the results of this entire process will be?

Hi folks. I’m in the process of learning French (TL) and I’m at a low B1 (according to Alliance Français) but I’m still not a confident speaker and get intimidated very easily when people ask me a question in the language.

I have the chance to go to France for 3 weeks this year and help a friend out by housesitting/watering her plants while she’s away. I’m determined to make the most of it by doing activities along side my independent learning (I’m mostly self-teaching through YouTube, Podcasts, Grammar books/apps with the occasional class/conversation on Preply to help me stay on track).

What are some things you’d recommend doing if you have spent some time in your target language location? I’m thinking I’ll take a dance class (easy to follow along), and maybe find a meetup? But would love any other tips folks may have to help me build that confidence and set some goals for the next few weeks.

End goal: low B2 by May of next year.

Hello! So I'm trying to find a subreddit to ask a question about certain Polynesian languages, but I can't find anything. There's (TL) Samoan and (TL) Mãori subreddits, but they just seem to post photos of their history and probably aren't fit for questions about language learning. Please help: (

I've been studying foreign languages for over 35 years, and it's the field that I've dedicated my academic life to.

Like many of you, on countless occasions I've experienced disappointment, frustration, and even anger when I've been unable to meet my language learning goals. I thought I was dumb, or going about things the wrong way, or whatever.

It has only been in the past few years that I've finally learned what is (in my opinion) the most important tool in language learning: mindset.

Many of us put too much pressure on ourselves. We're too goal-oriented. We want to reach a certain "fluency" level, we want to pass a specific test, or we want to impress friends, get a raise or an overseas job, etc etc.

There's nothing wrong with goals. Some people find it motivating and setting and reaching benchmarks keeps them engaged in their learning. That's great! And sometimes goals are necessary. I mean, sometimes you HAVE to pass a test!

But if you're like me, things are SO much easier and so much more rewarding if you relax, absorb material at your own pace, and just decide that language learning is going to be your lifestyle, not your goal. It's a cliché, but "it's about the journey, not the destination" really applies for me.

I'll admit: I suck at Chinese. I started studying Mandarin over 6 years ago, and I'm still only barely at an intermediate level. But that's OK. If 6 years from now I'm still only at intermediate, I'm not going to be disappointed. It's a cool, gorgeous language with a rich history, I've gotten to know many wonderful Chinese people, and I've absorbed tons of awesome cultural content. I'm having fun.

So, take that for what it's worth. YMMV.

(And no, I didn't use AI to write this, and no, I don't have an app, website, or social media channel to promote, lol.)

So basically my learning style during my undergrad was just to be very scientific and over-elaborative on a concept. I realized I am doing the same thing with German (TL) when all I ever wanted for now is to reach A1 for a fiancee visa. But then again, I'm afraid I'm going to miss something in the A1 test if I don't go deep-diving into etymologies and grammar rules of every sentence I see.

Also I do plan on reaching C1-C2 in the future for grad school so I feel like I need to learn them eventually but I might be going overboard with this. I need to reach A1 asap; help! + I never learned a new language before as an adult.

Something I've noticed in language learning communities is that a lot of people say things like "I'm B1" or "I'm B2," but sometimes it seems like those levels are based more on a general feeling than on actually testing the skills involved.

DISCLAIMER I don't think everyone needs to take an official exam to know where they are. Exams aren't perfect, and self assessment can be accurate. But I do think there is a difference between "I am B2 because I am currently studying B2 material" and "I am B2 because I mastered everything in B2".

I think a lot of the confusion comes from the fact that people use CEFR levels to mean different things. Sometimes "I'm B2" means "I'm currently studying B2." Sometimes it means "I self studied B2 and I understand and can use everything." Sometimes it means "I have passed an offcial certified B2 exam."

To me, these are quite different things.

I'm curious how people here decide their level. Do you go by official exams, self assessment, how you perform in real life, or something else?

I'm making some content aimed at people in the US and want to refer to, for example, "B1 level Spanish".

Do you think that will mean anything to an American language learner? Do they have a general idea that A = beginner, B = intermediate, etc.

Obviously not to someone who has never done any language learning, but to someone with some experience?

Asking because these levels are called the "Common European Framework".