Language Learning Stack Exchange
Language Learning Stack Exchange

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1396 questions
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How can I develop an accent in a foreign language?

I have been teaching myself Italian for 2 years so far, and I still sound very foreign. When I am speaking Italian with someone else, it is difficult to imitate their accent properly, and when I try, I usually end up sounding awkward to them. One…
Sir Cumference
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Why does anki remove 'leeches'?

In anki the strategy when a word is being continously mistranslated is to mark the word as 'leech' and remove it from future repetitions. In contrast - Memrise will offer a special cramming sessions to repeat such words. What is the reason for these…
zefciu
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Does learning a language consistently every day help you learn it sooner?

I've always thought this to be true, but I'd like some evidence to back it up. I'm assuming that I study about 20 minutes a day all seven days a week compared to studying about 70 minutes any 2 days a week for about the same amount of time per…
fi12
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Pros and cons of reading the same book in each language I learn

One of my language learning strategies is to read the same book in every language I learn (in my case, the Book of Mormon). I know this book quite well, having read it several times in English and in other languages. I assume that because I know…
intcreator
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How to train yourself to contrast heard sounds

When trying to learn new languages, I have often encountered a problem when hearing sounds that don't exist in the Polish language (my native language). In my mind they "become" other, more familiar sounds. The examples are: [h] is hard to…
zefciu
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Is it possible for an adult to learn a language without carrying a foreign accent?

As an adult, I'm working on learning French, coming from a background growing up speaking a few languages natively. According to French friends of mine I practice with, I have a "good" accent, but I've never been a big fan of "good". So to me this…
TheEnvironmentalist
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Effectiveness of tandem learning

Since the early 2000s, it has become quite fashionable to do a tandem language learning. You find a native speaker who wants to learn your language, you meet and talk about anything. In ideal case, you split the conversations, so that both can…
clem steredenn
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Is L2 fluency retention better than L1 fluency retention?

One of my friends grew up with his family in a Spanish-speaking country (for ~10 or so years), knowing/learning both Spanish and English, but he and his family have since moved to the United States, and started using English almost exclusively. His…
Hatchet
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How can I help a person improve their L2 pronunciation?

My wife is a native Spanish speaker. I'm a native English speaker. At home we speak both languages nearly interchangeably. But now she has a job speaking English. How can I most effectively help her improve her pronunciation in English? It's common…
Flimzy
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What skills does reading aloud improve?

Have there been any studies about the benefits of reading aloud for language acquisition?
Muzaffar
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Are there any surveys or studies on what motivates people to learn minority languages and/or rare languages?

People have various kinds of reasons to learn a language. Sometimes a foreign language is just imposed on them at school, sometimes their choice is based on the perceived "importance" or usefulness of a language (number of speakers, job…
Tsundoku
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Can Esperanto speakers more easily learn Swahili, or other agglutinative languages?

This video explains how single words in Swahili are constructed from many different parts: The Swahili Language My conclusion was that it must be much easier to learn that when one can speak Esperanto well, especially advanced Esperanto, including…
geh
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Is it better to use different study methods for different languages?

Are there any studies done to see if the same learning methods can provide different results depending on the language being learnt? Are there certain methods that have been proved better for certain languages, setting personal choices and…
Jane D Chen
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Is there evidence that learning a language written with the same alphabet as your native language can make you learn the language faster?

For example, if I was learning Spanish (written with the Latin alphabet) while being a native speaker of English (also written with the Latin alphabet), is there any scientific research that confirms that learning Spanish will be faster than…
fi12
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Is "difficulty" an inherent trait in language?

It's quite common to talk about the relative difficulty(1, 2, 3, etc) of languages. But do languages have an inherent difficulty? Put another way, perhaps, are some languages easier or more difficult to learn for native learners (children)? Or are…
Flimzy
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