Góðan daginn!

Today, as promised, I’m announcing my new, personal language goal for the remainder of 2020 for those interested:

Learn to speak (and begin to read) Icelandic.

Within 6 months, my aim is to be able to converse fairly comfortably with an Icelandic native speaker.

I have no experience with Icelandic or any other Nordic language so this is completely new territory for me, but Icelandic’s a language that’s been at the top of my “must learn” list for many years.

Now is a good time to start.

COVID and Iceland travel

I originally planned to include a climactic immersion stint in Iceland this year, documenting my experience on video.

Similar to what I did with Irish a few years ago.

Unfortunately, this whole lockdown disaster has made my original goal of immersion in Iceland virtually impossible for now. Iceland, being a small island nation, is unlikely to accept international travelers for a long time.

The tempation was to abandon my goal entirely, but I just don’t want to give up any more of life’s enjoyment for the uncertainty of this pandemic. It’s already been 6 months of sitting around putting everything on hold, but life’s too short to throw a year away waiting.

I’ve already written at length about why I believe language learning during lockdown is so important.

Anyway…

So I’m going to use online options to practice with the hopeful expectancy that international travel will go back to normal at some point, and I can finally do immersion in Iceland.

Which online options?

italki no doubt, but I also want to experiment with some different options for the first time which will give me a chance to share my experiences here.

Why learn Icelandic?

As I always say, why is the most critical determiner of language learning success.

If you go into a language mission without compelling motivation, you’ll almost certainly fail. General interest usually doesn’t cut it because it tends to come and go for most of us (and languages are long-term commitments).

You need persistent motivation.

So for me personally, I’ve always found Icelandic appealing for a number of different reasons:

1. Ancestral significance

I’m (technically) not Icelandic.

But Iceland’s genetic makeup is essentially Northern Germanic and Gaelic (of which I am both).

Given Iceland’s proximity to Ireland and history of Nordic migration to both islands, I’ve always felt a close affinity despite having never traveled there.

Did you know that of the original settlers of Iceland, up to 80% of females were Gaels (Irish)?

2. Strongman

As my regular readers know, I’ve always been into weight training and bodybuilding.

In recent years, I’ve moved away from bodybuilding (after getting married and having kids, I see it as nothing but an aesthetic/vanity sport), and I now train in powerlifting and strongman-type exercises. They’re far more practical for strength building and overall endurance.

Well… Iceland reigns supreme in this sport.

I’m a huge fan of Hafþór Björnsson (aka the Mountain from Game of Thrones).

3. Modern day Icelanders are still able to read the sagas (Old Norse)

Saga means ‘story’.

These are medieval stories that give an amazing window into the history of Northern Germanic peoples and their beliefs.

Icelandic has obviously evolved but a lot of these old texts can still be comprehended by a modern-day Icelander.

This is something I’d like to explore as I progress with Icelandic.

4. Icelandic is beautiful to listen to

I’ve really fallen in love with the sound of Icelandic.

Lately, I’ve been spending some time just saturating myself with Icelandic audio (online radio mostly). Even though I don’t understand a word, I’m just getting my ears used to the sounds and flow of what I’m hearing.

It’s just a truly pretty language to listen to.

5. Icelandic has a reputation for being difficult which I aim to dispel

Like other languages I’ve learned (e.g. Russian, Korean and Arabic), Icelandic has a general reputation for being extraordinarily difficult for English speakers.

I’d like to prove this wrong.

Also, as someone who has learned mostly non-European languages, I fully expect Icelandic to be quite easy in comparison.

We’ll see.

What about Icelandic resources?

To be honest, I haven’t done an in-depth analysis of what’s available for Icelandic yet.

But a few general searches haven’t brought up much.

There isn’t a whole lot of demand for Icelandic learning material so naturally, there isn’t nearly as much as you’d find for other European languages (including Irish).

But there are a few resources I’ve been meaning to extensively test out that include Icelandic, so this is a good opportunity to do so. I’ve also ordered some quality Icelandic books that include audio.

I’ll share more about these Icelandic resources soon as I have a chance to use them.

For now, as I said above, I’m just getting my ears acquainted with the sounds of Icelandic by listening to online radio, and freely available YouTube content.

In the coming week, I’ll begin to amass my arsenal of resources to work with for the next 6 months.

Join The Guild for updates and sign up to the language forum

You can click here to ‘Join The Guild’ or use the form below this article.

I’ll email out regular updates on my progress and discoveries (in addition to sharing here).

Also be sure to sign up to the language forum if you’d like to take part in discussion about Icelandic (or any other language).

I’ll periodically post there too.

The post New Mission: Learn To Speak Icelandic In 6 Months appeared first on The Mezzofanti Guild.

No lengthy post today.

Just a video where I share a personal update on our current situation and some deep reflection on the issue of language learning goals despite uncertainty.

It’s very difficult to make progress toward anything or plan for the future when it all seems so uncertain.

Every week there seem to be new forecasts:

International travel expected to resume by January 2021.

Experts say international travel will return to normal by 2024.

International travel “not for the forseeable future”.

One of the questions I raise in the video is what if we were a lucky generation to be able to freely travel everywhere?

What if my son’s generation won’t experience that?

Hopefully that’s not the case and this time next year, or two years from now, we’re all freely holidaying again with COVID-19 lockdowns being nothing but a bad memory.

What do you think?

In any case, I’m starting a new language mission for the remainder of 2020 with a hopeful travel goal next year (if travel bans lift).

I’ll announce that soon.

The Mezzofanti Guild is being completely relaunched!

Exciting news.

I’m relaunching The Mezzofanti Guild (after several years of dormancy) at the end of next week with a brand new site.

I’ve been working overtime for the past few months to redevelop MezzoGuild while also hiring content creators for the new platform. I’m happy to say it’s almost complete.

As part of the relaunch of the site, I’ll be beginning to roll out some new, innovative additions that I’ve been conceptualizing for quite some time.

I won’t go into details now but look out for specific details on release day.

To top that off, I’ve reassumed management of TalkInArabic.com after 3 years and will be releasing a major overhaul of that platform in the coming month. More on that announcement later (subscribe to my email list to be the first to hear about it).

How do you stay motivated with so much uncertainty over travel?

Any language goals for the remainder of 2020?

The post Language Learning Goals Despite Uncertainty (+ Relaunch Coming!) appeared first on The Mezzofanti Guild.

How long does it take to learn Spanish?

Spanish is a glorious language. Its energy, diversity and expressiveness are so enchanting that it’s no wonder so many of us dream of learning it…quickly!

But how long will it take you to get there?

Some people may have tried to learn Spanish for years and still feel like they haven’t made any progress. Others claim they learnt the language in a month using some creative techniques. So what questions should you be asking yourself to know how long it could take you to learn Spanish, especially as an absolute beginner? Let’s take a look.

Table of Contents

1. How strong is your motivation to learn Spanish?
2. What’s your mother tongue and how similar is it to Spanish?
3. What resources are you planning on using and how often? (exposure, variety)
4. What Spanish skills do you want to focus on?
5. How willing are you to connect with Spanish speakers?
6. How many hours will you be dedicating to learning Spanish?
7. What Spanish level are you hoping to achieve?
8. Get started

How strong is your motivation to learn Spanish?

Before you can answer how long it will take you to learn Spanish, ask yourself: Why? Why Spanish and why now?

I disagree that you must have an urgent motivation to learn Spanish to keep yourself accountable, such as moving to a Spanish-speaking country, having family members who speak Spanish or wanting to get a new job. Of course, these are all fantastic reasons to learn Spanish, don’t get me wrong! But I believe curiosity, interest, love for the language and the sheer pleasure of learning it can be enough.

However, there’s a certain art to motivation.

The trick? If you invite yourself to be publicly accountable (for example, by announcing your goals on social media, creating a language progress journal or even a blog dedicated to your Spanish learning journey) you’re more likely to be successful and stay motivated. You should also make sure that you don’t get bored when learning Spanish by getting yourself out of your comfort zone and diversifying the way you learn. If you do get bored, it’s probably because you’re sticking to a method that doesn’t work for you or are lacking resource variety.

This is important because you’ll naturally see faster progress when you’re not constantly battling yourself and trying to find the motivation to learn Spanish instead of actually learning Spanish.

With the right motivation and time management techniques, a motivated learner can achieve an intermediate level of Spanish in a matter of months.

What’s your mother tongue and how long does it take to learn Spanish if it’s similar?

Learning Spanish as somebody whose native language is radically different from any Romance or Germanic language might be tricky at first (but definitely achievable!).

If you speak English, it might be easier to estimate how long it takes to learn Spanish. The US Foreign Service Institute has given us a useful tool called the Language Difficulty Rankings. It’s basically a list of categories that shows you the approximate time you need to learn a given language as an English speaker (reading and speaking proficiency).

FSI might not be the the be-all and end-all of language learning, but it certainly gives you an idea of how long it will take you to learn Spanish as someone who can speak English: about 24 weeks (575-600 hours).

Summary: According to FSI, if you spend 3 hours per day learning Spanish, you’ll achieve fluency in around six months. Reduce your Spanish time to one hour a day and, according to FSI, it will take about 1.5 years to learn.

Courtesy of Fummy/Reddit

As you can see, Spanish is one of the most accessible languages for English speakers. But please, don’t feel demotivated if you’re also planning on learning languages that were placed in higher categories! These are just guidelines and largely depend on the amount of time you’re planning on dedicating to the language, the type of resources you use, your approach and other factors. Speaking of which…

What resources are you planning on using?

Your resource quality can determine how long it takes to learn Spanish.

Many of the best Spanish online courses offer plenty of options to grow your vocabulary, grammar awareness and pronunciation skills while sticking to a method you enjoy. These can be amazing tools to get started, get a feel of the language and start noticing some patterns, especially if you enjoy studying in general and like having that structure.

However, if your goal is to speak Spanish soon and comfortably, you’ll have to get yourself out there and walk away from apps that only teach grammar.

You can do this by joining language exchange groups (online or in person), signing up for Spanish lessons (but make sure you get plenty of practice rather than just one hour per week!) or making sure you spend quality time with Spanish speakers on a regular basis. You’d be surprised at how helpful native speakers can be online if you tell them you want to practice your Spanish! What’s going to truly make a difference on how long it takes you to speak Spanish is the amount of time you dedicate to usage, not just exposure.

Duolingo is not where it’s at if you’re looking for proficiency! Which leads us to…

What Spanish skills do you want to focus on?

Learning Spanish might mean different things for different people.

Perhaps you’re interested in learning Spanish to read your favorite classics in the comfort of your living room. Or perhaps you only want to learn how to speak Spanish to be able to casually connect with the Spanish-speaking community in your city, not to read complex news or be able to write an e-mail eloquently. If this is the case, learning Spanish will be much faster because you won’t have to worry about developing a holistic approach in which you learn both formal and informal registers, for example.

You can focus on whatever you believe you’ll need more quickly.

Just keep in mind that this type of isolated goal might have an expiry date in the long run, because real life forces you to deal with Spanish in different forms: you might have to text a friend (writing), read their response (reading), meet them for coffee to have a chat (speaking) and understand what they say (listening). You might also eventually decide you want to move to a Spanish-speaking country or spend some time there on vacation, and suddenly need a different type of language.

Adapt your Spanish learning to your context, but don’t limit yourself too much!

How willing are you to connect with Spanish speakers?

Few hobbies require being around other people as much as language learning does. And yet, many language learners crave for the comfort of their notebooks, manuals and apps…neglecting actual speaking practice with another human being.

We’ve all been there! I certainly love sitting down with a cup of tea and reading a nice book in my target language, taking notes and discovering new vocabulary. But I’ve also had to face a harsh reality. I’ve often become so involved in reading and studying, that I was completely unable to develop a genuine, real-time conversation with a native speaker months after having gotten started.

If your goal is to speak Spanish fast, that’s just not the most efficient way.

Getting yourself out there and including as many hours of speaking practice in your schedule is.

I get that sometimes it’s not up to willpower alone. Performance anxiety can hinder your progress due to insecurities regarding your accent or previous experiences that went wrong.

You can find comfort in the fact that many successful language learners around the world feel the exact same way and have managed to move past the overwhelming nerves to create amazing connections with native speakers. It’s all about expecting the nerves (rather than fighting them or denying them) so you can find the right tools to manage them.

How many hours will you be dedicating to learning Spanish?

How often you use your Spanish will have a massive impact on how long it takes you to learn it.

The word “use” is key here.

Exposure to the Spanish language through movies, series, music, video games and language apps certainly helps with vocabulary and listening skills (to a certain degree), but what truly gives you a boost in confidence and proficiency is the amount of hours you’re willing to dedicate to talking to Spanish speakers (and writing, if it’s something you enjoy and want to do better).

Producing your own content and getting used to the reality of the language (rather than the scripted language used in movies) is crucial.

This is perhaps the most difficult aspect of language learning. We constantly feel we lack the time. Yes, sometimes family life, work, studies or even a cold can temporarily cause you to take a break, and that’s okay! It’s all about taking a look at your schedule, tracking each activity and realizing what could be done a little more efficiently.

After all, why dedicate 5 hours to learning something you could learn in 20 minutes with a slight change of method?

You’re more likely to be able to retain information if you learn in bite-sized pieces, anyway!

What Spanish level are you hoping for and how long will it take to achieve?

Most people wish to become “fluent” in Spanish, but what that means changes greatly from person to person.

In order to answer ‘how long does it take to learn Spanish’, you need to define ‘learn’.

What do you expect to achieve? Being able to talk to your neighbor? Having a casual chat with a Spanish-speaking friend? Being able to communicate better with your partner’s family? Surviving a trip abroad without using English? Nailing a job interview in Spanish? Or being able to deliver a speech at a conference without making any mistakes?

This goals will naturally translate into different approaches, and some take longer than others.

It’s much easier to order a coffee than to clarify a complex question about a presentation at a conference. Plan for a longer learning period if you’re committing to reaching an advanced level, especially if you plan on being able to understand complex news, academic articles, industry reports and similar content.

Knowing how long it takes to learn Spanish, where can you get started?

Apart from the questions listed here, you might also want to decide on a Spanish variety just to get started.

Most people would decide between European Spanish and Latin American Spanish, but be warned that there are regional differences in Spain, as well as significant differences in pronunciation and vocabulary between Latin American countries. Regional variety is another factor to consider in how long it takes to learn.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t learn more than one variety in the future!

It’s just more efficient to focus on one first so you can create the right type of environment and see progress more quickly.

Considering these questions, how long do you think would take you to be able to have your first chat in Spanish?

Write a comment below stating your intentions with Spanish, how you plan on making progress and what you feel will be important to you in your journey. Looking forward to your answers!

The post How Long Does It Take To Learn Spanish? (It’s Faster Than You Think) appeared first on The Mezzofanti Guild.

Anyone who’s thought of learning Portuguese online will tell you an inconvenient truth.

There are lots of outdated, old-school, uninteresting resources for learning Portuguese out there.

Fortunately, the demand for Portuguese (both Brazilian and European) keeps growing. That’s great news for us language lovers who are always on the hunt for efficient, interactive tools that help us learn better!

With that in mind, here’s a selection of online tools you can take to learn Portuguese. Please notice that some pros and cons for each course might be subjective.

It’s a good idea to decide what kind of features are essential to you before signing up and paying for a full course.

Table of Contents

1. Babbel
2. Brazilian Podclass
3. Cudoo
4. Glossika
5. Instituto Camões
6. LearnPortuguese.org
7. Lingodeer
8. LingQ
9. Lusa Language School
10. Mango Portuguese
11. Mondly
12. Pimsleur
13. Philipe Brazuca
14. Plataforma de Português Online
15. Portuguese Lab
16. PortuguesePod101
17. Practice Portuguese
18. Rocket Portuguese
19. Rosetta Stone
20. Speaking Brazilian

# 1. Babbel Portuguese

Variety: Brazilian only.

Cost: 12.99€ (monthly), 29.97€ (quarterly) or 71.88€ (annually). Other options exist, such as paying 47.94€ every six months or 99.00€ annually for access to all languages Babbel offers.

Summary: Babbel is an award-winning app, as well as the first-selling one. It delivers Brazilian Portuguese lessons through everyday conversations, placing vocabulary in context. It also relies on repetition to help you memorize important vocabulary, and invites you to recall information and write it down as soon as you learn it.

See this Babbel review to learn more.

What I like:

• Dialog-based learning, putting vocabulary and grammar in context right from the start.
• Short questionnaire at the beginning in order to customize content to your native language, needs, availability and goal with the language.
• Solid review system.
• Bite-sized lessons that don’t feel overwhelming and allow the information to sink in.
• Speech recognition.

What I don’t like:

• Method can get a little repetitive after several levels.
• Not the best option if you need lots of real-time speaking practice and the support of a teacher.

# 2. Brazilian Podclass

Variety: Brazilian only.

Cost: $34.51 (monthly) or $355.81 (annually).

Summary: This podcast course was created by the experienced Brazilian teacher Marina Gomes and contains more than 550 lessons, each with a 15-30 minute audio lesson and a written guide.

What I like:

• Word-by-word transcript of each episode (5 to 9-page PDF files).
• Relevant, updated topics that help you understand Brazilian culture (carnival, hobbies, beach, street markets, etc.)
• 30-minute lessons that are easily digestible.
• Material presented in both English and Portuguese.
• All episodes are downloadable.

What I don’t like:

• Relatively costly.
• No speaking practice, apart from pronunciation exercises based on repetition.

# 3. Cudoo

Variety: Brazilian and European.

Cost: $24.99 per course (between 49-61 lessons).

Summary: Cudoo isn’t specialized in language learning, but the platform does offer an incredible variety of courses to develop your skills (marketing, psychology, productivity, entrepreneurship, etc). If you’re planning on working in Portugal or Brazil, Cudoo might help, as it focuses on both basic and business language.

What I like:

• Focus on Business Portuguese in both dialects.
• Self-paced.
• Lifetime access after purchasing an individual course.
• Certificate of completion.
• Full refund within the first 7 days of purchase, no questions asked (if you end up not enjoying the course or find out it’s not for you!).

What I don’t like:

• Platform isn’t specialized in language learning.
• Some courses contain fewer lessons, yet cost the same.

# 4. Glossika

Variety: Brazilian and European.

Cost: $30 (monthly) or $299.88 (annually) for access to all languages.

Summary: Glossika helps you learn Portuguese through lots of listening and spaced repetition. A unique Glossika feature is that it doesn’t focus on grammar, but rather on patterns. Here’s an epic, detailed review of Glossika with Glossika’s founder, Mike Campbell, if you’re interested in discovering more about the method behind the tool.

What I like:

• Full sentence practice in context, so that learning new vocabulary feels more natural.
• 7-day free trial.
• Customized content based on your level.
• Lots of listening and repeating to help information sink in.
• No grammar study (it’s an advantage if you dislike using grammar to learn a language!)

What I don’t like:

• No grammar study (it’s a con if you like having some grammar guidance.)
• Price might be too high if you have no interest in learning other languages apart from Portuguese.

# 5. Instituto Camões

Variety: European only.

Cost: One-time fee of 180€ (self-study option), 250€ (basic option) or 320€ (premium option).

Summary: Instituto Camões is the most prestigious organization in Portugal devoted to European Portuguese education. They offer online courses with several degrees of interaction, from absolute independent study (doesn’t depend on a teacher or classmates) to options that include private tutoring, as well as speaking and writing practice. It’s a great option if you’re looking for a holistic approach to Portuguese and would like to get certified by a credible organization.

What I like:

• Three different course options with different levels of interaction.
• Levels A1 to C1 (absolute beginner to advanced).
• Receive an official certificate by the most prestigious European Portuguese institute in Portugal.
• Evaluation is dynamic, inviting you to submit different assignments, participate in discussions, have conversations on Skype and write your own articles in Portuguese.
• The Premium option includes individual tutoring.

What I don’t like:

• Courses last for 12 weeks, which may be a con if you dislike deadlines and structured learning.
• The self-study option includes reading, listening and grammar practice, but no writing or speaking.
• Evaluation is continuous, meaning you must submit several assignments, be present and be active in your course.

# 6. Learn-Portuguese.org

Variety: European only.

Cost: $82.11 per beginner course (A1-A2) and $105.91 per intermediate course (B1-B2). Bundles available.

Summary: Mia Esmeriz is a professional, certified Portuguese teacher who has learned plenty of languages herself. She created this platform to teach European Portuguese and has a couple of interesting video courses for beginners and intermediate learners. Each level (with 30 to 90 minute-long lessons) is composed of 10 to 12 recorded lectures where she explains grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation concepts.

What I like:

• Free 3-day crash course which includes worksheets and solutions.
• Lifetime access once you purchase a course.
• Possibility of buying in bundles.
• Fit for learners who prefer having a teacher explain concepts in an entertaining, casual way before practicing.

What I don’t like:

• Costly, considering the course is video-based and less complex than many other options online.
• Might be boring if you prefer a hands-on approach, rather than having a teacher explain the language to you.

# 7. Lingodeer

Variety: Brazilian only.

Cost: $11.99 (monthly), $29.99 (quarterly), $55.99 (yearly) or $99.99 (lifetime).

Summary: Lingodeer’s motto is “Learn languages smarter, not harder.” The platform and app has been conquering users who love learning through detailed explanations and grammar-based curricula with a structured, step-by-step plan. You’ll have plenty of options to customize your experience!

What I like:

• Variety of exercises that make lessons engaging.
• Opportunity to review content, customizing content according to what you got wrong.
• Affordable.
• Detailed explanations and grammar-based curriculum (if you like this kind of approach).
• Customizable: choose your background color, script, the voice of the narrator, and your own routine.

What I don’t like:

• Detailed explanations and grammar-based curriculum (can be a disadvantage if you prefer other methods, such as chunking and no-grammar approaches).
• Not so appropriate for intermediate and advanced learners who want to be challenged.
• No speaking practice.

# 8. LingQ

Variety: Brazilian and European.

Cost: For Premium members: €12.99 (monthly), €71.94 (half-yearly), €107.88 (yearly), and €191.76 (every 2 years). For Premium Plus members: €39.99 (monthly), €233.94 (half-yearly), €419.88 (yearly), and €815.76 (every 2 years).

Summary: LingQ is a learn-in-context platform. It gives you access to 1000s of hours of audio with transcript, access to all 25 languages, downloadable audio lessons, and the possibility of tracking all of your learning activity: and this is only the free version. Premium members get more perks, and Premium Plus members get access to writing corrections and live tutoring.

What I like:

• Fit for all levels: you’ll be able to develop your Portuguese even if you’re an advanced learner.
• Content is curated from the start to fit your favorite topics.
• Wonderful if you can’t decide between Brazilian and European Portuguese (or if you’d just like to learn both at the same time): unlike other platforms, LingQ doesn’t force you to choose. By selecting the Portuguese language option, you get content in both dialects. They’re properly labeled, so you’ll always know which dialect you’re reading.
• Learn through listening and reading, acquiring vocabulary in context from the very start.
• Contains a free version that allows you to get familiar with the platform and have some fun before committing to something more serious.

What I don’t like:

• Platform is a little crowded and not so user-friendly compared to others. It seems there’s too much going on visually.
• The perks that a Premium account gets you may not be worth paying the price: make sure you compare features and benefits carefully before making a decision.

# 9. Lusa Language School

Variety: European only.

Cost: Intensive course starts at €95,00 (one week/10 hours) going up to €320 (four weeks/40 hours). The online part-time course starts at €155 for a full 5-week, 20-hour course. Please check the current prices here and feel free to reach the school directly, as apparently there are frequent discounts!

Summary: If you’re tired of apps and prefer the traditional classroom experience, Lusa Language School offers plenty of online courses that help you develop all skills: speaking, reading, writing and listening. You’ll have a teacher and other classmates to keep you company and a regular schedule you can count on!

What I like:

• Choose between an online intensive course, an online part-time course or private one-to-one lessons.
• The longer the course, the less you pay per week.
• Perfect if you love learning from a teacher and interact with classmates.
• Homework assignments that keep the language present and challenge all skills.
• If you have studied at LUSA before and have a preferred teacher, the school helps you continue your studies with them.

What I don’t like:

• Requires your presence on specific days and at specific hours.
• Homework assignments, which can be a con if you have a busy schedule.
• Costly when compared to language apps (although it isn’t too costly for a regular language school).

# 10. Mango Portuguese

Variety: Brazilian only.

Cost: $7.99 (monthly) or $79.99 (yearly) for a single language. $17.99 (monthly) or $179.99 (yearly) for all languages.

Summary: Mango Languages has collected plenty of fans due to its blended flashcard and learn-in-context method. Learners are exposed to conversations in Portuguese from the very start, not just isolated words. The cultural notes that come with each lesson promise to help you boost your cultural IQ while helping you improve pronunciation, reading skills and memorization.

What I like:

• Includes both listening and reading practice.
• Allows you to practice pronunciation by comparing your recording with that of a native speaker.
• Introduces useful expressions in context immediately, rather than giving you isolated words before you get a chance to look at full sentences.
• App is inclusive. It provides both written explanations and the audio version of those explanations.
• Provides the guidance of a female voice that resembles a teacher, accompanying you through each step, inviting you to recall information and reproduce what you hear.
• Perfect if you love learning more about cultural context and traditions at the same time you learn the language itself!

What I don’t like:

• The lessons include (at times) lengthy audio explanations and transitions in English, which can get pretty tiring if you have no need for the audio.
• If you don’t feel the need to have the guidance of a teacher and prefer discovering content by yourself, this might not be the app for you. You might get a little annoyed by the constant interference of the female voice in English.

# 11. Mondly

Variety: Brazilian only. The app claims to offer both Brazilian and European Portuguese, but unfortunately, what is sold as European Portuguese is still Brazilian: I tested some lessons myself by clicking the flag of Portugal and all of it was 100% the dialect spoken in Brazil!

Cost: €9.99 (monthly) and €47.99 (yearly) for one language only. One-time payment of €99.99 for access to all 41 languages.

Summary: Mondly combines conversation-focused curriculum with speech recognition, bite-sized lessons and a repetition system to help you develop fluency and memorize words better. It allows you to pick from 33 native languages apart from English, so you can learn a second language with your own as a starting point.

What I like:

• Allows you to choose your native language apart from English, so you can learn a second language based on your own.
• Uses chatbots throughout the course so you can practice responding in the context of an everyday conversation.
• Very similar to Duolingo in practice, which can be a plus if you’re used to Duolingo and want somewhat of an upgrade without losing the sense of familiarity.
• If you love competition, you’re likely to enjoy the fact that Mondly allows you to earn points by completing lessons. You compete with other users from around the world, which can be a motivational factor!

What I don’t like:

• Big disappointment when I noticed that their European Portuguese course is actually Brazilian Portuguese. If you’re after the Brazilian dialect, go for it! If you’re after European Portuguese, you’re much better off with other apps or platforms.
• Method can get a little repetitive after a while, especially if you’re a beginner.
• Platform feels a little overly crowded in design and elements. If you’re a fan of a clean, minimalist design, you might be better off with another product.
• Similar to Duolingo in that it relies on very strict vocabulary categories and translation, which can be a disadvantage if you disliked Duolingo in the first place.

# 12. Pimsleur

Variety: Brazilian and European.

Cost: $21.95 (per 5 lessons) or $119.95 (per full level, which includes 30 lessons) for European Portuguese. For Brazilian Portuguese, the cost is $575.00 for a complete course (levels 1 to 5) or $150.00 (per level).

Summary: Pimsleur is a language learning platform based on recall, the principle of anticipation, and vocabulary in context of everyday conversations. Dr. Pimsleur’s rules are made pretty clear at the beginning of each course: repeat the words you hear aloud; never look up words or write down vocabulary during a course (focus on the audio instead); never try to memorize words on purpose; never expose yourself to more than one audio lesson a day…but complete one every day!

See this review of Pimsleur to learn more.

What I like:

• Immediate exposure to challenging conversations that lead you to the most important vocabulary straight away.
• Syllable-by-syllable guidance, so you can perfect your pronunciation.
• Lots of repetition to allow the information to sink in.
• Brazilian Portuguese course includes flashcards, reading practice, quick match quizzes, and exercises for developing your survival skills.

What I don’t like:

• Guidance by an English speaker who interferes often, which can be annoying or distracting if you prefer exploring content on your own.
• If you’re a seasoned language learner who enjoys feeling quick progress as soon as you get started, you might feel the lessons progress way too slowly.
• The European Portuguese course seems severely underdeveloped in comparison to the Brazilian Portuguese course.

# 13. Philipe Brazuca

Variety: Brazilian only.

Cost: One-time payment of $297 for the VIP course, with lifetime access to all content.

Summary: Philipe is a Brazilian teacher from Paraíba who has dedicated his platform to teaching Spanish speakers how to speak Brazilian Portuguese. His website includes a free, 7-day mini course for Portuguese enthusiasts and a VIP course. The best part is that you can follow Philipe on YouTube or check out his blog to get a feel for his style before committing to a membership.

What I like:

• You have the company of an enthusiastic, energetic teacher who leads you through the modules.
• No grammar books (an advantage if you dislike studying grammar when learning a new language).
• Access to a community of other Portuguese learners who can help you with your own journey.
• Support via Whatsapp to help you with your questions.
• Monthly group video calls that allow you to practice speaking with the teacher and the classmates.
• A great way to learn Portuguese through Spanish, whether that’s your native language or a second language you can already speak very well.

What I don’t like:

• If you’re after an app that allows you to practice independently and without the guidance of a teacher, this isn’t it.
• If you can’t speak Spanish, other products will be a better choice.
• If you can speak Spanish but already tend to mix languages up, learning Portuguese through Spanish might confuse you even more.
• No certificate.

# 14. Plataforma de Português Online – Alto Comissariado para as Migrações

Variety: European only.

Cost: Free.

Summary: The High Commission for Migration is a governmental organization whose platform allows you to learn European Portuguese for free. It’s as easy as creating a free account and you can start learning immediately!

What I like:

• Platform available in Portuguese, English, Spanish and Arabic.
• Ability to clear up your doubts and talk to a tutor directly.
• Complete the course at your own pace.
• It’s surprisingly easy to get started: just create a free account!
• Introductory video to the course is dubbed in English and Arabic (apart from Portuguese), so you can get a clear idea of how the course works and how European language levels are defined before getting started.

What I don’t like:

• Introductory video to the course isn’t dubbed in Spanish, even though that option should be available.
• Language used in the entire platform (eg: topics, menu) can feel conservative and formal compared to other language apps.
• Interactions are somewhat basic.

# 15. Portuguese Lab

Variety: European only.

Cost: $35 (monthly) or $350 (annually).

Summary: Portuguese Lab might be one of the most modern, well-developed European Portuguese platforms out there. Susana Morais, a language enthusiast and Portuguese teacher, created a website where you can learn through a podcast (with side resources), in-depth courses, a skills builder, the grammar vault and a community.

What I like:

• Diverse platform with plenty of courses dedicated to different interests.
• Support of a community that can help with your questions and struggles.
• Well-developed podcast and transcripts to go with your practice.
• Exercises that support different skills (reading, writing, pronunciation, vocabulary).
• 30-day money-back guarantee.

What I don’t like:

• No speaking practice.
• A little costly comparing to other platforms.

# 16. PortuguesePod101

Variety: Brazilian only.

Cost: Pricing depends on the amount of months you want to buy to have access to the materials. For example, a Basic account will cost you $8 for a month of access, $21 for three months of access, $36 for six months of access, all the way up to $96 for two years of access. Premium and Premium+ accounts have the same system, but different pricing. You can check all of this info on their website.

Summary: PortuguesePod101 provides over 1180 audio and video lessons, as well as detailed PDF lesson notes so you can keep track of your progress with Brazilian Portuguese.

What I like:

• Flexibility and control over which content you want to explore first.
• Possibility of replaying specific sentences in the entire lesson, rather than having to go back to the beginning or having to replay the entire thing!
• Cultural insights that give you more information about Brazil in each lesson.
• Advanced lessons maintain the level of challenge, they’re not just reviews of old material.
• Quite affordable when compared to other options, especially considering there’s a lot of content for free.

What I don’t like:

• Platform might feel a little overwhelming if you’re used to clean, linear language apps and courses that take you step by step.
• Might be a good complement, but not enough of a tool to get you speaking Brazilian Portuguese as soon as possible.

# 17. Practice Portuguese

Variety: European only.

Cost: €15 (monthly).

Summary: If you’ve ever wanted to study European Portuguese online, you’re likely to be familiar with Practice Portuguese. They are one of the strongest platforms for this purpose and work around a high-quality podcast and a learning studio where you get to practice grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.

What I like:

• Podcast is incredibly developed, not only including transcripts but also chapters. It provides key vocabulary, phrases and a quiz to test your comprehension.
• 400+ Lessons (in 60+ Units) are immediately unlocked so you can learn at your own pace and skip to the material that you find more interesting.
• Verb section that allows you to focus on grammar (conjugations of over 250 verbs most commonly used in Portugal), but does not make it mandatory in case you dislike grammar.
• Includes mini-dialogues and videos so you can practice listening comprehension skills.
• Very generous in price, considering the amount of materials included.

What I don’t like:

• Some of its system strongly resembles that of Babbel and can get a little repetitive. If you’ve enjoyed Babbel, however, this could be an advantage.

# 18. Rocket Portuguese

Variety: Brazilian only.

Cost: $99.95 (one-time payment) with options to pay $19.00 (monthly) for 6 months instead.

Summary: Rocket Languages takes you through the most common phrases and pronunciation rules step by step, in a course organized by modules. You’ll be taking interactive audio lessons, but also more structured language and survival lessons with different topics. Then, you can use some of Rocket Languages’ games and quizzes to test your knowledge.

See this review of Rocket Portuguese.

What I like:

• Perfect for beginners who crave for guidance and structured lessons.
• You earn points with everything that you do in Rocket Portuguese and can establish daily goals to keep yourself accountable, if that’s the type of strategy that suits you.
• You have lifetime access to the course after the one-time payment.

What I don’t like:

• The background speaker in English who guides you through the course may cause you to get bored or annoyed after a couple of lessons (if you prefer learning independently).
• It isn’t recommended that you skip lessons or explore content, but rather stick to the outlined plan.
• Advanced learners might find the content unchallenging.

# 19. Rosetta Stone

Variety: Brazilian only.

Cost: $35.97 (for 3 months), $119.88 (for a year), $167.76 (for two years) or $199 once for access to all languages. I wouldn’t recommend this last option for reasons I’ll explain below.

Summary: Rosetta Stone uses a no-translation immersion method that invites you to learn Portuguese without having to worry about understanding each and every single word. It’s quite an effortless method in which you still get the chance to customize your plan and choose a level that challenges you. You can find a detailed review of Rosetta Stone here).

What I like:

• 3 days of full access for free, so you can try the product before making a decision.
• Choose a plan according to your Portuguese level and personal interests.
• Practice all skills per lesson. Start with the main lesson, then proceed to pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing. You also have the option of selecting a pair of skills and excluding others (for example, pursuing a reading/writing course only.)
• You’re immediately exposed to Portuguese without translations, challenging you to associate useful phrases with images from the very firt lesson.
• Subscription includes a weekly tutoring session with a real teacher.

What I don’t like:

• Pricing isn’t transparent at all: apparently, different countries can be charged differently (and not just in terms of currency exchange rates), not to mention the frequent discounts some users receive randomly that make it difficult to understand the true price of the product.
• Method can get a little repetitive over a large period of time (match word with image).
• Many online reviews claim the platform hasn’t changed much in the last 15 years.
• Tutoring sessions aren’t always private (other learners might join), which can be an advantage or a disadvantage. Here, I write it as a con because you might not get enough attention or feedback when sharing your time slot with others.
• You might not want to buy the lifetime, all-language subscription, considering their content is copy-pasted across different languages.

# 20. Speaking Brazilian

Variety: Brazilian only.

Cost: $35 (monthly) or $350 (annually). As for private classes, expect $75 (1 hour), $675 (for 10 hours) or $1,275 (for 20 hours).

Summary: Virginia Langhammer is a Brazilian teacher from São Paulo who is passionate about language learning, traveling and teaching. She lives in New York and has created this platform to teach Brazilian Portuguese and Brazilian culture. By joining her Speaking Brazilian Academy, you’ll have access to interactive live conversation classes once a week, a live Q&A session with Virginia once a month, access to new lessons every month, and support via Whatsapp. If that sounds like too much, you can also book private classes with the Speaking Brazilian team.

What I like:

• A dynamic, fun teacher who is familiar with language learning to guide you.
• A healthy variety of courses to choose from depending on your level and interest.
• Free live classes to learn directly from a Brazilian teacher.
• Whatsapp support to keep you engaged and a live Q&A session that allows you to ask questions directly from your teacher.
• Courses are planned for you: all you have to do is take them.
• Opportunities for speaking practice, especially if you take private lessons.
• Classes are 100% in Portuguese.

What I don’t like:

• You might not be able to enroll whenever you’d like, as enrollment periods exist.
• You’ll have to plan your schedule around the times that lessons are available.

Summary: Best online Portuguese courses

This list should give you plenty of opportunities to compare pricing, methods and materials so you can select the best Portuguese course for you.

Some useful questions to ask yourself before getting started are: what’s your goal with Portuguese, if you have any at all? Is there a particular skill you’d like to develop at the moment, or are you okay with a course that helps you develop all at the same time? Do you enjoy having concepts explained to you in your mother tongue before practicing Portuguese, or do you prefer immediate immersion instead?

It might also be a good idea to confirm that the product you’re about to purchase actually offers the variety you’re interested in.

A surprising amount of apps and platforms claim to offer Brazilian or European Portuguese, but end up providing a course that contains mistakes.

Know of a Portuguese course we didn’t mention?

Share it below in the comment section!

The post 20 Best Online Portuguese Courses In 2020 (Native Speaker Opinion) appeared first on The Mezzofanti Guild.

Russian is a difficult language. It’s completely alien from English and most other languages.

But you don’t need to make things more difficult than they seem.

If you put in the time and effort required, you can get to a decent level of conversational Russian in a relative short time span.

I’ve been learning Russian for about 4 to 5 years now, and can speak a word or 2.

I made a lot of mistakes and sidesteps though. And if you can avoid those, you cannot imagine where your Russian skills will be in one, two or even five years from now.

I hope you’ll learn something from my mistakes!

And thanks Donovan for allowing me to write here

1. I would immerse myself in the Russian culture more

Without a reason to learn Russian, it’s going to be difficult to motivate yourself to practice.

If you’ve ever thought “Hey, Russian sounds like a cool language… would be cool to speak it,” then you’ve already got the beginning spark of motivation.

You need to cultivate this spark, so that it becomes a flame.

What I mean is that learning to speak Russian (or any language for that matter) is going to be a long and arduous process.

So the more you increase your desire to learn Russian, the better you’ll do in the long run.

One of the best ways to become more motivated is to immerse yourself in the Russian language.

The more you listen to Russian, the more you will start to ‘feel’ it.

And the more time you spend on it, the more you will start to feel motivated.

Learning Russian will become a part of your identity, and once that happens, you won’t stop.

It’s how Donovan says in his post about learning Arabic:

To the Arabs I became an Arab.

If you’re not living in Russia, or meeting Russian people on a daily basis, it’s going to be difficult to achieve this.

That’s why you’d do well to:

• start watching Russian movies
• follow Russian series
• listen to Russian music
• play Russian videogames

Every hour you spend on those activities improves your motivation. At the same time, you also teach your brain and ears to get used to Russian.

You’ll better understand where words start and where they end.

So you catch 2 birds with one stone.

Also, you likely already spend a significant amount of time every single day on the above activities.

So why not switch the English content you’re consuming to Russian content.

Just be sure to find something that includes English subtitles, so you can still understand the plot.

2. Start learning Russian vocabulary as soon as possible

Russian does not have much in common with any Western language.

If you’re learning Spanish, and your native language is English, you’ve got a large amount of cognates (words that are similar in both languages) that give you a huge boost in vocabulary in the beginning.

Russian doesn’t work like that. Unless you know another Slavic language, such as Polish or Serbian, you will need to learn common words.

Words are the building block of speaking a foreign language, and if you lack vocabulary, you won’t be able to correctly convey what you’re trying to say.

Luckily, since you only need about 850-1000 words to speak a language at a conversational level, all you need to get to that level is around 6 months of focused vocabulary learning.

If you create the simple habit of learning 6 new words per day, that will teach you 26 x 7 x 6 = 1092 words in half a year. Let’s say you skip one day per week on average, that still gets you to 936 words.

The great thing is that if you use an app such as ankidroid or Duolingo for this, that you can learn a couple of new words in just 5 minutes per day.

So you’re not even spending a lot of time on learning the basic vocabulary.

I only started intentionally learning new words after 1.5 year of learning my first words in Russian. And if I think back:

What if I’d started a simple Ankidroid practice of learning 5 words per day… my Russian would’ve been at a conversational level way earlier.

It’s not that I regret anything how I learned Russian, but if you’re in the beginning stages, it’s a very small effort to start a 5 minutes vocabulary practice, and it will give you humongous benefits.

Speaking about learning vocabulary, that brings me to the next point…

3. I’d download a Russian Anki deck instead of create it myself

In April 2016 I’d booked my first flight to Russia. I was flying to Moscow the beginning of June.

That’s when things became very close.

If you ever need a jolt of motivation, book a flight to Russia. Russians don’t speak English well, and if you don’t know Russian, you’re going to be very limited during your stay.

Above is a picture from my trip last year to the lake Baikal (close to Irkutsk). Unfortunately there was a lot of smoke because of the fires in the Siberian forests at the time.

But I regress. At that point I had just started listening to RussianPod101, and they had a nice 2000 most common word list.

And I’d just learned about the Ankidroid app.

For those of you who don’t know Ankidroid. It’s a spaced repetition app where you can add flashcards. Then you get a set amount of new cards and repetitions every day. You can rate how easy/difficult the specific word was, and depending on your rating you basically get the next repetition the following day, or in a month.

So what happens if you combine those 2?

Exactly. Lots of afternoons staring at my phone screen and sore thumbs.

For some reason I’d never heard of the fact that people can share their decks to other people.

So you can just go to their language page, and download a deck that seems nice, and has good reviews. This is a good beginner one by the way, as it contains sentences and audio.

This is a lot easier. And while there is some benefit to adding words yourself, it’s simpler to just download someone else’s work. Especially since many of the premade decks contain extra information, such as:

• audio so you hear where the stress is supposed to be
• sentences including the word
• extra grammatical info. For example if a verb is perfective or imperfective, or which gender a noun is

Plus it’ll safe you a lot of hours, tired eyes and sore fingers.

4. I’d pick one Russian course at a time and listen to it with focus

I consider myself lucky that in the beginning I only listened to two Russian courses, and that both of them were very effective.

The first one was Michel Thomas Russian. I know Donovan is not a fan of Michel Thomas, but I think the languages that feature a native speaker as the main teacher, are better than the ones where Michel Thomas is teaching. After all, he was born in Poland, so when he’s teaching Spanish, it’s not his native language.

The Michel Thomas Russian course helped me tremendously in the beginning stages. As it had a perfect cadence of new words, and did a good job at slowly introducing me to the Russian grammar.

If I would’ve known in the beginning that Russian had 6 cases, I might’ve given up. But while listening to Michel Thomas I already had some experience, and the cases were introduced one by one.

If you’re curious, you can actually listen to the first 8 hours of lessons on YouTube:

If you’re just starting out learning Russian, I highly recommend you take the time to listen to this course.

Preferable while being focused. My main problem was that I used to listen to it while biking to university. I was dividing my attention between learning Russian and not getting into an accident.

While audio courses are great to listen to when you’re commuting, taking a walk, cleaning or cooking, I’ve found that you take up a lot more information if you intentionally listen to what is being taught.

The second course that helped me a lot was RussianPod101. Donovan is also a fan of it, and I completely agree with his review of the course.

The lessons only take 10 to 15 minutes each. And in each lesson you learn a good amount of new words, grammar and cultural references.

I listened to it from beginning of 2016 to halfway 2017. And I credit most of my Russian progress to it.

You can try it out for 7 days here for free if you’d like to try it.

5. I would begin practicing speaking Russian on my own earlier

You can learn all the grammar and words you want, but if you’re not speaking on a regular basis, you are just going to be stumbling for words when you try to have a conversation in Russian.

So you need to pay specific attention to speaking.

I was lucky to have had several trips to Russia to practice my speaking. But I really noticed my Russian conversation skills take off after I started making YouTube videos where I’m practicing my Russian.

It started off as a joke, but soon more and more Russians got interested in the channel.

In order to stay relevant on YouTube, you need to put out regular content. That means that I was now at least practicing speaking Russian once every week for 5 to 10 minutes.

Often I did (and am still doing) several takes of one video to make it better.

Just this simple thing of having a monologue in Russian several times per week has done wonders for my speaking skills.

Now, I’m not telling you to start a YouTube channel as well. Although you can surely do that if you’d like

But what I mean is that if you start a simple practice of having monologues in Russian, you can also greatly improve your skills. Try your best to make correct sentences, while keeping space to allow your brain to ‘play’ with the language.

It also lets you practice without the fear of embarrassment while speaking in front of other people.

If you can get into the habit of recording yourself (audio for example), for 2 minutes at the end of the day, your speaking skills are going to skyrocket.

Just talk to yourself about how the day went, or about yourself or a hobby.

It doesn’t matter what you talk about, as long as you’re speaking.

If you’ve got a Russian friend, then you could also send them the recording through WhatsApp for feedback. And they could send something back to practice their English.

And while it may sound a little weird and simple to record yourself on your phone speaking Russian, it’s a crazy effective method. Plus it takes only a couple of minutes per day… and it’s free.

6. Not make any big plans

When you hear other people who’ve learned Russian speak Russian at a good level, it can be very motivating.

“Wow, I also want to be at that level in [insert X months]”

I know I’m guilty of that. “I’m going to be practicing 2 hours every single day for the next half a year, and then my Russian will be at B2!”

Every time I’ve said something like that to myself, I couldn’t even follow through on my plans for 3 days.

Once you start doing that stuff, you transform a nice interesting hobby into work.

And while it may work for some people, I think most people do better to ‘work’ on their Russian according to their motivation levels.

Sure, aim to spend at least 10 minutes listening to a course, and 5 minutes of new vocabulary every day. But don’t overextend yourself.

It’s better to spend 15 minutes per day for the next 3 years. Then to follow some excruciating schedule of 3 hours per day that you burn out on in 2 weeks, and then lose motivation and stop learning altogether.

Last words on learning Russian

Russian is considered a difficult language. And it’s true, up to a certain point. What many people forget to mention however, is the many faces of Russian that make it an ‘easy-to-speak’ language.

No articles. Which makes your speech a lot cleaner, and you need less moving parts to think about.

Flexible word order. So you can start speaking before you know exactly how the entire sentence will look like. And then think up the next words, as you go.

The fact is that relatively few people learn Russian, so if you show interest in the Russian language, Russians will happily talk to you.

So yes, the grammar and vocabulary parts are difficult. But once you get those past hurdles, speaking comes naturally and fast.

Arie Helderman is a Dutch guy who has been learning Russian for over 4 years. He has a YouTube channel in Russian (Ари говорит по русски) where he practices his Russian. You can also find him at Learn the Russian Language, where he and teaches people how to speak Russian.

The post If I Started Learning Russian Again, Here’s How I’d Do It appeared first on The Mezzofanti Guild.