Language-learners' chat

Cherryfudge

PipneyJane said:

“Parisian” French is the standard, but it’s not typical. Your mum’s French is probably more authentic than the French you learned at school. You know how we were taught that, in French, you don’t pronounce the “e” at the end of a word?  Well, as I learned from my colleagues from Le Havre, in modern, Norman French, they do. (It’s more like an aspirated “eh” than anything else.)  That’s one thing I like about Duolingo: every character speaks with a different accent.

It's as well there's no one else at home @PipneyJane, as I'm muttering 'heureh' and 'cuisineh' and anything else I can think of that fits the bill, and somehow it does sound delightfully real.

PipneyJane said:

A few years ago, there was a brilliant BBC report about British dialects and how different regions would have talked in the 18th century.  As an Australian, what I remember are the number of words and phrases that are spoken in Australian English, but that I never hear spoken in the UK.  (I wish I could remember more details.)

- Pip

I think I heard the same report. I tried to find it but there's a lot of archived BBC stuff on regional accents - all rabbit holes when I should be doing the hoovering!

florianatwobob said:

Funny that you mention that Cherryfudge as my Granny (dad’s mum) came from a little village that was in a 90s BBC documentary about the distribution of ‘Viking DNA’ in modern Britain. Apparently it was a little concentrated pocket! They were only testing the chaps at that point due to DNA development but Granny (via Dad) has passed on Norwegian DNA to me. No Swedish or Danish via Dad (plenty of Scots too so there’s probably Nordic DNA there too just less clearly defined.) All my various cousins on that branch/side of the family can be identified by the Norwegian DNA influence. 

Fascinating! So you even know where your Viking ancestors come from! I had a DNA test for family history purposes but it was nearly all UK. I should go back and have another look as they reassess it periodically as their database gets larger (so if at one point X% of their DNA samples with such and such a marker came from Spain, it would look as though that were an indication of Spanish ancestry, but after a while there might be a lot of people with the same marker coming from North Africa, so the data would be re-read as possibly including North Africa. I understand DNA testing is illegal in France, in which case we can't get a complete picture.

florianatwobob

It really is fascinating.Take comfort though I’m about 70% English/NW Europeans 40% is just from my mum! 

The last DNA update has given me some rogue Portuguese DNA via Mum which is even more unlikely than the French it replaced!



 

Cherryfudge

If you have a Kindle or Kindle app, the Kindle daily deal on Amazon today includes short stories in various languages for language learners. I've spotted Italian, German, Norwegian, English, Swedish, French and Spanish.

Cherryfudge

Morning everyone, just reawakening this thread to see if people are opting for the New Year Duolingo special offer, and if so, why? Or why not? I've always coped quite well on the free version but they seem to be slowly reducing the benefits of that (for instance, you can't interact with other learners any more) and adding to the paid version.

diminua

Morning. I've been on the paid one since October 2023 - I've completed the Italian course and am on the French one, which seems to be longer - and I'm still topping up Italian occasionally as you can do both and practice mistakes, and I prefer Italian and am more likely to use it. 

I was on the free version for a couple of years before that (I think the first lockdown) and mostly subscribed because I wanted unlimited hearts tbh.  I can't remember what the deal was at the time but I do remember hesitating as it didn't seem worth it unless I did at least 10 to 20 minutes a day. I also don't know if I'll let it roll over again this October or cancel as I've done what I set out to do really. 


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Cherryfudge

Thanks @diminua, I'm very impressed you have completed one of the courses! I've done a little of the Italian and like you, would be more likely to use it. I came back to French as it's 'easier' (i.e. I'm revising from long ago school French) and a friend at about the same level was very excited because she had actually ended up translating some of a museum talk for her family while in France.

I think using it to top up languages is a great idea, and of course that can be done on the free version.

Over recent weeks it seems to be flooded with promotions for 'Super' in the form of a free week but I'm resisting as I know that means putting my bank details in, which is of course a step towards subscribing and paying actual money. I think my dilemma is about spending on something I don't actually need - but it would be nice to have things like the extra vocab practice that I don't often get. Do you find the 'extras' are worth it?

A bit of me is thinking Duo is moving away from their boast of providing a free education for everyone.

diminua

I did find it was worth it for me - it definitely felt more targeted on what I was weak in and I didn't have to keep stopping because I'd run out of 'lives', so I progressed much faster. There's also a practice area where you can do vocab or speech or whatever you want to work on which I don't think was there in the free version.

I don't think it's an unreasonable price, but it's a real shame if they're making it more tempting by reducing the free version as well. 

Cherryfudge

I always feel I benefit from the vocab and speech areas when I get a free few days, but as I get those anyway, from time to time, I'm still not convinced it's worth it... but perhaps I'd progress faster if I had those all the time?

Decisions...

I'm still very impressed with you completing a whole course! 

Mistral001

Has anybody tried ChatGPT for language learning?  I have been using it for about a month now.  I started to use it for learning German by context by asking it to write a story on a certain subject and A2 level, or give particular vocabulary or grammar practice exercises.  Last week used it for practising my conversation skills.  The free version only allows chatting by text, but it still very useful. This chat still seems very strange as, although I know it is a robot, I try to be nice to it and even get worried that I am being too slow in responding as of course it replies immediately.  In reality, you can take pretty much as long as you want to reply. 

Cherryfudge

That sounds like a really interesting idea @Mistral001. There are bits of Duolingo that use AI to analyse freeform writing and I found they are useful but I'd never thought of using ChatGPT. I like the idea of getting it to help me practice weak areas - I'm sure it would be a lot less scary than my original French teacher!