Does anyone else here self-study a foreign language? I've been learning Korean for around 4 years now and I am starting to get to a point where I am plateauing. I would say I am at an intermediate level but I am finding it hard to motivate myself to continue learning. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep up the motivation or maybe some interesting ways to study besides conventional methods?

I've been salf taught in Russian for a few years. Except for recently adding Babbel, its been slow. My only motivation is wanting to use it as a barrier.

All I know is if I try to be more structured it can be demotivational, its no fun to make it seem like work.

I doubt I helped much.

Russian sounds fun to learn! Would you say that Babbel is a helpful app? I might have to look more into it to see if it would be useful for me

Yes , it has been helpful. I also know its limited in selections. My previous knowledge has been a boost, and contributed to my progress. Not to brag, but I got one year for the price of six months because of my self teaching. It is a paid app, so that also motivates me to get my money's worth.

I studied Spanish for years and I'm always trying to better myself at Italian (i'm half Italian but not fully bilingual yet). Methods that work for me are listening to podcasts in Italian (news in slow italian for example), reading the news in italian, watching italian films and reading books which are dual language (english and italian). I would strongly advise you to keep at it with your Korean. There is nothing more satisfying than being able to communicate properly in another language. :)

I agree that using any and all supporting material available. Russian cartoons also motivate me, in particular Smeshariki. I first watched a dumbed down English version, and knowing it was originally Russian made me explore learning.

My first exposure to this was a segment from a PBS show where I learned my first two words. Grandmother and Grandfather, its been bits and pieces since.

In your defense, Korean is different from what I'm studying. Not based on familiar roots. If possible I'd love to learn Arabic, if only because writing is right to left. Southpaws like me would have it a little easier.

I've been self-studying Chinese for a bit, and it's quite hard to find yourself to get motivated and stay motivated. I don't know if all languages are the same, but there are usually language proficiency levels, right? So for Chinese, there are about 6 levels of proficiency (HSK1-6). It might help if you try to set goals for yourself to move onto the next level. My other tip is try to make friends who are native speakers! Trying to communicate with someone is a major motivation, and since it's not possible for everyone to travel to the area that speaks the language they're studying, maybe you will find this useful! As for finding people, you can try Reddit, and look around for some discords! Best of luck with your language learning :)

i'm also trying to learn Mandarin on my own! :) lately -aka for the past some 3 months? i didn't study at all because i kinda killed the phone i had this chinese learning app installed on :( and my other phone is too old for it >.> to be honest, i lack motivation to do basically anything at all.

i'd like to learn Hebrew. if i can wrap my head around the writing system at least, i'd be happy.

I also wanted to learn Korean at some point. i only managed to learn how to read. XD but i only tried for like a few weeks or a couple of months at most. Do you have facebook? (i really dont think it's a good idea to use this site, but it does have its advantages) There are facebook groups for foreigners in countries/cities, usually called "expats in (country/city name)" and after you join them, you can see if there are people from specific locations (say, Korea) willing to meet up for language exchange.

Oh wow I failed to look back at my forum and see all of these responses!

that's a good idea. I should start listening to some podcasts! Sometimes I try watching youtube videos in my target language but I get discouraged really easily when I hear things I don't understand right away. That's something I really need to work on.

that's true. Also I am also left handed ! Southpaws unite !

Wow I would love to learn Chinese ! It's such a pretty language. I do have some friends who speak Korean but I find myself reverting back to English due to them wanting to practice their English and they are a lot more confident than me in my Korean ;_; I need to be more assertive I guess

I do have a facebook. I'll have to look more into those groups. I have a feeling that I might have to travel a while to get to a meet up due to me being in the middle of nowhere but it might be worth it !

at meetups, many people go, and most likely everyone would talk in English. if there's anyone talking your target language, it would be easier to talk one on one, through some messaging app. there are also language apps where you can connect with people talking your target language. i believe italki is one? i know some youtubers living in korea/japan made videos sponsored by italki, and a few others? i can't really install any apps on my iphone 4, because i can't really update its OS. >.> and this makes me really sad :( and i agree, you definitely gotta be more assertive! (and me too, lol)

Italki seems useful ! I do remember seeing a youtuber advertise it I just never got around to making an account. I have tried a similar app and I tend to still end up using mainly English. I think I realize that my problem is that I need to be less self-conscious about making mistakes. I know its part of the learning process but I still get embarrassed by it D:

I'm shocked to find so many sinister ladies here, its my understanding they're quite rare.

On topic, I am seeing my progress. I had read and understood a full sentence in Russian without needing to refer the English/Spanish translations. I like that feeling.

woot! congrats!

my chinese goes as far as saying hello, how are you/ i want/have/like/eat/drink + a few item/animal names, their negative, past and interrogative forms as well ... i can also count. T-T

i made an excel file with the hanzi (the chinese characters) i know -what they mean, and how they're read. when i study some more, i'll have to update it. i need more vocabulary. i did manage to write a short text (1st grade level) in chinese... well, i wrote it in English and translated it to chinese. -the resources for learning chinese from/through English are better than from/through other languages. :s

Nice ! It's always an amazing feeling when you are finally seeing progress!

I don't know how much Chinese resources they have but have you tried out memerise or anki? both are great for learning new vocabulary and you can use flashcard decks that users have already created.

Also good job on the writing ~ even if you had to write it in English first its still a good way to practice in my opinion!

The first thing after learning the Russian alphabet was to work out my name, I concluded it starts with X, as its pronounced differently from letter to letter translations.

I look forward to watching Smeshariki, and understanding the dialogue. I still prefer not using subtitles.

I did something similar to that after I learned the Korean alphabet. I started by learning how to write my name and then I learned a lot of loanwords that sounded similar to English.

I also look forward to the day where I can watch something without the subtitles and understand it. Right now I can only understand things targeted towards kids or talks that are focused on a topic where I know the vocabulary

I think many language learners have this same problem. One minute our confidence is sky high and the next it's on the floor and we think we can't understand a thing. :P Take yourself out your comfort zone little by little and gradually listen to harder material. Language is so incredibly complex, most of all spoken conversational language with rule breaking and different accents and mannerisms during speech making it harder, so don't be put off if you don't understand a certain part - if you can even get the general gist of the sentence then you're off to a great start!

Thanks for the encouragement ! I agree language is so complex and I think I get overwhelmed by it all. There are some days where I read and listen and I think I'm decent at the language and then when I stumble upon something I don't understand I start to question how good are my skills really. I definitely need to just force myself to change my mindset and start taking myself out of my comfort zone again!

Also I hope your Italian and Spanish studies are going well ~ !

No problem! Adding on to what other people have said here, if you can find yourself a language buddy that would be perfect. Tandem for example is a phone app which connects you with people around the world studying a language. Then you can select what language you want to practice in, so let’s say Korean, and it’ll tune into all the Korean users so you can strike a conversation with them. In return you can offer up your English so they can learn from you too. There are loads of little tools where they can correct your sentences too and vice versa. We can’t forget how valuable our own native English tongue is so you are of great use to others in their quest to learn a language! :)

I'm in the same boat, been "learning Russian" for about three years now and can sound out written text. I just checked out Pimsleur's method audiobook from the library and it's great. Haven't gone through the whole thing yet. Their sentence structure is tough to remember.

I'm inspired by Soyuzmultfilm animations from the 60s and 70s of classic fairy tales. They're better than what's made today. Also Andrei Tarkovsky films.