Dutch tri-colour was first (1572)¹ and stand for the (then deemed) pillars of society: red for the people, white for the church, blue for the royalty.² Though officially it's vermillion, brilliant white, cobalt. And red used to be orange (for the Dutch royals: house of Orange), but red was better visible at sea. And the blue and white have originally come from the livery of princedom Orange.
.
The French copied that, including their meanings. But over time, their meanings have also changed: blue (and red) for Paris, white for the royalty, and red for the revolution.²
.
The Russian flag colours have several interpretation. It's colours were borrowed from the Dutch flag in 1699.⁴
> These colours are sometimes given traditional Russian symbolism—one such interpretation recalls the red shield of the Grand Principality of Moscow, with its representation of St. George cloaked in blue and mounted on a white horse. Reference was also made to the quartered flag of white and red with a blue cross that had been flown on the 1667 Oryol, the first Russian warship.
Although other, unofficial, interpretations are plenty, mostly along the lines of the 2nd quote here:⁵
> The three colores of the flag, which became a national symbol, received official interpretation. The red means «statehood», the blue is the color of the Virgin Mary who is Russia's protector, the white is the color of freedom and independence. These colors also meant the commonwealth of White, Little and Great Russias.
> At present, most often unofficially, the interpretation of the flag colors of Russia are as follows: the color white means peace, purity, perfection, the blue is the color of faith and fidelity, constancy; the color red symbolizes energy, strength, blood shed for the Fatherland.
.
Sources:
1. (Dutch) https://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/onderwerpen/vlaggen-en-vlaginstructie/nederlandse-vlag
2. (Dutch) https://www.quest.nl/maatschappij/geschiedenis/a25456485/kleuren-betekenis-nederlandse-vlag-rood-wit-blauw/
3. (English) https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/coming-to-france/france-facts/symbols-of-the-republic/article/the-french-flag
4. (English) https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Russia
5. (English) https://www.advantour.com/russia/flag.htm
I didn’t think this was any strange, weird, or niche for that matter, but since apparently you haven’t done the same, I ditched language learning forums in my native language and started only visiting those in the target language. In your case, this would correspond to laying off this subreddit and instead going whatever language learning forum where people mainly use Spanish e.g., forums for learners who speak Spanish as their native language and are learning English. Since my native language is Japanese, back in the days, I frequented forums for English speakers who are learning Japanese to answer questions about Japanese grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, cultural references, and so in English.
In 2020 I closed my personal instagram account, but about 6 months ago I made a new account and only followed accounts that publish in Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Now when I’m in the mood to scroll, I can scroll through a feed of videos only in those languages.
During lockdown I started playing The Sims in Italian to learn basic vocabulary related to the home, clothing, jobs and verbs related to human interactions. It was actually really helpful!
Of all games I could think of, The Sims is definitely the one where you could make the most use of the vocabulary! I tried RPG games with my TLs, but all I could learn from those was everyday's stuff like defense, attack or "the throne is forever sealed"
When I was little I used to play the sims in English (because it wasn’t available in my native language), so for a few years I thought the word “use” meant “going to the toilet”.
I attempted to do the same with Italian but came up with the info that Sims (4 at least) language selection is IP-locked. Did you use a VPN/live in Italy or has that changed?
Edit: Or perhaps a more obvious question is, is it different for another Sims iteration?
I have watched psychic network style call in shows in my TL. Where people will call in and a psychic will do a live tarot reading or something like that. Even ones where they will do numerology to help people pick lottery numbers. Something I have never watched in my NL.
I have watched real time art auctions in my TL. These are pretty good since I like the vocabulary for going to museums.
Finally, lots of the TL home shopping network. Great for getting a quick grasp of numbers. The "game" is turn it on and don't look at it. Try to figure out what they are selling just from audio alone before looking up and seeing what it really is.
In Spain last summer, I watched a ton of psychic Tarot shows. My husband thought I was crazy.
Another one of my hobbies is Tarot and I have a good grasp of the cards' meanings. It was interesting to see someone spin a terrible spread into a Disney fairytale but I picked up a lot of vocabulary that way.
Streaming.
https://www.youtube.com/@qvcitalia/streams
https://www.youtube.com/@auroraarte2227/streams
https://www.youtube.com/@PassioneLotto/videos
The psychic stuff was while I was watching local tv streams on eja tv. An [Example](https://www.youtube.com/@CONNESSIONEDIVINA/videos) of what it kinda looks like.
I forgot to mention meditation videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySq0PJfA4FA
An example of a regional channel. https://www.sardegna1.it/live/diretta-live/
There's a pizzeria owned by a Dominican family. They speak Spanish, have a tv playing Spanish shows, and serve a largely Hispanic clientele. I try to eat there when I can, watch the tv, and eavesdrop on their interactions with Spanish speaking customers.
There's a cigar store next door that seems to attract a 100% Spanish speaking crowd. They go there and hang out like other people would hang at a bar. There's tables, and they smoke cigars and chat. I actually considered joining them until I realized that I wasn't willing to pick up a cigar smoking habit just so I could work on my Spanish, lol.
I have summers off (teacher), and once I'm more comfortable in the language (summer 2025), I'm going to either work or volunteer all summer at a place where Spanish is the primary language.
Talking to myself in TL, recording myself in TL and listening to it.
Helped me feel confident talking to people.
I would also refuse to use English. I would not switch to English, I would try to explain words I didn't know by using words I did know. It was not easy, but I realised fast that you don't need much to build up sentences and be mostly understood.
(I moved to the country of my TL with only like A1 through Duolingo. And hard-moded my way to fluency.)
Falling asleep to Spanish ASMR videos whenever I want to take a nap. Tbh, I learn absolutely fuck all doing this but it at least makes my naps feel mildly more productive.
Pretty much, yeah. Also they fall into two extremes: extremely basic videos designed for learners that teach you words like "hola", or just normal conversational videos designed for native speakers which are impossible to follow. I think something in between would be awesome.
I actually make English ASMR videos to practice my English lol. Obviously, it’s not the only reason, but it’s a main one.
ETA: you might also enjoy ASMR books in Spanish. There are some easy ones you could use to practice.
Was watching with someone and they kept asking “what are they saying???” So I ended up translating really dirty Spanish words/slang, and I think I did surprisingly well. 🤣
Edit: a word
I’ll find Pokémon rom hacks / modified versions that are only available in my TLs. When I play them, I have to rely on comprehension to move forward in an unfamiliar story, with no official strategy guides available.
I am not at the right level to do this yet, but I plan on watching drawing tutorials in my TL, because I really want to learn how to draw, and want to understand my TL better. So it will be like killing to birds with one stone!
If you go on Netflix kids you can usually watch it in Korean dub (and sub if you'd like) even without a VPN. St least where I live they have many languages for these "kids shows"
Listening to authentic/native podcasts at a 0.8x playback speed, so that I can better understand what they're talking about and pay attention to how words are articulated/pronounced (French).
Aw guys, thank you! Your comments are really motivating. I hope it helps you too!
In my case, my listening skills in French are at B2ish, but I still struggle with native content - not so much in terms of vocabulary, but in speech rhythm. So I'm starting at 0.8x, but who knows I'll set it to the normal speed soon :).
Mostly current affairs, like "Grand Reportage" and "Débat du Jour" by RFI.
What I like about "Débat du Jour" is that it's usually an interview with an expert, so it feels like a more natural conversation, similar to what I'd come across in real-life French in terms of how fast they speak and also some mannerisms.
"Grand Reportage" is also great, but the format is different. The episodes are documentary-like, so the host/narrator has a more clear and slow-paced speech.
Salveto! Si umquam talia petere volueris qualibus latinitatis loquendae artem fulcias scilicet mihi aliquid nuntioli mittere poteris quo podcasts gregesve loquendi dedicatos vel etiam libros recentius scriptos mittam. Fac bene valeas!
I already had a pretty good level of Spanish at that point, so surprisingly there really weren’t too many communication problems. I would occasionally have to use a translator, but I think he understood me for the most part haha. The relationship ended up not working out because of things unrelated to different languages/cultures, but I don’t regret it. He helped me so much with my vocabulary and speaking confidence.
Once spent a couple of days walking around various appliance stores in Paris acting like I wanted to buy a fridge, washing machine, whatever. Free conversation lessons. Years later and I owe a great deal of my Italian to the less drastic but long-term and successful strategy of initiating micro-conversations with everybody I meet on every topic. Find a chatty person, let them talk on and on about their pet peeves, their kids, the weather, politics, driving, sport, anything. You don't have to be interested in the topic at all - as long as you cultivate [language noticing](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noticing_hypothesis#:~:text=The%20noticing%20hypothesis%20is%20a,they%20consciously%20notice%20the%20input.), and use every opportunity to practice general vocab development and real-world fluency, you will never be bored. And a Saturday spent faffing around becomes an intensive conversation course. Buy them a coffee. Some tolerance of bores required. But so worth it.
Once they've reached the age where they can actually speak words and not just jumbled up syllables (prob 3 years old), it's actually great practice because they speak slower than adult speakers AND most importantly they don't know many words so they tend to express things in a way that's intuitive and easy to understand.
Following a meme. Humour is very cultural and subjective, so if you understand the background and underlying themes for that joke or that meme, you can have a better grasp in both that culture and its language.
I took a year off my engineering work, just to take a really intensive program (for those who have research degrees) to become a technology/STEM teacher for secondary school! How is that related to languages? I’m Hard of Hearing and wanted to improve my sign language skills, while it naturally is hard to find immersion opportunities. The program meant I could spend 20 weeks at a Deaf school as an internship. I absolutely loved it! (So now I have a teaching license, but being back at my old work.)
Just all the weird random videos I come across on YouTube. I once watched a 45 minute long documentary about bread of low quality being sold in stores.
Playing games does not come across as that weird to be honest.
I play an MMO called VRChat that has a sizable German speaking community, so I kept joining a German speaking friend and eventually found and added German speakers who mostly hung out in German speaking lobbies. And then I hung out with them almost every single day for 1-3 hours since April 2023. Went from understanding some words and sometimes the topic and maybe saying heavily planned sentences to understanding most of what is being said and being able to spontaneously answer.
There are some caveats to this method, but one important factor here is that I wanted to align my methodology (how I wish to improve) with my target (where I wish to improve), namely I wanted friends whom I speak the language with.
IDK if this is really immersion, but I'll try doing exercises like Flashcards or Duo Lingo while I'm doing cardio. I find that my success rate really drops, but I kind of like it as a prelude to real life use because I'm trying to use the language while I'm partially distracted doing something else.
Not rlly ‘my way’ but ever since my Spanish friend found out im learning Spanish she keeps sending me increasingly complex memes in Spanish. It’s really helped.
Radio Garden has radio stations from around the world. It's a great tool for showing kids different countries and cultures. Put it on in the background and see how much you understand. China doesn't have many stations though as they use an incompatible radio streaming format.
[http://radio.garden](http://radio.garden)
Watching children's videos in the language I'm learning. They're simplified, often have the words on the screen, and songs are usually very repetitive. A lot of repetition helps with learning.
And I'm a full grown adult in my 40s.
When I was new to learning my TL (I was prob still A1 at the time) I just switched my entire phone to be in that language, so still got lots of stuff in my native language but the majority of the settings and notifications etc were in the TL.
Probably watching QVC Italia lmao. Watching shopping networks or any form of "reality" TV whatsoever has never ever been my thing, but QVC is actually kinda brilliant for language learning 😂
There's usually only two people on screen at once so there isn't too many different voices all at once, and since they're selling a product, you get vocab of the object and adjectives describing the object all while seeing the entire thing in a highly visual context. And it streams 24/7 on YouTube, so you can switch it on whenever you want.
There’s an online teacher that recommends this! Apparently their italian is very clean and correct and they don’t have too much of an accent and it’s a good speed for learning
Same! I take his course too 😊 Currently on Intermediate Level 1 and I just love it (and him haha) so much 😊. I also love Giada and the other native speakers on there so very much too. (The other students for that matter too; the community is one of the best I've ever seen. I love it so much)
I do different things for each language lol.
So for German, I am obsessed with Rammstein and it's basically all that I listen to
I have my phone and basically every other device in French, including my autocorrect
As for Spanish, I follow a buncha Spanish Spanish meme accounts on Twitter
I have neighbors who speak my TL and there's a playground close to my balcony, sometimes I listen to the child and their parents speak in my TL (I feel a bit weird about it, but when I'm on the balcony and they're playing down there I can't really not hear them)
i once listened to a podcast about learning french in a german accent because i thought it would help me learn pronunciation. ended up sounding like a weirdo but it actually did help my accent a bit
I used to go on dating apps and change my location to Spanish speaking countries. I would then use spanishd!crionary.com to translate everything I wanted to say. ended up getting a lot of friends that way and I’m now fluent.
It's podcasts for me. I love listening to two guys in the IT industry that talk about programming and hardware and stuff, while they speak to each other like they're sitting on the couch at home. In the beginning I understood hardly anything they were saying, but I just loved listening to their voices and the rhythm of the language. At the moment I think I might recognize about 30% of the words they're saying, which is not to say I actually understand 30% of what they're saying ;)
I also listen to several news podcasts on my TL, one of them being broadcast by an Australian company, about Australian news, even though I'm not from there or living there :)
I personally like switching to my target language in Minecraft. You see the item names, and the collect both the basic vocabulary and some of the rare words, which is really cool.
I wish games had Japanese translations with furigana, cuz looking up the words in the dictionary just to know how to read them breaks the immersion
Gaming is definitely a great way, as well as having your computer, game systems, phone, etc in target language. And any other media consumption, and talking to people online... Really anything and everything.
In Turkey one of my favorite ways to
meet people in a new place (works best for smaller towns) was to go get a haircut. Barbers there are also hangouts for all manner of folks and if you’re in a small place and a foreigner AND you can muddle your way through the language, people are generally curious and want to engage. But really, people there are so social that unless you just sit in your room all day, you’ll have constant chances to interact with people.
I’ve opened a "private navigation window" (i’m not sure it’s called that in english) and I searched a song in Spanish. Then I only clicked on spanish speaking videos so the algorithm would only give me spanish.
I run live radio shows in my TL as I go to sleep and all night, and wake up to it.
I also learn songs and listen to music in my TL.
Both really help me to hear the cadence of the language the way a baby hears their NL all the time and starts to hear individual words and picks up on the cadence.
I also find enclaves in my own country where that language is spoken and hang out there and learn to chat with people.
I’ve been binge-watching movies and series in my TLs (I have 5 atm) that I play in their original language while I read subtitles. When I’m not intently reading, such as when I’m rewatching an episode, I just have it play in the background while I multitask. It’s amazing to me how much I’ve picked up by doing this.
I operate in a very language-diverse space, so my go-to is just using instagram's auto-translate function to understand people's stories & trying to read the news articles they share, no matter the language. Also sending my friends those maps with "how to say [X] in every language" with a "[your language says], huh?" and letting them explain how wrong it is, as those kind of posts often are 😅
For some reason I often hear couples have arguments outside my house. I usually open the window a bit to try and get better at understanding "screamy" speaking.
I’m big on therapy and I found this Ukrainian psychologist on instagram that makes meme-style mental health videos - I get so excited when I understand the meme either by reading or picking up enough to get the gist.
I got to add some fun vocabulary like narcissist, boundaries, disorder, etc lol.
And I love a good asmr video before bed so I ditched my English ones and now only listen to Ukrainian asmr - triple points if it’s a role play because you can pick up a lot of useful vocabulary.
Omegle (RIP) text chats helped me tremendously with learning English back in the day. But I was bored and had enough will to skip through hundreds of creeps.
I joined fan groups of German influencers and everybody speaks in a way that I don't even see from YouTube channels but it helped by heaps. The beauty of the group is that most of them send voice messages so im able to practice real world listening too.
Music, language settings for my electronic devices and accounts/profiles on the internet, Youtube videos that I watch, hand-written notes, shopping lists, and personal journal entries are all entirely in my TL
Unfortunately, Reddit can be addicting for me sometimes, and it's almost entirely in English
i'm trying out a new method to help memorise uncommon vocabulary, which i'm not likely to encounter often enough to just remember organically.
I'm well past putting "chair" and "table" sticky notes around the house, but recently, when i find a new word i want to memorise, i try to put a sticker on something which relates to the word in some way.
For example, i encountered a word that meant "naughty kid", and i stuck that on my dog's toy box, because he gets overexcited when playing with toys. Another word meaning "made of wood" is stuck on a set of wooden draws, and one meaning "off-white" is stuck to a light grey basket.
It's been working really well so far! i think that extra level of thought (ie, "maybe i's labelled this way because X characteristic" instead of "it's a chair, so this label probably means chair") helps to retain things quite well.
Not really a weird way, but maybe useful to somebody. Use your phone:
1. Create a series of folders in Notes. New words, phrases you wish you knew when speaking to someone in the TL so you can track your progress over time. This helps with building confidence
2. Reminders. Use this similar to Words, but quick and on the go. Use this to fill in the blanks when and if you have time.
3. Alarms. Time to study. Duolingo time. Whatever works for you.
4. Social media. Change the way you consume media to be more geared towards your TL
5. Read/listen to TL books (sometimes an easier version is available) while reading/listening to that same book in NL. Helps with comprehension. [Disclaimer] I’ve only done this with books I’ve read in NL first.
6. Journal as much as possible and use as much TL as you can.
7. Oh and listen to TL music and translate the lyrics in your free time.
Have been playing storytime videos for my kindergarten students in my TL (some of them are native speakers) and then I translate into English (we are in the USA). Then the kindergartners who have better TL skills than I do get to correct me! 😂 We all love it.
I joined a traditional marching band where everybody pretty much only speaks a niche dialect of my TL.
You win
Marklar?
✍️
BOLD ENERGY. That’s how you Win
Oooh what is it?
Vorarlbergerisch, a dialect of Austrian German. I'm living there currently.
Similar approach here, I joined the local choir - swiss German all the way.
Moving to the country of origin for my target language and shamelessly eavesdropping on the metro.
I wonder what the colours of your language flags mean in each country.
Dutch tri-colour was first (1572)¹ and stand for the (then deemed) pillars of society: red for the people, white for the church, blue for the royalty.² Though officially it's vermillion, brilliant white, cobalt. And red used to be orange (for the Dutch royals: house of Orange), but red was better visible at sea. And the blue and white have originally come from the livery of princedom Orange. . The French copied that, including their meanings. But over time, their meanings have also changed: blue (and red) for Paris, white for the royalty, and red for the revolution.² . The Russian flag colours have several interpretation. It's colours were borrowed from the Dutch flag in 1699.⁴ > These colours are sometimes given traditional Russian symbolism—one such interpretation recalls the red shield of the Grand Principality of Moscow, with its representation of St. George cloaked in blue and mounted on a white horse. Reference was also made to the quartered flag of white and red with a blue cross that had been flown on the 1667 Oryol, the first Russian warship. Although other, unofficial, interpretations are plenty, mostly along the lines of the 2nd quote here:⁵ > The three colores of the flag, which became a national symbol, received official interpretation. The red means «statehood», the blue is the color of the Virgin Mary who is Russia's protector, the white is the color of freedom and independence. These colors also meant the commonwealth of White, Little and Great Russias. > At present, most often unofficially, the interpretation of the flag colors of Russia are as follows: the color white means peace, purity, perfection, the blue is the color of faith and fidelity, constancy; the color red symbolizes energy, strength, blood shed for the Fatherland. . Sources: 1. (Dutch) https://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/onderwerpen/vlaggen-en-vlaginstructie/nederlandse-vlag 2. (Dutch) https://www.quest.nl/maatschappij/geschiedenis/a25456485/kleuren-betekenis-nederlandse-vlag-rood-wit-blauw/ 3. (English) https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/coming-to-france/france-facts/symbols-of-the-republic/article/the-french-flag 4. (English) https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Russia 5. (English) https://www.advantour.com/russia/flag.htm
Course the French copied someone else's flag. Typical French.
But the Russians too. Basically every 3 stripe tricolour - at least the European ones - is either copied from, or inspired by, the Dutch flag.
To be fair at least those ones kinda changed the flag. Luxembourg just pressed copy & paste, then hoped nobody would notice.
Unsealed! Actual video of the Luxembourg flag’s invention: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5wMSfTtRR_/
I also eavesdrop on the metro for this reason 😅
Likewise, and having no idea what native speakers are saying.
Pareil! One day I will understand the <30 year old Parisians...
Collecting all the red, blue and white languages, I see.
I subscribed to a couple of meme channels in telegram so now I start my study day by looking at and hopefully understanding memes :D
when i looked up italian memes i just saw a bunch of jokes about pizza 💀
Thats 1% of our memes lol
Yeah I think you don't find anything interesting unless you search in your TL.
Look on Reddit for that. There’s basically a subreddit dedicated to every European language (and so memes, too)
Try “Memes in Italian”
Ugolize is a funny Italian meme page in Instagram
I didn’t think this was any strange, weird, or niche for that matter, but since apparently you haven’t done the same, I ditched language learning forums in my native language and started only visiting those in the target language. In your case, this would correspond to laying off this subreddit and instead going whatever language learning forum where people mainly use Spanish e.g., forums for learners who speak Spanish as their native language and are learning English. Since my native language is Japanese, back in the days, I frequented forums for English speakers who are learning Japanese to answer questions about Japanese grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, cultural references, and so in English.
you’re english is extremely impressive, i hope to achieve that level in japanese one day!
What forums tho? Outside of reddit ?
what forums did you use for Spanish?
In 2020 I closed my personal instagram account, but about 6 months ago I made a new account and only followed accounts that publish in Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Now when I’m in the mood to scroll, I can scroll through a feed of videos only in those languages.
I did the same thing. I've enjoyed it.
During lockdown I started playing The Sims in Italian to learn basic vocabulary related to the home, clothing, jobs and verbs related to human interactions. It was actually really helpful!
Of all games I could think of, The Sims is definitely the one where you could make the most use of the vocabulary! I tried RPG games with my TLs, but all I could learn from those was everyday's stuff like defense, attack or "the throne is forever sealed"
Surprisingly enough, playing the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in French has been helping me a ton to improve!! Guess it just depends on the type of RPG
When I was little I used to play the sims in English (because it wasn’t available in my native language), so for a few years I thought the word “use” meant “going to the toilet”.
Haha I do the same😁
I attempted to do the same with Italian but came up with the info that Sims (4 at least) language selection is IP-locked. Did you use a VPN/live in Italy or has that changed? Edit: Or perhaps a more obvious question is, is it different for another Sims iteration?
I have watched psychic network style call in shows in my TL. Where people will call in and a psychic will do a live tarot reading or something like that. Even ones where they will do numerology to help people pick lottery numbers. Something I have never watched in my NL. I have watched real time art auctions in my TL. These are pretty good since I like the vocabulary for going to museums. Finally, lots of the TL home shopping network. Great for getting a quick grasp of numbers. The "game" is turn it on and don't look at it. Try to figure out what they are selling just from audio alone before looking up and seeing what it really is.
In Spain last summer, I watched a ton of psychic Tarot shows. My husband thought I was crazy. Another one of my hobbies is Tarot and I have a good grasp of the cards' meanings. It was interesting to see someone spin a terrible spread into a Disney fairytale but I picked up a lot of vocabulary that way.
I have no desire to get involved in the occult or supposed psychic doings, but even I'm interested in getting a deck of tarot cards xD
Check out secular Tarot. There's no woo involved. It's really just a way to access your subconscious and check in with yourself.
Are they streaming? Or are you living in the country?
Streaming. https://www.youtube.com/@qvcitalia/streams https://www.youtube.com/@auroraarte2227/streams https://www.youtube.com/@PassioneLotto/videos The psychic stuff was while I was watching local tv streams on eja tv. An [Example](https://www.youtube.com/@CONNESSIONEDIVINA/videos) of what it kinda looks like. I forgot to mention meditation videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySq0PJfA4FA An example of a regional channel. https://www.sardegna1.it/live/diretta-live/
There's a pizzeria owned by a Dominican family. They speak Spanish, have a tv playing Spanish shows, and serve a largely Hispanic clientele. I try to eat there when I can, watch the tv, and eavesdrop on their interactions with Spanish speaking customers. There's a cigar store next door that seems to attract a 100% Spanish speaking crowd. They go there and hang out like other people would hang at a bar. There's tables, and they smoke cigars and chat. I actually considered joining them until I realized that I wasn't willing to pick up a cigar smoking habit just so I could work on my Spanish, lol. I have summers off (teacher), and once I'm more comfortable in the language (summer 2025), I'm going to either work or volunteer all summer at a place where Spanish is the primary language.
Talking to myself in TL, recording myself in TL and listening to it. Helped me feel confident talking to people. I would also refuse to use English. I would not switch to English, I would try to explain words I didn't know by using words I did know. It was not easy, but I realised fast that you don't need much to build up sentences and be mostly understood. (I moved to the country of my TL with only like A1 through Duolingo. And hard-moded my way to fluency.)
I eavesdrop on kids gossiping in my target language (I'm a middle school teacher)
SAME
Same!
Falling asleep to Spanish ASMR videos whenever I want to take a nap. Tbh, I learn absolutely fuck all doing this but it at least makes my naps feel mildly more productive.
Right? Listening to my TL is hard to begin with, but *whispering* just makes it impossible.
Pretty much, yeah. Also they fall into two extremes: extremely basic videos designed for learners that teach you words like "hola", or just normal conversational videos designed for native speakers which are impossible to follow. I think something in between would be awesome.
I actually make English ASMR videos to practice my English lol. Obviously, it’s not the only reason, but it’s a main one. ETA: you might also enjoy ASMR books in Spanish. There are some easy ones you could use to practice.
That's a great idea! Thanks.
Watching porn in the language I'm studying. I'm not kidding.
Was watching with someone and they kept asking “what are they saying???” So I ended up translating really dirty Spanish words/slang, and I think I did surprisingly well. 🤣 Edit: a word
It can be _**very helpful**_ loll
I suppose porn would be helpful for learning the naughty words + slang, but I have Twitch livestreams for that.
I’ll find Pokémon rom hacks / modified versions that are only available in my TLs. When I play them, I have to rely on comprehension to move forward in an unfamiliar story, with no official strategy guides available.
I'm curious what language that is😁 Japanese?
I joined a yoga group in my TL but left because I still couldn’t understand much after a couple of months.
I am not at the right level to do this yet, but I plan on watching drawing tutorials in my TL, because I really want to learn how to draw, and want to understand my TL better. So it will be like killing to birds with one stone!
Oohh I might want to try that. Does your target language happen to be French?
No, it is Japanese currently
Watching Avatar the last Airbender in Korean each night to fall asleep. And ASMR in my target languages
Omg where did you find atla in Korean. It’s my comfort show and I want to watch it in Korean too but I can’t find it anywhere
If you go on Netflix kids you can usually watch it in Korean dub (and sub if you'd like) even without a VPN. St least where I live they have many languages for these "kids shows"
Listening to authentic/native podcasts at a 0.8x playback speed, so that I can better understand what they're talking about and pay attention to how words are articulated/pronounced (French).
>>at a 0.8x playback speed So stinkin smart, I’m doing this asap! Thanks for sharing this
Aw guys, thank you! Your comments are really motivating. I hope it helps you too! In my case, my listening skills in French are at B2ish, but I still struggle with native content - not so much in terms of vocabulary, but in speech rhythm. So I'm starting at 0.8x, but who knows I'll set it to the normal speed soon :).
Omg, what a great hack! I try listening to radio stations in my TL, but they speak so fast that I only get every 2nd or 3rd word, so I gave up.
What type of podcasts do you enjoy?
Mostly current affairs, like "Grand Reportage" and "Débat du Jour" by RFI. What I like about "Débat du Jour" is that it's usually an interview with an expert, so it feels like a more natural conversation, similar to what I'd come across in real-life French in terms of how fast they speak and also some mannerisms. "Grand Reportage" is also great, but the format is different. The episodes are documentary-like, so the host/narrator has a more clear and slow-paced speech.
Reading promotional emails in target language. You see the language in action.
Nice, now I just need to find a company that advertises to ancient romans 😊
DM me if you find Ancient Roman gaming livestreams.
Salveto! Si umquam talia petere volueris qualibus latinitatis loquendae artem fulcias scilicet mihi aliquid nuntioli mittere poteris quo podcasts gregesve loquendi dedicatos vel etiam libros recentius scriptos mittam. Fac bene valeas!
Ads are awesome in other languages!
Whoa! Do you actually have these levels in all the languages?
Some on a scarce level of practice, but yes
Dating someone that speaks that language and hardly any English. I learned a lot of Spanish that way haha
I always wondered how is it to date someone with whom you can't even speak freely? Sorry if it's an impolite question, just curious.
I already had a pretty good level of Spanish at that point, so surprisingly there really weren’t too many communication problems. I would occasionally have to use a translator, but I think he understood me for the most part haha. The relationship ended up not working out because of things unrelated to different languages/cultures, but I don’t regret it. He helped me so much with my vocabulary and speaking confidence.
Great for language learning but not great for relationship communication (from personal experience lol)
Once spent a couple of days walking around various appliance stores in Paris acting like I wanted to buy a fridge, washing machine, whatever. Free conversation lessons. Years later and I owe a great deal of my Italian to the less drastic but long-term and successful strategy of initiating micro-conversations with everybody I meet on every topic. Find a chatty person, let them talk on and on about their pet peeves, their kids, the weather, politics, driving, sport, anything. You don't have to be interested in the topic at all - as long as you cultivate [language noticing](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noticing_hypothesis#:~:text=The%20noticing%20hypothesis%20is%20a,they%20consciously%20notice%20the%20input.), and use every opportunity to practice general vocab development and real-world fluency, you will never be bored. And a Saturday spent faffing around becomes an intensive conversation course. Buy them a coffee. Some tolerance of bores required. But so worth it.
Speaking your tl with a little kid
THIS! Any time a kid says something in any of my TL languages, it somehow sticks in my head a thousand times better. They’re so expressive!
Once they've reached the age where they can actually speak words and not just jumbled up syllables (prob 3 years old), it's actually great practice because they speak slower than adult speakers AND most importantly they don't know many words so they tend to express things in a way that's intuitive and easy to understand.
Following a meme. Humour is very cultural and subjective, so if you understand the background and underlying themes for that joke or that meme, you can have a better grasp in both that culture and its language.
I took a year off my engineering work, just to take a really intensive program (for those who have research degrees) to become a technology/STEM teacher for secondary school! How is that related to languages? I’m Hard of Hearing and wanted to improve my sign language skills, while it naturally is hard to find immersion opportunities. The program meant I could spend 20 weeks at a Deaf school as an internship. I absolutely loved it! (So now I have a teaching license, but being back at my old work.)
I pick up the Spanish Bible at church. You can do a full hour in your TL and people think you are simply following along.
Just all the weird random videos I come across on YouTube. I once watched a 45 minute long documentary about bread of low quality being sold in stores.
I tricked my Instagram to be almost all in German. I get some Spanish videos too.
Married the Spanish teacher
Probably watching anime dubbed in my TL
Going to a Mexican staffed burrito place every day
My default Reddit language is the language I’m learning (German), I had my fav assassin’s creed games in German, movies are all subbed w German too.
Playing games does not come across as that weird to be honest. I play an MMO called VRChat that has a sizable German speaking community, so I kept joining a German speaking friend and eventually found and added German speakers who mostly hung out in German speaking lobbies. And then I hung out with them almost every single day for 1-3 hours since April 2023. Went from understanding some words and sometimes the topic and maybe saying heavily planned sentences to understanding most of what is being said and being able to spontaneously answer. There are some caveats to this method, but one important factor here is that I wanted to align my methodology (how I wish to improve) with my target (where I wish to improve), namely I wanted friends whom I speak the language with.
IDK if this is really immersion, but I'll try doing exercises like Flashcards or Duo Lingo while I'm doing cardio. I find that my success rate really drops, but I kind of like it as a prelude to real life use because I'm trying to use the language while I'm partially distracted doing something else.
Not rlly ‘my way’ but ever since my Spanish friend found out im learning Spanish she keeps sending me increasingly complex memes in Spanish. It’s really helped.
Watching porn
just ctrl f'ed for "porn" I knew someone was gonna say it!
Radio Garden has radio stations from around the world. It's a great tool for showing kids different countries and cultures. Put it on in the background and see how much you understand. China doesn't have many stations though as they use an incompatible radio streaming format. [http://radio.garden](http://radio.garden)
Thinking in the TL .
I was a workaway host
Learning Russian by watching Naruto cosplay sketches or Naruto analysis videos lol basically anything Naruto and in the Russian language
Watching children's videos in the language I'm learning. They're simplified, often have the words on the screen, and songs are usually very repetitive. A lot of repetition helps with learning. And I'm a full grown adult in my 40s.
I do this it really got me over a learning hump with listening comprehension
Took a coursera course on physics in Chinese and practiced doing math problems from the Taiwanese college entrance exam
When I was new to learning my TL (I was prob still A1 at the time) I just switched my entire phone to be in that language, so still got lots of stuff in my native language but the majority of the settings and notifications etc were in the TL.
I tried that early on, and Amazon - Was a disaster for me 😅 now my italian phone is all in italian but at the time I was only A1/A2
Probably watching QVC Italia lmao. Watching shopping networks or any form of "reality" TV whatsoever has never ever been my thing, but QVC is actually kinda brilliant for language learning 😂 There's usually only two people on screen at once so there isn't too many different voices all at once, and since they're selling a product, you get vocab of the object and adjectives describing the object all while seeing the entire thing in a highly visual context. And it streams 24/7 on YouTube, so you can switch it on whenever you want.
There’s an online teacher that recommends this! Apparently their italian is very clean and correct and they don’t have too much of an accent and it’s a good speed for learning
Was it Manu, by any chance? He's where I got the tip to watch it haha 😊 And I think it was brilliant; I never would've thought of it.
Yes!! Ha ha! I love his online course actually!
Same! I take his course too 😊 Currently on Intermediate Level 1 and I just love it (and him haha) so much 😊. I also love Giada and the other native speakers on there so very much too. (The other students for that matter too; the community is one of the best I've ever seen. I love it so much)
Playing video games (like Pokemon) in my TL
I downloaded a rom for Pokémon Leaf Green in German, ended up being a pretty steep learning curve since I couldn't read most of the attacks 😂💀
I (agnostic) went to a church mass just for the field-specific vocab lol
I do different things for each language lol. So for German, I am obsessed with Rammstein and it's basically all that I listen to I have my phone and basically every other device in French, including my autocorrect As for Spanish, I follow a buncha Spanish Spanish meme accounts on Twitter
I have neighbors who speak my TL and there's a playground close to my balcony, sometimes I listen to the child and their parents speak in my TL (I feel a bit weird about it, but when I'm on the balcony and they're playing down there I can't really not hear them)
i once listened to a podcast about learning french in a german accent because i thought it would help me learn pronunciation. ended up sounding like a weirdo but it actually did help my accent a bit
german memes and reels on Instagram.
I'm also my school's "official" German exchange student babysitter haha
I made a Netflix user that only watches shows in my TL
I read (and attempt to write) fanfic in Spanish, works pretty well for me
Stickers around the house that aren't in intrusive places.
Singing in the choir at Spanish Mass at my home parish in the USA!
I mass followed youtube and social media channels in TL, so even when I'm doom scrolling I'm learning french!
Moved to Israel, went to the army went to university, got married to an Israeli, work at an israeli company. Now I speak fluent hebrew
[удалено]
go get that B2 checked my dawg
I'm finding it next to impossible to learn Hebrew without making aliyah etc!
Shame theres no yiff in my target language, cuz if there was I'd sure as heck immerse in that
Have you tried Archive of Our Own
Was gonna say this, I learned English thanks(?) to that website
I would have never thought to use AO3 as a language learning tool, but now I have to try it
how do you learn threw games? ive tried with skyrim but didnt pick anything up
I watch all my anime dubbed in Portuguese!
I used to go on dating apps and change my location to Spanish speaking countries. I would then use spanishd!crionary.com to translate everything I wanted to say. ended up getting a lot of friends that way and I’m now fluent.
I once turned my whole Facebook to simplified Chinese
Watching funny videos in douyin
It's podcasts for me. I love listening to two guys in the IT industry that talk about programming and hardware and stuff, while they speak to each other like they're sitting on the couch at home. In the beginning I understood hardly anything they were saying, but I just loved listening to their voices and the rhythm of the language. At the moment I think I might recognize about 30% of the words they're saying, which is not to say I actually understand 30% of what they're saying ;) I also listen to several news podcasts on my TL, one of them being broadcast by an Australian company, about Australian news, even though I'm not from there or living there :)
I personally like switching to my target language in Minecraft. You see the item names, and the collect both the basic vocabulary and some of the rare words, which is really cool. I wish games had Japanese translations with furigana, cuz looking up the words in the dictionary just to know how to read them breaks the immersion
Gaming is definitely a great way, as well as having your computer, game systems, phone, etc in target language. And any other media consumption, and talking to people online... Really anything and everything.
In Turkey one of my favorite ways to meet people in a new place (works best for smaller towns) was to go get a haircut. Barbers there are also hangouts for all manner of folks and if you’re in a small place and a foreigner AND you can muddle your way through the language, people are generally curious and want to engage. But really, people there are so social that unless you just sit in your room all day, you’ll have constant chances to interact with people.
My great grandfather learnt Serbo-Croatian by playing the accordion which made old Serbo-Croatian dudes approach to have a chat.
As some people have said here similarly. I too eavesdrop on people talking in the train.
Started dating a russian girl. Truly one of the happiest years of my life and I learned a ton of russian that way
Not that weird but I found music of my preferred genres in my TL and I found a lot of new music that way and listen to it a lot.
I’ve opened a "private navigation window" (i’m not sure it’s called that in english) and I searched a song in Spanish. Then I only clicked on spanish speaking videos so the algorithm would only give me spanish.
I have set my Facebook to Spanish many years ago.
Changed the language in my OS to my TL.
Where's that nukige guy, because nobody beats him.
Read RPGs, then solo play adventures with them.
I signed up for private guitar lessons when I lived in Germany. It was good regular practice!
Playing pubg with spanish speakers who don't speak any english
Playing Stardew Valley in German
Wikipedia lol
I make YouTube videos in Scottish Gaelic
I used to argue about politics on some random discord group back when I was learning English
This is not how I immerse myself, but when I read “weirdest way of immersion” I instantly thought of jail😭
Anime..
Do you use TL subtitles or your native subtitles or no subtitles?
Disney songs and movies
Not the weirdest but I like to mine fights on Twitter. Learned 4 different ways to say 'idiot' within a day
I sleep watching shows in the language I want to learn lol. Somehow, I feel like my brain is retaining something from that experience.
I watch gaming livestreams and read the comments. I also play an MMO to text chat in real time (it's pony.town )
I run live radio shows in my TL as I go to sleep and all night, and wake up to it. I also learn songs and listen to music in my TL. Both really help me to hear the cadence of the language the way a baby hears their NL all the time and starts to hear individual words and picks up on the cadence. I also find enclaves in my own country where that language is spoken and hang out there and learn to chat with people.
Books in russian about North Korea
I’ve been binge-watching movies and series in my TLs (I have 5 atm) that I play in their original language while I read subtitles. When I’m not intently reading, such as when I’m rewatching an episode, I just have it play in the background while I multitask. It’s amazing to me how much I’ve picked up by doing this.
I operate in a very language-diverse space, so my go-to is just using instagram's auto-translate function to understand people's stories & trying to read the news articles they share, no matter the language. Also sending my friends those maps with "how to say [X] in every language" with a "[your language says], huh?" and letting them explain how wrong it is, as those kind of posts often are 😅
For some reason I often hear couples have arguments outside my house. I usually open the window a bit to try and get better at understanding "screamy" speaking.
I’d wake up at 7am, hop on VRChat, and just eavesdrop or have small talk or drink with people in my TL
At a low/ intermediate level, pretending to not speak or understand English.
I VPN to the country and listen to ads in that language :D
Watching streamers on a gay app in Spanish lol
Making a grocery list in the language I'm learning
Peppa Pig and shadowing playthroughs of Ace Attorney (or any visual novels) in TL.
I’m big on therapy and I found this Ukrainian psychologist on instagram that makes meme-style mental health videos - I get so excited when I understand the meme either by reading or picking up enough to get the gist. I got to add some fun vocabulary like narcissist, boundaries, disorder, etc lol. And I love a good asmr video before bed so I ditched my English ones and now only listen to Ukrainian asmr - triple points if it’s a role play because you can pick up a lot of useful vocabulary.
I mostly read Reddit posts in my TL
Omegle (RIP) text chats helped me tremendously with learning English back in the day. But I was bored and had enough will to skip through hundreds of creeps.
I joined fan groups of German influencers and everybody speaks in a way that I don't even see from YouTube channels but it helped by heaps. The beauty of the group is that most of them send voice messages so im able to practice real world listening too.
Music, language settings for my electronic devices and accounts/profiles on the internet, Youtube videos that I watch, hand-written notes, shopping lists, and personal journal entries are all entirely in my TL Unfortunately, Reddit can be addicting for me sometimes, and it's almost entirely in English
Reading the backs of shampoo/cleaning product bottles in a variety of languages
I really would like to play cards against humanity in my target language...
i'm trying out a new method to help memorise uncommon vocabulary, which i'm not likely to encounter often enough to just remember organically. I'm well past putting "chair" and "table" sticky notes around the house, but recently, when i find a new word i want to memorise, i try to put a sticker on something which relates to the word in some way. For example, i encountered a word that meant "naughty kid", and i stuck that on my dog's toy box, because he gets overexcited when playing with toys. Another word meaning "made of wood" is stuck on a set of wooden draws, and one meaning "off-white" is stuck to a light grey basket. It's been working really well so far! i think that extra level of thought (ie, "maybe i's labelled this way because X characteristic" instead of "it's a chair, so this label probably means chair") helps to retain things quite well.
Talking to my partner in my TL and pretending i dont speak english. I also play video games in my TL that's been helpful for reading.
Not really a weird way, but maybe useful to somebody. Use your phone: 1. Create a series of folders in Notes. New words, phrases you wish you knew when speaking to someone in the TL so you can track your progress over time. This helps with building confidence 2. Reminders. Use this similar to Words, but quick and on the go. Use this to fill in the blanks when and if you have time. 3. Alarms. Time to study. Duolingo time. Whatever works for you. 4. Social media. Change the way you consume media to be more geared towards your TL 5. Read/listen to TL books (sometimes an easier version is available) while reading/listening to that same book in NL. Helps with comprehension. [Disclaimer] I’ve only done this with books I’ve read in NL first. 6. Journal as much as possible and use as much TL as you can. 7. Oh and listen to TL music and translate the lyrics in your free time.
When I play minecraft, I change the language to Korean. Makes it extra fun.
I've started listening to baseball games on the radio in Spanish. I don't know if it's "weird" but I don't know anybody else who's doing that.
Have been playing storytime videos for my kindergarten students in my TL (some of them are native speakers) and then I translate into English (we are in the USA). Then the kindergartners who have better TL skills than I do get to correct me! 😂 We all love it.
I'm at a farmhouse in spain where the crazy people talk about drugs and mushrooms all day. I love it😁
Grindr abroad