Whats a privacy friendly way of learning a new language?
2026-04-21 20:35 UTC
Replies (25)
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@snek_boi@lemmy.ml 2026-04-21 23:11
I have a suggestion that is not FOSS, but it is privately held so the pressure to be profitable each quarter is not at all the same as publicly held companies. Check out the privacy policies of LingQ and Rosetta Stone. Idk if they’re good, but I know they’re the most efficient language-learning apps right now. They require the least amount of minutes using them to achieve the highest scores in standardized language tests.
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@krank55@feddit.org 2026-04-21 20:42
Most privacy-friendly way would probably be using a textbook.
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@tkk13909@sopuli.xyz 2026-04-21 21:03
Anki is an offline-first flashcard program that I use along with other methods.
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@solrize@lemmy.ml 2026-04-21 21:56
Date a native speaker of that language for a while.
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@jenesaisquoi@feddit.org 2026-04-22 11:45
A real course with a real human teacher.
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@Kefla@hexbear.net 2026-04-21 23:31
Textbooks and teachers.
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@WoodScientist@lemmy.world 2026-04-21 20:41
A book you get from your local library.
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@Kevlar21@piefed.social 2026-04-21 23:07
You can try [Language Transfer](https://www.languagetransfer.org/) It’s completely free. Free (and ad free) iOS or android app, free audio file downloads. There’s also a course on music theory.
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@LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz 2026-04-21 22:05
You can also try to find some kids shows in the language you're interested in. I'm sure sesame street has been dubbed into many languages by now.
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@akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone 2026-04-21 23:00
📖+✏️🗒️+👂+👄
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@MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 2026-04-21 22:48
Find a local special interest group that gets together to practice. Check meetup.
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@Tenderizer78@lemmy.ml 2026-04-22 01:16
Anki
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@Twongo@lemmy.ml 2026-04-21 21:33
fmhy.net should have resources
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@LiamTheBox@lemmy.ml 2026-04-22 09:12
A book with CDs to listen to.
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@aev_software@programming.dev 2026-04-22 12:24
Buy a book and learn with a compiler that was built before the spy craze.
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@Gulliver@lemmy.zip 2026-04-22 14:25
Anki with deck cards already made, for vocabulary. Youtube video to train sentences (type : easy + name of the language)
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@yellerbadger@piefed.social 2026-04-21 22:37
I second Dreaming Spanish. OP could use Materialous/NewPipe or whatever method they use to watch YT anonymously. Anki also works.
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@akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone 2026-04-22 06:52
I mean, to each their own, but when I was learning Japanese, I did just that: I immersed myself into the language with as many senses (?) as possible. Reading, writing, listening, imitating (called "shadowing"), literally talking to myself, plastering my walls with glossary and example sentences, forcing myself to read them out loud every time I would pass by one of the words or sentences hanging from my walls. Right until I realized that I had hit a barrier that could only be overcome by moving - at least temporarily - to Japan, which I did, but that's another story.
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@DornerStan@lemmygrad.ml 2026-04-22 01:12
> *songs* because they wire-up your other-hemisphere ( right-hemisphere for the 85% of people who have language in the left ) with the language, & that reinforces the language's patterning That's something I've never thought about. Interesting idea, I'm gonna try adding that to my study routine.
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@FreddiesLantern@leminal.space 2026-04-22 07:00
Man I love those apps in Delta, finally some functionality that’s actually useful for once.
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@Paragone@lemmy.world 2026-04-22 00:25
- Pimsleur language learning ( learn at instinct-level, not the prompted-stuff or memorizations that many other language trainings work at ) - Tandem app ( probably not great for privacy, been awhile since I tried it ), you help someone learn your language, & they help you learn the target language one you want - simplified short-stories, books of collections of the things.. - TV in the target-language - *songs* because they wire-up your other-hemisphere ( right-hemisphere for the 85% of people who have language in the left ) with the language, & that reinforces the language's patterning - flashcards for the stuff that actually requires you to remember specific arbitrary things, like difficult words, or whatever, for random moments throughout the day Some of this I got from a book by a guy who knew .. 29 or something? .. languages & worked for the CIA. Other stuff ( songs ) from science news, & my discovering that language-destroyed-by-stroke people could sometimes still communicate through picking a song which had the *idea* they were trying to communicate.. I have a bad time learning anything through hearing, though, so .. language-learning seems itself to be kinda broken ( I learned English before anything, & it was my 2nd wave of braindamage which took much learning from my life, not the autism 1st-wave ). These are the best tools I know-of. I wish I could learn languages. I wish everybody learned other-languages, to understand just how diverse humankind's meanings can be.. _ /\ _
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@N0t_5ure@lemmy.world 2026-04-21 21:22
The fastest way to learn a language is with the [comprehensible input method.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input_hypothesis) You watch videos, all of which are 100% in the target language. The early videos are easy, involving simple things, and using props and gestures to provide the context for understanding. As you learn more, the videos progress and become more difficult. It's amazing how quickly you pick up things and retain them. There is a lot of comprehensible input material for Spanish, French, and English, but you can use children's television shows like Peppa Pig where there isn't specific material for the target language. [Here is a beginner video in Spanish.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWtxyAWRLiI&list=PLlpPf-YgbU7GbOHc3siOGQ5KmVSngZucl&index=4)
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@foremanguy92_@lemmy.ml 2026-04-22 16:40
Try to decide what your threat model is. A language learning app (except harvesting traditional device id and such) doesn't reveal very important info to anyone. The only know which language you learn and your approximate level. Sure that's better if there's a more private way of doing it, but the core principle of learning a language doesn't reveal very much.
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@airikr@lemmy.ml 2026-04-21 22:13
If you want to learn Japanese, I can highly recommend [KanaDojo](https://github.com/lingdojo/kana-dojo).
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@amzd@lemmy.world 2026-04-22 06:39
Babel mini app in delta chat ;p