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The most comfortable languages to learn | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes  Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 1 of 32 20 August 2014 at 3:45pm | IP Logged |
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This topic has been emerging in various threads, so I think it may be useful to have a look at the matter per se. We have been discussing usefulness of languages and their difficulty many times already. But some things have been at the edge of the interest, at least seemingly. What I am about to start is a thread of recommendation of languages that will be easy to learn in terms of availibility of resources, especially native ones, approach of the natives and so on. On the other hand, it may as well warn some people about possible discouragements before they'll have invested too much in the language. I think we might make a nice wikia overview later, should more people like this idea and provide us with their views. ;-)
So, what is your experience? I recommed this pattern. There are several points to be adressed. Try to assess how awesome the language is in that aspect on a scale 1-10 (yes, it is subjective but to hell with that. 1 is painful as hell, 10 is totally awesome) and a commentary to explain. Please, draw from your direct personal experience as much as possible. Don't shy away even from things specific for the area where you live. These are the issues I believe are worthy of adressing: Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for beginners Self explanatory. Is there what to learn from? Can you choose or are you left with one horrible textbook from the 70's? Are there many good quality resources on the internet? Can you learn cheaply or even for free? Please, refer not only to resources with English base, tell us about resources based in other languages including your native. Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels Self explanatory. Amount of books, movies etc. originally in the language. Is it a national language with strong literary tradition or a revived minority language? Do you have a chance to immerse yourself in movies or tv series? Is dubbing into the language of usable quality or is it usually horrible and painful to listen to? Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad Can you watch tv series from abroad on their tv archives? Can you buy books without giving an arm and leg for a book and delivery fees? Is there a network of institutions like Cervantes to keep libraries in various cities and participate on organisation of cultural events like movie festivals? Attitude of natives towards learners and foreigners in general Do they switch to English even when it is not needed? Do they easily get new acquitances among foreigners? Is it difficult to become part of a group at work? Spread of the natives in other countries Are you likely to meet tourists or exchange students? Where do they go the most? Are there expats communities or do most people tend to stay in their country and not leave for more than holidays? Are there many learners of your native language among them who are looking for conversation exchange? Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes Is it a very popular language in your country? And therefore are there many teachers and tutors to choose from? Does the market push the teachers/schools to provide good quality teaching or are there only few who can be crap due to lack of competition? Edited by Cavesa on 20 August 2014 at 3:45pm 8 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 2 of 32 20 August 2014 at 4:14pm | IP Logged |
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Spanish
Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for beginners: 10 One of the most present languages on the internet or in the bookstores on the european and american continent. You can choose from more resources, from free to expensive, than could be used in a lifetime. Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels:9 Due to the huge interest and large market, there is abundance of material even for intermediate and advanced learners. The only thing I would personally like to see, which I have seen in English only so far, is a big traditional monolingual dictionary with indication of importance of varous words and their suitability for various levels of learners. Amount of books, movies etc. originally in the language:10 National and native language of hundreds of millions of people. Lots of music, movies, tv series both original or with dubbing of good or bad quality (up to you to find good ones). A wide choice of books of various genres and difficulty. Whether you want to have fun with a light genre or to dive into works by nobelists, it is one of the best languages to choos. Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad: 8 -Yes, there is amazon and many other eshops but some of them have unreasonable delivery fees (fnac.es has recently shocked me by asking eight times as much for delivery to the Czech Republic than to some other countries which lie much further. 48 euros per delivery + payment per item). However, there are cheaper alternatives, lots of Spanish books can be accessed through eshops, both in the country and foreign, with much more reasonable terms. deastore.com or thebookdepository.co.uk are just two exemples. -Cervantes is present in many larger cities and often has a library you can use, participates on movie festivals and other such events -lots of content to download from pirate sources -RTVE.ES is one of the best resources of its kind. You can access lots of original tv series through their site even from abroad as rtve is a state owned channel. Many of the series are well known for their quality. However, it is more of an exception. Other channels with their own content do not allow you to watch from abroad neither for free nor for a payment. And dvds are harder to buy from abroad than books. -Spanish dub movies a lot, so you can find good quality dubbings to use before you are ready for originals. Again, dvds with a Spanish track are harder to buy than books. -music in Spanish is plentiful and varied. The thing is that you need to dig a bit deeper to find it, since most radio stations all over the world do not bother to present more than their own language and English. Lots of the music can be found on youtube, many radio stations can be access through the internet. For exemple Cadena Dial is a channel focused on contemporary Spanish pop. Attitude of natives towards learners and foreigners in general:9 The level of English of natives tends to be bad, thanks god. Even among young people at universities. So, you are going to practice Spanish as much as you want. The people are in general helpful, willing to speak slower or repeat. They are welcoming new acquitances so it is not difficult to become part of a group, even though it surely takes much more time to get close friends. But don't forget about the large differences between various parts of Spain. In the south, the people tend to speak with a stronger accent, not pronounce part of the words etc, so it may be a bit more difficult to understand. And there are cultural differences. It is still true even among the young people that you need to remember their more traditional background in communication with them. Spread of the natives in other countries:7 -The Spaniards appear to be among the less travelling nations of Europe. Perhaps just because they already have most touristy needs covered in their own country. The sea, mountains, historical sites. Partially it may be due to not that good financial situation of many families in Spain. And south America is a little bit far from Europe. However, absolute numbers of Spanish natives abroad are still good and you are quite likely to meet them in most of the popular places. -The Spanish students go abroad quite often. Many go to Erasmus or another exchange programm, the scandinavian countries appear to be very popular. -Despite Spain being portraied in the media as country the young people are leaving to get a job (preferably in Germany), it looks like it is more common to solve the difficulties of job searching more by going to the cities from the countryside. The Spanish natives living abroad still tend to be individuals and not large minorities, unlike the Polish for example. Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes:10 -It's one of the most popular languages to learn, especially among young people. So, the language teaching industry is reacting to the situation. The classes and teachers of all quality and price are plentiful. If you do some research, you shouldn't have much trouble finding a good quality one. -It is taught in schools in countries where it has always been taught. The rest of Europe, including the Czech Republic, is still quite resistant. That is not a bad thing as it prevents people of being fed up with Spanish due to bad experience and it doesn't push down the overall quality of Spanish teaching in the coutry, unlike when it comes to French. Overall: 64/70 Edited by Cavesa on 20 August 2014 at 4:36pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4145 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 3 of 32 20 August 2014 at 4:26pm | IP Logged |
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Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for beginners
Spanish: 10 - If anything, a new learner might get overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of available resources - lots of them free. Tagalog: 6 - Not as prolific as Spanish. Find one or two good ones, though, and that's all you need. You'll have to buy them, though. (Unless, unlike me, you're a pirate. Arrrr!) Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels Spanish: 10 - Lots and lots available for free. I found it relatively easy to move from beginner to intermediate to advanced using online resources. Tagalog: 3 - I'm not at the intermediate level yet. But everything I've found online has either been for beginners or for native speakers. I don't know how many people living outside of the Philippines learn Tagalog to a high level. This score of 3 might actually go down when I get to that level. Amount of books, movies etc. originally in the language. Spanish: 10 - the world is your oyster if you're looking for Spanish media. Tagalog: 5 - it's there, but it's less prolific and harder to get your hands on. Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad Spanish: 10 - see above. Online book retailers in Canada sell Spanish books for pretty much the same price as English books. Libraries are pretty well-stocked. Lots of good sources of TV, movies and podcasts: Netflix, RTVE, Drama Fever, etc. Lots of Spanish news and media from the United States. Tagalog: 3 - it's hard to purchase Tagalog books in Canada without paying ridiculous shipping amounts. In a big city, libraries are probably pretty well-stocked, seeing as how Tagalog is the fastest-growing language in Canada (due to a spike in immigration). However, most of the books that I see in the Toronto library are either for small kids, or Harlequin-esque romance novels. I've been trying for months to buy the Filipino version of Harry Potter, but as far as I can tell, it's impossible to order from anywhere - including the Philippines. Attitude of natives towards learners and foreigners in general Spanish: 10 - every single Spanish speaker I've met has been thrilled to speak Spanish with me. Tagalog: 10+ - I can't imagine a more encouraging group of native speakers! If you speak 10 words, you'll be introduced to everyone as someone who can speak Tagalog. And - unlike speakers of so many other languages - Tagalog-speakers will tell you over and over how EASY Tagalog is! (Nope. Untrue. But still a joy to learn!) But (and this is a big but), most Tagalog-speakers speak English, which means that you have to be pretty motivated to learn. Spread of the natives in other countries Spanish: 10 - huge. South America, North America, Europe - pretty much anywhere in the world, you can probably find a Spanish-speaker! It's the third most popular foreign native language in Canada (after Punjabi and Chinese), so you'll likely be able to find a native speaker in any major city. Tagalog: 8 - honestly, I can only speak for Canada here, which is why I couldn't give it a ten. But it's the fastest- growing language in Canada. While here on the East Coast it's a little less prevalent, I dare you to spend a day wandering around Toronto, Winnipeg or Vancouver and *not* hear someone speaking Tagalog. Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes Spanish: 10 - easy to find classes and tutors in Canada. Tagalog: 5 - very difficult to find face-to-face classes or tutors in Canada. There just aren't that many people interested in learning. But with the ease and accessibility of Skype tutors, I couldn't give it less than five. OVERALL: Spanish: 70/70 Tagalog: 40/70 Hmmmm...now I feel bad for scoring Tagalog so low. I still think it's a great language to learn! Edited by Stelle on 20 August 2014 at 4:38pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 4 of 32 20 August 2014 at 5:05pm | IP Logged |
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French
Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for beginners:9 Lots and lots. However, not as much as for Spanish any longer. And from my experience and searches, it would be harder to learn for free (without being a pirate) as there are few high quality free sources. But there is still more material available than you can use in your life time Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels:8 There is quite a lot compared to most languages. But so far, there has been only one or two courses trully aimed at C levels (Alter Ego 5). Sure, courses are only of limited help at that time but if they were useless, there wouldn't be so many for English ;-) But you can find useful ressources on advanced grammar or resumé writing and so on. So you are surely by far from being unhelped. Amount of books, movies etc. originally in the language.10 Awesome. There are few languages that surpass French in this aspect. Again, all genres and quality of anything can be found but you need to dig even deeper to get to it. Very few musicians or tv series make it out of the country in the mainstream media, even though there are some (Zaz, Engrenages). And the BDs are an awesome feature of the French literature for learners. Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad:7 -I have yet to find a source like the rtve.es and believe me I tried. The French are proud of their culture on one hand but on the other, they don't make it easy for others to get it. What I described for fnac.es, horrible delivery fees discriminating newer members of the EU (funny and sad I need to use the term ten years since we joined the "united market"). What is a matter of exceptions in Spain (amazon.es has got fair conditions), is true about most French eshops. -fortunately, you can download lots from pirate sources -Alliance Française does have a similar network to Cervantes and does great job and making it easier for foreigners to get to the French culture Attitude of natives towards learners and foreigners in general:6 As was already discussed in many threads, the experiences vary a lot. However, many and many young people will switch to English even when your French is much better than their English. They just don't believe any foreigner could learn French well enough. It is due to pride bordering arrogance and experience with tons of foreigners butchering their language. It is however better when it comes to the older people and areas further from the main touristy sites. From my experience, the francophone Swiss are similar. Spread of the natives in other countries:8 It is similar to the Spanish natives. The French have got everything in the country or other francophone countries, so they don't need that much to travel abroad for tourism. But they are still present in most popular sites. Students go for exchanges and individuals live abroad. Again, they are mostly individuals who are not much interested in merging with the "host culture". I've met French who spoke Czech and were valid parts of the society but most tend to live in their bubble. They form just as many minorities in non francophone european countries as the Spanish speakers. Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes:7 -French is one of the most popular foreign languages to learn in most Europe. You can find tutors, teachers and language schools of whole range of quality and price -French is one of the foreign languages quite commonly taught in the educational mainstream but few people really learn it. Most good teachers aren't in the public schools and the experience has a horrible effect on the perception of French in the society. As the teachers tend to be significantly worse and demanding than English or German teachers, people just think French is a too difficult and complicated language to learn. -French has been put down the popularity ladder by Spanish and perhaps even Russian nowadays. So, it is getting harder and more expensive to get the good quality teachers, tutors etc because of the lowered competition. -French teaching suffers as well from the calcified views on the French culture. While English learners are adviced or find by themselves tv series, easier books and so on, the French learners often have trouble as the language is connected mostly with the culture of its past despite some of the contemporary authors or movies being known and liked. Overall:62/70 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7157 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 5 of 32 20 August 2014 at 5:46pm | IP Logged |
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Slovak
Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for beginners 6/10 - If you start learning Slovak and already know some English, it's not too bad when it comes to learning material but there's not as much variety compared to other languages. I'd recommend drawing on "Colloquial Slovak", "Beginning Slovak", slovake.eu, the online monolingual dictionaries (excellent for getting hints on conjugation, and full declensional tables for every noun) and this online bilingual dictionary (if you want to go all out on a hard copy, this big one will do) Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels 4/10 - It's slimmer pickings at this level but not hopeless if you drop by a bookstore in Slovakia or order stuff through specialty stores (e.g. Panoráma). In addition to the dictionaries that I've already mentioned, there's the kit of books and CDs in Hovorme spolu po slovensky "B" Slovenčina ako cudzí jazyk which is meant for students at B1 and B2. The Slovak Profile has a list of recommended literature for those interested in studying Slovak but known mainly in Slovakia rather than outside it (scroll down to the subsection "BOOKS") Amount of books, movies etc. originally in the language 4/10 - Similar to what's available in learning material, there isn't that much authentic material in Slovak, although in my opinion there's enough to get going. Examples include this online collection of literature and the movie Obchod na korze (The Shop on Main St.) in addition to newspapers, sports webpages (hockey is very popular among Slovaks), blogs etc. If someone truly wants authentic material in Slovak, he/she can find it without undue strain. Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad 3/10 - Choices are pretty much restricted to what can be had on the internet (including what one could order from specialty stores). However, I repeat that if someone truly wants to get authentic materials, he/she can do it without undue strain. Attitude of natives towards learners and foreigners in general 9/10 - Slovaks are often very supportive of and touched by foreigners learning Slovak. However I've gathered now and then that Slovaks believe that foreigners wishing to learn Slovak could find better use for their time considering how many Slovaks (especially younger ones) can speak English nowadays, as well as considerations that there are other languages that have greater reach or prestige (e.g. Spanish, Mandarin, Russian) Spread of the natives in other countries 2/10 - Slovaks do travel as their time and financial means permit and in the past were part of a great wave of immigration to the USA in the late 19th century. However they are unexceptional in the sense that as travellers, they tend to keep to themselves and/or get by in English, or most descendents of Slovak immigrants from about 100 years ago have assimilated and don't speak Slovak. Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes 1/10 - For better or worse, Slovak has a low profile (less charitably, it's unpopular). On the other hand, its low profile often means that anyone who learns Slovak as a foreign language will be viewed positively overall by Slovaks. Almost all Slovak classes and teachers are confined to Slovakia although there are at least a couple places outside the country where one could learn Slovak in an institution (e.g. University of Pittsburgh, School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (London)). Overall: 29/70 The low score means nothing to me as a learner (and shouldn't to anyone else wanting to learn Slovak) since I have nothing but happy associations with Slovaks and their native language. It's an example of the proverb "Where there's a will, there's a way". 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5208 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 32 20 August 2014 at 5:52pm | IP Logged |
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Great idea! It takes a lot of factors into account that are important but might not necessarily be considered at first. I can try to do one from my experience with Italian...
Italian Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for beginners: 8 I somewhat jokingly claim that Italian is "the most popular language to want to learn", so the beginner market is very well covered. The standard courses like Michel Thomas, Assimil and Pimsleur are present and of high quality. Plus there's no shortage of other products, websites, videos, etc. I'm giving 8 just because firstly what's available is still not as comprehensive as something like Spanish which deserves its rating of 10, and secondly I've struggled to find anything that teaches pronunciation well, which is important to me. Amount and quality of learner aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels: 6 Following on from my joke above, the number of people who actually learn it seriously as opposed to dabbling is relatively low, and most who do learn it well do so through immersion, so the provision of more advanced resources isn't quite as complete. There are a few advanced grammar books and textbooks but my general impression is that the quality is not quite as high from similar materials I've seen for French for example. There is an advanced Assimil (French base only as far as I know) which teaches a lot of useful stuff and gives some exposure to specialised usage and literature. Amount of books, movies etc. originally in the language: 8 Despite being a small country, Italy has huge literary and cinematic traditions, and I've never had trouble finding books and films to watch in all sorts of genres, old or modern, intellectual or light. Italy also has one of the best dubbing industries in the world. But compared to the "gold standard" of Spanish and its great selection of series and telenovelas, I find that there's a lack of interesting and varied TV. Various game shows, reality, soaps, etc. but aside from a couple of decent police series and some political stuff I've not found much that's more engaging. Another negative is that provision of Italian subtitles for Italian films isn't very consistent, although when they are provided they tend to be accurate. Italian music is popular and varied. Even a lot of the commercial pop music isn't too bad, better than a lot of what we have in English, and there are some good rock bands that sing in Italian. Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad: 8 Almost everything I've wanted to read on Kindle, I've found on the Amazon UK store. There's also IBS (amongst others) that sells paper books and e-books to other countries. Similar for DVDs, and finding TV and films to watch online, legally or otherwise, is generally not difficult. TV network sites (RAI, Mediaset, etc.) generally let you watch some but not all programmes from abroad. That said though, I'm in Europe, and things might be more difficult in the USA etc.; if anyone has experience then let me know. It's hard to find Italian books and movies in physical stores here in the UK, but the same goes for any foreign language. In my city there's an Italian institute that promotes culture and has a library with books and DVDs, although it's not much use to me as it's only open while I'm at work. I imagine similar things exist in other cities, again because of Italian's popularity as a second language and the spread of Italians around the world which I'll get to later. Attitude of natives towards learners and foreigners in general: 7 I had several bad experiences in Rome, but everywhere else I've visited I've found that people will mostly speak Italian if you do and switching to English isn't common. The general English level isn't great so for many it's a relief if you know some Italian. Socially, I'd guess that perhaps 3 out of 4 Italians I meet are very happy to speak with me in Italian and very complementary of my skills (often to the point of exaggeration, like "very good" or "perfect", which is far from the reality!). Some just won't take you seriously, have stuck-up attitudes towards foreigners, and ask why you're learning their "useless" language, but they're the minority. I've met a lot of Italians in my sort of age group (20-30) in my city and I generally get on well with them and find them to be fun, interesting and open people. Spread of the natives in other countries: 9 Italians often joke "we're like rats: we get everywhere!". Enough said. My city is full of them (although Spanish still outnumber them) and more keep on arriving, to study, to learn English, or in search of better future prospects than in Italy with its economic crisis and corruption. London is similar, as are a lot of metropolitan areas. You'll probably have a harder time finding them in smaller towns of course, and again I can only speak for my part of the world. Also, language exchange sites like Conversation Exchange have loads of Italians. Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes: 8 Back to my original point: plenty people want to learn Italian, so there are teachers and classes to meet the demand. I doubt anyone is going to have trouble finding an Italian class. But I've never done classes or lessons so I can't vouch for their quality or say whether more advanced students are as well served as beginners, so my rating is just based on my impression. Total: 54/70 Edited by garyb on 20 August 2014 at 10:28pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Radioclare Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom timeofftakeoff.com Joined 4584 days ago 689 posts - 1119 votes Speaks: English*, German, Esperanto Studies: Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian | Message 7 of 32 20 August 2014 at 10:45pm | IP Logged |
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Croatian
Amount and quality of learner-aimed resources for beginners: 7 There are enough resources to make a good start: 'Teach Yourself Croatian' is good for complete beginners, Hippocrene 'Beginners Croatian' is excellent, Colloquial Croatian exists but is poor in comparison to the other two. If you are studying Serbian as well, your resources effectively double. I have heard that 'Teach Yourself Serbian' is more detailed than 'Teach Yourself Croatian' but I don't have a copy to confirm. There are lots of websites on the internet where you can learn the basics, but there aren't many that will take you beyond 'tourist Croatian'. I have a list of links and there are lots in the BCMS profile too. There is an FSI course in Serbocroatian, although I haven't done it, and there are GLOSS lessons in both Croatian and Serbian. Pimsleur exists in Croatian too; at least 10 lessons, which more than I have personally been able to stomach. Amount and quality of learner-aimed resources for intermediate and advanced levels: 4 I have found one more advanced book: 'Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: A Textbook'. It isn't cheap but I think it is worth the money because it has a lot of exercises for more advanced grammar concepts compared to the beginners books. There is also a related book 'Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian: A Grammar with Sociolinguistic Commentary' which is a very useful guide to the grammar of the language. You will struggle if you want any more exotic resources than that. I would love a Croatian grammar drills book like I have for French, but such a thing does not exist. I would love '501 Croatian verbs' but that doesn't exist either. I once went round the main bookshops in Zagreb asking if they had any books about verbs (they were very confused: "In Croatia we all know how to conjugate our verbs already so nobody would buy a book like that") or any parallel texts (I thought I might have them from Croats learning English, but they just laughed at my optimism). Amount of books, movies etc originally in the language: 7 There are definitely lots of books, though I've mainly been reading translated fiction so far. A search for "ex-yu filmovi" on Youtube yields a lot of material to watch. This wiki page has a list of films which are specifically Croatian. I haven't found anything at all dubbed into Croatian yet; English-language films seem to be subtitled instead. Finding Croatian subtitles for Croatian films or TV series seems to be impossible. Availability of native books, movies etc. from abroad: 3 The national broadcaster HRT has a basic TV-on-demand function on its website where you can watch the news and certain other programmes with a delay of a day or two. Deutsche Welle broadcast a weekly TV new magazine in Croatian, then have it read out by a different presenter and call it Serbian ;) I imported a book from Croatia once and the delivery fees and taxes cost more than the book itself. That was admittedly before Croatia joined the EU so perhaps it is a bit cheaper now. In the UK you can buy a selection of popular literature in Croatian and Serbian from Foyles in London, but expect to pay around £20 for a novel. Attitudes of natives towards learners and foreigners in general: 8 There are lots of tourists in Croatia, so people are used to dealing with foreigners (in the coastal parts at least). I have met with reactions ranging from mild surprise to outright incredulity when I have told natives I am learning the language. Most people have been positive though and prepared to be patient when speaking. Spread of the natives in other countries: 1 I have never met a Croatian person in the UK, although I have met a few Serbians. I think Australia would be a good place to learn Croatian as there seems to be quite a big expat community there. I reckon Germany would be a good location as well. Popularity among learners and availability of good quality tutors, teachers or even classes: 2 I can't comment on other countries but Croatian is definitely not a popular language to learn in the UK. If you are lucky enough to live in London, you can take evening classes at the University of Westminster. If you are lucky enough to be a student, the University of Nottingham has a degree in Serbo-Croatian studies. I found a BCS evening class in Birmingham and tried attending it last year; it was an absolute disaster due to a very poor teacher. I'm not aware of any other courses which exist. There is an organisation called the British Croatian Society who have a mailing list you can join. They organise a couple of meet-ups during the year in London. They also send out cultural information, eg. about Croatian plays or films which are showing in the UK. Overall: 32/70 Poor Croatian :( It hasn't scored very well but as Chung has said about Slovak, you definitely shouldn't let that put you off. It's a beautiful language and there are enough resources to get by; you just can't afford to be picky! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 8 of 32 20 August 2014 at 11:04pm | IP Logged |
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-GLOSS is mostly an intermediate+ resource, at least for Croatian.
-I own one Italian/Serbian parallel text book :) -there's quite a bit of Croatian stuff at bookdepository. -UK/EU folks can get a lot of books from http://www.europeanbookshop.com/ (I'm not speaking about Croatian but in general; haven't checked what they offer for Croatian) 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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