Please delete this if I'm in the wrong sub to ask this!
I'm looking to learn a new language without relying on data harvesting apps. Is there a privacy friendly platform I can use, or a FOSS app (android)?
Please delete this if I'm in the wrong sub to ask this!
I'm looking to learn a new language without relying on data harvesting apps. Is there a privacy friendly platform I can use, or a FOSS app (android)?
42 Comments
krank55@feddit.org · 40 pts · 125d
Most privacy-friendly way would probably be using a textbook.
Modest_Toxic@feddit.uk · 9 pts · 125d
Thank you. Feel a bit stupid for not thinking of this. Don't suppose you have a recommendation for a book on learning Spanish?
LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz · 13 pts · 125d
Go to your local college or university bookstore, see what they're using, then go and find it cheaper somewhere else.
merde@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 125d
you can't learn how to pronounce correctly through a textbook. You need hispanophone connections, environments withWhom/where you can't speak english
Rugnjr@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 124d
My partner is quite a fan of the Ollie Richards story learning books. I think they have a couple of those for Spanish.
krank55@feddit.org · 2 pts · 125d
Not really, my only period of interaction with the language started and ended in high school. I'm sure you'll find tonnes of recommendations in language-learning communities on the internet though.
tkk13909@sopuli.xyz · 36 pts · 125d
Anki is an offline-first flashcard program that I use along with other methods.
Modest_Toxic@feddit.uk · 6 pts · 125d
I will look into this, thanks for taking the time to make a recommendation :)
Imaginary_Stand4909@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 11 pts · 125d
Anki + Yomitan is the goat. Download some dictionaries of your target language, load them into Yomitan, and now you can search words on any website with selectable text and instantly make a flashcard out of the word. Watching a video in browser? Use asbplayer to load subtitles onto the video/movie and select the text from that too. Wanna watch not in browser? Use mpvacious with mpv.
Find yourself a card format you like and some cute addons (I use Ankimon [Pokemon]) for Anki so you don't fall into that "it looks so dull!" trap because the SRS system it uses is no joke. I have years old vocab on there that I still remember, and medical students aren't joking when they say it saved them.
I just love this app so much.
Paragone@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 125d
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..
_ /\ _
N0t_5ure@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 125d
The fastest way to learn a language is with the comprehensible input method. 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.
yellerbadger@piefed.social · 12 pts · 125d
I second Dreaming Spanish. OP could use Materialous/NewPipe or whatever method they use to watch YT anonymously. Anki also works.
solrize@lemmy.ml · 15 pts · 125d
Date a native speaker of that language for a while.
twoBrokenThumbs@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 125d
I tried, but my wife put a stop to it.
skyline2@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 125d
Actually not bad advice if they are into you badly speaking their language to them at first 😂
jenesaisquoi@feddit.org · 11 pts · 124d
A real course with a real human teacher.
makeitwonderful@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 124d
Wouldn't this require sharing information with the school that organizes the course and any vendors that support them? Schools, payment processors and student information systems eventually sell or leak data.
WoodScientist@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 125d
A book you get from your local library.
racoon@lemmy.ml · 6 pts · 125d
rangber@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 125d
For when you want to learn something, but with the thrill of dealing crack.
Kevlar21@piefed.social · 6 pts · 125d
You can try Language Transfer
It’s completely free. Free (and ad free) iOS or android app, free audio file downloads. There’s also a course on music theory.
MasterBlaster@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 125d
Find a local special interest group that gets together to practice. Check meetup.
Libb@piefed.social · 3 pts · 124d
That, or enroll into some local class, if you live nearby some campus check if there aren't students offering private tutoring for their own native language.
Also, if you already speak French, get an Assimil book for whatever language you want to learn. The older the edition the better (pre-80s) but even the more recent ones remain a good self-learning method, they're just not as great as the older editions which were really great. Those books can be purchased (with or without accompanying audio recordings, highly recommended) or they can be had for much cheaper on the used market (also, most people have no idea how much better the older editions are so they can be found for even cheaper but the audio files (LPs) will often not be available). These books are 100% privacy-respecting: you're alone without any tracking happening, there is no 'login' required either. Just you and your book (plus the audio files, if you want them)
foremanguy92_@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 124d
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.
LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 125d
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.
FineCoatMummy@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 125d
That made me curious! Muppet Wiki says 70 languages and some dialects on top.
akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 125d
📖+✏️🗒️+👂+👄
a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 125d
Yeah honestly, there's no replacement for textbooks, paper and pencil when it comes to learning a new language
akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 124d
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.
LiamTheBox@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 124d
A book with CDs to listen to.
Tenderizer78@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 125d
Anki
aev_software@programming.dev · 4 pts · 124d
Buy a book and learn with a compiler that was built before the spy craze.
snek_boi@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 125d
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.
Cricket@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 125d
What's the source of this info?
snek_boi@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 124d
Here: https://comparelanguageapps.com/index.html and here: https://comparelanguageapps.com/Vocabulary-or-Grammar-Proficiency.html
:)
Cricket@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 124d
Thanks! If I'm reading that second link correctly, they rank "Babbel" with a higher score than LingQ and Rosetta Stone?
snek_boi@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 121d
Yeah, the green number shows the improvement, and Babbel users improved more. What the green number doesn’t tell you is how much time it took to get there. If you look at that, Babbel is more inefficient than LingQ and Rosetta Stone.
Cricket@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 116d
Interesting, thanks!
Twongo@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 125d
fmhy.net should have resources
airikr@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 125d
If you want to learn Japanese, I can highly recommend KanaDojo.
amzd@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 124d
Babel mini app in delta chat ;p
FreddiesLantern@leminal.space · 3 pts · 124d
Man I love those apps in Delta, finally some functionality that’s actually useful for once.
Gulliver@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 124d
Anki with deck cards already made, for vocabulary. Youtube video to train sentences (type : easy + name of the language)