Is it possible to learn a second language without living in a country/environment where it's spoken (i.e...

Is it possible to learn a second language without living in a country/environment where it's spoken (i.e. only from learning materials and talking to people on the internet)? Have any of you had any success doing this and can you explain what methods worked for you? pic unrelated

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Yes, anime.

You can only learn a language by being exposed to it (no matter how)

I believe most people on Sup Forums learned english that way, and don't necessarily had to live in an anglo speaking country just for that

But that's not an advantage native English speakers would have when learning other languages, because no other language is so widely spread and used as english, and no other indo-european language is so basic and simple when it comes to its grammatical structure as english (even though it has by far the biggest vocabulary among all languages)

It is possible, but it depends on so many factors it could be overwhelming

As an example, passive understanding is different from active understanding, I see that most native english speakers can understand a lot of things when speaking another language due to how long they've been exposed to the language, but when it comes to speaking the language they generally have a hard time when dealing with things that aren't present in english (feminine and masculine nouns, verbal conjugation, inflection, etc)

It's undisputed that living in a country in which people speak the given language makes it a lot easier for you to learn it, but if you apply yourself hard enough you can always reach fluency by yourself

I see. thank you for your answer :3
Even as a native English speaker I find that the language is rampant with incomprehensible irregularities (especially when it comes to verbs) so it's interesting to hear you say that its grammatical structure is simple. I suppose you're just referring to word order, though.

>when it comes to speaking the language they generally have a hard time when dealing with things that aren't present in english (feminine and masculine nouns, verbal conjugation, inflection, etc)
Do you think the fact that so many people speak English as a second language makes it more flexible than other languages? If so, do you think this makes learning a second language for English speakers more restrictive in comparison? I find that speakers of certain languages are more tolerant to mistakes made by learners than those of others.

seen a lot of posts from non-anglos here saying they learned english on the internet in video games and shit but its usually when they were really young and kids learn languages more easily than adults.

I took four years of high-school Spanish and learned almost nothing; I started watching Spanish-language TV every night with captions and became massively more fluent within months.

Yes.

Lernu Esperanton.

It's quite hard because living in an environment where the language is used gives you a feeling for the language , you start noticing what sounds right and what sounds wrong

Yes
>what methods worked for you?
doing Sup Forums all day

That's like asking if you can get good at shooting without ever firing a gun.

And an "Ooga booga ooka chakka, vagimate" to you too.

>I see. thank you for your answer :3
Even as a native English speaker I find that the language is rampant with incomprehensible irregularities (especially when it comes to verbs) so it's interesting to hear you say that its grammatical structure is simple. I suppose you're just referring to word order, though.

You're welcome friend :^)
I was referring to how complex the language is in the overall when it comes to its grammatical structure, english is a very straightforward language, e.g. it relies on auxiliary verbs instead of inflecting words, it has an invariant article since all words are neutral and the language doesn't make any distinction between feminine and masculine words, etc

Take a look on this article if you're interested in the subject

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflection

>Do you think the fact that so many people speak English as a second language makes it more flexible than other languages?
I think it's the other way around, people end up learning English because it's more flexible than other languages, and native english speakers generally have a hard time learning other languages because other languages are not as flexible and easy to learn as english itself

>If so, do you think this makes learning a second language for English speakers more restrictive in comparison? I find that speakers of certain languages are more tolerant to mistakes made by learners than those of others.
It depends on what language you're learning, how close the language is to your native language and so on

I mean, if the language has some structures you have already seen before, you won't have a hard time learning those structures because you're already used to that, since you have some sort of indirect previous knowledge regarding how it works

But when you see some stuff you're not used to, grammatical patters that are rich in details and complex ways of using them, you're gonna have a hard time, not because it's hard but because you're not used to it

This tbĥ.

I miss aqua TV show show

Absolutely. I professionally translate from multiple languages into English and I've never been outside the US.

>so it's interesting to hear you say that its grammatical structure is simple. I suppose you're just referring to word order, though.
No, it's clearly that you're a fucking baboon who cannot even comprehend the concept of grammar and because you probably still struggle with using the right "their/they're/there", and think other languages are this fucking simple.

Protip, never ever even attempt learning another language. Wonderbread Americans like you will never be able to get past learning a few words before you have to quit. You might as well just hang yourself right now.

OP I have been learning a second language for about a year and a half. What have found, since moving to the country of the language I am studying is not am option, is Emerson in every other way possible. I started with Rosetta Stone and completed it for my foundation then I started watched cartoons in the language I was learning and added Duolingo for practice. I signed up for groups on Facebook in my community, I started frequenting the Sup Forums thread for the language I was learning. I also skype with my friend who lives in the country of the language I am learning. Most importantly I started talking to myself and using the words around the house even though my wife doesn't speak the language. Above all taking is the best thing you can do. Practice talking as much as you can.

Calm down.

Montrealfag detected

>you probably still struggle with using the right "their/they're/there"
literally where did you get any of this from. I said that English has tons of irregularities, which it does.

>and think other languages are this fucking simple.
that's basically the opposite of what I said. nice quads though f.am

He meant that the way you use words betrays your simplistic thinking. There can be no dialogue between you and him.

This is what is happening. You are both right and are talking about the same thing. The worldviews are incompatible.

pic. 1

>tfw i learned English from video games

yeah just watch Captain Fantastic

they all know like 5 languages and only live in the woods by themselves

look into yourself fryman