Learning Chinese, Japanese, and Korean with apps #1

I have always wanted to speak many languages fluently, as I wanted to be a nomad and travel the world. The main reason was to see and experience all what the world has to offer. I used to only have my books from the library and the documentaries from TV. My world was pretty small and I wanted to escape from it. I survived all kinds of hardships, just to fulfill that dream of mine.

I have went to Chinese school every Saturday from when I was a small child and learned Cantonese Chinese, until I was 12 years old. I was tired of it, as it felt that every day of my life had to do with school and studying, and I knew enough of the basics to do home study on my own from then onwards. The next opportunity to study a new language came, when I went to college and there was a language center, where I could learn Japanese. I took four courses and I was good enough to finally be able to read manga in Japanese (except for the more difficult kanji). Later on, I became interested in Korean variety (always great, when I needed a big laugh), Kpop, and Korean beauty. Just like with Japan, you need to understand and speak some of the local language and understand some of their culture to make the most out of your holiday there. It really made a difference from my experience. While getting my second master degree, I took additional Mandarin classes and although I know Cantonese Chinese, it is still a challenge. I was a huge fan of the Taiwanese singer Jay Chow and somehow, I picked up some Taiwanese Chinese from listening to his songs non-stop. That really helped with the listening part during Mandarin Chinese classes. Only speaking was more difficult, since I couldn't sing or rap the words instead. :)

Currently, I feel all my hard work has gone down the drain, as I have no opportunities to constantly keep up and improve my language skills. That's why I am testing two language learning apps right now: Duolingo and Memrise. If you know a better app, please recommend it to me.

Underneath, you can see my current progress.



I passed three checkpoints already with the shortcuts and I am now at the point Existence 2/3. 


I passed two checkpoints with the shortcuts and I am now at the point Activity 1. 


I am beginning at the start with the Alphabet. 


I have not yet begun with this app and just tested the waters a bit.







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