Duolingo used to be a fairly useful website. Back when people could submit courses, there was a forum and there were the guidebooks. And it's complete dogshit that the cunts who are in charge of Duolingo thought it was a good idea to just delete those features all together. All of the 3rd party submitted courses like Maori just never got to be released. I live in England and some of the languages I've been learning are Welsh, Dutch and Finnish. Is there anything as good as Duolingo I can use instead? The thing I hate about most language learning websites is that it tends to be the most uninteresting, unintuitive, ineffective gameplay ever. Usually just listening to audio clips of people greeting each other and just matching up words with pictures and little explanation of how to construct a sentence.Duolingo of course was never going to make you fluent and was more for your reading and writing but at least with the old version, it was straightforward and some of the guidebooks before they were deleted actually had very elaborate and readable explanations of grammar. It just gave you a clear place to start and where to go next. Is there anything worth using instead, again many language learning websites are crap. I feel like the only way to study a language without expensive classes or hoping for the best with immersion is to just use textbooks as the old school way.
Unironically just talk to ChatGPT. Tell it that you want to learn Dutch. It's a little clunky but it's so responsive to your needs that you learn much faster than the rote learning with the apps. Once they get the accents down and the text-to-speech is more smooth all language learning apps will probably go out of business. It's not for everyone but I've been learning languages for a long time. If you're willing to look past the warts you can learn a lot really fast.Of course nothing beats working with a native tutor.
>>2659911This is a pretty typical interaction. Overall it feels very fluid and natural, and pretty fun. Duolingo so often feels like "hitting the books." With ChatGPT you can just talk about whatever you want and it teaches you new words.
There's a non-profit alternative springing up called Lingonaut.
>>2659290Just brute force Anki decks and grammar YouTube videos for 5 hours a day. Also watch into the spiderverse 50 times in your target language I hear that helps (In all seriousness repeatedly watching content in the language will help).
>>2659290>I feel like the only way to study a language without expensive classes or hoping for the best with immersion is to just use textbooks as the old school way.that's because you're right
Anyone have experience with working holiday orgs like work away and wwoof? It sounds kind of gay but I want to stay in other countries for extended periods of time on a low budget. Idgaf about tourist stuff I just want to learn the language.Worth my time or poorly disguised slavery?
its almost exclusively the most retarded lefty communists imaginable, so you need to be one of those people or be okay with themotherwise it probably won't be tolerable
Burger wants to visit Cuba, is it reasonable or am I retarded? Also, only basic Spanish knowledge - can I cheese my way through a two week visit with Google Translate?
>>2657842>Does Cuba have a decent internet connection yetlol, no. its slow, very expensive, only available in a handful of hotspots in the blazing sun, and most sites are blocked. nothing works there...NOTHING.
How mad will the Commies be if I try to hand out Spanish versions of Mises Human Action
>>2657842>Why can't they invest in some decent internet?It's called "authoritarianism"
>>2660144You'll probably get arrested and shot
>>2660148China, Russia, Britain, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Dubai have great internet though. Even Laos, Cambodia and Thailand have good internet despite being authoritarian.
I've decided that the most reliable way to tell who is an NPC is to look at who closes the shutters/curtains on planes and buses. Anyone with a soul leaves these open.
>>2652468>no big spiders>Bali, Taiwan, ThailandWhat?
>>2652319OP is always a faggot, but today he's a cool faggot, like Freddie Mercury.
I like how many NPCs are just shamelessly outing themselves ITT. Also this thread needs more frogs.
>>2652319Outrageously based
Pepe thread? Pepe thread.
I'm planning to relocate from Bongistan to Germany in the next couple of years, but I'm struggling to pick a city. Why? Because the national autism culture of ze Germans is very comfortable and welcoming to me, the quality of food and life in general seems better, and the UK needs to be nuked off the face of the earth.My situation:>already have remote job with German employer who can provide my visa>speak fluent German>64k GBP salary (but I will get paid in yuro should I move)>50k in savings >don't want to live in a region with a visible neo nazi problem >also don't want to get bent over and assfucked for rentThe cities I like the most from previous travel are Cologne, Dresden and Leipzig, Berlin is okay and I have some friends there but I hear the rent market is nightmarish. What's a humble teutaboo to do?Also, do people buy houses in Germany? I hear it's a rent culture, but I really need to invest some of that 50k somewhere and I'm absolutely not buying property on this shithole island.
>>2659321>For anyone German anons here, what are some German stuff I should do in Germany?What's that? Like everywhere there is a German buildings, German food (way better in south than north), German culture (pretty much European), German History (maybe widest range from greatness to dystopia poss.), Lot of parties, events, concerts markets museums, theaters trails shipping aso. , Depends on you.
>>2659664>2) Fly to Amsterdam, then ride a train to CologneIMO Best choice, Bonus If you can can stay 1-2 days in AMS. 3) Fly to Cologne best for Business only
>>2660236>>2658605>goes to tourist hotspots>"wow the food sucks here!"yeah no shit retard. They don't expect tourists to ever come back.
>>2659664just do the second one and stay in Amsterdam as long as you possibly can
Do NOT move to Germany.
Anon from the West Grand Division of Tennessee, and currently at a small lodge in Pigeon Forge (with family).I have the problem of trying to find something to do that isn't just a drain on the wallet for the next 4 days. We were planning on going hiking but it seems like it is gonna be rained out pretty hard. I've been here before plenty and would like to see/know some stuff that is uncommon but still fun.(I personally was wanting to go to an art or model railroad museum but it seems like they are either too far away or more-so a glorified store front)(Use this as East TN general if yall want)
could you head to Knoxville and do some bar hopping, or is it too far?
>>2660289Knoxville is a bit too far and my younger brother would be left out, I could get to Townsend or Sevierville though (I have no idea what is in Pittman Center though)We're thinking maybe an escape room, but usually escape room groups are like 5 or 6 people from what I've seen and it's only three of us.
>>2660286Mt. Leconte is a great hike. Honestly those areas are such tourist traps. The aquarium is ok I guess.
>>2660300Thank you anon, my family was able to go the Ford show today which was pretty nice. Still got suckered into spending money but I found some tools for cheap (that I could use for diorama-ing)
Planning something like picrel with frens. I'm a big historyfag, so I need anons help with writing down an itinerary. I don't want to go to Little Africa in Paris and leave without seeing the history.
>>2659754Basically why everyone is travelling to Asia for cheap safe fun.
>>2659754>Eastern Europe boring.
>>2659754Where did you go?
>>2659729I mostly know eastern history. Western cucks don't concern me but I'm willing to learn for this trip
>>2660172What is a "fun" Eastern country? Pooland? No forests, no nature, the same shitty city over and over. Maybe if you're black, their women are the world's biggest coalburners.
How does one know if they are banned from entering a country or something?My mates and I are looking to go to Japan come this summer to some warm beaches but we have one of our friends who caused issue last time. Problem is he had a slight bump in with the law there, basically wandered into one of those police boxes drunk and tried to hire a taxi on the phone they had. Got a big guy yelling at him in the office as I was catching up to him to walk back to our hostel. He's now scared they got his face and prints off the phone and will arrest him at the border because of issue people like Johnny Somolia and other youtubers giving foreigners a negative light. I think he's lost it a bit from the online stuff.I've told him that they police probably get idiots doing that all the time and it wouldn't even be worth the paper work to even file something so small. I don't even think customs even would look at some small infraction since I've heard other people spending the night in a drunk tank but going back to Japan without issue. Right?Any advice we really need a 4th person to help keep the costs down for an airbnb. Has anyone been in a situation like this?
>>2659222>t. BritSeriously, Brits are absolutely disgusting. I grew up in Britain and my white friends' houses would smell of raw pork all the time, their body odour is absolutely gross when they get even slightly sweaty. Also they wear shoes inside the house, don't shit for days at a time sometimes, and are way more prone to getting cancer and shit like that. Plus all my Brit friends were just academically and generally retarded in a way that wasn't even endearing, like they had no desire to expand their knowledge or excel. And the funny thing is that I know a few of them probably went on to be users of this site who constantly moan about Chinese or Indian people stealing their jobs. The truth is not that all whites are bad because Mediterranean people and a few other European nationalities (e.g., Greeks) are pretty nice people, but Brits and Ameriturds are absolute scum and I feel shame when I have to share any given vicinity with them while in Japan.
>>2656958Escorted straight from plane into Japanese prison, 23 days of solitary and questioning, if he doesn't crack that might be the end of itHappened to me after I had sushi during my layover and accidentally mixed wasabi into the onions sauce
>>2659229>first country ever visited was Japan outside Canada>always thought that us americans were the worst possible tourists and there was just no debate>go to Japan try to be on good behavior thinking I am doing everything wrong because dumb amerikun>check into hostel LOUD ASS FUCKING BRITS HEARD DOWN THE HALLS>drunk ass brits at 3PM in the kitchen/common area >stumbling brits all over the place I go to get a drink+food(yes was the hub and shut up it was the closest thing after a long ass flight)>use shit as their playground without any care for the cars in the streets, walk signs, signs saying NO CAMERA, or shit>question who the fuck was behind all those 'mutts are worst tourist posts!'Unless I'm mistaken cops have to formally arrest/charge/convict to have any kind of entry ban in place. Probably should avoid that Koban for a good while but I'm 99% certain anons have done even far dumber worse shit black out drunk and managed to come back in.Johnny Somoli was arrested like other YT idiots because they straight up documented EVERYTHING and continued to do it rather than a one and done incident.
>>2656995>The Japanese government isn’t an omniscient super beingIt's not hekkin CSI miami levels of tech?!?!?You're telling a cop wouldn't follow up on some drunk idiot wouldn't get their prints taken to the lab and then to the police chief to sign off on for forwarding to border security to look out for some guy who might never return to the country on the whim they did a nono like what OP's friend did? J-japan has truly fallen the last samurai weeps... OWARI DA!!!!!
>>2660269if you want to be schizo then stay home. nobody gives a fuck about some random drunk guy, especially the lazy Japanese police.
Hello everyone I'm 18 years old about to graduate end of May. Been living in my home town all my life, went to oklahoma once as a kid, but that doesn't count.I've never been anywhere, don't have my passport and see all my friends going on trips in the summer, springbreak, after high school etc. Makes me depressed. I just want to leave and do something exciting for cheap, especially since I still need money for college.Any travel advice is appreciated.
>>2658357actually good idea i never realized how cheap flights to Hawaii were so I definitely might consider.
>>2658363Hawaii is simultaneously cheaper than most people think, but still more expensive than you'd like once you get there. There is a tourist zone in Hawaii called Waikiki, you might have heard of it, thats where the boomer money is, and as expensive as it gets. i'd be wary there but still, if you're there for cheaps, there's still Hawaiian food in gas stations believe it or not like 7/11 has musubi and moco locos, food trucks, and a bunch of cheap island food everywherebeaches free, lots of hiking and walking trails. if you can find a buddy and rent a car, that'll really open up the island like the North Shore otherwise you can use a bus (bus goes all around the island) which is fine but takes longer. you can check out volcano craters, reefs, all kinds of cool stuff, just watch videos. plus you meet all kinds of people especially at a hostel, seasoned expert travellers or young bucks like yourself like other 18 year olds and early 20s just checking it outgood travelling kid
>>2658366Waikiki has a lot of cheap Jap shit. You can get good (actual Japanese style not americanized) food at little hole in the wall places and you can get a tall can of beer from an ABC store for a couple bucks. Hotels and hotel restaurants tend to be a lot though.
>>2658356idk where in the US you are but most major cities will have at least one European city you can fly to cheaply, usually London. Once you're in Europe it can be very cheap to move around.having a quick look at google flightsNYC --> London $140Miami --> London $150Dallas --> London $180Chicago --> London $190San Francisco --> Dublin or Barcelona $200if money is a concern, i'd get one of these to London and then head to Eastern Europe where it's cheaper. flights London to Europe are dirt cheap
>>2660108Good idea might have to get my passport and try this might be worth the wait
I can't think of anything more useless than wanting to go abroad. Since I was a little kid it never made sense to me. Humans are isolationist on principle so it seems like a contradiction to want to encroach upon another tribe's turf in the first place. Even then, it's so much easier and far more fulfilling to just use the Internet to learn about a foreign place instead of spending all the money to physically go there, and inevitably waste more time walking around than having an interesting experience. I hear all the time about how you'll meet unforgettable people, immerse yourself in their culture, yadda yadda, but there's no way this is true. You're still an outsider to the locals, and you still don't know anything about their customs, their language, their landmarks, their food, their government... It just feels so stupid to me.Maybe I'm the asshole here but I wish we could just appreciate other countries from afar and not infringe upon them. I don't care if it's for school, or business, or sex, it just seems weird. I read up on what an embassy was the other day and it made me genuinely mad, that there are these little pockets all over the world where a foreigner can go and be patronized instead of having to even pretend like they care about the natives. How is that not at least a little fucked up?Anyways, TL;DR is that I think traveling is inefficient and stupid, maybe even disrespectful, and that you'd be far better off watching travelogues on YouTube or searching for local websites. The context doesn't matter, the whole concept is off to me.
>>2654580I travel to take pretty pictures
>>2654580>Humans are isolationist on principleWhat the fuck am I reading
>>2654580>Humans are isolationist on principle so it seems like a contradiction to want to encroach upon another tribe's turf in the first placeLouder for the pajeets at the back
>>2660240Yes, traveling made me racist
How do you guys carry your passport when you travel?I usually keep it in my front pants pocket when I’m in the airport along with any other important IDs, permits, boarding passes, etc. for easy access, but recently I had an incident where I was in a rush to catch a bus and dropped a very important ID card at some point between passport control and customs and would’ve been fucked had an airport security guard not tracked me down to return it. This made me think that it’s time to get a passport holder. My only concern is that holders are rather bulky and an obvious target for pickpockets when outside the airport. I had a pretty scary incident once when I was stopped by local police in a foreign country when I wasn’t carrying my passport and I almost ended up going to jail, so since then I always make sure it’s on me when I’m outside the hotel. What about you anons, any suggestions?
>>2660036I mean, I obviously do it when travelling internationally too since my only photo ID is a passport.
>>2660048Congrats, that's retarded as hell if you have the ability to get any other form of ID but you do (you) anon.
I put it in my man purse
>>2660050What other photo ID is there? PASS cards barely work in the UK, let alone internationally. I don't own a car and don't plan to, so why would I get my drivers license?
>>2660200>PASS cards barely workAnon, if they aren't letting you into the club because they don't like your PASS it's (YOU) are the problem not your card.
Beyond basic politeness, I just don't care to try to get to know the local people when I travel. They're just going about their day-to-day lives, and I don't want to bother them. When I'm at home, I'd find it obnoxious if some random stranger came up to me chatting and wanting to get to know me. I've read a lot on here and other travel-related forums that a big part of traveling is interacting with local people, and I guess I just don't get it. Some guy working in a restaurant or some guy out in public who had just gotten off of work probably doesn't really want to waste time talking to a tourist but may play along to be polite. It strikes me as self-centered behavior as if the "locals" are exotic zoo animals that should be studied.
>>2659346Well, I don't think when people say "interacting with local people" that they mean walking up and harrassing some locals just trying to go about their business. Or trying to strike up a conversation with someone on their way to work. I never took it to mean that, who would do that? It would be rude and presumptive. Interacting doesn't mean just strolling up to a random stranger.When people say traveling is about "interacting with local people, " I believe that to mean that you're patronizing local owned businesses and shops, restaurants, etc (over just staying in a foreign-owned resort and eating at the resort restaurants.) It means walking through the town's market to get a feel for the community and culture. Or signing up for a cooking class run locally. Or going to see a local music performance. Browsing the local shops. This often comes with brief interactions with the locals running these businesses. It's all part of interacting. Basically getting out into the town and among the people, instead of just staying in a sterile resort or hotel setting.
>>2659346I think it sounds a bit antisocial, but it’s honestly not that weird—I think very few travelers really get to know much at all about locals apart from the ones that are interacting with them in various transactions.I (and many others, obviously) have gone just a bit deeper from time to time; I am a musician, and go out of my way to see a lot of local live music, so I’ve met and hung out temporarily with a lot of musicians (and fans). I’ve also stayed with locals in a handful of places, when I had friends introduce me to their friends on the ground. But I honestly don’t actually like doing that very much—I can enjoy taking a random local out for a meal, or having someone show me around for a few hours, or accompanying me to an event, but I far prefer having my own space to return to. I actually just turned down an invitation to Sweden for Midsommar because I didn’t want to be stuck in the cottage and with the family of a woman I barely know (a former co-worker of my wife’s) on a small island, even though she made Midsommar sound sort of fun. Oh, and I also hung out with a lot of locals when I was living somewhere long-term and could speak the local language comfortably, but that’s different.But on most of my trips I’m mostly interacting with my family, and just observing locals at a distance. I am OK with that.
>>2659357thanks bourdain
>>2659346When I visited the US so many people would strike up conversations with me
The problem is that locals in third world countries are often retards who can barely write their own name. What am I supposed to talk about with them? World affairs?
Felix Kjellberg (Pewdiepie) lives in Japan with his Italian wife and their infant mixed race (Nordic/Mediterranean) infant son, Bjorn. However, he’s made a terrible mistake.Japan is a unique culture. It is a racially homogenous ethnostate. Anyone who is not racially Japanese is considered a foreigner, and can NEVER be truly accepted. You see where I’m going here?Despite being BORN IN JAPAN, the kid will always be viewed as an outsider. Even though he was born there, he will never be accepted, because he is not racially Japanese.Imagine being a foreigner in your own country. What will be the psychological effects on the kid, as he realises that he will always be a Gaijan, even in the country where he was born and grows up in.
>>2643800>Despite being BORN IN JAPAN, the kid will always be viewed as an outsider. Even though he was born there, he will never be accepted, because he is not racially Japanese. Imagine being a foreigner in your own country.This is a pretty big misconception about Japan. The longer you live there the more you're expected to assimilate with the country.https://youtu.be/bx3gFfYDsYg?t=1320Just being an N1 and getting a bachelor's from a japanese university gets you over half way to permanent residency.
>>2658924That's not related to living in Japan retard
imagine being bjorn (lol) a white chad in japan. You'd be a huge hit with the cute japanese girls
>>2643800Nordics and mediterranean are 2 different White subraces you mongoloids.Its not race mixing
>>2645246>he thinks whiteness is based on looksThis is why I keep the map.
Thinking of going to Tijuana next month.
Thinking of going to mcdonalds next week.
>>2658442Tijuana is literally a mexican slum. You have bad taste anon. If you are going to visit that violent shithole where you cant trust anyone, go south and visit some of the best pyramids in the world.
Thinking of buying a Tijuana bible next month.
Women: OMG!! This is sexual harassment!!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJtl4E72kB4Why are they like this?
>>2659082>>2659089
>>2659089I was seated next to a fat woman named Jany on my flight. She ate cheetos and smelled terrible. Now that I think about it, she had a beard and cankles. Once the flight took off, I wrapped my belt around her neck until she no longer breathed. Stupid Jany.
>>2659082That's what he gets for not being an 8/10, fat fuck
>>2659089Missing the "what to do in this tiny country that I or no one else on Earth ever visits"
>>2659762This but unironically
