Now that another of my kids is back at work (thank you God!) I have been providing some transportation. Sometimes she has to stay a bit late or run an errand, so I wanted to find a way to redeem the time in the car, parked and waiting. I discovered some free language apps for my Kindle Fire tablet and got the same app, "Learn ____ 6000 Words", in 4 different languages. Here is what I have learned so far, after starting each at the beginning and working through a few lessons:
German: My pronunciation skills always need more practice. I don't sound anything like the native speaker on the app. I took German in high school and college, including scientific translation, but am nowhere near fluent. I can read or watch a movie, but want to get much better.
Norwegian: Not as similar to German as I expected, but still not too hard to pick up some basic vocabulary. No previous experience except watching the Ragnarok series in Norwegian with English subtitles.
Italian: I find it downright musical, and decided I wanted to learn some Italian after watching Medici on Netflix. I can roll an r, which is helpful. I did have some experience singing in Latin, but not specifically in Italian.
French: I haven't got a prayer when it comes to spelling or pronouncing French, but I think I could learn to read it. Possibly understand it when spoken, but not sure. The sounds all seem to blur together when I hear the speaker on the app. No experience, although one of my sisters started college as a French major and my daughters all took some in high school.
I have put the link for one of the apps below--just follow it and look for the language you want to check out. Comment and let me know what you think. No affiliation, just free fun.