The most frequently asked questions about learning foreign languages

Lingust (stress on the first syllable) is a mythical creature that khows all foreign languages. Legend has it that those who meet Lingust instantaneously gain unprecedented knowledge about foreign languages. However, nobody has ever met it before... How does it look like?
Having left the instructions for learning foreign languages, it set out to explore the languages of other planets and, perhaps, will never come back... Those who will follow its instuctions will surely succeed in learning foreign languages.

My name is Sergei (you may call me Grey), I’m from Russia (probably your favourite country, just kidding), and that is all you need to know about the developers, because there is nobody else here. I have 2 university degrees: Information Technology and Linguistics. Before I became a certified linguist, I had been learning a lot on my own. This learning experience was used in creation of this website. I know what it means to learn independently, that is why I took the responsibility on myself to help the others in this challenging matter. Those who only know information technology don’t understand what regular people need. And those who know languages either don’t intend for regular folks to learn languages by themselves, or they just don’t know how to create a good website. To unite such people so that they can think in one direction is difficult and expensive. That is why the website is free (see the question below).
Upon the recommendation of Google, I created a personal page about myself: about the author.

Yes, it is. When I was learning English on my own, I just didn’t have any money to spend on courses, which are useless in most cases anyway. That is why I understand the enormous benefit of free education. Everyone has a chance here wherever you come from.

The website is hosted on a high-capacity server (computer) that costs a lot + other expenses to support the site = you help is essential for its survival. Every time you are on the website, don’t forget to click on any advertisement you find interesting. A click costs several cents or (hopefully) more. One click for one day. Very simple.

If you don’t see blocks with ads, it means that a blocker is installed on your browser (or computer). The most popular is uBlock Origin, in this case you just need to make an exception for this site. You need to turn it off, in this case, its button will be grey, like this:

It’s possible that you have another blocker installed, in this case you need to ask the person who installed it to you.

Also, recommend the website to your friends and leave a link on it somewhere on the Internet if possible.

The most popular. :)

• Don’t place links in your comments. They will be deleted without ascertaining your intentions (it’s ads in 95% of cases)
• Don’t move to the next lesson until you have learned the current lesson. Without knowledge of the previous lessons you won’t progress in your learning.
• Don’t insult anyone here. Keep all your negativity to yourself. Such comments will be deleted.
• Don’t give advice to "developers". If there is a problem, of course, tell about it. However, a lot of people just think that they know everything and spam their comments everywhere, so-called armchair experts. All issues here are known, and they will be addressed as soon as possible, if it’s possible.
• Show some respect when talking to someone, especially the owner of the website. Otherwise, there is the blackest list here, just for you.
• Don’t propose users to learn their own language first (because they are writing with mistakes)! First of all, 50% of such experts write with mistakes themselves. Secondly, the knowledge of one’s own language has nothing to do with learning a foreign language.
• If you are not on friendly terms with computers or phones, ask someone to show you how this website works. Sometimes, people appear from nowhere who doesn’t know how to do simply things with computers, they write one thing but mean another thing. It’s impossible to help such people, because they don’t understand what’s going on, but they blame me for not guessing their thoughts right.

Just open the website on your phone and see that everything works great on it. However, there are no mobile applicatons.

Change or update your web browser.

Nope.

Attention! Before ask a question, read the comments under the lesson.

There is a comment system under each lesson. Write your question there.

Usually, the levels are: A1 (Beginner), A2 (Elementary), B1 (Intermediate), B2 (Upper-Intermediate), C1 (Advanced), C2 (Proficiency). All this is very relative, that’s why if some test shows you a certain level you like, don’t flatter yourself, it’s just a test.

The lessons on the website usually include A1-A2 levels. However, the English course includes B1.

This website is a translation of the Russian site with the same name: lingust.ru. (note that not all sections of the Russian version will be here due to different reasons)

It’s impossible not to understand anything. Surely you understood something. Focus on that and then formulate what went wrong after. This way someone may help you. If you can’t do that, it means you didn’t even read the lesson. In this case, maybe you should start learning reading first... Such comments will be deleted.

Some people see mistakes everywhere, even if they don’t exist. If you think that there is a mistake, write about it, of course, however, try to use as much details as possible. I don’t know all the languages on the website, that is why I need to be 100% sure that this is a mistake. Moreover, these courses are translations from Russian, this makes things a little bit more complicated. There could be a simple mistake or a simple misprint, or it could be a translation mistake, or a phrase that doesn’t sound good to a native speaker. There also could be none of these, so, please, write in details.

Reading, writing, speaking and listening are all different skills. If you only have been reading all this time, then all you will be able to do is to read. Don’t forget that you also have to write, to listen and to speak. If there is no audio in the lessons, find an additional audio course. You can practise speaking just by retelling texts aloud (+ without reading, by memory), the louder, the better.

If you have time, desire and possibilities, then all right, you may learn several languages. But I recommend you to focus on only one, but, in time, you’ll figure out yourself whether you manage another language or not.

And how long did it take to learn your own language? You still probably make mistakes in it or don’t know some words. Am I right? The thing is that to learn a foreign language you need much more time because the conditions in which it is being learned are very different from the conditions in which you was learning your own language. Of course, if you want to learn a language that is similar to your own, it’ll be much easier...