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Optimal time to activate a language? | ||
Tags: Activating a Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| YnEoS Senior Member United States Joined 4245 days ago 472 posts - 893 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 9 of 14 06 April 2014 at 1:13am | IP Logged | |||||
Lots of really helpful advice everyone, thanks!
I first tried L-R way back when I was a beginner and was trying out different learning methodologies, but ultimately decided to stick to beginner courses for my first self-taught languages. Though I actually picked it up again this week now that many of my Assimil courses are coming to an end. I think I will continue with it, alongside of some more intensive reading and my Anksi Subs2SRS decks.
I might try this out as my first active activity later on in my studies. There are lots of message boards I could post on in some of the languages I'm studying. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5157 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 10 of 14 07 April 2014 at 10:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I don't think passive skills automagically convert into active ones. There are tons of
people who are fluent at reading - at classical languages, for instance. On the other hand, what happens with me is that a little dosis of activation can account for a good result. Your active skills will be always lag behind your passive ones, but even that may be more than enough. You can do a lot with a Georgian active A2, sometimes more than a passive B2. That is, I'm more confident to say I can talk and get by in Georgian than to say I can understand Norwegian. I go to the extent of saying I can speak Georgian better than read or write it, because the little I know, the 'islands' I know would help me survive, shop, do small talk in Georgia, while my reading skills wouldn't allow me to read one single newspaper article. So, thinking about Russian: my passive skills are A2 but my active skills are actually A0. I can't say a sentence that isn't a phrasebook formula. On the other hand, I'm sure with a couple - not many, really - sessions I'd be able to improve it. I'd probably develop some islands. That's another issue with active skills - the islands, i.e., the recurring subjects you have already developped a good skill for. What I noticed with Georgian: the conversations one can have at an online chat will always turn around how and why I studied Georgian, when I plan to go to Georgian, why Georgian before Russian, what I do for a living etc. Those islands don't take much to be created - much less than 100 Assimil study days, in my experience. They allow me to chat on a regular basis with Georgians and, as I use them, I occasionally throw in a more complex context. Grammar- wise, though, as I have mastered the case system and the present, future and simple past, I really don't have syntactical problems other than subordinate clauses that use anterior past tenses. The frequency of such more osbcure topics means that I won't deal with them that often when doing small talk at chatrooms. To sum up my impressions: I don't reach an active A2 until I actually work on activating it. On the other hand, an active A2 can last for a long time as the small- talk topics tend to repeat themselves. At that point, your passive skills will keep evolving. So, when your passive skills reach a higher level, then they start retro- feeding your active skills. You will be able to reach a higher level at your active skills too, but you need some active-skill techniques for the earlier stages (well, at least I did), only if it is just as an ice-breaker for a couple or a dozen of sessions. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6588 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 11 of 14 07 April 2014 at 11:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5157 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 12 of 14 07 April 2014 at 11:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Well, I activated my Georgian skills without listening (because there weren't enough
resources for listening). I just did that - started practicing active skills in Georgian till they got better. On the other hand, I normally do listening in Chinese and won't really activate it until I do the same occasional chat I did with Georgian. Different methods work for different people. I feel I really need this 5,6-session ice-breaker. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6588 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 13 of 14 07 April 2014 at 11:26pm | IP Logged | |||||
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And do you read Mandarin?
Sure, whatever works for you. I just insist that if only reading or only listening don't bring active skills with them, that's not proof that passive skills can't become active. If you do both but that's not enough, then that's a completely different discussion. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5157 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 14 of 14 07 April 2014 at 11:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Yeah that's what I meant, I read-listen to Mandarin but it's not enough, you have to use
so many formulae to phrase even the simplest information that I do need to work on an ice-breaker. I should try text chat before voicechat, to see if it works better. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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