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Why you shouldn’t use the forum too much | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6052 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 9 of 28 03 March 2014 at 4:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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Excellent post, emk.
To the OP: you see, this forum has had its fair share of "Fashion Polyglots". It's not very wise to come in here and start talking about 15 languages, unless you already have at least half a dozen under your belt. And even then... When I started looking for languages to learn as a hobby, I was already fluent in three or four. And still, I remember saying to someone: "when you tell your friends that you're going to start learning Arabic, they'll tell you you're crazy; if you tell them you've been learning it for five years, they'll tell you how cool it is". Society (mine at least) values work and despises bragging. I'm not saying you're bragging, mind you. I joined this forum almost 6 years ago, and it took me a while to start posting. One of the things I did before that was to read the FAQs and recommendations. One of the most important had to do with the fact that in here you'll find very gifted linguists. Most of us are exceptions in our communities. When someone mentions (it's never me) I speak 5 or 6 languages, I generally go and hide somewhere. We live in a world of monoglots, diglots and (at the most) triglots. When you get here, there are people that have mastered quite a few languages, that have PhDs, that are professors, etc., etc. When I see a post like this, I usually take a look at the poster's profile. A monoglot with less than a month in the forum... mmm... it better be good. That being said, I wish you luck with your language learning. If I can be of help, just ask. But get to work. Edited by Luso on 03 March 2014 at 5:25pm 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| FashionPolyglot Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3934 days ago 39 posts - 73 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Portuguese | Message 10 of 28 03 March 2014 at 6:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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I appreciate all the responses. Please take my advice "With a grain of salt".
@DavidStyles I feel the same. I also appreciate people taking the time & effort helping others out. True, some advice can be deemed rubbish. And I agree that certain advices only apply to certain people. @Serpent What was that nice advice Cavesa told that one beginner? @kujichagulia Looks like you know my main point on "Time Management". Yes, everyone spends different amount of hours of forum use. Some more than 1 hour, and some, like me, follow the 1 hour rule. @Jiwon I only go on the forum to look for answers & ask for help. And I agree on your statement about "regular contributors". Without them, forums wouldn't have that "Feel". And if you don't feel that forums are helpful and resourceful, then why be a member? @Bao It is a language forum after all. I don't expect everyone to speak English. I fully acknowledge people who are willing to learn English. And if they want help with English, then there's no stopping them from scrolling through the HTLAL forum. @emk I have started learning Brazilian Portuguese since the start of the new year. I will admit that I can sometimes be a blabbermouth, but that doesn't mean I'm not making progress. I'm at beginner level (A1), and I only know introductions & basic travel phrases. I admit my accent and pronunciation is no where near that of a Brazilian. My time is very constrained. I'm only a teenager whose dealing with college life. At most, I have only 1 hour a day to practice Brazilian Portuguese. Balancing between homework, exercise, meal times, language learning, browsing the forum and learning fashion skills is a hard task. And I don't exactly feel comfortable posting my progress in my log. I will rarely update my log, because outside this forum, I'm actually a very quiet person. I'm an introvert, and I want to improve my social skills. That is why I want to tackle a language challenge, because I believe it will enhance the way I communicate to people. @To everyone I don't want to become a polyglot just yet. You don't plan to be a polyglot, you just become one over time. My only 3 goals right now is: 1. Graduate college with a double degree in Translation & International Fashion Business, with a minor in either Brazilian Portuguese, or Iberian Portuguese (Whatever is available for that certain university). 2. Reach C2 native level fluency in Brazilian Portuguese. 3. Become an Interpreter/Translator for a Fashion Business in either Brazil or Portugal. I don't have a lot of time in HTLAL. So please, don't assume I'm wasting my time here. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5253 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 11 of 28 03 March 2014 at 7:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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FP, the reason I suggested that you start a log is so that you could get help along the way. You don't have to document your progress at all but if you write about what you're learning and the problems you're having along the way, useful advice will flow to you. As I said before, if I see that you are serious about learning Portuguese, I will be happy to help you as I have helped others. So will the Brazilians and Portuguese. Emk has been and continues to be a big help to many here on the forum, and not just French learners.
Showing us that you're serious means learning a language. All we have to go by is what you tell us by your posting. If you're asking questions about learning techniques, grammar and resources, that's one way we can tell that you're serious. If you are trying to make a splash in the general forum as a newbie with no second language-learning under your belt, that is not a good use of what the forum can do for you. Having all this help on offer is a huge advantage for a beginner to have- to be mentored and helped along the way. Most of us are here to help and give of our time because we want to give back, to help others as we were helped along the way. The best part of this forum is the ability to call upon the community for help when you need it and to see what others are doing to give you ideas you may not have been aware of before. You have a tremendous opportunity here as a young person to take advantage of a brain trust of experienced learners and native-speakers to help you along the way, for free, provided we can see by your posting that you are serious about learning your language. It's up to you to take it. That being said, you can lead a horse to water... Edited by iguanamon on 03 March 2014 at 7:29pm 4 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 12 of 28 03 March 2014 at 7:46pm | IP Logged | ||
5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5757 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 13 of 28 03 March 2014 at 7:47pm | IP Logged | ||
In the part I deleted for it being too crabby I had written "don't hide behind your 'good intentions' if your advice is not met with open arms". Now, I'm very touchy about this at the moment, as recently, I've been subject to a lot of "well-intended advice" that I didn't ask for, and it does come across as quite patronizing; as if insinuating that I am not capable of making my own decisions. Barring the possibility that you might enjoy trolling, I would assume that you are just not that aware of the way your "well-intended advice" comes across. Let's see, when I read such a posting I think you might have two possible motives for writing it: -> you had that problem before and think you see it in somebody else in this group, but instead of asking the person in question whether they agree that they have a problem with that situation and offering your help if they do, you think it might have some benefit (I do not know which kind of) to instead turn it into a public discussion topic -> you do it yourself and instead of solving your own problem, you project your own situation onto others and tell yourself 'oh others do this too, see, they must solve this problem! I can tell them how to do it!' Of course there surely are many other possibilities, but those two are the only ones that came to me the moment I read your posting. I don't know you. I don't know your style of interacting. I, however, do know myself, know about my weaknesses (there are a lot of them), and when I want advice in how to tackle one of them I ask a person I perceive as somebody who has experience in overcoming that particular difficulty, because I've seen credible evidence of it. If you are a newcomer to a group, it generally doesn't pay off to start out by telling people what they've been doing wrong, how they are supposed to behave, before you have gained some credibility of your own by showing that you have some - any - idea of what you are doing and what you're talking about. I know that you might think "this is just a forum", and, indeed, it is, but this has been my experience in more groups than I would think a young, introverted, moody person like myself should have been part of. Oh, and I tend to lecture people, so it's been my experience from the receiving end of some of the typical reactions, too. If we're giving advice nobody asked for, this is mine. And, you misunderstood me. I didn't say that the people who are not native speakers of English are here to learn English, or that they are asking for help from anyone, even though my posting might have suggested that that is a possibility. What I was trying to convey was that for quite a large number of participants, this forum is not a "waste of time" when is comes to target language practice or, in the case of most of us, maintenance of one of our second languages. By not thinking of this possibility you made it sound like the forum is meant for native speakers of English and non-native speakers are just a tolerated minority. You might not have meant it that way. But that's how it came across to somebody who does speak your language to some degree of proficiency, but does not know you well enough to just assume "oh but that's not what he meant to say". Oh, by the way, the founder of the site is Swiss. Edited by Bao on 03 March 2014 at 8:52pm 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| sctroyenne Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5382 days ago 739 posts - 1312 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Irish | Message 14 of 28 03 March 2014 at 7:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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It may not seem like it now, but having recently made the transition between being a
student and being a "professional" you're never going to get more free time than you have now. So cherish the time you have while you still can (especially during breaks)! Once you're working and maintaining your own household and your health, time just compresses. And that's even without kids. As you're still a student, I *highly* recommend that you fit study abroad into your study plans! There may not be a lot of established options for Brazil and Portugal - if not, try to see if you can find a program that your university will accept. Otherwise try to go over for at least one summer (more if possible), and consider a Brazilian/Portuguese university for grad school. Spending time in the country is the best (and maybe only) way of getting to a C2 level and it's easiest to arrange a long- term stay when you're a student/young.
8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| FashionPolyglot Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3934 days ago 39 posts - 73 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Portuguese | Message 15 of 28 03 March 2014 at 8:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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Sorry to anyone I may have offended. I believe I came across as a smart-ass, lecturing people how they should do
things, without having much experience myself. Thanks again to those who gave me tremendous advice. Since I only have 1-2 hours a day practicing a language, I would want some help with that. How can I learn very effectively and efficiently with so little time? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| sctroyenne Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5382 days ago 739 posts - 1312 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Irish | Message 16 of 28 03 March 2014 at 8:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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At the beginning level, 1-2 hours a day is more than sufficient to make progress.
Assimil and Pimsleur, for example, take about half an hour a day (don't fall into temptation to do a bunch of lessons a day - it'll start to get hard). I wouldn't fill two hours a day with courses and deliberate studying. Make some of that time "immersion" time. If you have any DVDs that you could watch over and over again that happen to have a Portuguese track, that's great. You can also try reading - either listen-reading/bilingual readers or get easy graded readers. You can also try a language partner (such as through iTalki) and/or practice writing. Once you make more progress you'll get to the point where you can study by listening which will open up more time for you since listening allows you to do some multitasking (though not with something you have to focus on too much as most of your brainpower will need to go towards comprehension). 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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