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Intensity is the Secret | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6677 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes  4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 1 of 87 10 April 2009 at 8:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Here an article from Steve Kaufmann about "The real secret to language learning success - intensity" http://thelinguist.blogs.com/how_to_learn_english_and/2009/0 3/the-real-secret-to-language-learning-success-intensity.htm l 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| portunhol Triglot Senior Member United States thelinguistblogger.w Joined 6254 days ago 198 posts - 299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (classical) | Message 2 of 87 10 April 2009 at 9:15pm | IP Logged | |||||
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There isn't just one key. Method and discipline/motivation are equally important. That said, I have often felt that this was the best way to learn a language. The more you can learn at once over a short period of time, the better. Unless your target language is already pretty closely related to another language you speak well then spending 20 minutes a day will probably not help you too much.
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| josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6448 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch | Message 3 of 87 10 April 2009 at 9:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Funny; I thought that according to Steve Kaufmann, the key to language learning was LINGQ LINGQ LINGQ LINGQ LINGQ LINGQ LINGQ LINGQ. Or so one would assume by reading most of his articles.
Of course, the fact that he's the maker of LingQ and wants to sell subscriptions to his service has nothing at all to do with his preference for said system. 11 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6677 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 4 of 87 10 April 2009 at 9:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree with Kauffman's article and I do not spend any time with his lingQ method. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| anamsc Triglot Senior Member Andorra Joined 6205 days ago 296 posts - 382 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan Studies: Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Written), French | Message 5 of 87 10 April 2009 at 10:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have to respectfully disagree. I think it seems like you learn more through "intensity", i.e. studying alot in a short amount of time as opposed to the same amount but spread out over a long time, because you really notice the difference. You can say, wow, a month ago I didn't know any of language X, and now I can listen to the news and understand it, instead of improving little by little so that you don't realize it as much. That, and if you lose interest over time you'll still have done that large amount.
I personally think that if I studied 1 hour a day for 60 days, I would learn as much as or more than if I studied 10 hours a day for 6 days, or even if I studied 3 hours a day for 20 days. But maybe that's just the way my brain works--it doesn't like to cram or to have to move too quickly. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6677 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 6 of 87 10 April 2009 at 11:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
What he says is: "I was sure that learning Chinese in 8 or 9 months, working 6-10 hours a day, enabled me to learn better than if I had taken 2 years to learn it, at a more leisurely pace. I think there is a white heat of activity which causes networks to form in the brain, and the hotter the temperature, the more intense the learning." The point is that intensity and time are the most important factors= massive practice. We need to study as much as we can every day, as hard as possible and as long as possible. Hard= intensity 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Javi Senior Member Spain Joined 5983 days ago 419 posts - 548 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 7 of 87 10 April 2009 at 11:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
I've read most of his articles too and I never assumed that. There are a number of reasons as to why I don't use LingQ, but that doesn't mean I don't agree with him, actually I share many of his views on language learning and I use a very similar approach on my own. His principles and the product he ships are independent of each other to some extend. For example, intensity is something you can apply to almost every learning method or course. So, I can't really understand your bias against him. For a start he provides a lot of free content, especially in my target language, which happens to be English, and as far as I know, basic membership in his site is also free of charge so you can have a go like I did. Just because something is advertised and sold, it doesn't mean it is wrong. In regards to the article, I completely agree, sabbatical years are not good. Sometimes I only need a week away from the language to start feeling awkward when I pick up again. Edited by Javi on 10 April 2009 at 11:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| anamsc Triglot Senior Member Andorra Joined 6205 days ago 296 posts - 382 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan Studies: Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Written), French | Message 8 of 87 10 April 2009 at 11:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
What I understood was that he was saying in that quote was that by putting in the same amount of hours but in a shorter amount of time, he learned better. That's exactly what I am refuting. Of course if you put in more TOTAL hours you'll be more likely to learn more. I'm definitely not arguing with that. But I don't think cramming those hours into 8 months enables you to learn better than spreading the same amount out over 2 years (which is what I think he was claiming). Or at least, that's not how it works for me. Anyways, I also don't agree that studying as hard as possible and as long as possible is the best plan either way, at least not for me. Like I said, my brain needs down time to ruminate over things for them to stick with me. It's just different learning styles I guess. But I still don't think that's what the article was really saying in the first place. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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