William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6274 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French
| Message 81 of 87 13 February 2010 at 4:19pm | IP Logged |
I think intensity is the key. 15-20 minutes a day will just not do it. I am in favour of at least two hours a day, more if you can do it.
I log the amount of time I spend on a language. I often fill in squares in squared paper to record blocks of time. I aim to reach 100 hours, to review how far I have got with the language in question. And I try to get to there as quickly as possible, which encourages intense learning.
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John Smith Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6044 days ago 396 posts - 542 votes Speaks: English*, Czech*, Spanish Studies: German
| Message 82 of 87 13 February 2010 at 4:25pm | IP Logged |
If intensity is the secret then so is learning only a very small number of languages. Maybe just one.
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vb Octoglot Senior Member Afghanistan Joined 6424 days ago 112 posts - 135 votes Speaks: English, Romanian, French, Polish, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Russian, Swedish
| Message 83 of 87 13 February 2010 at 10:29pm | IP Logged |
Intensity is indeed the key, as it minimises forgetting.
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William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6274 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French
| Message 84 of 87 14 February 2010 at 5:20pm | IP Logged |
It may be necessary to put other languages on hold while you concentrate on one or two in particular.
Erasmus, for example, is reported to have worked day and night to learn Greek, over a period of about three years. He was an ex-monk and seems to have lived pretty austerely, and his dedication to Greek bordered on the fanatical. He got there in the end.
Edited by William Camden on 14 February 2010 at 5:21pm
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cad40324 Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5648 days ago 11 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French
| Message 85 of 87 15 February 2010 at 7:55pm | IP Logged |
I think the back and forth bickering is useless. The sad part, however, is that people
are still arguing over individual learning methods, when the whole concept of
individualized learning styles have been proven completely false. Learning is a process
by which mental energy is applied to gaining knowledge through external sources. The
learning process is: sensation/perception/concept-formation. Sensation is purely
objective and does not vary between normal people, i.e. no "learning styles". What HAS
been proved is that multiple sensation does increase learning efficiency. There is no
one person who benefits from audio-only, visual-only- rather 100% of people would
benefit by exploiting both. Professor Arguelles has the right idea when he talks about
utilizing multiple resources at the same time. Multiple input = multiple sensations =
easier ability to perceive = correctly integrated concepts.
For more information: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIv9rz2NTUk
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Aquedita Triglot Senior Member Poland myspace.com/aqueda_v Joined 6016 days ago 154 posts - 164 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese Studies: Mandarin
| Message 86 of 87 17 February 2010 at 10:31pm | IP Logged |
I do agree with the main thesis of the article.
Intensity of language learning is crucial not only for the sake of exposure itself but also because it leaves you with no other choice than to search for extensive materials and fresh techniques in order to avoid boredom and burn out.
Edited by Aquedita on 17 February 2010 at 10:31pm
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William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6274 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French
| Message 87 of 87 18 February 2010 at 3:32pm | IP Logged |
Intensity is something that crash courses typically aim at. If you were eating, breathing and sleeping an L2 and instruction in it for six to eight weeks, you probably would be pretty good at it by the end, despite not a lot of time passing.
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