Keith Diglot Moderator JapanRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6806 days ago 526 posts - 536 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map
| Message 1 of 12 26 November 2008 at 12:19pm | IP Logged |
I am now using the TV method to acquire the Chinese language.
I will not look up words.
I will not memorize vocabulary.
I will try not to think about the language.
I will not speak until I can do so naturally.
I will not ask questions.
I will not take notes.
I started with some online TV channels, but I found the display to be small and the quality to be a problem as well as the schedule. So I bought a TV drama on 9 DVD discs. I will buy more. I have written all about what I found on my blog in October. It is based on ALG World and the success of Reineke backs up the idea that it can be done through TV.
So this is what I am doing now. Wish me luck!
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reineke Senior Member United States https://learnalangua Joined 6476 days ago 851 posts - 1008 votes Studies: German
| Message 2 of 12 26 November 2008 at 3:37pm | IP Logged |
Keith wrote:
I am now using the TV method to acquire the Chinese language.
I will not look up words.
I will not memorize vocabulary.
I will try not to think about the language.
I will not speak until I can do so naturally.
I will not ask questions.
I will not take notes.
I started with some online TV channels, but I found the display to be small and the
quality to be a problem as well as the schedule. So I bought a TV drama on 9 DVD
discs. I will buy more. I have written all about what I found on my blog in October.
It is based on ALG World and the success of Reineke backs up the idea that it can be
done through TV.
So this is what I am doing now. Wish me luck! |
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Hey Keith
A few observations.
- I was a kid. I was an entertainment-starved kid who discovered Japanese cartoons.
Nothing else competed for my attention.
I remember having a math lesson at 2 PM, Urusei Yatsura (Lamu, la ragazza dello Spazio
for me) would end at 1:55. I believe the name of the channel was Odeon TV. The
distance between my house and where I was taking lessons would normally take 20 mins.
I’d be there in 6-8 minutes, my heart thumping real hard. The guy was an ass
and being 5 minutes late was a very big deal.
I went from basically monolingual Croatian > Italian, a bigger jump than
English>Spanish but nowhere near as ambitious as what you’re trying to do.
I had no rules. I looked up very few words and only when I felt like it. I remember
very vividly asking mom, looking up and memorizing the days of the week and all the
possible ways of telling time – so I wouldn’t miss my favorite shows. I think having
too many strict rules will eventually bum you out.
I took very long breaks, 8 months or so of doing things that were not related to
Italian and necessarily forgetting a good deal of what I had learned the previous
summer. When I “studied” it was likely a 4-5 hour block or longer. I had fun breaks
(swimming and such) and I’d be home early for another 4-5 hour study block.
Once I wrote about my own experience regarding (in)comprehensible input and I
mentioned a very high number of hours it took me to get to a certain level. Later I
looked up the dates when some shows first aired. I have likely overestimated the
number of hours it took me to get to a good passive knowledge of Italian. I cannot
give you a good estimate.
TV screen quality. I started with a 15” black-and-white TV and upgraded later to a big
20” ...black-and-white. I was the last kid in town with a color TV :)
Picture quality. Sometimes terrible, channels would interfere with each other,
sometimes great. Sound quality – mono, generally quite good.
TV vs DVD. You’re missing out on commercials and reruns. Sort of a natural spaced
repetition.
"Three years of elementary school German" refers to reading through three booklets.
Recently I was sort of forced to watch Chinese soaps. A decent number of hours. I
figured out a few things and promptly forgot them. I’ll likely do this with Spanish
and Russian (books + movies) but I’d follow a more traditional approach with a
language like Japanese (while watching TV). Oh, BTW, I am still a victim of this
childhood obsession and one day I will have to exorcise the Japanese Oni.
So, Gambatte! Have fun!
Edited by reineke on 26 November 2008 at 5:56pm
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lase Diglot Newbie United States pluble.netRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6115 days ago 31 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Danish, Italian, French
| Message 3 of 12 26 November 2008 at 5:05pm | IP Logged |
I just don't quite understand how this even works if you have no foundation in the grammar or the language for that matter :S, care to shed some light on the more philosophical aspects of your method?
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JohnnyR Groupie United Kingdom how-to-learn-any-lan Joined 5874 days ago 47 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Portuguese, Japanese
| Message 4 of 12 26 November 2008 at 10:08pm | IP Logged |
Good luck Keith, i think you might need!
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unzum Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom soyouwanttolearnalan Joined 6943 days ago 371 posts - 478 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Mandarin
| Message 5 of 12 26 November 2008 at 10:36pm | IP Logged |
Here's someone else who tried the same thing with Tibetan:
Tibetan by Osmosis.
Also Norsk Experiment, although he used a textbook, albeit in Norwegian only.
I do a similar thing when I'm watching Korean films/drama. I have the English subtitles but I listen hard to the Korean and try to map the words. Kind-of like the L/R thing. The only thing I've learnt so far is that 'Oppa' means big brother and a lot of Korean sentences end in -sumnida.
Good luck! It'll be interesting to see how much you can learn.
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Keith Diglot Moderator JapanRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6806 days ago 526 posts - 536 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map
| Message 6 of 12 27 November 2008 at 2:49am | IP Logged |
reineke, thank you. I don't have the feeling that I have a bunch of strict rules. I just stated what I will not be doing. To me, it feels like a very easy, very lazy method.
lase wrote:
I just don't quite understand how this even works if you have no foundation in the grammar or the language for that matter :S, care to shed some light on the more philosophical aspects of your method? |
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lase, I cannot prove how this works with no foundation in the language. I do have a very basic foundation and know a few words. Though, I only understand one percent of what I am watching now. But ALG has proven that it works, although they use live people and not TV.
JohnnyR, thank you.
unzum, I know I have come across that Tibetan thing before. Probably just last month! But I don't remember what it says. Aah, taking a look now, I see. He only used audio and for only an hour a day. He gave up after 4.5 months.
Even if using TV, an hour a day is not enough, my friends.
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JohnnyR Groupie United Kingdom how-to-learn-any-lan Joined 5874 days ago 47 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Portuguese, Japanese
| Message 7 of 12 27 November 2008 at 10:09am | IP Logged |
What is the motivation for wanting to do it like this? You're interested to see if you can make it work?
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Keith Diglot Moderator JapanRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6806 days ago 526 posts - 536 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map
| Message 8 of 12 28 November 2008 at 2:42am | IP Logged |
Quote:
What is the motivation for wanting to do it like this? You're interested to see if you can make it work? |
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The motivation is to become like a native speaker and use the language without thinking. To hear words and sentences and to have the meanings register immediately without even the slightest pause to think about it or translate. The motivation is the end results. Maybe I can explain better later. I haven't much time right now.
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