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Is speed important to you? | ||
Tags: Poll | Time to learn | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4828 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 9 of 35 18 June 2012 at 2:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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I replied "no", but would have replied "yes, somewhat", had there been that option.
I can see that for career, etc, purposes, speed will be very important to many people. That does not apply to me, as languages are purely a hobby nowadays. But I can also see that it makes sense to make the best use of one's time possible, and finding reasonably "efficient" ways of doing it seems just like common sense, so perhaps setting goals and targets is not such a bad thing to do, although it goes slightly against my lazy, laid-back style. Tarvos makes, of course, a good point about being able to use it sooner, the sooner one learns it. In the long run there are no short cuts (if that's not a horribly mixed metaphor or cliché overload), so hard work is going to be involved. But hard work and fun are not always mutually exclusive. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| aokoye Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5541 days ago 235 posts - 453 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Dutch, Norwegian, Japanese | Message 10 of 35 18 June 2012 at 5:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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For me the answer is yes and no and I'm actually kind of astonished at the sheer number of "how do I learn X
quickly" threads. For me, learning languages, among other things, is a journey and one that I expect to take a while. I don't think that it's realistic to learn bunches of things (i know, that wasn't specific at all) about a language in a year and I don't have a problem with that. I know that if I try to learn 40 kanji in a day I am going to get no where and will end up frustrated. I personally don't have a problem with the fact that I can't learn 50+ kanji a day. I know that I need to learn vocabulary via a number of exercises and thus most of the methods that I've seen on this website for learning vocabulary just don't work well for me. That said I do have goals. I want to sit the December JLPT N4 test, communicate with my language tandem partner in Japanese better as soon as I can, and finish Genki 1 in 12ish weeks. I like to focuse on my own developing ideas of intensive study. Those ideas involve lots of exercises, reading, speaking, and listening. It also involves trying to not get overwhelmed because, knowing me, if I do then my desire to study stops and thus learning stops as well. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6597 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 35 18 June 2012 at 5:40pm | IP Logged | ||
For me hurrying up too much would be like running instead of walking. I prefer to walk all day and enjoy the scenery as well:) Running can be good if you feel like it or if you need to reach a specific destination asap, but it's tiring and you can't run all the time. Edited by Serpent on 18 June 2012 at 5:50pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| mikonai Diglot Senior Member United States weirdnamewriting.bloRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4929 days ago 178 posts - 281 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Swahili, German | Message 12 of 35 18 June 2012 at 6:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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I guess speed is important to me, but not for the sake of learning the language
quickly, but for the sake of learning it at all. I personally don't function well without a deadline, even if it's self-imposed and for not particular reason. If I don't have it, I may have little streaks of work, but my studies will remain just a toy and I'll never really learn the language. I'll never get to say I can speak the language, just like if I don't buckle down and set some goals on a musical instrument I'll never get to stay I actually play the instrument, because I won't have any real skills with it. If I set both goals and a time limit, though, first of all I sit down to play with my toy more often, even when I get to the spots where it's not as much fun. So maybe it's not so much speed as just a deadline, but it does get the language learned faster than maybe if I didn't buckle down like I have to. I'd blame being in college, but I suspect that my state of procrastination is more permanent than these few years. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hekje Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4703 days ago 842 posts - 1330 votes Speaks: English*, Dutch Studies: French, Indonesian | Message 13 of 35 18 June 2012 at 7:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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Absolutely.
Honestly, it comes down to boredom. I'm already a huge media consumer in my normal life - I read the newspaper every morning, devour English-language books on all sorts of topics, and occasionally relax with TV. I also write a lot for school and for myself. Being unable to intelligently exchange with high-level Dutch cultural material, therefore, just kills me. Reading books aimed at middle school kids makes me want to stab out my eyes. Being unable to express my thoughts is one of the most frustrating things I can conceive of. So basically: I want to be able to access the good stuff this instant, but, knowing that I can't have that, I'll try make it at least just very soon. (I should add that I don't think there's any inherent value to speed. I could easily see myself studying at a faster or slower pace depending on my goals.) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6597 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 14 of 35 19 June 2012 at 12:20am | IP Logged | ||
The only children's book I've read in a foreign language is one for little fans of my favourite football/soccer team. They're not necessary, and if you don't enjoy them they're counter-productive. Edited by Serpent on 19 June 2012 at 12:23am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| PillowRock Groupie United States Joined 4734 days ago 87 posts - 151 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 15 of 35 19 June 2012 at 12:57am | IP Logged | ||
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Personally, I don't think this is a "yes / no" question. I see it more as an "on a scale of 1 to 10" sort of question.
At some level, and to some degree, *everybody* prefers "faster and more efficient". The question is: How much of an increase / decrease in speed matters to you, and how much does it matter? At one extreme is putting your entire life (including job) on hold while fully immersing yourself to learn the language as quickly as you possibly can. Few can afford to do that, though. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4828 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 16 of 35 19 June 2012 at 2:02am | IP Logged | ||
I heard of a couple actually doing that (I think I referred to it in another thread). I don't think they put their life on hold exactly, but they certainly radically changed their lifestyle for a period (still ongoing, I think). However, they had goals in mind, including professional ones I'm pretty sure, so the "sacrifice" is probably worth it to them. They both run their own businesses, and so have more control over their working lives than employees. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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