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My 20 Suggestions for Learning a Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| sprachefin Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5737 days ago 300 posts - 317 votes  Speaks: German*, English, Spanish Studies: French, Turkish, Mandarin, Bulgarian, Persian, Dutch | Message 17 of 22 07 July 2009 at 7:02am | IP Logged | ||
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23. Write words and quotes in your target language on posters around your home (of course make it look interesting and "cool"). It surrounds you with a sort of atmosphere that makes you feel like your not in your own country anymore.
24. Put all your native language books and movies into storage (except necessary books such as textbooks etc.) and replace them with as much material as you can in your target language. Edited by sprachefin on 07 July 2009 at 7:03am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7137 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 19 of 22 10 July 2009 at 4:12am | IP Logged | ||
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I wrote I don't use my system for memorising word lists. Why give it?
I have used the method for memorising word lists when I know I will be tested on them, usually in class. This can be very useful for students who have to cram to pass a test or exam. So, see it as a tool you can use but, for normal language-learning, I prefer to learn a language in context. My suggestion I don't like word lists and flash cards has to be taken with that proviso, that they can be necessary in certain situations. My suggestions were for general language learning. But, if I continually get stuck with a word or keep mixing them, I will use this method to remind me of the correct word to use. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7137 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 20 of 22 10 July 2009 at 4:54am | IP Logged | ||
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I was invited to help a teacher who was asked to take over a New Testament Greek class at a local bible college. I showed him how he could teach the vocabulary for a whole semester in one evening. He invited me to give the class.
In one hour every student was able to call out the Greek word when given the English and vice versa. A number of students weren't even taking Greek. They just visited the class to see what it was about. They learnt the vocabulary as well. This is an example of when I do encourage people to use my method. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6694 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 21 of 22 10 July 2009 at 11:28am | IP Logged | ||
So you have an excellent an fun method to learn words through wordlists, and you have positive proof that it works also on others ... but you don't like it, so you don't use it. Far from critisizing you I would say that this is brillant and sets an example for other language learners. Kudos. I'm in the opposite camp. I am fairly sure that flash cards works, but so does poker and I don't like either of them. Therefore I don't use flashcards, and I don't play poker. I also believe that 'funny associations' can work - provided that you have enough fantasy to produce them whenever you need them. But I don't like them, so I don't use them. Maybe they remind me too much of fictional literature including poetry, which I also happen to be deeply sceptical of. Instead I prefer associations that aren't figments of the imagination, but rely on existing relations to other words in the same or other language, or maybe to words in earlier versions in the language, or maybe just ressemblances with other words (that's why I normally base my wordlists on dictionaries in the target language, so that the alphabetical order can be used as a reference). All these things mean that a list of words from a dictionary isn't just a list of meaningless syllables, at least not when I'm beyond the beginner's stage. Context is fine, but not for learning new words. When I read extensively and meet relevant new words in a text I jot them down or ignore them. I only look them up if I otherwise couldn't understand the context. Reading extensively is an exercise whose purpose is to develop the powers of a bulldozer, not those of a brain surgeon. I leave that for intensive reading, where I also study the grammar, look up everything within sight and try to identify idiomatic expressions. But memorizing single words or equivalent expressions is in my world best done as a special activity separated from both extensive and intensive reading, and that's where the wordlists come in as the most efficient tool I have yet had the pleasure to try. Edited by Iversen on 10 July 2009 at 11:38am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sajro Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5987 days ago 129 posts - 131 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 22 of 22 11 July 2009 at 12:13am | IP Logged | ||
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This thread is essentially a condensed and updated version of the HTLAL book without the stupid boxer metaphors.
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