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Listening before speaking

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83 messages over 11 pages: 1 2 3 46 7 ... 5 ... 10 11 Next >>
solidsnake
Diglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 7047 days ago

469 posts - 488 votes 
Speaks: English*, Mandarin

 
 Message 33 of 83
07 February 2006 at 1:41pm | IP Logged 
[QUOTE=maxb] Just wanted to add that I'm now convinced that obtaining
a native accent beyond the "critical age" of 10 is possible. I recently heard
a man interviewed on Swedish radio who spoke Swedish without a trace of
foreign accent. He came to Sweden when he was 15, so he started
learning well after the supposed critical age. He said that he spent a lot of
time listening to the radio. First to childrens program and then to talk
radio. So the reason most adult learners fail in this regard is, I think,
because they either don't care or their method of learning is incorrect.[/
QUOTE]

Definitely.. look at DaShan for example. He went to china in his early 20s.
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fanatic
Octoglot
Senior Member
Australia
speedmathematics.com
Joined 7152 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 34 of 83
20 February 2006 at 7:05pm | IP Logged 
I was just speaking with a man who has learnt Portuguese and Spanish and spent some years in South America. He said he went to a town in Brazil where they spoke a dialect that was very difficult to understand. He said he worked but didn't say anything for six months, then began speaking fluently. He said he was afraid of making mistakes and looking silly in front of his co-workers, so he said nothing. I suppose he must have said something, but he probably got away with giving one word answers to questions.

I will be meeting with him soon so I will ask him.

I wonder if there are a lot of similar cases where people don't speak because they are shy or afraid of making mistakes, then suddenly begin speaking.
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jerikl
Newbie
Joined 7182 days ago

19 posts - 20 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Portuguese

 
 Message 35 of 83
20 February 2006 at 8:01pm | IP Logged 
I am very interested in this topic ... after I am comfortable with my first second language (Portuguese), I believe I will try this for my second (probably Spanish). It seems to make a lot of sense.

fanatic, I'm of course extremely interested to hear about your friend's case with Portuguese and Spanish :)
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InsanePenguin
Senior Member
Wales
Joined 6877 days ago

248 posts - 248 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 36 of 83
26 February 2006 at 12:34pm | IP Logged 
This makes me want to try Assimil even more, with Pimsleur I'm about to complete unit one, after lesson 25ish when the lessons got harder the listening to conversations got harder to understand, I often thought if I became good at listening to Spanish and understanding lots of conversations the question and response part would be made alot easier.
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axe02
Triglot
Groupie
Joined 7227 days ago

71 posts - 73 votes 
Speaks: English*, Portuguese, French

 
 Message 37 of 83
27 February 2006 at 2:49pm | IP Logged 
This concept of delaying speaking is very intriguing. It does seem to make a lot of sense - exposing oneself to a lot of comprehensible input to intuitively absorb how the language works. I can see how speaking too soon (outside of repetition) would interfere with this assimilation of correct (or at least commonly used) speech, possibly embedding the wrong pronunciation (from the learner's output) and incorrect/limited structures into our memories. I think there are several language experts who claim you cannot properly produce a sound you cannot hear accurately, and most of the time we jump straight into trying to pronounce the new language. Even after going through all 3 levels of Pimsleur and lots of other speaking practice, I wasn't satisfied with my French pronunciation. It's a lot better now that I've spent more time on listening.

If anyone has used this method of learning, I think we'd all be very interested in reading about your experiences. I'll probably experiment with this method for my next language.
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jeff_lindqvist
Diglot
Moderator
SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6915 days ago

4250 posts - 5711 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English
Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French
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 Message 38 of 83
27 February 2006 at 3:02pm | IP Logged 
A friend of mine told me about a method used in France. Each student sat in a booth with headphones listening to spoken French, and eventually repeating what was said. The teacher could listen to every student and correct them. According to my friend it worked wonders.
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axe02
Triglot
Groupie
Joined 7227 days ago

71 posts - 73 votes 
Speaks: English*, Portuguese, French

 
 Message 39 of 83
27 February 2006 at 3:08pm | IP Logged 
That sounds very interesting. Did your friend say what the name of the method or of the school in France was?
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jeff_lindqvist
Diglot
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Joined 6915 days ago

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Speaks: Swedish*, English
Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French
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 Message 40 of 83
27 February 2006 at 3:28pm | IP Logged 
No, but I can ask him.


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