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Listening before speaking | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| CaitO'Ceallaigh Triglot Senior Member United States katiekelly.wordpress Joined 6863 days ago 795 posts - 829 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Russian Studies: Czech, German | Message 57 of 83 31 March 2006 at 10:20am | IP Logged | ||
Well, I mean growing up in a bilingual household is a gift. But sure, you can be gifted, too! :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| CaitO'Ceallaigh Triglot Senior Member United States katiekelly.wordpress Joined 6863 days ago 795 posts - 829 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Russian Studies: Czech, German | Message 58 of 83 31 March 2006 at 2:13pm | IP Logged | ||
Thankfully, attitudes here are changing. I found out that a good friend is due to have a baby this year, and that she and her husband (both born outside of the U.S.) plan to rear TRIlingual children. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7021 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 59 of 83 31 March 2006 at 2:26pm | IP Logged | ||
It would be interesting to see how soon their children start speaking. One of my wife's friends had an uncle who married a French woman. They brought up their children trilingually (English, Spanish, French) and none of them started to speak before they were three since they were so confused! When they started at nursery and then later at school, they promptly forgot their French and only used English and Spanish. Incidentally, what are the three languages your friends are planning on teaching their children? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| CaitO'Ceallaigh Triglot Senior Member United States katiekelly.wordpress Joined 6863 days ago 795 posts - 829 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Russian Studies: Czech, German | Message 60 of 83 31 March 2006 at 2:43pm | IP Logged | ||
English, French and Papiamentu. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Darobat Diglot Senior Member Joined 7194 days ago 754 posts - 770 votes Speaks: English*, Russian Studies: Latin | Message 61 of 83 02 April 2006 at 7:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've always wondered whether it would be easier to learn a language only passively at first, and then once you have a good handle on it, try speaking and writing. It seems like it would require less work and time, as you're focusing on only two of the four skills required to learn a language. Once you have those two down, then you move on to the next two skills. If my logic's correct, it would be easier to learn the remainder of the language because you already have a good grounding passively. Has anybody tried this, or know if it works like it does in my mind? Edited by Darobat on 02 April 2006 at 7:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 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 62 of 83 02 April 2006 at 9:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Darobat, that is how I learn using my Assimil programs and my Russian program, although it is not strictly true with the Russian but it is still the general approach.
I find I can understand both written and spoken language quite well before I begin to speak it. It seems to work well for me although I have often suspected it is a lazy method. With my Italian survival course I began speaking the language almost from day one and the results were excellent, so I can be persuaded either way so far as speaking or not speaking from the beginning. So far as your question as to whether it is easier to begin with passive learning, I would say it is definitely so. Also, I find passive learning at the beginning prevents most of the problems connected with learning two similar languages together. You get used to hearing the sentences as they should be spoken rather than mangling the language at the start mixing up words from both languages. That was my experience with German and Dutch. I mixed three languages, German Dutch and English when I tried to converse in Dutch. Then I learnt Dutch with Assimil Dutch With Ease and got used to hearing Dutch spoken correctly and soon was thinking in Dutch and not mixing or confusing the languages. Edited by fanatic on 02 April 2006 at 9:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Darobat Diglot Senior Member Joined 7194 days ago 754 posts - 770 votes Speaks: English*, Russian Studies: Latin | Message 63 of 83 02 April 2006 at 9:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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Interesting! What do you do for studying only passively when it comes to reading? I haven't seen any courses that only get you reading and not writing. Use a grammar book and then read with a dictionary perhaps?
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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 64 of 83 02 April 2006 at 11:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Reading is passive. Using Assimil or my Russian language programs I would listen to the recordings and read the text. My aim was to simply understand. I don't really regard writing or speaking as actively learning if I am only copying the text or the recordings.
I regard speaking or writing my own sentences or answering questions about the language, doing drills, as actively learning the language. Mainly, my own passive learning consists of listening to the recordings and reading the text. I read the grammar explanations so I understand them but not to memorise them. I don't try to memorise verb conjugations or cases. I just want to understand what it is all about so that by the time I begin the active stage I have memorised verbs and cases by using them. This is how children learn and it seems to work well. It has worked well for me. Edited by fanatic on 02 April 2006 at 11:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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