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"Just tell me what to do"

 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center Post Reply
37 messages over 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5  Next >>
sctroyenne
Diglot
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5397 days ago
739 posts - 1312 votes 
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Spanish, Irish

 
 Message 25 of 37
24 January 2014 at 10:23pm | IP Logged 
Oh! Another tip I just thought of. Since it's the whole family that needs to learn, look
into taking in an exchange student or someone else wanting a home stay if at all
possible. Perhaps make an agreement for a reduced cost/free stay in exchange for
tutoring/conversation sessions.
4 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6603 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 26 of 37
24 January 2014 at 11:05pm | IP Logged 
Great idea!!!
1 person has voted this message useful



renaissancemedi
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
Greece
Joined 4364 days ago
941 posts - 1309 votes 
Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2
Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 27 of 37
25 January 2014 at 8:34am | IP Logged 
Also, he should try to love the language from the start. German turns you into a dedicated follower anyway, but he should try to fall in love. If it's simply an obligation he'll never do it properly.
4 persons have voted this message useful



AML
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6831 days ago
323 posts - 426 votes 
2 sounds
Speaks: English*
Studies: Modern Hebrew, German, Spanish

 
 Message 28 of 37
28 January 2014 at 2:43pm | IP Logged 
Alright, I read everyone's advice. Knowing his personality and his needs in 18 months, I concluded that my buddy needs to juggle the fewest possible number of learning tasks. Therefore I recommended
that he emphasize:
1.) Speaking every day (via iTalki, for example, where he can pay for some teachers he likes)
2.) Reading every day (aloud).

As auxiliary learning methods if he has time/desire for any of them, I suggested that he:
(a) put words/sentences into Anki and review a little each day
(b) occasionally flip through a grammar book when he feels like it would be useful
(c) listen to German radio/music/audiobooks as he commutes to/from work
(d) take in German couchsurfers
(e) replace the kids' nanny with a German-speaking one

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!
1 person has voted this message useful



culebrilla
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4003 days ago
246 posts - 436 votes 
Speaks: Spanish

 
 Message 29 of 37
28 January 2014 at 2:54pm | IP Logged 
renaissancemedi wrote:
Also, he should try to love the language from the start. German turns you into a dedicated follower anyway, but he should try to fall in love. If it's simply an obligation he'll never do it properly.


Nah, if it is an obligation he will probably learn it much better and more quickly. If the option is to learn German to keep or get a job to provide for your family or not learn...you're going to learn it very well and try to learn it fast.

Survival is the best motivator, in my opinion. I think of all the immigrants I personally know that had to learn English to survive.
1 person has voted this message useful



patrickwilken
Senior Member
Germany
radiant-flux.net
Joined 4539 days ago
1546 posts - 3200 votes 
Studies: German

 
 Message 30 of 37
28 January 2014 at 6:15pm | IP Logged 
AML wrote:
Alright, I read everyone's advice. Knowing his personality and his needs in 18 months, I concluded that my buddy needs to juggle the fewest possible number of learning tasks. Therefore I recommended
that he emphasize:
1.) Speaking every day (via iTalki, for example, where he can pay for some teachers he likes)
2.) Reading every day (aloud).

As auxiliary learning methods if he has time/desire for any of them, I suggested that he:
(a) put words/sentences into Anki and review a little each day
(b) occasionally flip through a grammar book when he feels like it would be useful
(c) listen to German radio/music/audiobooks as he commutes to/from work
(d) take in German couchsurfers
(e) replace the kids' nanny with a German-speaking one

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!


Do you want to clue us into what language it is? I am curious...
1 person has voted this message useful



Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4915 days ago
2151 posts - 3960 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

 
 Message 31 of 37
28 January 2014 at 8:29pm | IP Logged 
AML wrote:
Alright, I read everyone's advice. Knowing his personality and his needs in 18 months, I concluded that my buddy needs to juggle the fewest possible number of learning tasks. Therefore I recommended
that he emphasize:
1.) Speaking every day (via iTalki, for example, where he can pay for some teachers he likes)
2.) Reading every day (aloud).

As auxiliary learning methods if he has time/desire for any of them, I suggested that he:
(a) put words/sentences into Anki and review a little each day
(b) occasionally flip through a grammar book when he feels like it would be useful
(c) listen to German radio/music/audiobooks as he commutes to/from work
(d) take in German couchsurfers
(e) replace the kids' nanny with a German-speaking one

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!


I have read most of the thread, and I must confess I am a little surprised about your two suggestions. If he is a new beginner he won't be able to do either speaking or reading out loud properly. He should really start with a course which involves a lot of listening (possibly with verbal responses) so he gets an idea of how the language should really sound. Any one of Pimsleur, Assimil or Michel Thomas would be useful for this.

Also, one person mentioned Deutsche Welle for watching TV. It also has to be said that Deutche Welle's language learning materials are fantastic. They have several traditional style courses available for free, and lots of other audio and visual materials for all levels.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6603 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 32 of 37
28 January 2014 at 9:57pm | IP Logged 
culebrilla wrote:
renaissancemedi wrote:
Also, he should try to love the language from the start. German turns you into a dedicated follower anyway, but he should try to fall in love. If it's simply an obligation he'll never do it properly.


Nah, if it is an obligation he will probably learn it much better and more quickly. If the option is to learn German to keep or get a job to provide for your family or not learn...you're going to learn it very well and try to learn it fast.

Survival is the best motivator, in my opinion. I think of all the immigrants I personally know that had to learn English to survive.
But when you're still learning it's easy to overestimate how much you know, and when you're in L2 country it's possible to stay in an English bubble to some extent. And I think many immigrants who learn the language for survival:
-don't get an adequate support from their community
-don't get to spend a lot of time with their family (if it's even in the same country)
-pick up the language while having underpaid/hands-on jobs
-struggle to achieve grammatical accuracy
-speak no English
-speak a language which is perceived as useless
-will have to face significantly lower living standards if they are sent back to their home country

Of course only some of these might apply, but none look similar to your friend's desirable situation. He'll also probably be able to go back to the same job in the US if he fails.

If he forces himself to learn, he'll do his best to study like 2-3 hours a day but it won't always be possible, and burnout is a major risk. If he falls in love with the language, he'll be able to do 1-2 hours of hardcore studying and then 2-3 hours of fun on top of that (initially music and then other stuff).

Also, be sure to show him the attitude-related advice people posted here. In fact while I understand not wanting to get to know an entire forum, surely he has the time to read a 5-page thread which is specifically about him? I hope you can clarify the things that are obvious to us but not to him.

Edited by Serpent on 28 January 2014 at 10:14pm


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