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Time management and multiple languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4846 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 9 of 14 20 March 2014 at 12:38am | IP Logged | |||||
First of all, I have three main study times per day: the train ride to work, the train ride home, and at home at night. I study Japanese in the mornings on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Portuguese on the way home. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, that is reversed. My home time varies; sometimes it is all-Japanese, sometimes all-Portuguese, sometimes a mix. For the train ride, I think of activities I can do while on the train, then I make a list of them. For Japanese, I have this list (which is very simple right now): - read stories or news articles downloaded from the Internet - write a dialog - listen to audio if I have any Then, I just do them in order. I'll start with a news article, and every day during my "Japanese train time" I'll keep reading that news article until I finish it, then I'll start writing, and do that every day until it is done, etc. When I reach the end of the list, I'll start again from the beginning. I found this to be an effective way to do a lot of activities in a limited amount of time, as I only have about 40 minutes per language on the train each day. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5165 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 10 of 14 20 March 2014 at 5:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
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My worst mistakes have been working on material too easy and too hard.
In the case of 'too hard' it is worse because you lose much more daily time than with the too easy ones. For example, when trying to read a text, even with translation, when you still don't know enough of the language you're learning so that you can associate the word in the translation with the word in your target language. This is particularly important for languages more distant from our native languages (Portuguese in my case, Italian in yours). For example: გოგომ უნდა წიგნის წაკითხო - The girl needs to read the book. You have 4 words in the Georgian sentence, 7 in the English one. The subject is in a special case unique to Georgian's past/past subjunctive tenses/screeves. Word order is slightly different - the main verb is final, like in German. Now, this main seem straightforward, but in longer periods it gets worse: when you start gazing at both original and translation in order to associate words and account for the different word order, you more often than not lose track of what you have just translated. So, start with slow excerpts. In the case of too easy resources, you actually spend a lot of time on a text or a textbook which teaches you much little - a high cost opportunity. Finding the right pace is a fine art. If I plan on working intensively (i.e. looking up 'almost' every word), 10 words at each task is what I find most comfortable a day. In this case, skimming is your friend. I went through 3 beginner's German Assimils, but I did 7 lessons in a row, focusing on internalizing the sounds as I filled in the vocabulary gaps. This is even more important when it comes to grammar: reading familiar grammar stuff should be done in the skimming mood and paying attention mostly to the details that will help fill in the gaps. I'm about to read on Russian declension for the humpfth time and I'm skimming general assertives while focusing on the details I'm still missing. On the other hand, it's quite annoying, discouraging to work on a grammar book that covers the morphology exceptions of that very obscure tense in the 2nd lesson. This happened to me in Georgian. In this case, I was sure I wouldn't absorb much, as I hadn't internalized the main grammar yet. So, I overlook details, obviously, but was also mad at the author that couldn't write in a didactical way. Luckily I got hold of better materials later. Don't pull all your eggs into one basket when it comes to learning multiple languages either. If you want to start using native material and at your current level you can only get 2 out of 50 sentences, then why spend 40 minutes a day on it? (Yes, I've done this for Georgian). Better to split this wisely: listen for 10 minutes, just enough to get used to the sounds of the language, then do SRS/textbook study/parallel reading in the remaining time. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Mankogadaisuki Decaglot Newbie Brazil Joined 3915 days ago 5 posts - 6 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Spanish, Galician, Arabic (classical), Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, German | Message 11 of 14 20 March 2014 at 7:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think I used to “lose” some precious amount of time thinking about learning
methodology. I have been watching some videos from experienced language learners and also reading about their achievements. Reading about what Expugnator has done gives me much more motivation to keep either maintaining or learning the languages I have mentioned because he (she?) knows how to use his time with high efficiency. The title of this thread is misleading for those who are clicking on it for the first time. I am actually trying to maintain Japanese as I am studying three languages at this moment: English, Estonian and Russian. Today I reviewed level 1 (HSK 1) for Chinese. It contains 14 chapters and I listened to the main audio points concerning the grammar and the vocabulary. I think it contains about 150 main words for the A1 level. I forgot the tone of 1 word and I could not remember the pronunciation of the other one. According to my HSK (汉语水平考试 Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì) guide, it is required about 1200 words only at B2 level and about 2500 words for C1 level. Although I am not necessarily preparing for the proficiency test held in China (but in Taiwan), sometimes I used to take a look at the grammar and the vocabulary from my HSK books. I have some podcast made by different companies and they also have helped me to improve not only my listening skills, but also vocabulary because of the variety of contexts etc. By the end of this month I will decide whether I will drop Chinese or not. My German is already out of my plans, despite my past achievements. I am currently learning English and I am struggling with English exercises, perhaps, much more than Russian or Estonian grammar and vocabulary. I can more or less understand English grammar explanations. When I read about cases in Estonian, it is very clear for me what the author has stated, but the same doesn't happen with English. It has been giving me some headache to understand what the author would like to explain through specific terminology I am not familiar with. So, as for this week, I have been reading some news from different newspapers from America and UK. For example, the media has been publishing information about the Malaysian airplane and its mysterious facts. I took the news from BBC, CNN, the New York Times and the Guardian. At the beginning, I was checking a few words at the dictionary I have now: Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Looking at the words at different dictionaries has been a good benefit for me, since I can deal with slightly different explanations and I like to read the examples given to me. Doing this, I virtually learn how to explain the word quickly to one child or another foreigner, for example, instead of looking for translations that won’t help me at all if I achieve a higher level. I am avoiding translations because I am aware that the words usages are different at certain stage of your progress. I think that the process of learning is not about cramming in information. It is more about learning by doing, such as we learn how to cook and many other activities or skills we “learn” through life “experience”. It is also about looking at issues in various ways and developing capacities, especially the ability to dig below the surface to reach the “truth” … That is why sometimes I like to reflect about how I have been learning rather than merely how I have been receiving information. @ Tristano I think Spanish is not that difficult for you, considering your background. As far as I have studied, French also will not be that difficult for you and I don’t think you would have big problems regarding languages interference. Anyway, I wish you success with your time management plans. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4046 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 12 of 14 23 March 2014 at 3:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
Very clear, thank you! Very good insights! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4046 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 13 of 14 23 March 2014 at 3:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
Thank you for sharing this! It is indeed an error that I did as well with Dutch in both the cases: too easy material first, too advanced after. I spent some time with trivial material and I used several hours to never go really far first, when came to speak with natives was a mission impossible and I quit studying for a while. After I restarted but this time I was impatient to go through really quickly but I overlooked parts that were essential and that made my study overly heavy and time taking. Taking the wrong resources is a disaster... I think in this case experience as a language learner can help a lot with this. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4046 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 14 of 14 23 March 2014 at 3:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
Hi, thank you very much! A lot of "meat" in your post as well. I'm amazed reading your problems with English, most of it because it comes from an experienced learner that knows already the language and wants to master it. This language seems to me really insane, like random rules and random spelling. Anyway it is considered easy to learn (and indeed difficult to master). I think the best resources cannot provide what the language itself doesn't provide. The curious thing is that most of us second language English speakers learn English before having an idea of its insidiousness and we manage to learn it with just good will and study time. In my mind I make an association between piano playing and english speaking: easy to do it badly, difficult to do it really well. Your consideration about Mandarin and the HSK exam preparation make me think: is it worthy to do them not only for professional motivations but as a means to effectively learn the language and talk with natives too? Which resources are you using for your preparation? Talking about French and Spanish, thank you very much. I also think it will be not that difficult but it's nice and encouraging hearing it from you. This thread is full of golden advices anyway. Thank you all! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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