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Language lessons in odd places | ||
Tags: Surroundings | Travel | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4908 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 1 of 14 26 August 2013 at 9:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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There are interesting language lessons to be found in odd places, if we just keep our eyes and ears open. People on HTLAL have mentioned reading ingredients on food, labels on clothing, etc. Here are a few I have found, can you add any to the list?
Sat Nav (GPS) A while ago I realized that I could set the voice on my sat nav (GPS to some of you) to French, and I got my directions in French for a month or so. Not a large amount of vocab, but good for practicing directions and numbers. I never got lost, partly because the image is usually enough to navigate by. The downside was that I couldn't comfortably listen to audio lessons at the same time. Audio Tours Last summer I took my family on one of those open top bus tours of London. About halfway through I realized I should be listening to the French audio, and it was brilliant to ride through London listening to French descriptions of what I was seeing. I imagine you could do the same at many museums, walking tours, etc. Any similar ideas? Can anyone mention other examples of audio tours with language choices? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6908 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 14 27 August 2013 at 1:16am | IP Logged | ||
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Museums often have written information/guided tours/audioguides in multiple languages. (I had barely seen a word of Catalan before last week, and in the museums I visited, I found myself accidentally reading signs in the language) Edited by jeff_lindqvist on 27 August 2013 at 1:17am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 songlines Pro Member Canada flickr.com/photos/cp Joined 5208 days ago 729 posts - 1056 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 14 27 August 2013 at 4:02am | IP Logged | ||
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I've previously mentioned city "Greeter" networks on another thread, but think it may have been to suggest
situations where people could meet speakers of, and get practice in, their target languages - ie, to volunteer as a "greeter" offering to give tours in your L2. But - subject to availability of course - if your hometown or a place you're visiting is a member of the Greeter network, and offers tours in your L2, you could certainly try it out as a user rather than provider of the tours.... http://www.globalgreeternetwork.info/ One nice bonus is that you'd also have a chance to ask questions (ie have real conversations), and meet other target-language speakers in your tour group. Edited by songlines on 27 August 2013 at 4:04am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5765 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 4 of 14 29 August 2013 at 11:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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On a recent trip to Latvia and Lithuania we understandably went to many museums and various other tourist attractions that begged some kind of explanation of the history. Being able to understand almost literally no Latvian and no Lithuanian whatsoever (they're similar to *nothing*!) I found myself reading the Russian and the German. Not just because I wanted to, but also because some of the museums didn't have explanations in English. At times on the trip I felt like I'd not have had a clue what was going on if I didn't speak Russian!
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| Qaanaaq Newbie United States Joined 4123 days ago 14 posts - 25 votes Speaks: English* | Message 5 of 14 31 August 2013 at 7:30am | IP Logged | ||
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If you have an iPhone, change the Siri settings to your target language. Edited by Qaanaaq on 31 August 2013 at 7:32am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Qaanaaq Newbie United States Joined 4123 days ago 14 posts - 25 votes Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 14 31 August 2013 at 7:31am | IP Logged | ||
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Also, I don't know if this was your tour, but a lot of big cities have Big Red Bus tours, with multiple language
options. Edited by Qaanaaq on 31 August 2013 at 7:32am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6596 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 7 of 14 31 August 2013 at 10:27am | IP Logged | ||
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I've never been to Italy but I've more than once read an Italian menu in a pizzeria :P
I also remember reading a German menu in Poland. I think my mum asked for a Russian one, yet I went and grabbed what I expected to be a Polish one - yet when it turned out to be German I couldn't be bothered to change it once again. and yeeees city tours.
*headdesks at not having Finnish or at least Romanian on her Nokia* 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4706 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 8 of 14 31 August 2013 at 10:36am | IP Logged | ||
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I saw Moldovan items in a food store in Tomsk. In Romanian.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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