|
 |
Watching/Listening to Language to Improve | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4293 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 1 of 8 24 June 2013 at 2:10am | IP Logged | ||
|
I designated a policy of listening to radio and watching television (online, since I
cannot access television via a set) to improve both listening and comprehension. For example, I watch http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/telediario/ everyday to get my news, and to eventually, howeer long it takes, to achieve 100% understanding and realisation of words spoken. I improved much since 2010, and I started doing this with other languages, since I do not have time nor money for classes currently. Is this a good way to help oneself to improve, especially to C2? Sometimes I also try to repeat what the reporter says on television in that language as fast as possible, or reading a newspaper article out loud. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Helid Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 4322 days ago 24 posts - 35 votes Speaks: Polish*, English | Message 2 of 8 24 June 2013 at 10:48am | IP Logged | ||
|
First of all you should try other materials than TV news. People usually use other
language in TV reports than in daily talk. They don't talk fully correct and grammatical, as you but you have to understand them also. Try to find online TV series and watch it with subtitles until you will able to understand everything. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4831 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 3 of 8 24 June 2013 at 1:16pm | IP Logged | ||
|
One possible exercise is DIY dictation, like those dictation exercise you probably had
to do at school. Record a piece of audio using Audacity, or import a piece you already have, then, slowing it down if necessary ("effect" -> "tempo"), play it back, and try to write down exactly what you hear. Repeat as necessary. If you have a transcript, so much the better (one can sometimes find podcasts with transcripts, or another approach is to use an audiobook). Also using Audacity, one could record oneself speaking the same material on another track, then play both tracks back, and found out where the weak points might be, and keep trying to improve. I would also encourage a wide range of material, for cultural, as well as linguistic reasons. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5868 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 4 of 8 24 June 2013 at 5:10pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I agree, news isn't very representative of what you're likely to hear in the streets. If you're going to listen to the news, do it in Spanish, but don't limit yourself to it. You can try listening to things like talk radio, too, where speech is a little more natural and the quality not quite as good.
Movies, while not always quite as loaded with dialog as the news, tend to have much more rapid speech and you have to work a little more to understand (background noise, whispering, shouting, etc.). You might also be interested in LR as a way to improve your vocabulary and get more exposure to more difficult grammar. Once you hit B2/C1, i really think it's vocabulary rather than (speed of) delivery that will give you trouble. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4293 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 5 of 8 24 June 2013 at 10:50pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Interesting, I shall consider some RTVE programmes then. But is it good this idea of
forcing oneself to "live" in the foreign language? For example, I bought a new mobile phone months ago, and put the settings for the phone in Spanish. I also force myself to read instructions in Spanish for things that I purchase, since the only way I can see to create an environment with the language in a home/life setting is as such. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4831 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 6 of 8 25 June 2013 at 12:26am | IP Logged | ||
Personally, I find it a little extreme, but it could work well. In the past, I used to follow a blog devoted to one of those Danish TV series that were broadcast on BBC4, and someone on there was learning Danish, along with his wife. They had consciously gone for several months into a "Danish bubble" (while still living in their home in England), with Danish TV & Radio, and trying only to speak in Danish, etc. They said that they ended up being pretty good in Danish, and certainly good enough to more than get by on the streets of Copenhagen. Mind you, they did have the benefit from regular sessions of personal tutoring by a native speaker. I would say, total immersion is fine, but also keep in mind the idea of comprehensible input. It could be that you have to reach a certain level before total immersion becomes really helpful. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5868 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 7 of 8 25 June 2013 at 1:34am | IP Logged | ||
|
It can be a good way to find vocabulary that isn't that complicated (or comes explained with lots of pictures ;)) but that you wouldn't find otherwise. Things like "battery cover/charger", "(carrying) case", "(electcrical) plug", etc. Things that won't likely come up that often in your daily conversations but which native speakers just know.
When watching movies/TV, it might be worthwhile setting out a task to find say 3-5 words you didn't know and write them down to look up afterwards. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4293 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 8 of 8 26 June 2013 at 6:54am | IP Logged | ||
|
Over the past several years I had bought some books for Spanish, French, Dutch,
Portuguese, and Italian from Blackwells with the CEFR mark from B1 to C2 in those various language, I wonder if using the audio and classbooks by myself will also help with the listening. When I bought them, I supposed that since I cannot do classes, it would be best to at least use the book by myself. That is true about news, because news broadcasters usually do not have informal registers at any point, and much less slang such as "¡Vaya!", "boludo", etc. I watch http://www.rtve.es/television/espanoles-en-el-mundo/ since I like travel. The register is more informal since the programme consists of interviews of ordinary people. Example episode is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ- mI9hIMsk&feature=share&list=FL17ieGHkMDN3LSFk0ue-5IA Since I watch RTVE news everyday, this is an example of the news: http://youtu.be/emGw53F3GUw The speech by the reporter seems very crisp and clear, which many in informal speech do not do--I suppose that is what you mean with trying to watch more informal programmes. Edited by 1e4e6 on 26 June 2013 at 7:02am 1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
