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Making language comprehensible | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| ihoop Newbie United States Joined 4609 days ago 29 posts - 66 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin | Message 1 of 15 30 June 2013 at 2:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hey all,
I have been having an internal debate about another issue in language learning that I wanted to get some input on. Let's say you have one hour each day to work on listening comprehension. Out of the following two options, which do you all think would give you the most benefit? Option A: Download a podcast/tv show with transcripts. Listen until you don't understand a certain word or phrase. Look up said new word and/or keep the phrase on repeat until you understand it perfectly. Once you feel that the new phrase has become comprehensible move on to the next one. Option B: Actively listen to a radio program or watch a TV show. Maintain as much concentration as you can on what is being said. When you don't understand something just let it pass but maintain your concentration. Which is the better option? All opinions are welcome! -Ian 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 2 of 15 30 June 2013 at 2:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's basically intensive vs extensive listening. Both are important.
I would watch football (soccer) for the extensive part and do LR for intensive. And I would add music to the mix. For the extensive part, try something easy and/or with an "internal" context. Cartoons and sports are good options, for example. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5727 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 3 of 15 30 June 2013 at 2:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'd chose the first option. From my experience with French I know that extensive listening alone works, but it takes time.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| daegga Tetraglot Senior Member Austria lang-8.com/553301 Joined 4520 days ago 1076 posts - 1792 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, Norwegian Studies: Danish, French, Finnish, Icelandic | Message 4 of 15 30 June 2013 at 3:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would do B, just because I enjoy it more. I use audiobooks and TV series. Although I would use TV series with TL subtitles initially --> this might be considered option A or a hybrid.
the best strategy won't work if you quit it early, so I do what keeps me going 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Retinend Triglot Senior Member SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4307 days ago 283 posts - 557 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), French | Message 5 of 15 30 June 2013 at 3:29pm | IP Logged | ||
How often does this happen? If it's not exhausting to be looking up the things you don't know (say, that you understand 9/10 sentences in their enterity but have to look up something in 1/10 of them) then this sounds like a good plan. It's like you're hoovering up some bits and pieces that don't quite comform to what you confidently know already, and of course outlying vocabulary which isn't clear from context. But if in your heart you don't think that this is the case, then perhaps find a Linguaphone or Assimil or other dialogue based book and just read the foreign text in it from beginning to end just to see if there's anything essential that you can't immediately recognise once heard the FIRST time. Personally... I'm wary of turning materials which have nothing to do with language learning into language learning materials, when you can find books written by people who also learned your target language from your native language, and who can explain the finer points of these things with your expectations in mind. This is why I think it is basically the best policy to stick with courses until you've squeezed everything dry from it - shadowing all the way. Edited by Retinend on 30 June 2013 at 3:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5765 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 6 of 15 30 June 2013 at 6:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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I alternate both, and add in some repetition of the material listened to in A to the
time I spend on B. Possibly 30/20/50 for A/review of A/B.
If you find a course that works well for you, all the better for you. I, like many other people I know, had to notice that without a teacher who can give you further explanations from a different viewpoint and supplemental exercises to help you with your weak spots -and everyone has them-, you have to do the job of figuring out those weak spots and working at them yourself. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Retinend Triglot Senior Member SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4307 days ago 283 posts - 557 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), French | Message 7 of 15 30 June 2013 at 6:51pm | IP Logged | ||
That's true, but since we're talking about "listening comprehension", the problem is even more pronounced if there are no explanations at all. As is the case with randomly selected native material. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4443 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 8 of 15 30 June 2013 at 8:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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Watching a foreign film for instance, you can rely on reading English subtitles and pick up nothing at all in
the dialogue unless you know enough of a language and is paying attention to what was said. Listening to the radio you have to pay more attention than on TV when you have video images as a guide. International news gets a lot easier because a lot of it is repeated over different networks like CNN, BBC, etc. I do occasionally listen to the Chinese edition of the news on a local station. If I have listened to the same news in the English edition earlier in the day, I can figure out what is about to be said. Local news like those from Taiwan or Germany you have to know enough about the place to figure out what is going on. Listening to a potcast or something prerecorded you can rewind and listen to the bits you don't understand many times and look it up. If it is a live broadcast and you come across something that you don't understand, you have to rely on memory. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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