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Language learning questions | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| mSiNi Newbie United States Joined 4638 days ago 12 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Slovak | Message 1 of 7 15 March 2012 at 11:57pm | IP Logged |
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Hello,I'm 16 and I want to learn many languages I have a few questions. (#1) I currently
have Spanish 1 in school and also teach myself Slovak on the side, do you think it is bad to learn two languages at once? (#2) If you use a reading/input method What are methods you use to understand what you're reading/listening to if you have a limited vocabulary, and what are good books/tapes to start with? (#3) Should a "rule" be vocabulary over grammar or should I pick up both of them as I learn? And finally, (#4) How effective do you think listening to music can be while learning? (#5)What are some effective study methods and comprehension methods you use to learn efficiently? I really want to get these "obstacles" in my learning out of the way. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 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 2 of 7 16 March 2012 at 12:14am | IP Logged |
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1. Depends on time schedule, it's definitely possible depending on how good your Spanish is.
2. You use handbooks/manuals, and rely on the L1 translations mostly. For Russian I use Teach Yourself, Colloquial and Assimil - you'll just have to figure out which resources exist for Slovak 3. There is no rule for priority, both are necessary. Grammar teaches you how to form a sentence, vocabulary are the pieces you can use to fill in the puzzle :) 4. It doesn't work for me; I find it distracting 5. I have no method - I just do. Talk, write, read, listen, translate, pick things up. The only thing I can recommend is find a way to memorize foreign words. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 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 3 of 7 16 March 2012 at 1:04am | IP Logged |
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#4 to me music is an essential part of language learning, as important as reading or grammar.
#5 http://learnanylanguage.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Techniques <333333 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5263 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 4 of 7 16 March 2012 at 1:26am | IP Logged |
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Welcome to the forum, @mSiNi! You write very well for being so young.
I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can from my perspective with my opinions. 1) I don't think it is a good idea to learn two languages at the same time before you have reached an advanced level in your first foreign language. Once you have a second language (L2) under your belt, it will help you with others because you will know better how a language works and what works best for you to acquire it. Still, I can't learn two languages simultaneously. I don't have the time management skills or even the free time to devote to it. I have a life outside of this hobby and being a polyglot isn't a priority for me. If it happens, it will be something I back into rather than actively pursuing. 2) I think bilingual texts are useful in the beginning stages, because it teaches you to look at groups of words rather than individual word for word translations. If you have audio to go along with that, even better. 3) Vocabulary vs grammar- both, learn them at the same time. Vocabulary and grammar are like "bricks" and "mortar". You can't build a wall without the bricks because the mortar isn't strong enough or sufficient enough. If you build a wall with bricks and without mortar, it won't be strong and will fall. If you use both bricks and mortar your wall will stand and be strong. 4)Music- I like it and it helps motivate me. I have memorized several songs in both Spanish and Portuguese over the years. A great site for using songs in language learning is Lyrics Training. Some people have used songs and singing quite effectively in language learning. Using rap to help with languages 5) Efficiency- dedicate at least an hour a day on your own without distractions. Never quit. Never give up. Be persistent. Try to do something in the language every day. Try not to spread yourself out on too many materials at first. Too many materials can be overwhelming and actually lead to not progressing. Try to limit yourself to two or three main resources until you have reached an intermediate level. I'd like to recommend an old book by Barry Farber, "How To Learn Any Language". It was written just before the internet but the strategies and methodology will still serve you well. You'll just have to adapt the tools to the 21st century. You can ask at your local public library. If they don't have it, ask for an inter- library loan. Your public library is a good source for materials and will save you money. Take advantage of technology. Skype language exchanges are important for me. I think speaking is important so I try to speak as early as possible. Don't be afraid of making mistakes or appearing foolish- that's how you learn! If speaking is a priority, try to speak as often and as much as you can. It's easy to do with an internet connection. There are many, many paths to successfully learn languages. You must discover on your own what works for you based upon your own goals and experience. There are as many opinions on this subject as there are language learners. Best of luck with your studies! Edited by iguanamon on 16 March 2012 at 9:21pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5018 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 6 of 7 08 May 2012 at 12:51am | IP Logged |
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My 10 cents.
1 No learning 2 or more languages at the same time is very possible. It is always possible to get better - so the risk is if you learn languages one by one that you are not happy with your skill in L2 before starting learning L3. It would be a great idea to learn Spanish on your own in addition to what you get in school. 2 I prefer to listen first otherwise I will put on words sounds that are not the correct one. As for understanding, guessing from context - bilingual dictionary - monolingual dictionary - parallele texts - reading something you already know in your native. 3 Well you will not believe it but I speak quite fluent french before I hear about grammar for the first time. To learn grammar without vocabulary is very difficult and example sentences in grammar books miss the necessary context to be understood. However it is not possible to write correct french if you do not know a great deal of french grammar - anyway I do not know for slovak but Spanish looks a lot more easy to write than french. 4 "While" does mean at the same time ? If so I do not see any advantage on the contrary. It would be better to start listening to speech only - in a next step you could listen to speech in less clean environment but music has no advantage. Listening to music could open your ears to new sounds but it depends a lot on the kind of music. You could get a better and faster result listening to other languages - consider language as a music and try to listen - I like japanese, russian, Italian. 5 My method is to go step by step. The first step being to understand what I hear and what I read. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 7 of 7 08 May 2012 at 12:42pm | IP Logged |
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1.It is more effective to learn 1 but you can learn two as well. Nearly everyone of
your age in the Czech Republic learns two languages at school and the lower % of success is caused by different reasons than this (just as everywhere in the world). It is usually recommended to be at least intermediate at one language before starting another. And to use different things for learning or at least not at the same time. 2.Wonderful are graded readers (easy to find for Spanish) or bilingual books (easy to find English-Spanish or English-Slovak). Or you can just get the same book in English and Slovak/Spanish. There are many recommendations, generally translations tend to use simpler language than originals and books for children/young adults or of popular genres are easier than classics. 3.You definitely need both to learn a language successfully. Grammar can be learned faster while vocabulary is a neverending story. Unlike Michel1020, I believe learning grammar with just a minimum of vocabulary is quite easy and it is more valuable start than learning vocab without any grammar. A lot of input is a great way to improve both at the same time. 4.Music as a learning tool is great. Listening to background music depends on you. I don't think the lyrics will teach you much while you don't trully listen to them and could be disturbing. Which is why I choose non-lyrics or trully unknown/very little known language music for background of studying any subject, including languages. 5.Don't bore/torture yourself. Burning out won't help. So, study every day but if you feel it's overwhelming, give yourself a break. Change activities and add native material as soon as possible. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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