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Listening from the beginning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5835 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 9 of 70 12 May 2011 at 8:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Great post.
I wonder if its not a bad idea to invest in multiple beginner to intermediate learning kits with audio when theres a lack of broadcasts in that (beginner to intermediate) range. Edited by ChiaBrain on 12 May 2011 at 8:20pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6577 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 10 of 70 13 May 2011 at 3:18am | IP Logged | |||||
Thank you all very much for your kind comments. I'm truly humbled.
No I don't. I consider that minimum of 10 minutes a day to be more of a preventative measure against a deficiency in understanding, rather than a recipe for excellence. Practice it, and you won't have the problem that is so common among beginning language learners. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6976 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 11 of 70 13 May 2011 at 5:30am | IP Logged | |||||
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It's probably not completely necessary, but I also find it helpful to practice shadowing
from the beginning (although at first it's only possible with a few 1-word snippets every minute). For one thing, it keeps me focused on listening so that I don't zone out, and for another thing, it allows me to practice pronunciation without my perception of certain sounds being colored by how they're written. It also gets my mouth used to certain movements, like a trill followed by a dental fricative, or an "a" that's a little more back and rounded than in English, etc. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5408 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 12 of 70 13 May 2011 at 3:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
You may not see a big jump in comprehension if the material you listen to is increasingly difficult, such as a series of podcasts. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5408 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 13 of 70 13 May 2011 at 4:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Excellent post!
What I get from your post is that language is alive. If you want to learn how it behaves, you need to go in the wild, observe it, and interact with it. A lot of people make the mistake of over-intellectualizing their language studies, as if language was a school subject, a topic you studied like history or geography. On the contrary, languages are living beings and we should never lose sight of how they behave in the real world. If our goal is to be able to speak the language, then we need to expose ourselves to the language in its natural state by forcing ourselves to use it with natives, and by listening to and watching people use it (audio and video). I too study in short bouts of 10, 20, 30 minutes. This way, I don’t get tired of it and I remain concentrated. But I think 2 other things happen: 1) it gives me time to ruminate what I’ve just been exposed to, so that most of my learning probably happens between sessions, and 2) it gives my brain time to soak it all up. However, I would also like to add that, for reasons I can’t yet expose in such eloquent terms as you have, I believe instinctively that speaking is also a key element in comprehension. If I am exposed to a new phrase, howsoever that happened, and I make the effort to repeat it, bend it around, substitute parts of it with other words I know, I make it mine; and when I’m exposed to another similar phrase, whichever way it’s bent, my ability to understand it will increase. In real life, my ability to express myself will also increase and so will the variety of language and permutations I am exposed to in response. 11 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
 budonoseito Pro Member United States budobeyondtechnRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5832 days ago 261 posts - 344 votes Studies: French, Japanese Personal Language Map | Message 14 of 70 13 May 2011 at 5:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
Guilty. :( I am Math/Computer geek. I realize what I normally do is not the best way to approach languages. So, I try to make an effort to be more natural. Well, natural for other people. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Andrew C Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom naturalarabic.com Joined 5217 days ago 205 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written) | Message 15 of 70 13 May 2011 at 6:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I agree listening is essential right from the beginning. I just want to add:
As well as a transcript of the audio it is also useful and perhaps sometimes essential, to have a translation. Why is listening so useful? In my opinion, because it gives an accurate, consistent input, which you will not get from reading alone. We are hard-wired to learn language through sound, not through sight. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5408 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 16 of 70 13 May 2011 at 6:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
Definitely agree, and wired to learn through speaking, not writing. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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