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Learning without a teacher | ||
Tags: Yiddish | Self-Study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| alans Newbie Canada Joined 3816 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Studies: Yiddish | Message 1 of 20 13 March 2015 at 6:53pm | IP Logged |
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Do people think it is possible to learn a new language without a teacher?
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Monox D. I-Fly Senior Member Indonesia monoxdifly.iopc.us Joined 5162 days ago 762 posts - 664 votes  Speaks: Indonesian* | Message 2 of 20 13 March 2015 at 7:03pm | IP Logged |
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I have been learning Japanese autodidactly since I was a 4th grader (about 15 years ago) and can only read Katakana, about half of Hiragana, very few Kanji, and understand several hundreds (?) meaning of words. Still don't know how to translate a full sentence without guessing first.
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| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5289 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 3 of 20 13 March 2015 at 7:20pm | IP Logged |
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Yes. That's what this forum is all about. Many people learn a language on their own with no professional instruction at all. I used a tutor for Portuguese along with my own efforts, but not to "teach" me the language but to correct me and guide me along the way. it worked out quite well. I learned Spanish on my own, though I did have two years of it in high school which gave me an introduction. I learned Haitian Creole without any professional assistance at all.
You can too, even Yiddish. It's been done before. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6624 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 4 of 20 14 March 2015 at 7:16am | IP Logged |
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I've never taken a single Finnish class.
6 persons have voted this message useful | |
| chaotic_thought Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 3569 days ago 129 posts - 274 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Dutch, French | Message 5 of 20 16 March 2015 at 3:36pm | IP Logged |
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In the first stage of learning, or if you've never learned a second language before (as an adult), the initial learning could be the most difficult. And the right teacher can help. The right teacher. One who can motivate you and put you at ease.
After this initial hump IMO 90% of time should be spent in "consuming" the language. By whatever means is effective for you. Drink it up like it's water that's keeping you alive as if you are stranded in a desert. If you don't drink at all for a day or two, you will die. Approach the language learning like this to make real progress. So if you don't have a teacher, can you still do it? Yes. With autodidactic methods I believe speaking is more difficult to self-teach yourself, but on the other hand, learning to read, write and listen are not difficult to teach on your own as long as you have the right discipline. It's kind of like working out. It's not like you NEED a trainer to go the gym and lift some heavy objects. OTOH the trainer can give you helpful techniques to get you started. By the way when I learn autodidactically I find it personally helpful to repeat out loud what I'm hearing either by repetition or shadowing but THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEAN by "speaking". Speaking means hearing something you couldn't predict at all and then reacting to it instinctively to do some kind of communication. When we self learners do drills, shadowing or whatever, this is not "speaking". If you want good speaking then I think it may make most impact to get a tutor after you've reached some level of proficiency. Otherwise the tutor is going to be constantly trying to help you with basic understanding rather than speaking. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5234 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 20 16 March 2015 at 4:59pm | IP Logged |
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Indeed, the forum is all about self-learning!
Some people here do work with tutors and find them helpful, some don't; the subject has been discussed a lot on here (most recently on the Moving from B2 to C2 thread which has covered practically every argument for and against). But those who do so use them as an addition to self-study, not a replacement. To get extra feedback and correction as iguanamon says, or to have consistent opportunities to practise what they're learning with a native speaker, or to prepare for a particular exam, that sort of thing. I don't think anyone here would argue that teachers are necessary or sufficient to learn a language; some just find them useful, and some don't. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4171 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 7 of 20 16 March 2015 at 5:23pm | IP Logged |
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Absolutely! I use tutors, but I ask them not to plan lessons. I lead all of my own learning with tutors, mainly using
them to practice conversation. Nothing that I do with tutors would be impossible with free language partners - it's just that it's more time-efficient for me to pay someone to speak in Spanish for the full hour, rather than splitting the hour down the middle. I'm studying Spanish with the goal of C1 (and perhaps - someday - C2). At the beginning, I used a lot of free resources for learners, including language partners. As soon as I could, I added in native material (novels, TV shows), and now almost solely focus on consuming language through reading and listening, and talking to my tutors over Skype. *edited to add more info Edited by Stelle on 16 March 2015 at 5:28pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| jason derek Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3496 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes Studies: English | Message 8 of 20 28 May 2015 at 2:18am | IP Logged |
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I think it maybe impossible when you come across some hard language. I learned Chinese
but without a teacher's system teaching, I can only say some easy words and phrases. But i have no time to attend a Chinese class regularly.Think that you may have the same question. I solved it by attending an online lesson on e chinese learning(no blank space:P) .By 1-on-1 lesson I learned a lot ,ignoring the limit of time and place. Wish that will do a little help to you. Edited by jason derek on 28 May 2015 at 2:38am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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