24 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3 Next >>
Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4932 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian
| Message 9 of 24 28 August 2011 at 4:02pm | IP Logged |
2 depends almost entirely on your knowledge of the base language you are using, in my opinion. I believe fluency is necessary to use the foreign textbook comfortably. And it might slightly depend as well on whether you learn mostly by trying to think in the target language or by connecting ideas and structures with their Slovak equivalents. Surely foreign textbooks using is much more comfortable for the first group but I guess everyone can get used to it.
1 I fully agree. It's just that sometimes the quality of foreing resource can outweight the advantage of your native one. For the languages on your list it probably shouldn't be hard to find good Slovak ones.
floydak, have you ever used Czech learning language resources? I just got idea I could try some Slovak ones when ours don't suffice. It's actually funny that I have used quite a lot of English and French based materials but no Slovak ones (and I don't have any serious trouble understanding Slovak even though I don't speak it). Do your publishers create good resources for some of the less common languages (I'd be especially interested in a good textbook of Swedish for self-study)?
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| floydak Tetraglot Groupie Slovakia Joined 4777 days ago 60 posts - 85 votes ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) Speaks: Slovak*, English, German, Spanish Studies: French
| Message 10 of 24 28 August 2011 at 4:43pm | IP Logged |
Cavesa wrote:
2 depends almost entirely on your knowledge of the base language you
are using, in my opinion. I believe fluency is necessary to use the foreign textbook
comfortably. And it might slightly depend as well on whether you learn mostly by trying
to think in the target language or by connecting ideas and structures with their Slovak
equivalents. Surely foreign textbooks using is much more comfortable for the first
group but I guess everyone can get used to it.
1 I fully agree. It's just that sometimes the quality of foreing resource can outweight
the advantage of your native one. For the languages on your list it probably shouldn't
be hard to find good Slovak ones.
floydak, have you ever used Czech learning language resources? I just got idea I could
try some Slovak ones when ours don't suffice. It's actually funny that I have used
quite a lot of English and French based materials but no Slovak ones (and I don't have
any serious trouble understanding Slovak even though I don't speak it). Do your
publishers create good resources for some of the less common languages (I'd be
especially interested in a good textbook of Swedish for self-study)? |
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2. I agree. I wanted then add, that if you are almost like native-level and you are
able to think in that language, then it won't probably be problem anymore.
1. Actually yes. Czech textbook would be my second best choice. Even best language
textbooks so far I have seen were from Czech publishing and their "XXX pro samouky"
series. (LEDA). Pity, that they don't have "Svedstina pro samouky" only norwegian
exists as far as I know. Well, slovak resources exists for common languages. Often it's
only translated (and little adjusted) Czech material...:)
I can recommend you this books: http://www.eastonebooks.com/sk/katalog.php?skupina_ID=7
, Spanish is really excellent. French is slightly worse, and now I'm about to buy
russian. But it exists czech version also at least I think so. Sorry, but again no
swedish. But if you find some good-looking slovak/swedish textbook It shouldn't be
problem for you.
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| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4932 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian
| Message 11 of 24 28 August 2011 at 5:04pm | IP Logged |
Thanks, I'll have a look at the site.
Švédština pro samouky should be published next year but Leda already moved the date several times, as I heard, so who knows. But if it gets published, I'll most probably get it. Those books are really good.
It's a bad luck Slovakian market is not too different from ours. Would be great to have twice as much options to choose from :-)
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| MarcusOdim Groupie Brazil Joined 4770 days ago 91 posts - 142 votes ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg)
| Message 12 of 24 05 September 2011 at 12:14am | IP Logged |
well, my mother tongue is Portuguese but I learn other languages through English (have never studied English grammar though hahahahaha), it's always been like this, even when I was learning Spanish. Every single translation I need is made into English, I think in English, I live this language...I actually just happen to live in Brazil
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| Haukilahti Triglot Groupie Finland Joined 4887 days ago 94 posts - 126 votes ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) Speaks: Finnish*, English, Polish
| Message 13 of 24 05 September 2011 at 2:31pm | IP Logged |
Cavesa wrote:
However, you really need to have a good knowledge of the language you want to use as a base. Not that much because of the grammar terminology (it's not that vast amount of vocab after all) but to avoid learning two languages at once, from one book and at the same moment. |
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I can't agree with this. There is nothing wrong in "learning two languages at once", it is an added benefit. Even if your L3 is zero, the first few chapters will be easy anyway - assuming you know SOME L2. After those first chapters it will become more difficult, but then, paradoxically, your knowledge of L3 will have reached a point where those two languages reinforce each other, and you will intuitively understand what is the meaning of a word/sentence. The explanations, as you mention, are usually quite easy to grasp if you know some grammar terminology. And there is always internet and its vocabularies, if you really need to check the odd word out. Then it obviously depends on the course - I have more problems with Supermemo's odds translations into English than with Assimil in French, a language I never studied.
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And you need to realize that a textbook meant for people with different native language from yours will most probably emphasize different features of the language than textbooks meant for your native language speakers. It may as well explain pronunciation differently etc. |
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This is true, but as you are supposed to know some L2, you will be able to make associations between all the three languages, even without the direct L1-L3 link.
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| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4932 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian
| Message 14 of 24 05 September 2011 at 2:50pm | IP Logged |
It's true that you can learn two languages at once but I personally wouldn't dare to learn them at the same moment and from the same dialogs and exemples as I belive the risk of mixing them would be too high for me. But if someone is comfortable with it, it can be a great way. After all, that's quite what those five language dictionaries are about.
To the second quatation, I fully agree with you, that is what I said in my post (even though it may not have been that visible, I tried to say it). I wasn't saying it is a reason to not use a foreign textbook, it is just something you need to count with. The more when choosing which of your L2s are you going to use for learning an L3.
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| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7079 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish
| Message 15 of 24 05 September 2011 at 7:37pm | IP Logged |
lampeter wrote:
How crazy is it to learn one language through another language? Especially if you don't
speak the language a coursebook is presented in? How difficult is it to translate instructions, grammar headings etc? |
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It's not very crazy, but it can be quite arduous. I've been doing just this with Saamic languages since what I've got my hands on is stuff for speakers of Finnish; not that there is much choice. The only other learning material that's up to snuff is meant for people knowing Norwegian, Russian or Swedish and my knowledge of Finnish is noticeably better than in any of those three.
As Cavesa has noted, it's quite common for people who have little choice in course material that's printed in their native languages. When you're a native speaker of English, it's very easy to forget that we're often spoiled for choice. If you don't like TY or Colloquial, then there's probably a translation of Assimil. Or if old-fashioned drilling is your thing, then SLS, FSI or DLI may have what you're looking for, costing nothing or next to nothing. Or you could stumble upon solid stuff printed by or associated with an university in the English-speaking world. I could just imagine how someone most comfortable in high-profile languages (e.g. French, Russian, Spanish) to say nothing of lower profile ones would be envious of English-speaking learners.
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| learnvietnamese Diglot Groupie Singapore yourvietnamese.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4872 days ago 98 posts - 132 votes ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) Speaks: Vietnamese*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Mandarin
| Message 16 of 24 06 September 2011 at 6:09am | IP Logged |
I think it's possible/enjoyable or not also depends on how good one is at L2.
An example, though English is my L2, I'm quite comfortable with it now and I have been using it to learn French, Chinese, and probably other languages in the future.
And it'd missing not to mention another factor at work in my case which is that there simply aren't as many resources for learning languages in Vietnamese as in English.
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