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How many materials and how to manage? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Pogopuschel Triglot Newbie United States Joined 4670 days ago 1 posts - 4 votes Speaks: German, English, Japanese | Message 1 of 9 08 May 2012 at 8:27pm | IP Logged |
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I wonder how many actual study materials/resources all of you are using when studying a language. I use
traditional textbooks (sometimes several at once), audio books, subtitled shows and movies, random sentences and vocabulary from online reading, Lang-8 for practice, and possibly and exchange partner. I haven't used language learning software but I might try it someday. Sometimes I have the feeling that using so many different materials is a bit overwhelming and hard to keep track of. I use Anki to do my reviews, but it's very tedious to put everything into it, especially things like sentences or grammar. I feel it's mainly useful for vocabulary. How do you guys manage your study materials and progress? Any best practices? 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5757 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto | Message 2 of 9 08 May 2012 at 9:15pm | IP Logged |
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I made the same mistake of using several textbooks all at the same time. My advice is to find one you really like and stick with it. If you need help finding that source, read reviews and borrow from the library if possible.
You probably don't want to go with native material right of the bat, because it might seem overwhelming with all the new words and grammar. I'd say you probably want to try to get through at least a beginner's book before you do that. The same thing with conversation partners and tools like Lang-8. Most people on the forum would say you want to try to get to native level material as soon as possible, though. I'd say do one textbook at a time, and maybe other supplements like Pimsleur, Michel Thomas, audiobooks or subtitled programs on the side when you have spare time. I'd say schedule half an hour to an hour of study a day and use different supplements if you have more time. tl;dr Get as much studying in as you can from different sources, but don't overwhelm yourself. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5044 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 3 of 9 08 May 2012 at 10:26pm | IP Logged |
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I like to have access to several different course materials. Out of them, I choose one or two to be my 'core' course materials. I use the other courses primarily to supplement my 'core' materials.
For example, when I stared with french, I acquired several different courses and tried my hand at doing them all together. It has been my experience that whenever I try to do more than two courses simultaneously, I get overwhelmed. I had started with high hopes of doing all of them simultaneosly. After a couple of weeks, I stopped using all of them but my 2 main courses. Just my 2c. Hope, this helps. PS. I believe that good ol' Professor Arguelles has a video on his youtube channel where he discusses the issue of optimum number of courses in great detail. Edited by napoleon on 08 May 2012 at 10:37pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| onurdolar Diglot Groupie TurkeyRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4680 days ago 98 posts - 147 votes Speaks: Turkish*, English Studies: Italian, German | Message 4 of 9 08 May 2012 at 11:01pm | IP Logged |
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I hate repeating same sources so i use as many as i can, for Italian I am following two
textbooks and 3 audio courses as well as FSI Fast Italian every now and then, if you manage to coordinate well you can do chapters covering same topics one after another one from different sources and save yourself from the feeling of "repetition" 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6937 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 9 08 May 2012 at 11:53pm | IP Logged |
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While a dozen courses used simultaneously would probably confuse anybody, I don't see any major advantage in finishing one course before proceeding to next. Imagine going through a whole FSI course and then after a couple of months pretend you're a beginner again, in a new course with basic greetings and introductions in chapter one, hotel dialogue in chapter two etc.
Moreover, I see no disadvantage in doing the first in several courses, then the second lesson and so on. Actually, I'd find that beneficial since almost the same grammar and vocabulary will be covered, but in other texts and with different explanations. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4739 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 6 of 9 09 May 2012 at 7:37am | IP Logged |
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I agree with Jeff. Think about it in the context of anything you are learning.
Say you are studying for a law exam and have trouble understanding a certain precedent. Having it explained to you 3 or 4 or 5 ways will do a lot more to help insure that it clicks in your mind! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| juman Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 5246 days ago 101 posts - 129 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: French | Message 7 of 9 09 May 2012 at 8:38am | IP Logged |
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I have at least three audio courses and two textbooks I follow and I switch back and
forth between these when I feel like it. When I want to relax a bit I listen to Michel Thomas / Paul Noble as they more feed you the information and then I go back to Assimil to have the more question/answer dialog. Regarding textbooks I do not directly follow them but use them more as a reference when I need additional information. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6731 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 9 09 May 2012 at 10:56pm | IP Logged |
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I would avoid the situation where I only had one textbook and one grammar and one dictionary (and one teacher, if I used teachers). It would become boring and I would loose the perspective the use of several sources give.
2 persons have voted this message useful |
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