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Video method

 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies Post Reply
luke
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3133 posts - 4351 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Esperanto, French

 
 Message 1 of 6
15 April 2012 at 1:19pm | IP Logged 
I found a set of videos on a topic that interests me. I posted in the Spanish language lounge, but I think the technique may be of general interest. I'm not claiming this is a novel approach, but it may have something you've not tried before.

For this particular example, I descibe the method with a specific set of videos, but I believe it is a general method and could be employed with video from a lot of sources.

Milton Friedman won the Nobel Prize in EconomĂ­cs in 1976. Below are 10 videos lasting 1 hour each on the economy. There are also round table discussions in each video. All of that is incidental to the technique. One of the things about these videos that is good is that there is a lot talking. The first half of the video also has non-roundtable footage and generally a single voice, which makes it easier to follow than the roundtable discussion. Also, a transcription is available at least in English.

http://www.newmedia.ufm.edu/gsm/index.php?title=Libre_para_e legir.

The same videos with English transcriptions are here: http://www.freetochoose.net/media/broadcast/freetochoose/ind ex.php?type=ftc1980.

The use of a transcription here is somewhat different than subtitles, but subtitles could be used as well.

Various methods to use a video available in both a language you know well (called the "native language" - English in this example) and your target language.

0) Find a video you have enough interest in to watch several times.
1) Watch and listen to the video in your native language to understand it well.
2) Listen to the video in your target language while reading a transcript in your native language (or use subtitles).
3) Watch and listen to the video in your target language and at the same time, listen to it in your native language. This is easier to do if the producers "lip synched" the video.
4) Listen and watch the video with subtitles enabled in your target language.
5) Listen to or watch the video without subtitles in your target language.

The list above is ordered but that doesn't mean all the steps are necessary. Perhaps step 3 may not suit you, etc.
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James29
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 Message 2 of 6
20 April 2012 at 3:02am | IP Logged 
Thanks for the post. I am starting to do more of this type of thing and you have given me some new ideas. I find it very helpful so far. There are a few video series available on the UFM New Media website that have the Spanish transcript that go along, but there often are not English audio versions of those. This can also be done with TV shows.   

Edited by James29 on 20 April 2012 at 3:03am

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James29
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Speaks: English*, Spanish
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 Message 3 of 6
20 April 2012 at 3:05am | IP Logged 
So, on step three are you saying you have two audio tracks going at the same time? Can you explain step three?
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Wulfgar
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 Message 4 of 6
20 April 2012 at 7:56am | IP Logged 
luke wrote:

1) Watch and listen to the video in your native language to understand it well.
2) Listen to the video in your target language while reading a transcript in your native language (or use subtitles).
3) Watch and listen to the video in your target language and at the same time, listen to it in your native language. This is easier to do if the
producers "lip synched" the video.
4) Listen and watch the video with subtitles enabled in your target language.
5) Listen to or watch the video without subtitles in your target language.

I used to think like this a few years ago. Now I know this order, and similar orders, don't work well for me at all. The goal of this order is to go from
100% comprehension and gradually increase the difficulty, hoping that it will work something like n+1. But it doesn't work at all. What happens is
that my mind gets bored, or used to the material, and shuts down to a certain extent. Even if it's something I really like, this happens. Unless there
is something being revealed to me for the first time, watching the video is not efficient. Once I've seen it in my native tongue, I've ruined it. Once
I've seen it with my native tongue subtitles, I've ruined it. Any more playings are essentially worthless. That's why if I'm going to watch it in my
native tongue, it needs to be the last showing.

Here's what I suggest.
1) Watch in L2, with L2 subtitles if you desire
2) Watch in L2 with L1 subtitles

In other words, go from hard to easy, not from easy to hard, and don't watch it too many times.
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luke
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7136 days ago

3133 posts - 4351 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Esperanto, French

 
 Message 5 of 6
20 April 2012 at 10:07am | IP Logged 
James29 wrote:
So, on step three are you saying you have two audio tracks going at the same time? Can you explain step three?


That's right. I have 2 computers, although it would be possible on a single computer if one has the video player or web browser opened in seperate windows (instead of tabs) as well. I get both on the desired web page. Then I start both videos playing.   If they are out of sync, I just quickly pause the one that is ahead to let them get almost perfectly in sync. At times I may adjust the volume of one or the other videos so that either the native language is more prominent, such as during the roundtable discussion, or the target language is more prominent, such as the first part of the video when the narrator is explaining things.
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luke
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7136 days ago

3133 posts - 4351 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Esperanto, French

 
 Message 6 of 6
20 April 2012 at 10:16am | IP Logged 
Wulfgar wrote:
Unless there is something being revealed to me for the first time, watching the video is not efficient. Once I've seen it in my native tongue, I've ruined it. Once I've seen it with my native tongue subtitles, I've ruined it. Any more playings are essentially worthless. That's why if I'm going to watch it in my
native tongue, it needs to be the last showing.

Here's what I suggest.
1) Watch in L2, with L2 subtitles if you desire
2) Watch in L2 with L1 subtitles

In other words, go from hard to easy, not from easy to hard, and don't watch it too many times.


Very good. Thanks for the suggestion. I have used this approach too and it demands more focus, which is a good thing. I also appreciate the comment about not watching it too many times. That also can be mind numbing, which can't be good. The challenge is balancing comprehension and the novelty of interesting material. When one is studying, one may go through an exercise in the textbook more than once or do an audio lingual drill several times. That approach has carried over into my "advanced" study techniques. Sometimes I think it is good, intensive study, but other times I think I should be doing more extensive study and I wonder what guidelines one uses to adjust the percentage of intense to extensive study.    


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