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Physical Exercise & Fluency Go Together | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| tanya b Senior Member United States Joined 4712 days ago 159 posts - 518 votes  Speaks: Russian | Message 1 of 11 20 February 2012 at 6:31am | IP Logged | ||
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I spend 20 minutes a day of quality time with each of my languages, usually combined with physical exercise. I find that the morning is the best time for language exercises. The earlier, the better. My mind is uncluttered but unprepared. I can find out if hopefully after a good night's sleep how much my mind and mouth are in harmony with one another. Sometimes speaking fluently is torture, but usually it's like flipping on a switch, thanks to lots of mental conditioning.
Exercising physically and speaking in your target language is good practice, because you are distracted, just like in real life. Do you lift weights? I do. I even count the number of reps in my other languages. I try to do exercises where I can talk at the same time, like, for example, an exercycle. I describe in detail my plans for the day or the events of the previous day(personal or global). Sure, there are interruptions. I don't live in a world where everything is nailed to the floor. Do you exercise by taking long walks alone? Why not use this as an opportunity to speak in your target language, describing what you see and hear? Don't want people to think you're a loony bird, talking to yourself? Just bring your cellphone and pretend you are talking to some one. No one will be the wiser. They'll just think you're having an animated conversation in Bulgarian. Edited by tanya b on 20 February 2012 at 6:36am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| rivere123 Senior Member United States Joined 4764 days ago 129 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 2 of 11 20 February 2012 at 7:20am | IP Logged | ||
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Physical exercise is good for keeping not only your body, but your mind sharp into old age, and learning languagesis all about being keen of mind, since it helps to draw parallels with your native language and life. It definitely doesn't hurt.
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| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6019 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 3 of 11 20 February 2012 at 2:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I jog while listening to podcasts and I think there's something about being outdoors in the fresh air that heightens my awareness. I don't try to talk. I have to concentrate pretty hard to do so and if I'm able to carry on a conversation then that usually means I'm not getting a good enough workout. My target heart rate comes before my target language when I'm excercising.
I like the idea of counting reps in a foreign language. I'm learning the numbers in Turkish right now and that sounds like fun! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Alexander86 Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom alanguagediary.blogs Joined 4915 days ago 224 posts - 323 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, Catalan Studies: Swedish | Message 4 of 11 20 February 2012 at 2:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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I randomly think of things in German when I cycle and I'm trying to develop this, but when I go uphill it's more like
"this hurts"! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ellsworth Senior Member United States Joined 4891 days ago 345 posts - 528 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Irish | Message 5 of 11 20 February 2012 at 3:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yeah after studying for a long period of time I usually jog, no headphones or anything,
and just think about what I have studied while running at a decent pace. Really helps me to remember what I've studied. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4622 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 6 of 11 20 February 2012 at 7:48pm | IP Logged | ||
I love this post, thanks. I've been thinking about adopting a similar approach with jogging, lifting, etc. I've done the fake cellphone thing myself while shadowing Yiddish. It turns out I was using an iTouch, which isn't even a phone, but I figure it's close enough for for most people who see a strange-looking man walk by quickly while speaking Yiddish. And the bonus is, whenever I lose the thread, it just makes it seem more like I'm having a 2-sided conversation. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| mr_intl_dj Newbie United States Joined 6618 days ago 23 posts - 24 votes Speaks: English | Message 7 of 11 20 February 2012 at 10:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'd tried that going for very long walks at the beach. I didn't know that much (French) a month ago. If I try it now I won't have revert back to English.
I would think it'd be much harder to do anything when you're at the breaking point...very fatigued and exhausted. (long run) To me, listenng to music is motivating and all, but it's a distraction. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jdmoncada Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4968 days ago 470 posts - 741 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Finnish Studies: Russian, Japanese | Message 8 of 11 22 February 2012 at 9:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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I do hoop dance while using a lot of my language materials. Hoop dance is great for spinal health and general fitness. I find that it also helps me focus more and be in the moment of language learning. I first started it last year when I was learning Japanese. I joked that I was doing "hoopenese." I have continued to use it as I do French in the current 6WC.
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