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We, who manage to focus on ONE language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5765 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes  Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 81 of 142 22 August 2013 at 10:26pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Apart from butterfly I acquired all of those words by informed guessing, as I switched to mainly 'extensive' tasks at a level that would be better described as A2 than B1. I used to know shoelace in Spanish. But due to disuse, my daily life vocabulary in Spanish has become mostly passive. I've also recently tried to learn the word in Japanese and I know I can recognize it, but I can't use it. As for study habits, it's not only boredom. Frustration is a major issue for me. When I was in Spain, I tried to shut out all other languages and I felt I was going crazy, I felt crippled. So I ended up spending half of my time using and learning Spanish, and the other half for English and Japanese, and later, dabbling in Korean. (And acquiring passive Catalan.) I effectively shut out German, though. I might have made more progress if I'd completely concentrated on Spanish, but at what cost? I've already managed to go from nil to C1 comprehension and B1 production in ten months, and that was hard enough. I don't see any reason for why I should push myself a lot harder to improve just a little faster. There's no deadline I have to meet, nothing I have to gain from putting in even more effort than I am already doing. I want this language to be part of my life for the next 50+ years, after all. And the same is true for several others. Apart from that I prefer improving at a rate which makes people think I am a very dedicated learner, not at one that makes them treat me like a freak. As for terminology, some people seem to profit more from extensive tasks than others, and it might not be a question of attitude. I used to say I *learn* a certain language, because I do little in the way of textbook studying. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6971 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 82 of 142 22 August 2013 at 10:35pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I know tuna means prickly pear, but I didn't know elote. I grew up 30 minutes away from the border to Mexico, so half the kids in my high school Spanish classes were native speakers. We read a lot in our classes, including Cien años de soledad and La casa de los espíritus. And in my hometown, all of the museums and touristy sights have captions/explanations written in both English and Spanish, so I used to read both.
I only took a few Spanish classes in college, but I stopped because I wanted to explore other languages and I felt I wasn't learning enough in my Spanish classes. However, I used to read a lot in my spare time. Back then, I learned all sorts of random vocabulary like mazacote, zapear and escampar. EDIT: I actually passed up the opportunity to study abroad in Latin America because I wanted to try something different. Perhaps if I had spent 6 months in Chile or Argentina, rather than in Germany, I would've come back with a more advanced level of Spanish than I have now. But I had a wonderful time challenging myself with a new language, and I came back from that experience with the ability to speak German at high intermediate, roughly high B1 level. So I don't have any regrets regarding that decision. Edited by mike245 on 22 August 2013 at 10:44pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5227 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 83 of 142 22 August 2013 at 10:50pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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If nothing else, this thread is definitely expanding my Spanish vocabulary. I pride myself in knowing esoteric Spanish terms, but I've already been stumped several times.
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| grunts67 Diglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5301 days ago 215 posts - 252 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish, Russian | Message 84 of 142 22 August 2013 at 10:55pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Beaver are an important part of the ecosystem in Canada so they don't suck. Now a day if you drink water from lakes or medium to large size rivers without asking about the water quality, you should get diarrhea. By the way, because of a beaver, I eat fresh trouts every summer. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5227 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 85 of 142 22 August 2013 at 11:05pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Strange you should so readily admit bribery! No wonder you defend los castores. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| casamata Senior Member Joined 4261 days ago 237 posts - 377 votes Studies: Portuguese | Message 86 of 142 22 August 2013 at 11:25pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Dude, sorry, I didn't mean that they suck in the sense that they don't do anything for our ecosystems. I meant that they suck in the sense that we have people pooping out their guts thanks to giardi, which is "beaver fever." You don't like beavers *that* much, do you? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| JC_Identity Triglot Groupie Sweden thelawofidentity.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4120 days ago 53 posts - 108 votes Speaks: Swedish, Serbo-Croatian*, English | Message 87 of 142 22 August 2013 at 11:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I fully agree and that is my point, when you study you tend to get bored. I could imagine myself getting enough of Chinese if I were to study hanzi or individual sentences completely isolated like that. For me personally these types of activities lack that interesting content that should be the driver. There are ways such as mandarintools that can help you being able to begin with native content even in Chinese. Also when I found out about LR here recently I had to check out the originator since we seem to agree on many points and I read that she started Japanese with native content that was personally relevant directly. Imagine that, a total beginner. It can be done. You should be fine with podcasts and cartoons if they are on the topics that interest you and if you are getting comprehensive input and not just passively listening. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| grunts67 Diglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5301 days ago 215 posts - 252 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish, Russian | Message 88 of 142 22 August 2013 at 11:44pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Hehe, I was just really critical like I love to do. No hard feeling. And beaver are strange creature but apart the fact that I get get fishes because of them, I 'm not that fond of them :) Now, we should go back to the topic at hand which I find really interesting! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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