|
 |
Relaxed learning | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| juman Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 5152 days ago 101 posts - 129 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: French | Message 1 of 13 03 January 2012 at 9:31pm | IP Logged |
|
I've just started to learn a third language and try to spend as much time with as I can but one issue is that if I spend
too much time my brain starts to melt. Not literally of course but it feels like it... As I still do not enough words I can't watch movies, read or listen to talkshows as I do with my second language which keeps it fresh and keeps me learning new things without much effort. Doing the same thing in the third language is just hard as I don't understand what I read and needs to translate everything, listening on talkshows is boring as I can't follow a thing, and watching movies works with subtitles but then it doesn't really feel like I am learning any thing... So what can you do without getting tired when just starting out? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5717 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 2 of 13 04 January 2012 at 1:19am | IP Logged |
|
L-R?
3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| JiriT Triglot Groupie Czech Republic Joined 4731 days ago 60 posts - 95 votes Speaks: Czech*, English, German | Message 3 of 13 04 January 2012 at 1:30am | IP Logged |
|
What you describe is quite normal. When you know a language well, then you can watch tv
programs in it, listen to the radio or read the books or other text in that language. To a large extent you can do in that language the same what you do in your mother language. When you are a beginner, you cannot for instance read books in the language just for pleasure. You can read - but it will be a tough job, with a dictionary, you will have to understand grammar structures with difficulties etc. As a beginner, you can listen to the language - without tryin to understand. Just to get the intonation of the language into yourself. It is not much use in listening in this way long hours a day. Maybe half an hour once a day and for cca five minutes several times a day. I would not call it learning, call it just listening. You can read original texts. It will take a lot of effort and it seems more effective to read such texts several times (not in one day, once a day). After learning some vocabulary and grammar you will learn by watching movies or listening to the real language. There are a number of people living in a foreign country, who did not learn the language (nearly at all or to a good level). Being exposed to a language does not automaticaly mean you will learn it. My colleage worked some years and Germany and in Italy. He spoke both language very poorly. I believe, an adult person must study the language intentionally and then the foreign language environment helps them to master to language. Or, you have to aquire some language level by studying (grammar, memorising vocabulary, reading etc.) and then you lern by being exposed to the language. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6531 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 4 of 13 04 January 2012 at 8:49pm | IP Logged |
|
This too shall pass...
Try listening to the audio at an accelerated speed. After this the normal speed will be ok:) Are you using a textbook in addition to the native materials? IDK about French, but for Italian there's a great textbook "You already know Italian", which points out the cognates, loan words and false friends too. You should be able to find something interesting even if the traditional textbooks are boring for you. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| juman Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 5152 days ago 101 posts - 129 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: French | Message 5 of 13 04 January 2012 at 9:19pm | IP Logged |
|
Yes, it is probably just my restlessness that shines through. I have a textbook I am also looking into mainly to
understand some grammar which makes understanding easier. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6531 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 6 of 13 06 January 2012 at 6:43am | IP Logged |
|
Well, you may want to also read the texts from your textbook, these should be much easier than native materials. or try adapted stories/graded readers.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Stanley-Dope Diglot Newbie Singapore germanwanderer.blogs Joined 4630 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Speaks: English, German | Message 7 of 13 16 January 2012 at 5:55am | IP Logged |
|
I think the key is to start with realistic expectation. I had the same problems with German.
So what I did in the first round, was to pick out the gist of the whole video by picking up some of the words that I recognise. Then I would replay the whole video, and then get the details out of it. I do not believe in using subs, since I go by the swim-or-sink strategy. Naturally, you'd want videos with plenty of actions if you are lacking in vocabulary. That means, yes, talkshows and formal interviews are definitely out. What you lack in vocabulary can be compensated by context-specific actions or scenes which should give you that "ah-ha" to what is actually being said. And it allows you to make a link between that foreign word, to that specific action. Instead of linking it to our native language, which may impede us from ever fluently speaking in that new foreign language. And never turn the learning into an emotional experience. That is very destructive. Once you feel overwhelmed, stop. If you find that a video is not suitable, just skip it. No point forcing yourself to watch it. Enjoying a language allows you to actually learn better than feeling tired because of learning. Edited by Stanley-Dope on 16 January 2012 at 6:02am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| atama warui Triglot Senior Member Japan Joined 4635 days ago 594 posts - 985 votes Speaks: German*, English, Japanese | Message 8 of 13 17 January 2012 at 7:30pm | IP Logged |
|
Material made for natives is only useful when you reach a certain level. Yes, you can "get a feel" for a lot of stuff in many ways, but if listening to radio in your target language leads to you recognizing bits and pieces, and nothing more, it may be that your vocab is lacking, or your understanding of grammar lacking.
You need stuff a bit above your level to advance at a pace you can actually feel, and that's, in my opinion, what counts most. There's a time for everything, and skipping steps leads to nothing but frustration. Learning a language DOES take time. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
