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Best Way to Reattain Previous Abilities? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Carlomagno Newbie United States Joined 4339 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes | Message 1 of 12 09 January 2013 at 7:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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This is my first post, and I apologize if it ought to be posted in another section. This seemed to be the right place, though.
To be relatively brief but to also provide enough detail for any would be helpers, here is my question: About 2 years ago, I could say that I knew French and Spanish to some place in the intermediate level. I had studied both in classroom settings and did quite well in them. At that time, I was on the cusp on breaking through to an advanced level, but my progress started to stall at some point. Since about that time, I haven't done much in the way of prolonged review or study in the languages, but I do occasionally read in them. I can still read both of these languages without too much difficulty (that is, simple things like a news or entertainment website, or so, not so much the case for, say, serious literature) and can understand the spoken language with a fair amount of difficulty. I would like to rebuild my skills back to what they were and then improve on them. The problem is that I'm not sure of the best way to go about it. If I were a total beginner, it would be easy to start from nothing. However, I do have some knowledge already (indeed, my passive vocabulary seems decent), hence I would prefer to not go back to the very start. At the same time, I'm unsure of where to jump into language studies again as I have retained some knowledge but have forgotten other areas. In other words, my skills are now uneven. I'm more than an absolute beginner, but I am lost as to where along the spectrum I might be. I thought that maybe some posters here could offer a bit of insight. Perhaps some members have even been in a similar situation themselves. Thanks. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Eternica Triglot Newbie United States Joined 5073 days ago 24 posts - 74 votes  Speaks: Cantonese, English*, French Studies: Hungarian, Spanish | Message 2 of 12 09 January 2013 at 8:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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I personally would do a combination of highly targeted active listening and translation.
Have you tried using LingQ? It's free and is basically a library of audio with transcripts, which is a godsend. The key is to concentrate on only a few pieces of audio (easier said than done). Repeat the audio and study the transcript as many times necessary to understand the audio at as high a level as you can. I would also suggest writing down a translation of the audio. Then, one step at a time, you could try to translate from English to French/Spanish one sentence at a time and see how close you get. This will test your active command of the language. Since you'll also be strengthening your passive understanding of the audio and the text, the interplay of these two elements will be very effective at really drilling the language into your head. Let's face it: language learning is difficult, and forgetting is way too easy, so you want as many approaches of attack towards even one simple audio/text. I plan on writing a post on redundancy and how important this is to really getting things to stick. In the grand scheme of things, this works well because you clearly have some passive understanding of the language from your statements of listening and reading, but you have "holes" whether these be active or passive vocabulary/phrases/grammar/etc. You'll slowly (but successfully) plug these holes from targeted practice. Edited by Eternica on 09 January 2013 at 8:58pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6904 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 3 of 12 09 January 2013 at 9:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would alternate between lots of original input (both reading and listening or watching, maybe also L+R or watching movies with TL subtitles; everything of increasing difficulty) and reviewing old material (if you had decent notes and course books) or going quickly through a grammar book and using SRS for vocabulary. I would also look for opportunities to speak the language. It seems that the classroom setting works well for you - maybe it would be good to enroll in a course for a while, or get some lessons with a tutor.
Most importantly, I would start with brushing up either of languages, not both of them. (By the way, that's actually what I'm doing right now: I started with my weaker French and when I'm more or less happy with it, I will brush up Spanish that I haven't used actively for a pretty long time.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Carlomagno Newbie United States Joined 4339 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes | Message 4 of 12 09 January 2013 at 9:56pm | IP Logged | ||
I had a cursory look at the Linq site, and it does look like good advice to give it a try. While I would have to augment it with some grammar review exercises and readings from "serious" literature, it does look very good for drilling vocabulary and listening skills. Thanks for the suggestion. Translating back and forth is probably also a good idea. Probably my weakest area is speaking, but that doesn't concern me too much at the moment. I hope that that area would improve after my general capabilities start to improve, and my main interests are in being able to read and write, as well as learn the grammar of the target language. My passive reading vocabulary is actually not bad, and I'm surprised how much I have retained given how rarely I have kept up in languages. Edited by Carlomagno on 09 January 2013 at 9:56pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Carlomagno Newbie United States Joined 4339 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes | Message 5 of 12 09 January 2013 at 10:14pm | IP Logged | ||
Well, I was in a classroom because, oddly enough, I was minoring in those languages at college. It might seem like an indictment against me to say so, but since graduating, I simply haven't quite gotten around to getting back into them. I have an absurd amount of grammar exercise books and similar materials. A lot of the problem for me is figuring out precisely what areas I ought to review, and in what sequence, etc. I almost wish I were an absolute beginner and could start at 0 again just so I wouldn't have to determine my relative "levels". I like the flashcard programs, but the actual creation of the material can be rather time consuming and daunting! But, I guess I should just accept it and start getting on with some of it. It is also one of primary methods I'm using for Russian, which I had also known a bit of but neglected even worse than Spanish or French. However, I was so wanting in Russian that I just went ahead and restarted from the very beginning of a good Russian primer. For me, doing more than one at a time is really not a problem; I feel that I have the time for it. It's mostly a matter of finding an efficient and productive approach. I originally started learning both of the languages at about the same time, both of them all but entirely from nothing. Confusing languages has never been a problem for me, but that's something that varies between people. Thanks for your input! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6904 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 6 of 12 10 January 2013 at 12:03am | IP Logged | ||
About flashcard programs: I don't know what the options for English speakers are but I found ready-made vocabulary databases very practical (if there are of good quality), as they allow to brush up the vocabulary pretty quickly and thoroughly, and you don't have to create the cards by yourself (which is a great thing, but more of a long-term solution). I like going from L1 into L2, which helps to activate passive vocabulary (some people prefer the opposite direction though, or a monolingual approach).
I would just try to remember what areas were particularly tricky two years ago, and focus on them. Flicking through your grammar books should help you to get an idea. I wouldn't even look at the grammar exercises, just at the theory, unless I felt like I needed some more revision of a given grammatical problem. At your level, a lot of grammar will be more than obvious for sure. About doing both languages at the same time: it's not just about confusing them. If you focus on one language first, you'll get sooner to the advanced level and you'll be able to maintain the language more easily while brushing up on the other one. But everyone has their own approach :). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sans-serif Tetraglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4560 days ago 298 posts - 470 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, German, Swedish Studies: Danish | Message 7 of 12 10 January 2013 at 10:40am | IP Logged | ||
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What I've done, and continue to do--I'm currently on language 2 out of 3--to reactivate the languages I learned in school is a step-wise process that goes something like this:
1) Refresh passive grammar knowledge using a concise basic grammar 2) Listen to audio with the help of a transcript 3) Listen to native-speaker podcasts 4) Start listening to audio books while following along in the text 5) Read a lot the traditional way once things like listening comprehension, prosody and passive vocabulary pose no problems X) Work on pronunciation until satisfied Y) Start working on active skills whenever it feels comfortable The point of number one is that input will consolidate your grammar knowledge into a natural sense of what sounds correct. Active skills are not necessary at first, but it is important that you passively understand most of the grammar you come across. For number two I use TV shows with target-language subtitles, learner podcasts and anything else I can find. I like to jump into novels (audio book + paper book) as soon as my vocabulary is up to the task. It's easiest to start with something you have read before in another language. Edited by sans-serif on 10 January 2013 at 10:51am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4445 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 8 of 12 15 January 2013 at 10:31am | IP Logged | ||
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Got into the same problem with my French. Learned it years ago in school but don't want to lose it
completely. Back then the focus was on grammar and vocabulary. Gone through just some basic words and phrases but not enough to carry on a conversation. My focus would be to get into an immersion course and start speaking as much as possible. If you are going to think of yourself as a beginner, you'll always be stuck with just the basic greetings: "Hello, how are you... I'm fine thank you and you..." kind of thing. When it comes to improving listening skills there are already enough videos on Youtube in many languages that would last you long enough to become fluent. For popular languages you can find movies with subtitles and voice-overs for practice. For a language like French I can start with the American version of "Bird Cage" with Robin Williams to get to know the story and then the French version "Le Cage aux Folles". For Japanese there is a movie called "The Grudge" (ghost story) that comes in American and Japanese versions. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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