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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| abcedef Tetraglot Newbie Sweden Joined 5564 days ago 14 posts - 18 votes Speaks: Swedish*, FrenchC2, English, German Studies: Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 1 of 9 21 August 2011 at 10:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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Learning f ex French when at the same time having general learning difficulties?
Having learnt languages since childhood using different techniques, I have always been trying to share my knowledge. This time my sister is asking me for help as she wants to learn French. Problem is, she has some real difficulties in learning. No dyslexia involved, she still writes bad and learns slowly and I'm afraid learning French is going to be very difficult for her, especially reading. As I particularly like the Routledge Colloquial Series as a support, I want her to use it but I also want to facilitate for her. So far I've come up with this: - Erase all finitive verb endings that sound the same >> je pens, tu pens, on pens, nous pensons, vous pensez, ils pens - Change all e to ɘ, to prevent mixing it up with [e] é >> jɘ pens - Come up with a color code for distinguishing verb conjugations or other "words" that sound the same but have different grammar functions Generally focusing on how the language sounds, but not to much, as French sounds very slurry when spoken and small phonemes are difficult to hear. It is useless trying to explain any grammar, linguistics or anything for her before she finds it out herself. Have you got more ideas? I figure there must be a lot of people wanting to learn languages not having to learn linguistics or anything like that. //S 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5269 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 2 of 9 21 August 2011 at 11:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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Learning slowly and having difficulties writing? This sounds like me in in this phase of my life, except I have dyslexia too. I fear that the attempt to simplify French might only confuse her further, though.
Have you considered Pimsleur, or Michel Thomas? I would think Pimsleur in particular would be good as there is so little grammar involved. And even children with different sorts of learning disabilities usually learn their own language, so there is no reason why they should not be able to learn a foreign language. I assume your sister has learned some English. What worked for her then? Good luck, you muct be a kind soul to take so much interest in your sister learning foreign languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| prz_ Tetraglot Senior Member Poland last.fm/user/prz_rul Joined 4794 days ago 890 posts - 1190 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish | Message 3 of 9 21 August 2011 at 11:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't want to smatter psychologist, but have you considered any emotional problems? You haven't written how old is your sister, but I can tell you that my problems with learning have most probably started because of some unpleasant situations in my life.
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| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5701 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 4 of 9 22 August 2011 at 9:49am | IP Logged | ||
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Maybe you could work primarily with repetition and audio-based material.
I myself do not have learning problems, and I still can't work with textbooks before I haven't had a fair share of exposure to the language and had a chance to memorize words and phrases from hearing. Maybe memorizing how to say things she wants to be able to say can help her, too, as you said that it's useless to explain grammar to her before she figures it out herself. Edited by Bao on 22 August 2011 at 10:25am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hampie Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6594 days ago 625 posts - 1009 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Latin, German, Mandarin | Message 5 of 9 22 August 2011 at 10:23am | IP Logged | ||
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How is her English? If she can handle English, then, I think that the spelling of French will not be too hard. Also,
instead of erasing the endings — let them bee there but mark them as ‹silent›. In Swedish we have silent letters too: point that out to her! The g in jag, the ‹-de› in many preterite endings is almost always omitted in colloquial language, the final ‹r› in var, the medial -ga- in dagar. Some words are written totally unlike they’re pronounced: mig, dig, sig, och, de, dem. We do have something comparable to the french liaison: the final or almost final Rs contaminate following initial sounds of words with retrofrexy, and in case of a pronoun changes and initial d into an r-sound: har sett -> ha tjett, tar tag -> ta rtag en art syns -> en art tjyns. Colour code genders. Strike over silent long endings. Find french borrowings in Swedish that she reads correctly and let her use them in analogy: restaurant, kuvert, konsert, pretentiös, tait-à-tait, garage, etc. etc. By giving her false french were endings that in written french are imperative you will do her a björntjänst, because then she will me very confused once she get to read real french. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| abcedef Tetraglot Newbie Sweden Joined 5564 days ago 14 posts - 18 votes Speaks: Swedish*, FrenchC2, English, German Studies: Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 6 of 9 22 August 2011 at 9:25pm | IP Logged | ||
Indeed the two examples you gave I think is a very good way of showing that this kind of phenomena exist in a language she's already familiar with. I believe it's a good idea to be able to let things like these pass "unoticed", at least so that they don't disturb the general learning process. Details are better dealt with later. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| abcedef Tetraglot Newbie Sweden Joined 5564 days ago 14 posts - 18 votes Speaks: Swedish*, FrenchC2, English, German Studies: Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 7 of 9 22 August 2011 at 9:39pm | IP Logged | ||
Good idea, I'll download it for her Ipod. She started off today with an old -96 language learning software called Lingua Land which taught me a lot of French back in the days. I also borrowed a language course book/CD from the library - kind of like the books I guess they use in college for learning French that she got very fond of. I myself find those kind of supports very suspicious, especially when chapter one is about "introducing oneself", chapter two is about "telling the time" and so on... content that I don't find useful at all :P As for her English she's lived and worked in Britain AND in India :P 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| abcedef Tetraglot Newbie Sweden Joined 5564 days ago 14 posts - 18 votes Speaks: Swedish*, FrenchC2, English, German Studies: Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 8 of 9 22 August 2011 at 9:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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Oh, forgot to tell you -still remains to see how it works- that she'll be making a
learning diary for me. I said it'll make her conscious about how she learns. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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