General tips for new learners (Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies) Language Learning Forum

General tips for new learners
Tags: Beginner \| Learning Technique/Method
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Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies

59 messages over 8 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next >>

sjheiss
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5670 days ago
100 posts - 174 votes

Speaks: English*, Basque

Message 33 of 59

05 January 2011 at 8:19pm | IP Logged

Nice analogy Merv. xD

I'm currently deciding between starting to learn either Spanish or Polish. On one hand, Spanish would seemingly be easier for me, but the problem for me is that I can already understand 60-70%+ of Spanish texts, and it's hard for me to turn that knowledge into active knowledge I think. But with Polish, it's all very new (thus exciting and fun, but a whole new set of vocabulary makes it a bit harder), but it could get too difficult to balance with the two languages I'm already learning. But I really want to learn a language that has a lot of media in it, which Basque can't claim to be. Decisions, decisions... =P

On a more topic-related note, I started an hour log journal today (although no goals, I think of them tomorrow), and already have 3 hours total, 1:40:00 for Basque, 1:20:00 for Latin. I'm very happy with that, especially since I can see how much I actually did. :)

I'm also going to start finding and experimenting with new ways with practicing my Basque and Latin. Learning languages is so exciting. :D

Edited by sjheiss on 05 January 2011 at 10:50pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Darklight1216
Diglot
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5086 days ago
411 posts - 639 votes

Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German

Message 34 of 59

06 January 2011 at 5:26am | IP Logged

hrhenry wrote:

If there are a lot of Spanish speakers in your area as you say, make friends with a couple. You'll find that the language isn't nearly as horrible as you are imagining it to be, because you'll have a living cultural example as your friend.

R.
==

It isn't all in my head. It's more like a series of unpleasant events.

Thanks for the advice though. I have a co-worker who speaks Spanish. I might be able to start there.

microsnout wrote:

I found it necessary to ease in as you say or I became discouraged. Four years later I still have this problem if I
listen to something too difficult like a stand up comic speaking at great speed. I like to study material "at the
margin" of difficulty, not too easy but challenging and with native content and accent. Also don't discount children's
books, I was amazed that books for 6-8 year olds contained such advanced grammar that adult classes don't even
cover until at least intermediate levels. I didn't want to buy them so I went to the library with the goal of reading
100 children's books - it looked silly sitting in a booth with a stack of books about monsters and such but
worthwhile.

I went to the library today and checked out a bilingual version of "Little Red Riding Hood." It was pretty much awesome. :) You're right about the grammar. I haven't practiced past tense before, but the book is full of it.

Quote:

I like the Ultralingua software dictionary. I have it on my laptop and ipod. It is not free but not too expensive. It is
just so much faster than looking up words in a book. Plus I can read online books and just place the cursor over a
word to pop up the definition. I have paper dictionaries but haven't used any of them in years.

Thanks alot; I'll have to check it out.

Merv wrote:

You won't like a language because you can make money off of it anymore than a prostitute likes what she does
because she makes money off of it. You have to enjoy the sound and the culture. Perhaps you've been overly
exposed to Latin American culture and it puts you off. Try listening to Castilian and reading a bit about Spanish
(as in Spain) history, art, food, music, etc. You might find it interesting.

That's a very interesting analogy.

I'll try your suggestions. I do love history. :)

Edited by Darklight1216 on 06 January 2011 at 5:27am
1 person has voted this message useful

sjheiss
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5670 days ago
100 posts - 174 votes

Speaks: English*, Basque

Message 35 of 59

06 January 2011 at 10:52pm | IP Logged

Benny says here, a lot better than me, exactly what I've been trying to say.
1 person has voted this message useful

Merv
Bilingual Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5259 days ago
414 posts - 749 votes

Speaks: English*, Serbo-Croatian*
Studies: Spanish, French

Message 36 of 59

07 January 2011 at 5:04am | IP Logged

Darklight1216 wrote:

hrhenry wrote:

If there are a lot of Spanish speakers in your area as you say, make friends with a couple. You'll find that the
language isn't nearly as horrible as you are imagining it to be, because you'll have a living cultural example as
your friend.

R.
==

It isn't all in my head. It's more like a series of unpleasant events.

Thanks for the advice though. I have a co-worker who speaks Spanish. I might be able to start there.

microsnout wrote:

I found it necessary to ease in as you say or I became discouraged. Four years later I still
have this problem if I
listen to something too difficult like a stand up comic speaking at great speed. I like to study material "at the
margin" of difficulty, not too easy but challenging and with native content and accent. Also don't discount
children's
books, I was amazed that books for 6-8 year olds contained such advanced grammar that adult classes don't
even
cover until at least intermediate levels. I didn't want to buy them so I went to the library with the goal of reading
100 children's books - it looked silly sitting in a booth with a stack of books about monsters and such but
worthwhile.

I went to the library today and checked out a bilingual version of "Little Red Riding Hood." It was pretty much
awesome. :) You're right about the grammar. I haven't practiced past tense before, but the book is full of it.

Quote:

I like the Ultralingua software dictionary. I have it on my laptop and ipod. It is not free but not too
expensive. It is
just so much faster than looking up words in a book. Plus I can read online books and just place the cursor over
a
word to pop up the definition. I have paper dictionaries but haven't used any of them in years.

Thanks alot; I'll have to check it out.

Merv wrote:

That's a very interesting analogy.

I'll try your suggestions. I do love history. :)

Here's a start. Read about El Cid. Read about La Reconquista, Isabela of Spain, the Spanish Inquisition, the
Golden Age of Spain, the world's first novel being written in Spanish, the first modern European grammar being
on the Spanish language, read about Ladino and Maimonides, read about Al Andalus, the mosques-turned-
churches of Cordoba and Sevilla, the artists (Velazquez and Goya and El Greco and Picasso and Miro and Dali
and...), etc. You've made a huge mistake if you think the Spanish language is all about Mexican telenovelas and
mariachi bands.
3 persons have voted this message useful

Icaria909
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5577 days ago
201 posts - 346 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 37 of 59

13 January 2011 at 4:56am | IP Logged

One of the tips I would give is find a band in your target language that you really
enjoy. It's something great to listen to when your on the bus and it gives keeps you
motivated to continue to learn the language just so you can figure out the lyrics.
2 persons have voted this message useful

juman
Diglot
Senior Member
Sweden
Joined 5204 days ago
101 posts - 129 votes

Speaks: Swedish*, English
Studies: French

Message 38 of 59

13 January 2011 at 11:41am | IP Logged

I'm new to a language that I really want to learn and have read quite a few tips and tricks och how to get started. I
have several resources in my new language as movies, music, books etc to have me occupied for years.

So I have several things in the target language I have started to go through quite slowly as my knowledge so far
is minimal and every new sentence takes quite a while.

I know that a better plan could be to start with a beginner course (Teach yourself etc) but I find them so
incredibly boring. I just can't stand learning to say hi,good evening, good morning in 10 different ways
depending on the situation.

So any tips on what to do to have something interesting to read that still gives some interesting content?

What I do know is take a sentence, look at the translation in my native language, break down the sentence and
look at the separat words. During this I also cross-reference some grammar to find out why a word is bent in
one way etc. I then put the complete sentence as both audio and text in a SRS-system as well as entries for
separate words I have found in the sentence. Then by using all this in a couple of days I know a sentence as well
as it parts by hart.

This is quite a slow process as I need to check almost every word and each detail of the sentence needs to be
SRSed to be rememberd but I am through the first page of a detective story in about 2 weeks :-).

I would love some more simple text to handle but the starting out courses just bores me so any ideas on how you
do it?
1 person has voted this message useful

lingoleng
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 5284 days ago
605 posts - 1290 votes

Message 39 of 59

13 January 2011 at 4:14pm | IP Logged

juman wrote:

I know that a better plan could be to start with a beginner course (Teach yourself etc) but I find them so incredibly boring. I just can't stand learning to say hi,good evening, good morning in 10 different ways depending on the situation.

I just had a look at my Teach Yourself Swedish by Vera Croghan, 1995. What you describe is not the content of this book. After a good description of the pronunciation it starts with Lesson one, two little dialogs, one page about greetings, yes, and then some grammar: Nouns and articles, personal pronouns, yes/no questions, infinitives of Swedish verbs, the present tense, word order in statements and questions and some notes about the genitive. After this some exercises to reinforce your new knowledge.
This is quite a lot of stuff, and certainly not a phrasebook layout, a beginner may find this too hard, if anything, but certainly not too boring or not challenging enough. Even if you only read through the explanations and try to get an overview about Swedish grammar your chances of successfully analyzing "interesting" sentences are incredibly improved, because an analysis based on nothing takes a rather creative head, something like a natural born linguist.
Maybe you give your textbook another chance, at least that's my recommendation.

Edited by lingoleng on 13 January 2011 at 5:10pm
1 person has voted this message useful

new_polyglot
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 5050 days ago
1 posts - 1 votes

Message 40 of 59

13 January 2011 at 4:51pm | IP Logged

I have set myself a challenge to learn a couple of languages starting with French only because I have some basic knowledge of it. I am a bit stuck on where to start though I have many CD and book courses but I think this is making the issue a little harder.Does anyone have any advice other than the good tips given in this post.

1 person has voted this message useful

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