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Too Many Resources? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| eebeejay Newbie Canada Joined 4480 days ago 34 posts - 43 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian, Latin, French | Message 9 of 12 01 January 2013 at 10:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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Seems to me that a bit of variety can be good. Different methods have different strengths and I don't think a single method will necessarily be ideal for everyone.
But a lot of materials aimed at beginners cover more or less the same material. So after a certain point, you're not really getting anything new. When you have a lot of this stuff with similar material it is easy to do the basics in one way, then another, then another... and not progress beyond that. If you stick with a limited number of materials then you're forced to either tackle harder material or quit. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5009 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes  Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 10 of 12 01 January 2013 at 10:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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A bit of variety is certainly good. However, having five courses doesn't automatically
mean variety. Many of them are very similar in approach, boring content and the style of exercises. Well, telling a good course from bad one, that is why I think beginners should seek advice. (Even though it is not too hard to recognize a really bad course and stay away from it. If there is anything like "in fifty days, in a month, in ten minutes a day" in the name, it is usually a bad sign. If there is no audio, it is usually a bad sign today. If the authors are proud of not explaining any grammar, a very bad sign. And so on) Telling whether your source of advice is reliable, that is a different thing. Sure, many people may have trouble with that as they have trouble with critical thinking at all. But again, it is not so hard to avoid the worst disasters. I guess most people will reasonably prefer advice from a friend who has already learnt the language to high level to the one who has just begun. They will take advice from the teacher only if they consider him good. They will take advice from the forums more likely when more people agree on it and they won't take publisher paid sites as a reliable source of info (that is the often the worst of these. So many people believe advertising these days...). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6909 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 11 of 12 02 January 2013 at 1:30am | IP Logged | ||
Agreed. I have two languages for which I think that my resources are enough (at the moment), and what I have for both of them is a main textbook including audio (funnily enough, both the textbook and the audio are target language only - perfect!), two grammars, and a dictionary or two. Both are languages I'm more or less flirting with, both are related to other languages I know, and my level in both is "good enough" compared to the hours I've put in. These are reasons why I can keep it at this level. This being said, I'm not the one who usually focus on one course till I know it inside-out (who knows, I might be wasting my time with outdated vocabulary), nor do I study lesson in say Assimil, and then lesson 1 in Teach Yourself and then... As many have said, it takes some time to figure what suits your learning style and personality. If we can find the kind of material to push us in the right direction, plus any supportive material (companion course, grammar, dictionary), fine. There's nothing wrong with resources that teach us other ways to say "the same thing", or that give us other grammatical viewpoints and explanations. And one can simply not have too few audio sources (although internet radio is just a mouse-click away). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Majka Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic kofoholici.wordpress Joined 4657 days ago 307 posts - 755 votes Speaks: Czech*, German, English Studies: French Studies: Russian | Message 12 of 12 02 January 2013 at 1:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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For me, 2-3 different courses are ideal.
Depending on the speed I am learning, I tend either to breeze through a course, not minding details, and then start another one from beginning, or study and usually get bored with a course around the half time. And instead of abandoning the language, I switch to another course, and later back or to the next one :) I am using authentic materials quite early, sometimes abandoning a course for a time. And then, even at advanced level, go back to it for refresher. As said before, whatever works ... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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