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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5687 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes  1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 13 03 May 2009 at 7:56am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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I see your problems of getting devoted for language study. When I find myself less motivated and I have to do my Turkish pensum, I always go to a bistro, where prices are cheap and take my study material with me, order a drink there and start studying. There you HAVE to devote yourself, because you can't do anything else. Also the public library is a very suitable place for study. I understand that in the U.S. distances are large and suitbable reataurants cannot be reached easily without driving by car. Here in my city I can reach everything on foot, so this is my advantage.
Fasulye-Babylonia 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| !LH@N Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6661 days ago 487 posts - 531 votes Speaks: German, Turkish*, English Studies: Serbo-Croatian, Spanish | Message 10 of 13 03 May 2009 at 12:25pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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You, too, get "The Now Habit" and check out www.alljapaneseallthetime.com , it will definitely help you!
Regards, Ilhan 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| LN Groupie United States Joined 6112 days ago 39 posts - 36 votes Speaks: English Studies: Russian | Message 11 of 13 03 May 2009 at 1:35pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
Yes, that is too bad because I actually find Russian TV to be a very good motivator when I have extra time, but am not really in the mood to crack the books open. After watching it for a while, the want/need to learn and know everything that is being said strongly returns. If you cant get Russian TV in your area, a good subsitute would be Russian dvds which are readily available throughout most of the US. Many also come with English and/or Russian subtitles to help you with meaning, and seeing how the words are written in Russian as the actors speak them. Just be careful of the format before purchasing a dvd, to make sure it is compatible with your player.
That is interesting. My own experience has been quite the opposite, in general the Russians I have been dealing with seem to have an absolute aversion to having their voices transmitted in any fashion. Face to face they are fine, very talkative. Mention Skype though and they back right off. I can not even get them to speak on the telephone, they want to text back and forth. There are times when this is ok, but on the other hand there are times I find this very frustrating. But anyway, if you need to write posts have you tried keeping a journal at Lang-8? It will give you writing practice, and there are Russians there who can correct it for you. It seems to be a very good site, and there are plenty of people there who would appreciate corrections in their English and Spanish entries.
Environment can definitely help. As I said in that thread, I do enjoy a change of scenery by going outside to study. Weather permitting, why does studying always have to be inside somewhere, be it at a desk, or in the bathroom, or crouched on the floor between the hot dog and slurpee machines at the local 7-11? Why not just fine a nice quiet sunny or shady spot (depending on preference) somewhere in the yard? I know myself, that I much prefer this over the constant interuptions from people, phones, and the video games stacked on the desk calling out to me 'Hey, play me! Come on, at least just finish the level we left on, then you can get back to all that Russian stuff'. Hmmm, I think we must have similar attitude games, though mine no matter how high the ESRB rating would never have the nerve to slap me. But yes, persistant beggars they certainly are.
I will not draw a picture, in fact I fear that even an attempt to envision anything along those lines may cause me some severe long term psychological damage, so I will just tell you that I believe it is possible that you were not too far off with that one. If memory serves me correctly, I do believe such phrases did occur on several occasions in various news sources. Not in a romantic/sexual sense, but to convey an apparent adulation of the former to the latter, or in this specific case it also appeared to be mutual, but to say someone is having a love affair with someone/something it does not always have to be of a sexual nature. I would not doubt that there are possibly some here who would claim to have a love affair with languages in general, or perhaps just a single one. You youself said something along these lines in your first post to this thread, its just an expression not always to be taken in the same sense. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Rout Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5552 days ago 326 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish Studies: Hindi | Message 12 of 13 04 May 2009 at 5:57am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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In short: daily lessons. I too was once like you. Who wasn't? I just had to find the right program, which happened to be Pimsleur. Not saying it's for everybody, but it required no books and I did it on the way to work (guess you'd have to find some other time to do it. Perhaps if you walk to school.) After a while I was cursing the days there was no traffic. It gave me a sense of urgency because I knew I was supposed to do one a day and so I did. =)
This bridged out into more advanced learning; I'd become addicted. It doesn't get you to a fluent level but I could say lots of fun things and have small convos after I was done and still understand quite a lot of what I read (German is a phonetic language). It surely doesn't feel like studying. The most important thing is it gets you to think in the target language because it forces you to actively produce it. My vocabulary and grammar are growing because I've branched out into other, more advanced courses like Assimil (also daily lessons), etc., but I would have never got there without that bridge. Now I try to think in German all day! and when I do I can't wait to get home and study. I've also found (even before I found out about shawdowing) that taking a nice stroll while listening to your headphones does wonders for concentration and you really feel like your killing two birds with one stone. Just tell your mum you want to be physically fit. I would like to say that it might not work everywhere though (I'm bi-residential and it is definitely harder to do in metro type areas). I usually walk to the store, get a snack, and walk back. I also like to study at dinner but your mum sounds a bit strict. Also = Chunking It is SUPER important that you study in chunks. I think studies show 15-20 minutes are most beneficial but you can go longer later down the road. Pim lessons are 20-25 minutes so they're perfect and the assimil lessons are only 1.5-2 minutes a piece! Also, whenever I get down, I watch some of Prof. Aguelles' videos or visit the forum. Seeing super successful people can have an adverse effect though. Sometimes I want to quit my job, disappear into the woods, and study languages all day. =P Good luck, Learn some Russian songs on the piano. That ought to satisfy your mum! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| jae Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5504 days ago 206 posts - 239 votes Speaks: English*, German, Latin Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, French | Message 13 of 13 24 May 2009 at 6:18pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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I totally agree with what other people are saying. Find a nice little cafe, sip a mocha, and study Russian (that's what I do!)! But really, I'm serious, just a change of place is nice. Plus, maybe you should use a different method. Those boring voices put me to sleep! Maybe listen to that Russian music you like and translate the lyrics in order to learn more vocab. Or read the Russian wikipedia version on whatever you're interested in (you can always use a dictionary or nicetranslator.com - amazing!!! - to help you). Also livemocha is interactive and much more interesting than listening to tapes. And I'm sure it wouldn't take too long to find a Russian TV show. Good luck!
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