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Best and fastest way to go about learning

 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages Post Reply
Bill_Sage667
Groupie
United States
Joined 5205 days ago

62 posts - 71 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 1 of 3
15 September 2010 at 2:40pm | IP Logged 
title should've been 'best and fastest way to master a language if one has all mental
energy, stamina, time, money, and also tremendous intellectual ability. Unfortunately he
is unable to move outside of the country and can only have access to the Internet.

I also want to find out since I know this guy (it's classified how we're related) who has
all of the above traits. What would you recommend he do (immersion is out of the picture
since he has aerophobia, and he's also got Asperger's syndrome, but he's completely fine
with chatting online)?

He also sleeps 6 hrs a day and is fine with spending the rest of the hours on his
language.

1 person has voted this message useful



Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5381 days ago

3971 posts - 7747 votes 
Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

 
 Message 2 of 3
15 September 2010 at 4:57pm | IP Logged 
(I don't know if his Asperger's syndrome is supposed to prevent him from meeting native speakers in person, but I will assume that explaining the situation properly should not prevent him from meeting people.)

Here are my general and disorganized opinion.

I'd suggest filling the day with sessions of study, interspersed with language exchange sessions where he helps native speakers of the language with English as they help him with his studies in return. This type of social interaction allows for exposure to the real language, as well as motivation. I also think this is how the brain learns language -- in foresight of personal interactions.

The sessions of study should begin with some basic vocabulary and a general overview of the grammar. Both are important, but extra weight should be put on grammar. He should let the various lessons he chooses lead him, but should also spend considerable time thinking about his daily communication needs and seek ways to fill those needs in the language. In other words, a significant part of the studying should be geared towards expressing things he needs to express in real life, preferably in foresight of these personal meetings with natives. He should prepare for these meetings by practicing imaginary situations and conversations, which will not only reveal his real life needs, but also appease the possible stress from meeting people. These situations and conversations should be rehearsed mentally, without any written material, and he should make an effort to produce new sentences, and variations on them, mentally only. Any hesitation should be repeated over and over until it flows.

To keep motivation up, learning should alternate between books, internet, podcasts, tv/movies, radio, music, SRS, and any other variation available. Anytime he is bored with one method, he must switch to another.

He should also set clear goals and strive to achieve them. Explaining the goals to his language partners is recommended, so they can keep him in check.

Edited by Arekkusu on 15 September 2010 at 5:01pm

3 persons have voted this message useful



Bill_Sage667
Groupie
United States
Joined 5205 days ago

62 posts - 71 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 3 of 3
24 September 2010 at 9:53am | IP Logged 
Cheers, man. Thanks for taking the time to answer thoroughly. I appreciate it!


1 person has voted this message useful



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