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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| arturs Triglot Senior Member Latvia Joined 5272 days ago 278 posts - 408 votes  Speaks: Latvian*, Russian, English | Message 1 of 18 05 October 2010 at 9:32am | IP Logged | ||
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Maybe this topic won't make much attention to many of you, but this is more aimed to people, who have, as myself tried the Teach Yourself series and been disappointed about it at some point, and haven't tried to get back to the series books.
The point where I decided to try Teach Yourself again, was watching some videos of Moses (laoshu) on Youtube. I actually didn't use his FLR method, but his videos about how Teach Yourself helped him struck me - if I see a real proof that Teach Yourself helps someone, there's got to be a way I can succeed with this program too. Usually I did a chapter of the book for 20-30 minutes, reading and listening to the dialogues. And I really didn't go far with it, so I thought Teach Yourself is rubbish. So I developed my own Teach Yourself routine that helps me finally to really learn from that book and remember actually everything I have learned. Now my Teach Yourself routine lasts or 50 minutes to 1 hour - some could say - it's too long for one chapter, but it works for me. This topic is just for encouraging all the people who have stuck at some point with Teach Yourself and think that it doesn't teach you anything. It does - you just have to find a solution and you will see results. Since my native is not English I will point out some tips for non-English speakers, how to remember words better, which are given in the boxes. So here it goes: Step 1 - Read slowly all the dialogues in the chapter, try not to look in the vocabulary boxes to see what the words mean. Step2 - Read the dialogues again, but now after each dialogue go through the vocabulary list. Step 3 - listen to all dialogues in the chapter in a row for one time. Step 4 - start listening each dialogue separately. Do it 3-4 (or more if needed) times while watching at the dialogue in the book, then read the dialogue on your own loudly and read the vocabulary box (tip for non-English speakers: at some point there will be words that you just can't remember even doing all the previous steps - the solution is to write the word somewhere in the blank spaces and write the translation in your native language. Please, don't translate all the words - translate only the ones that you can't remember immediately). Step 5 - listen to the dialogue again and this time don't look at the text. Listen as many times as needed until you understand 100 % of what you just read and listened to. Step 6 - after completing all the chapter (listening, reading, doing exercises), re-read all the dialogues and re-listen to them (don't look at the text). (Tip for non-English speakers: usually in Teach Yourself books the grammar is given in a text, not in tables, so make a little table on the free space of the pages and write explanations in your native language). All this should take you about 50 minutes to 1 hour, if it's less - you probably know the vocabulary already before using the book or you are just at a higher level and need to go immediately to the next chapter and don't waste your time on things you already know. Tip: at your next lesson, be sure to re-read all the dialogues, vocabulary and notes in the previous chapter to make sure, you know practically everything. I hope this will encourage some people to get back with Teach Yourself and succeed in language learning. I don't claim this to be the absolute truth. Maybe someone learning by this method won't learn anything too and just has to look for something different. 11 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5482 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese | Message 2 of 18 15 October 2010 at 1:58am | IP Logged | ||
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You're basically describing an Assimil like approach to the Teach Yourself books.
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| rob4languages Groupie Egypt Joined 5198 days ago 53 posts - 55 votes Speaks: Arabic (Egyptian)* Studies: English | Message 3 of 18 15 October 2010 at 12:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you for these advices , I'll try to use 'em for Greek !
Maybe they'll be work 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| arturs Triglot Senior Member Latvia Joined 5272 days ago 278 posts - 408 votes Speaks: Latvian*, Russian, English | Message 4 of 18 15 October 2010 at 2:12pm | IP Logged | ||
Hmm, I didn't know that. I have never used Assimil. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5174 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 5 of 18 15 October 2010 at 7:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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I much prefer Assimil to Teach Yourself, because it seems more natural. You can use Assimil phrases immediately, but Teach Yourself tended to have "stilted" expressions that no-one would use. Perhaps I am being unfair because I only know the old ones well and not the modern ones. I understand that the emphasis has shifted to conversation from artificial grammatically correct sentences. Anyway, good luck whatever system you decide to use.
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| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6012 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 6 of 18 15 October 2010 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Modern TY is still rather artificial because they generally restrict the tenses to the traditional pattern (present tense first, then past, then future) whereas Assimil introduces the tenses in a less obviously structured way.
I was writing a blog post about listening last week and I commented how odd it was that Teach Yourself never actually ask you to listen to a dialogue you will be able to understand. You're asked to listen to the dialogues before you know the language in them, and you're never asked to listen again. A very strange way of teaching, if you ask me. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| grunts67 Diglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5303 days ago 215 posts - 252 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish, Russian | Message 7 of 18 15 October 2010 at 9:41pm | IP Logged | ||
I agree but I find my TYS: Complet Russian every useful because of that restricted structured way. Still, it's my second Russian language book, the dreadful Assimil: Le nouveau Russe sans peine was my first one, so I can work on the grammar more efficiently. I have to admit that to get the feeling of the language, TYS seems to be a poor choice as the dialogue are artificial and uninteressting. As I am concern, I like my TYS because of the small grammar section in each lesson. A real gold mine. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Kounotori Triglot Senior Member Finland Joined 5345 days ago 136 posts - 264 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Russian Studies: Mandarin | Message 8 of 18 16 October 2010 at 8:24pm | IP Logged | ||
I think they take it for granted that you are going to listen to the dialogues again to try to see if you understand them. At least that's what common sense would dictate. As for people actually having common sense - that is debatable! --- Anyway, I've found the Teach Yourself books for more exotic languages to have been pretty valuable, although their quality has varied quite dramatically. Out of the ones I have used and seen, the 2003 edition of TY Hindi and the 1998 edition of TY Turkish have both been awesome (actually I'm working on both books right now). TY Russian and TY Modern Persian, on the other hand, have been absolute rubbish. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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