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Lexiabooks | ||
Tags: Vocabulary learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3910 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 1 of 6 02 February 2015 at 12:07am | IP Logged |
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I came across this last night:
http://www.lexiabooks.com/ (I have no affiliation with this company, I just found it interesting) I thought of an idea just like this a while ago, I guess someone beat me to it. It's basically a regular book/novel that you would buy in English (they may have other base languages, I don't know) and they slowly replace words with words in your TL. I believe it is only for beginners and it doesn't seem to contain too many vocab words, but it seems like a cool way to learn some TL vocab if you are a casual reader in your native language: kill 2 birds with one stone. Just thought I'd share with you guys in case anyone else found this interesting. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5012 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 2 of 6 02 February 2015 at 12:41pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the link but I don't think this is a good idea at all. Another language,
that is not just a new set of vocabulary. And it is much better to get gradually used to the whole structure of the language than mutilating two languages at once this way. just from the exemple on the official website: whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Lapin (rabbit) with pink eyes ran close by her. So, next time, are they going to replace "a White Lapin" by "a blanc lapin" or "a lapin blanc" or "un lapin blanc"? I think a beginner could get some really bad habits this way. And such habits tend to be difficult to get rid of later. 7 persons have voted this message useful | |
| alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7224 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 3 of 6 02 February 2015 at 2:44pm | IP Logged |
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Anybody remember the diglot weave method? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3910 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 4 of 6 03 February 2015 at 1:07am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the response. I don't think it's intended to be a standalone program, just a different way to learn some vocab (though not much if it is only 120 words per series). I don't know what the rest of the stories look like but I'd think they'd account for those grammatical aspects that you explained.
I personally think there is some potential to using a method similar to this, though I would do it a bit differently. It may not be practical for some languages with more complex grammar structures, but it could be a good way to introduce the learner to certain grammatical aspects by weening them into the language (almost like training wheels) one piece at a time. Though I think the Lexiabooks is only for certain words and not so much grammar. In your example, I think that could work as long as it is briefly explained, in the case of your example, that lapin is a masculine noun and that the adjective follows the noun. Start off with "The lapin ran though the field...", "When I was a kid I had un lapin blanc...", "Later I saw another two lapins blancs in my yard...". This could probably only be done to a point before the grammar gets more complex, but through this the learner can learn things like genders, plurals and use of adjectives. And pardon my French (literally) if I made a mistake there, but you get my point. As for the Lexiabooks, I think it's more of a story-version of the "label things around the house in your TL" method for learning some vocab. I don't see it being anywhere near as effective as something like Assimil for getting ones feet wet in a language in general and I don't think that that's their goal, but it definitely (to me) seems like a more interesting way to learn some basic vocab than by mindlessly going through stacks of note cards; I just don't think going through reading 3 books to learn 120 words is the most effective way, but still an interesting concept. Edited by soclydeza85 on 03 February 2015 at 1:09am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5012 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 5 of 6 03 February 2015 at 2:55am | IP Logged |
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Well, labeling things around the house doesn't show you any wrong patterns. This is
different. Even French or Spanish does have very different structure from English and you are learning even from things you just see once and that are not meant to teach you grammar. You need to get rid of your native language when using the target one, not strenghten the ties. I get your point but I think it is very risky to go through such a "tool". There are much better ways. If you want to reach out from your coursebook texts and dialogues, try an Assimil or graded readers at first. Comic books still provide you with correct patterns. So do many other sources, including podcasts, learning complements (like vocabulary builders), tools like the FIA and so on. I am all for having fun while learning (that is large part of my learning actually) but I hate resources who are built primarily as fun (and easily marketable) goods at the expense of functionality. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5323 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 6 of 6 04 February 2015 at 10:52am | IP Logged |
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IMHO, whoever came up with idea probably wanted to cash in on the success of countless browser plugins that offer a similar functionality for free.
Whatever the motivation, I seriously doubt that they'll sell many books at $19.99. I really wished new language product start-ups would spend more money on content than on fancy websites. Edited by Doitsujin on 05 February 2015 at 10:50am 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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