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Go to strategy before an immersion? | ||
Tags: Immersion | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Straya Diglot Groupie Australia Joined 3616 days ago 57 posts - 73 votes  Speaks: English*, FrenchA2 Studies: Polish | Message 1 of 8 29 March 2015 at 1:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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What would your ideal strategy before becoming immersed in a different culture be?
With the assumptions you have basic speaking and understanding abilities (A1/A2) go! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4706 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 2 of 8 29 March 2015 at 2:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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Depends on where I'm going, what I'm doing...what my personal situation is...
Preparing beforehand is always part of it though 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5261 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 3 of 8 29 March 2015 at 3:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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We almost always work with incomplete information when giving advice here, Straya. Given that, I would concentrate on developing language islands for conversation a la Boris Shekhtman's "How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately".
People are going to ask about why you are learning X, how you are learning X, where you come from, where you're staying, what you do for a living, your personal life to some extent, how you like the country and the people, your travel plans, you'll probably be responding in a self-effacing manner to complements on your language skills, etc. It sure helps to have as many replies as possible "down pat" in order to avoid hemming and hawing and possibly losing an opportunity for speaking. This keeps the conversation going in TL and the momentum gained will eventually help you to progress beyond those conversation islands. If your immersion trip is French, in which you have A2 skills, it would also be quite useful to work on verb conjugations and relative pronouns until they become automatic. I'd also learn vocabulary and phrases for expressing everyday needs while traveling. If you haven't yet done so, it would be a good idea to do a regular skype (voip) language exchange with a native-speaker or paid tutor to practice. Good luck. I hope you'll let us know how things went. Have fun! Edited by iguanamon on 29 March 2015 at 4:48pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Straya Diglot Groupie Australia Joined 3616 days ago 57 posts - 73 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchA2 Studies: Polish | Message 4 of 8 30 March 2015 at 4:28am | IP Logged | ||
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As you mentioned iguanamon, those questions will inherently arise during one's stay.
I was hoping to get some general ideas flowing, without the thread being a "hey, help me" , so i very much appreciate your specialised response. I will actually be immersioning myself in Poland and specifically, close to Warsaw. I have a1 speaking and a1.5/2 comprehension and reading. I will definitely try and get my hands on that book too. Generally on the topic; I think making oneself mostly effortlessly understood and understanding are the two most important aspects in the beginning, and therefore conversational partners and interactive dialogues are essential for immersion preparation @tarvos, as someone with lots of experience, i'd be very interested in knowing a few key things you like to do :) Edited by Straya on 30 March 2015 at 4:29am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4706 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 5 of 8 30 March 2015 at 4:50am | IP Logged | ||
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Will you be working full-time? What kind of daily schedule do you have? This sort of
thing all factors in. When I'm travelling, I like to learn exactly the type of vocab I'm bound to use often. Learn numbers and times; you will need them for appointments and shopping. Learn to describe your job, your background and the reason you came here - people will ask it of you every day. Work on your pronunciation, so people will resist the temptation to simply practice English with you. Learn vocab that will specifically help you go about your daily business. Niceties always help. Learn how to ask questions - interrogatives are important. Learn structures to answer interrogatives. Learn the words for but/and/because/therefore, because you will use them every day. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6596 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 6 of 8 30 March 2015 at 9:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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I prefer LR. In fact that's what I did with Polish in 2012, but then again I'm a native speaker of Russian with experience in Ukrainian and Belarusian. Still, Volte has had some great experiences with understanding Polish through LR.
I also practised tongue-twisters daily because the pronunciation is so complicated. Try to figure out all the voiced/voiceless, hard/soft consonant pairs in order to get this right in any new word you learn. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Straya Diglot Groupie Australia Joined 3616 days ago 57 posts - 73 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchA2 Studies: Polish | Message 7 of 8 31 March 2015 at 12:11am | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you tarvos, those will be some of the key elements that i can focus on. everyday
situations will be the things i study the most from now on. @serpent, i have extensively read voltes and many other LR advocates' logs and experiences and since have read the first 3 harry potter books so far using it. I have a chance to speak or, be corrected every day with my polish partner. Thanks for your advice 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5008 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 8 of 8 31 March 2015 at 12:26am | IP Logged | ||
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http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=37667&PN=0&TPN=18
this is my last year's log and experience from one month stay in Spain. Things I had great success with and those that weren't that awesome. Just a very brief overview: 1.Listen a lot. More than a lot! No hour of listening is wasted time. A few seasons of a tv series are a good time investment. 2.Get the pronunciation right. Forget all those stupid accent discussions many beginners take as an excuse, just learn to produce the sounds to be understood, you don't need to fake being born there. If you are already A1/2, I suppose you've got there already. 3.Cover the grammar that is really needed. Keep on mind that the order your courses teach it may differ greatly from the order or importance. One exemple for all: knowing subjunctive at least passively is very important yet many Spanish or French sources keep it a secret until the B levels. Your grammar overall doesn't need perfection now, but you need to have the things of vital importance covered. 4.Vocabulary. Of course you will still look words up and ask a lot when you are there. But save yourself, and those you speak with, some trouble and learn those annoying lists of words you are likely to need in your daily life or at work.
Forget about making yourself understood effortlessly if you are around A1/2 to avoid possible disappointment. Making yourself understood is a great success at that point, I belive :-) Understanding may prove even more vital, I'd say. While you can make yourself understood with the limited vocabulary and grammar you've got, the natives won't limit themselves. So, being prepared for much higher level comprehension challenges is a good strategy from my experience. 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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