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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| Syphogrant Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6982 days ago 10 posts - 11 votes Speaks: English*, Latin, Ancient Greek Studies: Greek, French | Message 1 of 4 16 October 2005 at 12:07pm | IP Logged |
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I've been learning Modern Greek on my own since mid July and I know about 2600 words and have come to a stage where i've used all the resources (which are geared towards beginners) but I find that online newspapers and radio (especially) are too advanced. How should I continue and improve my listening ability?
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| screamadelics Newbie United States Joined 6989 days ago 34 posts - 35 votes | Message 2 of 4 16 October 2005 at 3:27pm | IP Logged |
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I got to a similar point in French when I had learned all that could be taught and was pretty much stranded. I took a two-week trip to Toulouse that really improved it, but I didn't take the trip for the purpose of improving my French!
Go through your television channels and see if there's an international station. There is in the Washington area (WNVC/WNVT - they show German, French, Italian, Russian, Polish, Greek, Mandarin, Hindi, and other languages' news broadcasts) and it can be very, very interesting watching the news in a language you don't even know at all. WNVC is apparently fairly well known so there might be an international channel, but that might be wishful thinking on my part especially since it runs on a pretty low budget. If there is such a station, and if they show Greek news, then you're in luck: you'll get visual aids with your audio that should help you understand at least some of the spoken language (and you'll get a visual treat in the form of the anchorwoman). I keep up on my French with this method; it helps comprehension dramatically so soon you may be able to listen to the radio itself and not have to wait for the broadcast times. If that's not an option, then there are only two ways I can think of. The first is to get a Greek pen pal of some sort. I'd imagine that Greek is a bear to write on a regular keyboard so there could be a logistical problem here (although where there's a will, there's a way). The second is to go back to those online Greek newspapers and agonizingly grind through them with your lexicon. Don't just look an unfamiliar word up and keep it in your short-term memory; look it up and put it on a flash card. When you get through the article (or however long gives you a good number of flash cards), try to memorize those words or at least review them often, and read the same passage again (you can toss out the frivolous words unless they strike your fancy for whatever reason). Continue to other passages using the same method. You can rapidly build vocabulary and reading aptitude in this fashion (the words that you're most likely to encounter are probably among the most common so you could make rapid progress as you learn the most common words; also, if you know all of the words, you can sight-read). Good luck! Edited by screamadelics on 16 October 2005 at 3:57pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Syphogrant Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6982 days ago 10 posts - 11 votes Speaks: English*, Latin, Ancient Greek Studies: Greek, French | Message 3 of 4 20 October 2005 at 11:14am | IP Logged |
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Thanks
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| cbashara Senior Member United States adventuresinspanish. Joined 7131 days ago 186 posts - 188 votes  1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 4 20 October 2005 at 2:53pm | IP Logged |
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I agree with pretty much everything screamadelics said and just have a few things to add.
First, I totally agree that you should read read read read in your target language until (as Patuco put it in another post) your eyeballs fall out! This is the key to building vocabulary and seeing how the language is structured. I would just try not overwhelm yourself and read short bits at a time. I tend to get very overwhelmed and can only read about 2 or 3 pages in a sitting. Second, I also really like the pen pal idea. I got on friendsabroad.com after reading about it on this site and met quite a few nice people in my target language. I have met one girl from Spain and we chat using MSN messenger. We mix it up a lot, sometimes we talk totally in Spanish, or totally in English, or one of us will type in English and the other will respond in Spanish. I really like this and it's a lot better (in my opinion) than trying to compose a long letter or email in a foreign language. I know you really want to improve your listening ability and if you can ever do an immersion do it! It is the best way to raise your fluency level (in my experience). Also, is it possible for you to get a tutor? Maybe if you live in a big city you could find one for Greek. I have a Spanish tutor and I don't think I could do it with out her. There is something about that live human interaction that really helps. Anyway! Good luck! Chandra 1 person has voted this message useful |
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