weshdim Senior Member Australia Joined 5157 days ago 19 posts - 31 votes Studies: Mandarin, Arabic (Levantine)
| Message 169 of 376 24 November 2010 at 1:57am | IP Logged |
Over time I've found the best method for myself to digest Mandarin at a reasonable speed.
I found it impossible to learn individual words by repetition alone or to process word lists as some people do.
I instead learn quickly using sentences and I enter these sentences into the Anki flash card program. After much practice I learned to quickly cut up the audio files which accompany my courses using the Audacity audio program.
I can easily enter about 200 sentences with characters, pinyin, translations and add the audio in a 5 hours sitting or less.
I then sync all the material to the Anki program on my iPod Touch, learn it during long walks and then keep adding material.
Using Anki on the iPod, I can learn the sentences by shadowing them, practice my reading skills and at the touch of the screen, keep repeating the audio until I understand it without thinking.
I always buy text books which come with a lot of audio. I use many books so I don't get bored with one.
For Mandarin I use New Practical Chinese Reader, Assimil Chinese With Ease, Mandarin Chinese Learning Through Conversation and Intensive Spoken Chinese.
3 persons have voted this message useful
|
Spanishdream Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5068 days ago 11 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Spanish, Italian
| Message 170 of 376 29 November 2010 at 3:22pm | IP Logged |
What do you think is the best for Catalan from scratch? I'm moving to Barcelona soon and
there are very little resources to learn this language.
For me, Michel Thomas was the best way to learn my languages. So useful and quite in
depth.
Edited by Spanishdream on 29 November 2010 at 3:23pm
1 person has voted this message useful
|
habadzi Super Polyglot Senior Member Greece Joined 5532 days ago 70 posts - 106 votes Speaks: Greek*, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Hindi, French, German, Italian, Ancient Greek, Modern Hebrew, Arabic (classical), Indonesian, Bengali, Albanian, Nepali
| Message 171 of 376 30 November 2010 at 3:20am | IP Logged |
I learn strange languages for my work, which don't have too many choices.
Over the years, Pimsleur is what I start with, if I can find it. (e.g. Albanian, Swahili just 8 lessons.) Then go on to teach yourself or a similar one with audio. For more advanced, one must look carefully. I just found Ultimate Russian advanced with 8 cassettes used on ebay.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
habadzi Super Polyglot Senior Member Greece Joined 5532 days ago 70 posts - 106 votes Speaks: Greek*, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Hindi, French, German, Italian, Ancient Greek, Modern Hebrew, Arabic (classical), Indonesian, Bengali, Albanian, Nepali
| Message 172 of 376 30 November 2010 at 3:22am | IP Logged |
Fantastic!
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7061 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
| Message 173 of 376 30 November 2010 at 8:58am | IP Logged |
Quote:
What do you think is the best for Catalan from scratch? I'm moving to Barcelona soon and there are very little resources to learn this language. |
|
|
How's your French or Spanish?
Assimil do courses for both French and Spanish speakers. I can't comment on the French version but the Spanish one is very comphrehensive. The links are below:
Le Catalan
El Catalán Sin Esfuerzo
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Spanishdream Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5068 days ago 11 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Spanish, Italian
| Message 174 of 376 30 November 2010 at 6:47pm | IP Logged |
Andy E wrote:
Quote:
What do you think is the best for Catalan from scratch? I'm
moving to Barcelona soon and there are very little resources to learn this language.
|
|
|
How's your French or Spanish?
Assimil do courses for both French and Spanish speakers. I can't comment on the French
version but the Spanish one is very comphrehensive. The links are below:
Le
Catalan
El Catalán
Sin Esfuerzo
|
|
|
Thank you for the links.
Ideally, I'd like some taught through the medium of English. I will attempt the Spanish
and French ones as I believe they're available at my local library but ideally, I'd
much prefer them in English so that I am able to understand 100%
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7061 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
| Message 175 of 376 01 December 2010 at 9:16am | IP Logged |
Quote:
I will attempt the Spanish and French ones as I believe they're available at my local library but ideally, I'd much prefer them in English so that I am able to understand 100% |
|
|
I'm surprised a library in the UK has any Assmil courses. However, if not, you could try for Teach Yourself Catalan or Hugo's Catalan in Three Months - my local library has access to both.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Spanishdream Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5068 days ago 11 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Spanish, Italian
| Message 176 of 376 01 December 2010 at 3:41pm | IP Logged |
Andy E wrote:
Quote:
I will attempt the Spanish and French ones as I believe they're
available at my local library but ideally, I'd much prefer them in English so that I am
able to understand 100% |
|
|
I'm surprised a library in the UK has any Assmil courses. However, if not, you could
try for Teach Yourself Catalan or Hugo's Catalan in Three Months - my local library has
access to both. |
|
|
I'll have a look.
In regards to the surprise about the Assimil courses, the library is a university
library so I imagine that this is reason. Initially I was surprised myself.
Thanks for your help though, greatly appreciated. Catalan resources are hard to come by
unfortunately.
1 person has voted this message useful
|