a3 Triglot Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 5066 days ago 273 posts - 370 votes Speaks: Bulgarian*, English, Russian Studies: Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Finnish
| Message 1 of 8 05 July 2010 at 10:33am | IP Logged |
I have little free time - several hours per week, but I still want to learn languages. It became more and more difficult for me to make progress. Can you give me any advices how to learn things effectively and remember what I've learned so far?
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staf250 Pentaglot Senior Member Belgium emmerick.be Joined 5507 days ago 352 posts - 414 votes Speaks: French, Dutch*, Italian, English, German Studies: Arabic (Written)
| Message 2 of 8 05 July 2010 at 11:07am | IP Logged |
By a simple view progress is made "step by step".
Wich language are you learning? How do you actually study, i.e. method, book?
Edited by staf250 on 05 July 2010 at 11:11am
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a3 Triglot Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 5066 days ago 273 posts - 370 votes Speaks: Bulgarian*, English, Russian Studies: Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Finnish
| Message 3 of 8 05 July 2010 at 12:14pm | IP Logged |
I'm learning German. I find the grammar relatively simple, but learning new words is slow because of the limited time.
I learn the grammar from various sources - internet, books, etc., but I don't know where to learn words from. I used to visit a German forum and learn the unknown words from a random topic, but this is slow and unefficient.
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novemberain Triglot Groupie Russian Federation Joined 5654 days ago 59 posts - 87 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC1, Italian Studies: Spanish, Portuguese
| Message 4 of 8 05 July 2010 at 1:25pm | IP Logged |
I'd recommend Smart.fm for building out your vocabulary. They calculate repetition
intervals for you and if you study just a handful of lists in parallel, this is likely to take you 10 to 15 minutes per day.
In fact, I have been clocking about an hour per day and my lists count is about 80 or so. Definitely the most efficient
way to learn new words *for me*. And there is a lot of word lists for German
For comprehension, Michel Thomas or Pimsleur (don't listen to Pimsleur bashing that happens every so often on this
forum, it just has a clear narrow purpose and serves it very well). Writing and speaking is about practicing as much
as you can and that's it.
My 2¢.
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feanarosurion Senior Member Canada Joined 5091 days ago 217 posts - 316 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish, Norwegian
| Message 5 of 8 05 July 2010 at 4:00pm | IP Logged |
novemberain wrote:
I'd recommend Smart.fm for building out your vocabulary. They calculate repetition
intervals for you and if you study just a handful of lists in parallel, this is likely to take you 10 to 15 minutes per day.
In fact, I have been clocking about an hour per day and my lists count is about 80 or so. Definitely the most efficient
way to learn new words *for me*. And there is a lot of word lists for German
For comprehension, Michel Thomas or Pimsleur (don't listen to Pimsleur bashing that happens every so often on this
forum, it just has a clear narrow purpose and serves it very well). Writing and speaking is about practicing as much
as you can and that's it.
My 2¢. |
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As far as I can tell, smart.fm is just an online tool. Therefore, you would need internet access for it to work for you. That being said, I'm sure the science is solid, but I have to recommend a downloadable client. Anki is your best bet for that. It takes a little time to get used to, but it gives you the most control of any program, and the repetition system is solid. Therefore, I'd give Anki a try before you commit to an online system, because missing studies simply because your internet company glitched out isn't very fun.
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dolly Senior Member United States Joined 5600 days ago 191 posts - 376 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Latin
| Message 6 of 8 05 July 2010 at 6:24pm | IP Logged |
Parallel texts through this website or dual-language print books. If your time is limited it's better to pick up vocabulary through reading something interesting, and there's the satisfaction of getting something done, one text at a time. Try to find texts with audio as well.
Edited by dolly on 05 July 2010 at 6:26pm
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Akalabeth Groupie Canada Joined 5329 days ago 83 posts - 112 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Japanese
| Message 7 of 8 05 July 2010 at 7:45pm | IP Logged |
I'll second Anki. I've had a lot of success getting things to stick for a very long time
with it. At least in theory, the spacing algorithm is designed to allow you to keep
anything in your memory with the least amount of drilling possible.
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daveyboy Newbie Spain Joined 5092 days ago 33 posts - 46 votes Studies: Spanish
| Message 8 of 8 05 July 2010 at 11:18pm | IP Logged |
If your wanting the words and phrases to stick in your brain , then use a Flashcard
software /
program.
There are loads to choose from: Anki, supermemo, Mnemosyne, Transparent languages [ BYKI
]..etc.etc. I use the Transparent Flashcard program, I think there pretty good for
cementing the words and phrases in the brain, As long as you do it everyday they will stay
with
you..!
Edited by daveyboy on 05 July 2010 at 11:21pm
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