Majka Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic kofoholici.wordpress Joined 4454 days ago 307 posts - 755 votes Speaks: Czech*, German, English Studies: French Studies: Russian
| Message 25 of 41 01 March 2012 at 9:47pm | IP Logged |
Luca's exact method is at http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/an-easy-way-to-learn-for eign-languages-part-two/#comment-5054 . He works in phases, the whole dialog on different days.
I don't see a necessity to listen after translating - I would possibly read the initial L2 sentence aloud after checking the translation to anchor the correct translation in my mind.
My only reservation with the L2-L1-L2 translation is, that it needs pretty straightforward source - like Assimil.
I wouldn't try it with much more advanced texts or even books and audiobooks. Pretty good detailed explanation why is in this blog http://tinyurl.com/7c8xfbd - discussing two different translations of Obama's inaugural speech. Neither of them is wrong, but a learner has no way to check his work unless engaging a native speaker.
Edit: I can't get two links in one message working, please copy and paste.
Edited by Majka on 01 March 2012 at 9:52pm
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arashikat Diglot Pro Member United States Joined 4474 days ago 53 posts - 80 votes Speaks: Tagalog*, English Studies: Korean Personal Language Map
| Message 26 of 41 02 March 2012 at 12:48am | IP Logged |
Thanks for the info. I've read that content of the site and using that as a guide. The part that I didn't get was #2:
1. Listen to the audio files.
2. Repeat the audio files.
3. Read the materials with and without the audio files.
4. Translate the Thai dialogue into English.
5. Translate your English translation into Thai (transliteration or script).
What does "Repeat" mean?
Do I have to repeat listening to the files, or repeat as in say it out loud/recite the content this time?
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Majka Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic kofoholici.wordpress Joined 4454 days ago 307 posts - 755 votes Speaks: Czech*, German, English Studies: French Studies: Russian
| Message 27 of 41 02 March 2012 at 9:02am | IP Logged |
For me - repeat means say it loud. Me personally, I would actually shadow the audio - meaning listen again and repeat immediately, as soon as I manage it.
The whole sequence is laid up in growing intensity.
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Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4706 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German
| Message 28 of 41 03 March 2012 at 7:49pm | IP Logged |
I've been using Assmil French with Ease recently, pretty faithfully following the Assimil method. I'm up to lesson 29 now, so I'm still in the passive wave. In addition to the studying a single lesson every day, most days I try to listen actively to the audio, in 20-30 minute segments, both reviewing previous lessons and previewing future lessons. I preview up to 15-30 lessons ahead of my current lesson, since I listen through a CD at a time. By the time I'm formally working on a lesson, I'm pretty familiar with the audio, and can understand most of it, but there are gaps which get filled in when I finally work on the lesson.
I think the passive wave is very important, because it is important to develop an ear for the language. Someone complained on this thread that they feel like they're only understanding the gist of some of the lessons. However, understanding the gist is an essential language skill. This is especially true if you've learned to speak well and developed a good accent. The bugbear of most language beginners is when they can ask a question quite clearly, but can't understand the replies of native speakers. By spending a lot of time on a passive wave, you develop the skill of decoding language above what you can produce.
I'm looking forward to the active wave, but I think I will modify it a bit. I'm planning to do the passive and active lessons on alternate days, so I can spend more time on the active lessons. In that way, I can thoroughly review the content of the lesson, and ensure any gaps are well filled in. I'm not sure you could really do justice to the active wave with just 5 minutes tacked on the end of a passive wave lesson.
One more thing which I use, which I think is great for a course like Assimil, is Jerry Seinfeld's "productivity secret", which you can read about here. Basically, you decide to do something every day, and make a big red X on a calendar when you do it. For me it is completing one lesson of Assimil. Once you get a couple rows of X's, you really don't want to break that chain!
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sfuqua Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4562 days ago 581 posts - 977 votes Speaks: English*, Hawaiian, Tagalog Studies: Spanish
| Message 29 of 41 14 March 2012 at 4:55pm | IP Logged |
It is my experience that you are exactly right about the active wave. Just translating a couple of times was not enough at all. The passive wave worked exactly as advertised, the active wave not at all. I never developed enough speed to talk. I'm redoing the active wave, doing exactly what you say.
steve
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ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4508 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French
| Message 30 of 41 24 February 2013 at 8:21am | IP Logged |
So, has anyone gone through an entire Assimil course utilizing the Luca method?
I'd also like some input on how long the delay needs to be translating L2 back to L1. I
think I would like to give Assimil a go using the Luca method from the start, but with
doing the translation back the next morning rather than 5+ days later. Then using every
7th day as a sort of "intensive shadowing review" day.
Thoughts?
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RogerK Triglot Groupie Austria Joined 4872 days ago 92 posts - 181 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian Studies: Portuguese
| Message 31 of 41 24 February 2013 at 10:45am | IP Logged |
ericblair wrote:
So, has anyone gone through an entire Assimil course utilizing the Luca method?
I'd also like some input on how long the delay needs to be translating L2 back to L1. I
think I would like to give Assimil a go using the Luca method from the start, but with
doing the translation back the next morning rather than 5+ days later. Then using every
7th day as a sort of "intensive shadowing review" day.
Thoughts? |
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Hi Eric, I completed Assimil's Italian With Ease last year following Luca's method and it worked very well. It worked so well that I have just begun on Dutch and Portuguese following the same routine. Luca takes about one year to complete a 'With Ease' course so this time I have slowed right down and I'm beginning a new lesson every 4th day (2 lessons per week). If you want to translate from L1 to L2 the next day you could but I would still do a follow up 4 or 5 days later after no exposure to that lesson. A few days break gives the brain time to forget so if can retain 80-90% of the material after a 5 day break you will known that you known the new material.
Good luck!
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ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4508 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French
| Message 32 of 41 24 February 2013 at 7:47pm | IP Logged |
RogerK wrote:
Hi Eric, I completed Assimil's Italian With Ease last year following
Luca's method and it worked very well. It worked so well that I have just begun on
Dutch and Portuguese following the same routine. Luca takes about one year to complete
a 'With Ease' course so this time I have slowed right down and I'm beginning a new
lesson every 4th day (2 lessons per week). If you want to translate from L1 to L2 the
next day you could but I would still do a follow up 4 or 5 days later after no exposure
to that lesson. A few days break gives the brain time to forget so if can retain 80-90%
of the material after a 5 day break you will known that you known the new material.
Good luck! |
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Wow, cool! Thanks for your feedback, Roger. I am glad you had such a successful time
with it.
I think maybe I will do Assimil my usual way in the mornings (listen, read, shadow,
etc...) and spend the evening on the same lesson again and do it with the usual 5-day
break trailing behind. That way, I am still exposing myself to new material daily, and
I don't have to worry about losing any of the "Luca magic" by translating back too
soon.
Thanks again for your input. Good luck with your Dutch and Portuguese!
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