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How effective is LR really? | ||
Tags: Listening-Reading (L-R) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Bobb328 Groupie Canada Joined 4397 days ago 52 posts - 78 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 9 of 10 12 April 2013 at 10:02pm | IP Logged |
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That would be fantastic. I might make one too because not many people have posted results starting on a high
beginner/intermediate so I might just do that. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| sehiralti Triglot Newbie Finland Joined 4569 days ago 15 posts - 27 votes Speaks: Turkish*, EnglishC2, German Studies: Swedish, Finnish | Message 10 of 10 12 April 2013 at 10:55pm | IP Logged |
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Let me start with an initial report then.
I have been living in Finland since August and Finland has two official languages; Finnish and Swedish. Although I learned some basic Finnish before I came here, I didn't know enough even for basic daily things and words. Since everything is written at least in Finnish and Swedish everywhere, when there was no English translation, I was figuring out things by guessing Swedish words with my knowledge of English and German. So, it didn't took me long to realize Swedish is not actually so difficult (at least for a German and English speaker). Nonetheless, I did a Finnish course for 4 months where I actually did not learn anything useful, and it only made me feel very demotivated to learn Finnish. I was also dating a Norwegian girl for a while, so it was kind of like a game for me to decrypt Swedish/Norwegian (which are very, very similar). At the end of February, I decided to give myself time to learn Swedish just for fun until the end of April. What I did was, basically Pimsleur and RS. I finished Pimsleur and I'm almost done with RS, and contrary to the popular opinion, I actually found them useful. They might not be the best way to spend time but I didn't know about LR back then. By chance, I stumbled upon the work of Krashen, and decided to read some swedish. So I have been reading graphic novels (parallel reading with English version) and started reading "Män som hatar kvinnor" (the girl with the dragon tattoo). When I discovered the original LR thread here, I was already at a stage where I could read simple detective novels and not understand every word, but understand enough to enjoy and go on. Also, I can carry out simple conversations (or advanced ones, if I make up works relying on my Germanic knowledge). But alas, it is extremely difficult to understand Swedish spoken at a native speed, even if the content is relatively simple. So, it was a few days ago that I found out about the LR technique and I was thrilled by it. I can be very focused for a short period of time, so the idea of intensively studying for a few weeks works very well for me. I wanted to work on Män som hatar kvinnor, and reserved the audiobook in the library, but I needed to wait for some days and I just couldn't! So I decided to start yesterday with one of my all time favourite books: The Lord of the Rings. Since it's not exactly modern, I was worried that I would pick up some kind of an archaic manner of speaking and I would not pick up useful vocabulary I didn't want to do it at first, but I'm glad I did. It is very, very enjoyable to just sit down and listen, following the swedish, trying to decipher the story. I've already read the book as a teenager in my native language (Turkish) and re-read in English a few years ago. Plus I've watched the movies numerous times, so I know the books quite well. Also, I've read almost everything written by Tolkien, so I'm familiar with his style. Even a few hours into the project now, I can say that it IS useful, and very enjoyable. I would encourage everyone to try it out. I simply didn't have time nor the energy and motivation to make a parallel version with the English text, but I have the swedish hardcopy book and the English ebook in my ipad. So, I just have the book in my lap with ipad on one of the pages. Of course, the pagination is different, so I'm watching out to go parallel in both books, but I should say that I'm at what have been called Step 2, so my main concern is to get used to understanding Swedish spoken at a native speed. Therefore, mostly I'm following the swedish text. I pick up words, nonetheless. I'm doing all of this as a trial run for my Finnish studies. If everything works well with LR'ing, I'll try to do that with Finnish too, and that will be a real challenge! 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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