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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5617 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 9 of 13 03 June 2013 at 5:29am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for all the replies.
I've started playing around with Anki and I'm starting to think its what my language learning needs at this point in general not just for travel. Up till now I've been learning mostly by digesting translated dialogs via Assimil and other sources which has been great for comprehension but not as great (for me, anyway) as far as recall and output. I think also because I've been learning mostly to satisfy curiosity my studies have lacked focus. I think drills will give me a way to focus on what I want to make sure I retain. Edited by ChiaBrain on 03 June 2013 at 5:44am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6781 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 10 of 13 04 June 2013 at 4:07am | IP Logged |
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I always have my iPod or iPhone with me, and like to keep a comprehensive dictionary app
for the language of the country where I am traveling. Although looking up words isn't as graceful as having them on the tip of your tongue, it has helped me numerous times, especially at restaurants and other places that tend to have words that you won't find in coursebooks or phrasebooks. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5617 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 11 of 13 05 June 2013 at 6:06am | IP Logged |
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I'm wondering if there's any best practices for making SRS cards; in particular for
recalling words rather than recalling meanings. Many people seem to recommended pictures. So, for example: to help one recall the target language word for "check" you'd have a picture of a check on the front with the target language word on the back. Definitely more time consuming than using text and seems like it would be difficult for phrases. I can cartoon pretty well but it would take time to make one that communicates someone getting their luggage stolen, for example. Maybe I'm over-thinking this. I do tend to do that; the over-thinking of things, ha! We'll I've been adding lots of words and phrases to Anki. We'll see how it goes. Edited by ChiaBrain on 05 June 2013 at 6:07am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6512 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 12 of 13 05 June 2013 at 11:22am | IP Logged |
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ChiaBrain's last question isn't really travel related, but I would like to comment on it. And my comment: I'm sceptical. I know that there are people who learn better with pictures than with explanations in words, just as there I people who simply can't use directions in the form of "drive to the big tree, turn right, drive uphill and then downhill until the school, then..." - they want a map. And I like to use my morphological tables as a map, where every form has its own private psoition which can bee used as a memory tool. But I have never ever thought about making small drawings in my wordlists instad of verbal translations. A large portion of the language is too abstract, and if you try you'll end up with something like a cheap version of Rosetta Stone. On the other hand: a specific picture can act as a memory hook because it is associated in your mind with the word. For instance I remember an episode of the quiz QI where the point was that beefeaters and yeomen of the guard aren't the same thing. And here it was the shape of their hats that was presented as an easily remembered difference. And there are other cases where a picture says as much as twenty words (NOT a thousand!). But in general think the pictures then are used as memory hooks, not as interpretations or some kind of graphical translation.
Which reminds me of the all cases where I can remember something I have seen during a voyage, but I have totally forgotten its name. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5617 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 13 of 13 07 June 2013 at 4:34am | IP Logged |
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I've spent the last couple nights inputting and reviewing words and phrases from a couple phrasebooks into Anki and it has been working.
I've been putting them in with English on the front side as I'm trying to work on recall for output. Phrasebooks have always seemed boring to me but imagining my trip and situations I'd use the language in helps me stay motivated. I seem to be doing just fine without pictures. Italian words for things I've studied are popping into my mind without having to think of the English word. I was just going to the bathroom, for example, and the Italian word for toilet popped into my mind when I saw it. Iversen, your mention of wordlists and morphological tables made me think of using mind maps as another tool for quick recall. Edited by ChiaBrain on 07 June 2013 at 5:08am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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