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What to do AFK? | ||
Tags: Computer | Self-Study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| juman Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 5016 days ago 101 posts - 129 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: French | Message 1 of 10 19 September 2013 at 7:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm old enough that I actually should know this as computers wasn't that common when I
went to school. But I have realized that I don't anymore... Does anyone only use books, audio, pen and paper to study anymore? If you do then what do you do? What kind of study schedule do you follow and what do you write down? I have a vague memory of a thin book where each page where split in two to write and new words and translations in but that's about it. So if I wanted to move away from the keyboard (AFK = Away From Keyboard) to study what tips can you give me? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4707 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 2 of 10 19 September 2013 at 8:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I hardly ever use a computer for studying, except vocabulary on Anki. But a large amount of my study material is sourced from the internet: FSI, books ordered from Amazon, etc.
Other technology has transformed language learning for me, however. I use my mobile phone for Anki and Google translate. I do most of my reading on a Kindle, and I listen to audio and music with an mp3 player. I watch films with lovefilm and netflix. Nevertheless, my favourite resources are still made of paper. Edited by Jeffers on 19 September 2013 at 8:09pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4487 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 3 of 10 19 September 2013 at 10:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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My favorite AFK tools are a decent beginner's dictionary and an interesting novel in the target language (preferably one I've read). Intensive and Extensive reading are my biggest allies.
Additionally, I keep notes on EVERYTHING in "travel notebooks" that I pretty much take everywhere and review anytime I can. I have filled up at least 5 or 6 of these notebooks in the last year or so. Homemade CDs and/or mp3s are awesome too. Any snippets of native language I can gather are fair game. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6707 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 10 19 September 2013 at 11:27pm | IP Logged | ||
Things I do when I'm not working on the computer: I use textbooks and grammars. Now and then, I copy texts by hand. I listen to audiobooks. I take walks and listen to podcasts/audiobooks/lessons on my mp3 player. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4088 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 5 of 10 20 September 2013 at 12:58am | IP Logged | ||
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I am not older than 30, but I use pen, paper, grammar books, and drills, all the old way
of doing it. No technological things for me, and studying usuing a computer causes me eye problems. But I am not common for my generation anyawy, since I still use a rotary dial as our housephone and we still have a car with a cassette player, and at home a record player (45 inch)... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5354 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 6 of 10 20 September 2013 at 5:48am | IP Logged | ||
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I wish I could spend more time away from the computer, or more appropriately spend more time offline, as I get far too easily distracted with learning new things and keeping in touch with others, and end up losing so much time on task (often wondering where the hell all those hours disappeared). As I'm a touch-typist and programmer (I actually did Typewriting GCSE!), I'm quite fond of my little keyboard, but it's that damn Internet that gets me into all the trouble.
I can't help but wander away from less pleasant tasks (usually before I even start them), or proverbially jump up like a dog in wagging delight every time its owner returns home with the next flood of emails, or alternatively HTLAL posts, Wikipedia articles, social network comments, YouTube cats on treadmills, or whatever other little corner of cyberspace these demons grab my attention and drop me in. The list of distractors sometimes seems endless...(in fact, that's exactly how the Internet is programmed to be these days)...and well, let's be honest, they're usually far more fun and relevant than working. I employ a mix of using my computer, books, and pen and notebooks in my daily study regime... I need my little loveable keyboard to play around with movies, analyse texts, work with specific segments of audio, and keep track of all my progress and ups and downs in a handy spreadsheet (just a few of its many uses). That's not to mention that a large proportion of my texts are online (I had to leave nearly all my books back in England due to the costs of moving to Hawai'i). On the other hand, I love the feel (and smell) of real books and note paper. I'd rather print out an article and have something physical in my hands to play with than navigate through a Kindle version any day of the week. The former virtual format feels like I'm forced to impose screen-like blinkers on reality, and am limited to whatever few tools the software serves up. Whilst the latter feels real, and offers me a fuller panorama, where I can quickly flick through the pages with my thumb, and scribble down notes and little pictures in the margin in any way I deem fit. I guess it's all down to your own personal preferences and maybe generation, but this is coming from a guy with a couple of computer degrees under his belt (lol). As for note-taking, seeing the pages fill up with my own writing gives me a sense of lasting accomplishment - that this is a physical language artefact that I made with my own two hands, something that occupies space and time (and the kitchen counter right now until my wife returns home from work ;) ). I also believe that the process of writing vocabulary down really helps me learn and remember it later on (something to do with more actively engaging my motor cortex and paying attention to detail). So I'll probably continue to hover around the keyboard for the time being, but also stack up a few books, pens and pencils, and notepads around me to keep me sane. What I really need to do now is hide my modem, stop writing this post, and start working again... Edited by Teango on 20 September 2013 at 5:58am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5005 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 10 20 September 2013 at 11:07am | IP Logged | ||
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I do almost everything at the computer, just because it's so convenient. There's Anki, watching films, reading Web content, online dictionaries which are far more efficient and complete than paper ones, Skype... Even when I'm doing "old-school" study with a grammar book, the computer is useful for entering useful stuff into Anki or looking up the odd word. It does bother me, especially since I also sit at the computer all day for my job, but I don't see any real alternative that wouldn't reduce efficiency.
My main "AFK" work would obviously be meetups and language exchanges, which I try to do as much as I can since I'd rather speak to a person than sit at the PC. But we all know that meeting people to practise with is often much easier said than done. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4437 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 8 of 10 20 September 2013 at 11:36am | IP Logged | ||
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When I start learning a new language, and for as long as I am at a basic level, I am very much AFK, I prefer manuals and books, paper dictionaries and CD/MP3 recordings. However, for the languages I am more advanced in, I use the computer and the tablet a lot, but mostly to read online newspapers in various languages, listen to podcasts or radio stations and watching the occasional movie/youtube clip. But even here I often print out interesting articles and read them in paper form rather than staying for a long time reading on the screen.
I am sure Anki is a great tool, but so far I haven't got myself around to using it. I do read a lot of e-books though, because I don't get tired that quickly when reading on an e-reader with an electronic ink screen. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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