Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Intermediate Methods/Strategies

 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies Post Reply
12 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
soclydeza85
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3667 days ago

357 posts - 502 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, French

 
 Message 1 of 12
15 July 2015 at 11:22pm | IP Logged 
I'm at a point when I've pretty much exhausted any programs (German) and I'd like to start studying from native materials in a more engaged way (i.e., not just sitting and listening/reading, but actually analyzing materials to avoid getting caught in a functional comfort zone).

What are some things you guys do to keep you moving along during the intermediate phase that uses native materials? Or even if it's not with native materials (maybe you go through an old program but in a new way or something), I'd like to hear what you more experienced guys/gals did at this stage to keep you moving.
1 person has voted this message useful



Speakeasy
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 3812 days ago

507 posts - 1097 votes 
Studies: German

 
 Message 2 of 12
16 July 2015 at 3:00am | IP Logged 
When you say Intermediate, I assume that you are referring to methods/materials that will take you into the CEFR B1-B2 range, nicht wahr? Here are is a list of materials that I found interesting ... or not so ...

Assimil Perfectionnement
As you probably aware, Assimil publishes some more advanced courses in a French base. I highly recommend their Perfectionnement Allemand course. It will give you an opportunity to practice reading French and will help you advance to the B2 level in German. Even if you had no knowledge of French, you could STILL use such a course as "equivalent to native materials" and simply rely on the audio, the transcripts, a dictionary, and a grammar.

Linguaphone Advanced-to-Expert
The Linguaphone Advanced-to-Expert German (Aufbaukurs) is ENTIRELY in German and qualifies as "graded" native materials. Linguaphone has a practice of offering Refurbished courses at reduced prices. This particular course is extremely challenging and, assuming that you make it through to the end, you'll be well within the CEFR C1 area upon completion.

Living Language Ultimate Advanced
Although Random House ceased publishing their excellent "Ultimate" series a few years ago, copies of their Ultimate German: Advanced course can still be found on the Internet. The audio recordings consist of the main dialogues, recorded twice: once without pauses, once with pauses. The grammatical issues covered are the same as those in the Beginner-Intermediate series, with the exception that some nuances are introduced. The materials are fairly challenging and should bring you well within the CEFR B2 area. Should you not be able to locate a copy of the complete package at a reasonable price, you might consider purchasing the book only; in this latter case, I'm sure that we can come to an understanding concerning the audio recordings via the Private Message facilities of the HTLAL site.

Courses Designed For Classroom Instruction
As you probably know, the major publishers of German courses for classroom instruction (Hueber, Klett, Langenscheidt) offer materials at the B1 through C1 levels. My experience was that they were no better than and, in some cases, not even as good as the offerings from Assimil, Linguaphone, and Living Language above. Furthermore, they are terribly expensive, they are accompanied by very little in the way of audio recordings, and the recordings themselves are not as immediately useful as those accompanying materials for self-study ... meiner Meinung nach!

Pay-for-View Videos with Subtitles
I am aware of TWO pay-for-view online video libraries. I have used Yabla German and, once it dawned on me that passively watching the videos was not nearly as effective as actually working with the audio, I found the materials quite useful. They have a huge library to draw from. Recently, a competitor has begun offering a similar service. They go under the name of FluentU and, according to recent comments here in the HTLAL Forum, some of their features are more advanced. In either case, I would recommend that you sign up for a trial subscription of 6 months as doing so would give you sufficient time to gain experience and determine whether or not you wish to continue. In any event, it seems to me that 6 months of intensive work with these subtitle-supported videos would leave you in a position to watch native materials without subtitles.

Readers and the Like
I now regret having invested such a large amount of money in the Graded Readers that are collecting dust in my library. I found that purchasing a number of inexpensive pulp novels and pulp magazines for use in conjunction with a dictionary was more beneficial. From there, I graduated to Der Spiegel, a very high-quality magazine that "still" has CONTENT on a par with what Time Magazine "used to" have.

Deutsche Welle
The German people deserve a collective Medal of Esteemed Merit for subsidizing the operations of Deutsche Welle!

PS:
First, perhaps you might wish to add "German" to the title of this discussion thread. Second, don't forget my offering consider the audio files accompany Living Language Ultimate German Advanced; a simple Private Message will suffice.

Edited by Speakeasy on 16 July 2015 at 3:02am

9 persons have voted this message useful



soclydeza85
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3667 days ago

357 posts - 502 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, French

 
 Message 3 of 12
16 July 2015 at 3:43am | IP Logged 
Speakeasy, danke für die Antwort!

I was going to put "German" in the title but left it out since I wanted to hear if anyone had any interesting methods that they concocted themselves, regardless of the language; but it is always a plus to hear about more materials for German.

By "intermediate" I'd say a solid B1, maybe even knocking one B2's door.

I was thinking about Perfectionnement Allemand and essentially just treating it like a L2-only reader, but I figure there are a ton of other ways I could emulate this experience for cheaper. While I am learning French as well, I'm nowhere near the level of what would be needed to get the usual Assimil experience (I like reading the grammar notes and such).

I've always had my eye on the Linguaphone Advanced-Expert, but was a bit apprehensive because it's an old course (right?).

I PMed you about LL Ultimate

I have both Yabla and FluentU (FluentU for both German and French since they can be shared on one account). I've thought of devising a regular method I could use for them, but it would be more of a secondary study method.

I still work with readers and have a good one that I'm using at the moment (well, not really a reader, but more of a tradition book with English translations)

DeutscheWelle is great, I've decided to take advantage of their Slow News article+readings.

I also use iTalki, which I love, but unfortunately I can't schedule my tutors for every day use (well, I could, but it'd be quite expensive).

Thanks for the insight and offering!
1 person has voted this message useful



iguanamon
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Virgin Islands
Speaks: Ladino
Joined 5022 days ago

2237 posts - 6731 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)

 
 Message 4 of 12
16 July 2015 at 2:17pm | IP Logged 
As someone who has passed through the intermediate stage a few times, I know it is tempting to stay in "course world" but at this stage courses should be less of a focus. I would try to find a series, even a dubbed series with a transcript/accurate subtitles and work my way through it. At the same time, I would find a language partner or tutor online and work on my speaking and production. If I were to do any advanced courses I would not go overboard with them.

The hard part about transitioning to native materials is just that, "transitioning". The question is: "are you really doing yourself a favor by continuing with materials and courses ostensibly designed to hold your hand and gently ease you out of course-world?". My contention is, in the long run, it is not doing a favor to a learner and can actually keep the learner overly focused on study. At some point you have to take off the training wheels and ride the bike. Yes, the ride will be wobbly at first for a while. Yes, the bike will crash a few times. You just get back up on the bike and keep riding it. Riding the bike will become easier and easier the more you do it.

I know that this advice isn't popular here on HTLAL, but it has worked for me. Many learners want and feel they need more hand-holding. I am not saying "Don't study" just try not to fall into the trap of making formal study the overwhelming focus of your learning. Your study should inform and enlighten what you are reading, listening to, speaking and writing in the real world. Finding a good balance between the two will lead you out of the intermediate stage. Not finding a good balance will keep you there much longer. A good grammar book and exercises, along with input and output has been a good recipe for this stage for me.

Edited by iguanamon on 16 July 2015 at 2:56pm

8 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6357 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 5 of 12
16 July 2015 at 2:26pm | IP Logged 
I actually think your multitrack approach isn't unpopular! Some just vocally resist having fun with native materials.

I love GLOSS and lyricstraining. How is your listening? At this level it's very common to be better at reading. These resources can help with that :)
4 persons have voted this message useful



iguanamon
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Virgin Islands
Speaks: Ladino
Joined 5022 days ago

2237 posts - 6731 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)

 
 Message 6 of 12
16 July 2015 at 2:52pm | IP Logged 
Clickable links to DLI GLOSS and Lyrics Training.


4 persons have voted this message useful



Ogrim
Heptaglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 4399 days ago

991 posts - 1896 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian
Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian

 
 Message 7 of 12
16 July 2015 at 3:58pm | IP Logged 
Iguanamon and I sing from the same hymn sheet, if I may use that expression. I am very much in a wobbly intermediate stage with my Russian studies, but after spending over two years (admittedly at a leisurely pace) working my way through Assimil, Colloquial Russian and Linguaphone, I got really tired of course material, and now I have turned almost exclusively to native material. I go to class once a week, where we work our way through texts the teacher has taken from newspapers and websites, I spend a lot of time reading news as well as literature, both intensively and extensively, I watch short clips on Youtube, I listen to Russian music and sometimes watch the news on TV.

This does not mean that I have stopped studying. I go back to my course books from time to time, I review different grammar points regularly, and I try to do written exercises at least once a week. I am aware that at this stage the material is sometimes a bit too difficult for me, and I can spend a lot of time getting through two pages of a book because I have to look up a lot of words. I also know that my passive level is much better than my active skills. However, I have been here before, with both Spanish and French, and I know that with patience and persistence I will get up there at the next level eventually.

5 persons have voted this message useful



soclydeza85
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3667 days ago

357 posts - 502 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, French

 
 Message 8 of 12
16 July 2015 at 4:48pm | IP Logged 
Thanks for the replies, guys. Maybe I didn't word it the right way in my original post:
while courses are nice and I'd still like to work with them, I'd like to shift my focus
more toward native materials. I already watch movies/shows and try reading articles, but
what I'm looking for is a more active engagement than just watching and reading and was
wondering what interesting methods you guys use to approach native materials.

I also thought that this could be a discussion on intermediate learning in general,
something that'd give insight to people weening themselves off doing coursework and
moving onto native.

For example: I saw a recent post where the poster suggested looking up words in a
monolingual dictionary and studying the example sentences. Stuff like that. I'm sure
you guys have some intense and creative ideas and methods that you've honed over the
years (and languages).

I've actually been meaning to read Iguanamon's MultiTrack approach (I've seen it come up
a few times), I'll check that out by the end of the day. That DLI page looks really
cool, I'll consider that as well.

Thanks guys!




1 person has voted this message useful



This discussion contains 12 messages over 2 pages: 2  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.3281 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.