Learning a new language: how to go about it?

[Novelis]

[quote author=Mariama]What a lovely idea, Robin Turner, to use folktales.[/quote]

Thanks, but the idea is not mine. Here is the introduction from the book I mentioned already, ‘Using Folktales’. I’ve highlighted some techniques that could easily be transferred from a teaching perspective into a learning a new language, but I’ve also highlighted aspects that I think might be relevant to other points that have been raised in this discussion.

[quote author=Eric K. Taylor. Using Folktales. P. 3]1. What makes folktales so good for language teaching?

Although they are certainly valuable in their own right – as good stories, as literature, as social and cultural expressions, and as moral teaching – folktales have many special characteristics that make them exceptionally good for language teaching. Their frequent repetitions make them excellent for reinforcing new vocabulary and grammar. Many have natural rhythmic qualities that are useful for working on stress, rhythm, and intonation in pronunciation. And the cultural elements of folktales help both bridge common ground between cultures and bring out cultural differences – developing cultural awareness that is essential if we are to learn to think in another language and understand the people who speak it.

Because folktales began as oral stories, they also have many characteristics that make them easier to understand than other types of literature. Since folktales are often published as children’s books with easy language and context-providing illustrations, many are accessible to students with limited language abilities. Yet there are also many more difficult, literary retellings of folktales. This means that folktales provide material for all levels from beginner to advanced, with natural bridges from each level to the next. The varying levels of difficulty also make folktales very useful in the multilevel classroom.

In addition, folktales are especially useful for developing cognitive and academic skills. For example, academic tasks often require students to compare, contrast, and evaluate. You can require students to use these skills at nearly any language level by having them read or listen to different versions of folktales (for example, the French, Japanese, and North American versions of Cinderella), identify how they are similar and different, and then consider how important the similarities and differences are. Folktales are similarly well suited for academic skills like analysing, drawing inferences, synthesizing, summarizing, and noting underlying text structures.

Folktales also fit well with the growing emphasis on content-based instruction and with communicative approaches that focus on teaching language while communicating meaning. Folktales fit in not only with literature but also with sociology, history, religion, and anthropology.

And folktales, because of their moral nature, fit in with values education, an aspect that a growing number of educators feel has been critically lacking in mainstream language teaching.

Finally, as we will see, folktales are excellent for addressing listening, speaking, reading, and writing – either separately or an integration with each other. Because of the many different versions and the varieties of potential activities, they are especially suitable for use in the multilevel classroom. Because of their flexibility, folktales can also be easily integrated with a variety of approaches to language teaching.[/quote]

Thanks,
Robin

 

[Eulenspiegel]

[quote author=Eulenspiegel](I am learning Chinese right now and have been living in China/Taiwan for these past 2 years)

Pardon me, Eulenspiegel, this is off-topic, but I’d like to clear up the above ambiguity. Do you mean you’ve lived (or have been living) in both places over the years, or do you think that, based on the grounds of your observations, that there is no need to make the necessary distinction between them?

Thanks,
Robin
[/quote]

I apologise for my late reply. I meant that I've lived in both places. The China-Taiwan debate is a tremendously emotional subject for both parties involved so I know what you're getting at(I'm half Taiwanese). Hardly anything objective ever comes out of these debates, aside from the fact that these two countries are economically and financially intertwined and that these emotionally charged discussions distract from that fact. Many young Taiwanese people i've talked to complain that Taiwan is a blind follower of the US Empire and even though I hope that China will try to do something similar to Russia and show people that you do not necessarily need to bow at the feet of Washington, I am quite sure that Taiwan, Korea and Japan are firmly under the control of the U.S.

Getting back on topic, I've just returned from my stay abroad, and I want to give some input on what I've learnt about learning languages that are not related to your mother tongue.

-Comprehensible input(my ability to understand and express myself in another language took off once there were only 1-2 unknown elements in each sentence I heard or read). Most university courses throw a lot of vocabulary and grammar points at you, which quickly overloads most people's brains. Gradual progression is key. It needs to come in bite sized pieces that, over time, create a solid structure in your mind. These bite sized pieces need to be practiced often and in the form of
-Spaced repetition. Anki, a spaced repetition software, is excellent for that. It's basically an intelligent flashcard system that automatically schedules what you need to review before you are about to forget it.
-High Volume and High Quality Audio Sentences that are structured like this
[a sentence in your mother tongue] [pause in which you can translate it into your target language] [correct sentence in the target language]

If you set aside 1-2 hours a day for that, you can easily go through around 1000-1500 sentences a month. There is a company called Glossika that offers sentence packs made by native speakers that will allow you to reach basic spoken fluency in a wide variety of languages.

At some point, usually after a year or so, you'll have most of the basics down and can then expand your vocabulary through reading books, watching movies and hanging out with friends. At that stage, it is crucial that you're emotionally invested in whatever you're doing. This is why relationships usually help you learn foreign languages at a much faster rate. Or a series of books/movies that you love to read/watch and which are also available in your target language.

I remember that shortly after graduating from high school, I stumbled upon the collected Cassiopaean transcripts that were floating around the web. I became so fascinated with them that I read through them over the course of a few sittings. Of course, this was long before I became aware of this forum or that the transcripts weren't meant to be read in isolation. But back then, it certainly helped me learn English!

I want to stress that Motivation, Discipline and not being emotionally disconnected from what you're doing are keys towards the progressive realization of any worthwhile goal, and that includes learning foreign languages.

 

[Novelis]

[quote author=Eulenspiegel]I meant that I've lived in both places.[/quote]

Thanks for clearing that up.

Now, as for your position on the matter:

[quote author=Eulenspiegel]The China-Taiwan debate is a tremendously emotional subject for both parties involved so I know what you're getting at(I'm half Taiwanese). Hardly anything objective ever comes out of these debates, aside from the fact that these two countries are economically and financially intertwined and that these emotionally charged discussions distract from that fact. Many young Taiwanese people i've talked to complain that Taiwan is a blind follower of the US Empire and even though I hope that China will try to do something similar to Russia and show people that you do not necessarily need to bow at the feet of Washington, I am quite sure that Taiwan, Korea and Japan are firmly under the control of the U.S. [/quote]

I like your impartiality and emotional distance from the issue… Perhaps I came across as twitchy (indicating an emotionally charged attitude) and should do the same.

Then again, I cannot deny the fact that I would like to delve deeper into the above, but since this would veer off from the topic under discussion, and since it was I who (perhaps unnecessarily) poked at the issue in the first place, I’m happy leaving it at that for now.

Thanks,
Robin

 

[Bosphorus1982]

For foreign language learners

Something i wrote on another forum. I'd like to post here if you don't mind

As far as i have seen, learning new vocabulary is one of the most difficult parts of a language. It takes time to learn new words. Anyway there are some techniques to overcome this. Below is one i've developed.

ingredients:

1 black pencil, 1 blue pen, 1 red pen, a striped notebook (preferably with 80 pages) and a good picture dictionary.

First begin reading the first picture(word) of the dictionary. And write the meaning in your language below it with a pencil. After this, note the word in your notebook. Write the word with blue pen and draw a red line below the word. Then write the meaning of the word(in your language) at right side. After doing this, skip one line and build a meaningful sentence (with black pencil) containing the word in blue. Here the thing is that, you should do all these attentively, carefully and by applying yourself to the process. Please refrain from doing quickly. Just be in the process and you'll get the best results :)

When you finish the first word, again do the same thing for the next ones. Depending on your performance, apply this for 10 new words. If your brain feels okay, repeat for another one. If not, stop immediately here. When your brain doesn't feel good, stop at once and leave it for another time. Anyway if it feels good, then go to the next phase.

In this phase, you're going to memorize the words in an easy way. Find yourself another notebook you can use in the process. First cover the right side of the line(without seeing the words' meanings) and say the word's meaning. Then do the same thing for other words.

After finishing it, do the vice versa of the same thing(cover the main words with notebook and say the source word of the written meaning). Then do this for all words (if your brain feels fine). And don't forget to animate the picture of the word in your mind, as this will help you a considerable amount.

By doing the same thing for 2-3 days for the same words, you will learn and memorize the words. And most of all, the result will be permanent. You'll be satisfied with the process.

I discovered this by trial and error and it works perfectly. If you're interested in learning new vocabulary, i'd recommend it.

 

[Arwenn]

Hi Bosphorus 1982, thanks for the tip.

I am currently starting to learn Spanish through Duolingo, and I find learning the vocabulary easy enough, it’s the grammar and learning the genders of the nouns, as well as conjugating the irregular verbs that’s tricky. I find writing the conjugations down and learning by rote helps drum it in.

 

[Bosphorus1982]

Hi Bosphorus 1982, thanks for the tip.

I am currently starting to learn Spanish through Duolingo, and I find learning the vocabulary easy enough, it’s the grammar and learning the genders of the nouns, as well as conjugating the irregular verbs that’s tricky. I find writing the conjugations down and learning by rote helps drum it in.

You're welcome

 

[worldbridger]

Hi all,

I plan to learn at least 1 new language. Currently I speak, read, and understand Swedish and English, and understand and read some German. I'm plan start learning Spanish or French, by learning I mean on the level of having a simple conversation, understand the essence in a text etc.

My question is: what is the fastest/easiest way of learning a new language nowadays? Any new methods or techniques?

Thanks

 

[Gawan]

Hi all,

I plan to learn at least 1 new language. Currently I speak, read, and understand Swedish and English, and understand and read some German. I'm plan start learning Spanish or French, by learning I mean on the level of having a simple conversation, understand the essence in a text etc.

My question is: what is the fastest/easiest way of learning a new language nowadays? Any new methods or techniques?

Thanks

Hi worldbridger,

some are using the program/app duolingo for example.

And here is a specific topic about learning another language, which hopefully could give you several clues:

Learning a new language: how to go about it?

I was a language teacher for a couple of years and I am thinking of going back to teaching individuals or small groups by Skype for instance or in person. At school you learn your grammar and your vocabulary and you have to use these textbooks and TBH it is all frightfully boring, unless as a...

cassiopaea.org

 

[Chu]

I'm plan start learning Spanish or French, by learning I mean on the level of having a simple conversation, understand the essence in a text etc.

My question is: what is the fastest/easiest way of learning a new language nowadays? Any new methods or techniques?

How much time would you be able/willing to dedicate? Are you more of an audible or a visual learner? What types of texts are you aiming for? There are many methods out there, and it depends on your goals and your learning profile, IMO. The main thing if you want to learn faster is to be constant (at least 1/2 a day, no skipping for more than 48 hours), and alternating skills (reading, listening, writing and speaking). As to the "easiest" way, well, that depends on what you find easy, but based on the languages you already know, I wouldn't tell you that French and Spanish will be that easy. It's totally doable though!

 

[A Jay]

Any new methods or techniques?

I've found the Mezzofanti Guild to have a lot of helpful tips and reviews for various language learning programs, software, etc. One thing that comes highly recommended, though it isn't a new method or technique per se, is italki. It gives you the chance to speak with and get feedback from native speakers in real time via video chat. I've used it and really enjoyed it, so I'd highly recommend it. You can either hire a teacher who can provide a lesson plan and all that, or you can hire just a native speaker who can give informal pointers for things you're working on on your own.

Edit: clarification

 

[Chu]

Another thing to consider before even starting is why you chose those two. Very often people have an idea about a foreign language before making sure that that is the right one for them, and then they drop it quickly. Spend time listening to both, learn a bit about what you can do with them, and see which one is more appealing. See them as a vehicle for what you want to accomplish, and then you'll know which one to start from. And I wouldn't recommend doing both at once. They are too similar and can easily get confused when you are a beginner.

 

[jhonny]

I think that we also have to have a “feeling” about the new language, or an aim, when we decide to learn a new one. In my experience, when I was at school I was not interested in languages at all, but as I grew up I became more interested in other cultures and other countries, and that was my personal motivation.

 

[Arwenn]

Spend time listening to both, learn a bit about what you can do with them, and see which one is more appealing. See them as a vehicle for what you want to accomplish, and then you'll know which one to start from. And I wouldn't recommend doing both at once. They are too similar and can easily get confused when you are a beginner.

I have to agree with Chu’s advice above- see which of the two you like better and learn one at a time. I’m learning Spanish just using Duolingo and watching Spanish shows as I don’t have anyone I can really converse with, so it helps to reinforce the nuances of the language as it is used in conversation. That said, it really does take daily effort which can be hard to maintain at times. The grammar alone takes a bit to wrap the neurons around :D
But having said that, it is a beautiful language & I’m enjoying the journey so far.

 

[3DStudent]

I took Spanish in middle and high school and enjoyed it. I'm a bit of a ruminator and daydreamer, so I would think a lot in Spanish when I could. If you do that enough, along with listening, you can get to the point where you start to dream in your chosen language, and they say that's an achievement. Reading is the easiest to do, but I never spoke much with natives, so speaking/listening is the the hardest for me.

See them as a vehicle for what you want to accomplish, and then you'll know which one to start from.

I think that we also have to have a “feeling” about the new language, or an aim, when we decide to learn a new one.

Learning a new language is like opening yourself up to a new information field. So like Chu and jhonny say, what do you want to read or learn, or who do you want to communicate with with this new skill?

 

[Xico]

yes, I agree with 3Dstudent, Chu, and jhonny, when I was a younger I always had a feeling about learning English, I wanted to know what would it feel like to speak with tourist and I began to listen to music, read, and watching movies, in order to get familiar with the pronunciation, when I was in high school I took English and was always exempt on English class tests....