http://bloggingonbilingualism.com/category/podcast / (http://tinyurl.com/yz2abww)
"Another link to the Australian radio show Lingua Franca, this podcast shares the story of a James Panichi who moved from Australia to Italy with his family at the age of nine. His comments shed light on the way language and culture affect personality. Moving from Australia to Italy introduced him to his father in a new way. His father had always been there, but his full personality was hidden by his immigrant’s (unschooled) English. When James also spoke Italian fluently after living in Italy, his relationship with his father changed for the better. He also discusses his perspective of bilingualism and biculturalism from his personal experiences as an Italian-Australian.
Listen to the podcast “Daddy, I almost never knew you!” here (http://tinyurl.com/ykf4poh) at the Lingua Franca site.
See previous post for a link to a podcast on Lingua Franca (http://tinyurl.com/yhxk3wy) by a German-Australian on his relationship with is bilingual daughter."
Donnerstag, 31. Dezember 2009
Mittwoch, 30. Dezember 2009
Free Mandarin resources with pinyin, word-for-word translations and mp3s
*Especially useful for beginners in Mandarin*
Though I prefer to use dialogues and not simply sentences for learning, I think this is a great and extensive collection of useful sentences and audio to raise your awareness of the sentence structure of Mandarin, and probably learn quite a few new words of vocabulary as well.
http://www.zhongwenblue.com/
http://www.zhongwengreen.com/
http://www.zhongwenred.com/
You can read about how I started out in Mandarin here
http://davidamartin2sblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-i-learned-to-understand-1000-words.html
Though I prefer to use dialogues and not simply sentences for learning, I think this is a great and extensive collection of useful sentences and audio to raise your awareness of the sentence structure of Mandarin, and probably learn quite a few new words of vocabulary as well.
http://www.zhongwenblue.com/
http://www.zhongwengreen.com/
http://www.zhongwenred.com/
You can read about how I started out in Mandarin here
http://davidamartin2sblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-i-learned-to-understand-1000-words.html
Dienstag, 29. Dezember 2009
How to Learn to Speak (Czech) Fluently
My thanks go to Jeff Lindqvist at LingQ for turning me onto this site
On it, Anthony Lauder defines what he thinks fluency in a language is, describes his struggle with fluency in Czech, and gives great suggestions as to how fluency can be attained, primarily using what he calls 'connectors'.
Mittwoch, 23. Dezember 2009
Learning Languages Like Children
This is a re-post of one of my recent contributions in this thread http://www.lingq.com/learn/zh/forum/1/5099/ on the LingQ Open Forum
You may have been listening passively for 6 years, but HOW INTENSIVELY? (how many hours per day EVERY DAY)? Students in the ALG program, on average, go to class 3 hours per day every day for a year before they start speaking - that is, they listen very intensively over a relatively short period of time.
I've found that after only 60 hours of listening to Mandarin (an hour a day every day for 2 months), words and phrases are starting to just 'pop' into my head without me even thinking about them. I'm certain that this type of 'thinking' is not detrimental, as the words and phrases just 'rise to the surface' and you're not yet trying to say them out loud. The 'thinking' the article refers to is trying to 'come up with' language (whether it's grammar conjugations or vocabulary) instead of just drawing on the vocabulary base (which INCLUDES grammar) you've acquired from listening.
@ Cantotango
I do believe that words and phrases will come naturally if you listen INTENSIVELY and wait long enough to start speaking. Just ask Steve about his experience with Russian, which I've heard native speakers say he speaks very well - check out his video and the comments here
Notice that, although he has to think about what he wants to say, the words and phrases seem to 'flow out' quite readily, an obvious sign that he did lots of natural listening to the language before starting to speak to any great extent. And, although he may make some mistakes with grammar, remember that native speaker children ALSO make grammar mistakes ('I goed' instead of 'I went' etc. - confer Krashen's Principles and Practice in SLA) and yet they still come out speaking fluently.
I think that, once you reach a certain level of understanding (ALG posits about 80%) after CONSISTENT and INTENSIVE listening, you've already established a solid pronunciation and grammar base, at which point it's just a matter of activating your passive vocabulary (which, once again, INCLUDES grammar like conjugations and endings etc.) while continuing to augment it, which is what Steve says he started doing after about two years of learning Russian.
Finally, consider that adult native speakers also make grammar and pronunciation mistakes and yet we still think of them as 'fluent speakers'.
------------------------------------------------
This is A.J. Hoge's text and recording of an excerpt from ALG's Dr. J. Marvin Brown's article entitled 'Learning Languages Like Children'
http://tinyurl.com/yfwef8l
The original and unabridged article can be found here
http://www.algworld.com/archives.php
http://tinyurl.com/yfwef8l
The original and unabridged article can be found here
http://www.algworld.com/archives.php
Montag, 21. Dezember 2009
Lingro (Ling Grow) language learning tool
Below is a description of the lingro language-learning tool, which I think is a great supplement to LingQ, especially if you're an Anki user. Also check out Ramses' description of the available functionalities here http://www.spanish-only.com/2008/09/lingrocom-dictionary/
Quoted from the lingro website (http://lingro.com/docs/about.html):
| lingro was conceived in August 2005, when Artur decided to practice his Spanish by reading Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal. As a competent but non-expert speaker, he found that looking up new vocabulary took much more time than the reading itself. Frustrated with how slow existing online dictionaries were, he wrote a program to help him translate and learn words in their original context. lingro's mission is to create an on-line environment that allows anyone learning a language to quickly look up and learn the vocabulary most important to them. Whenever we're developing new tools for lingro or planning the next big step, there are two principles we always consider: | |
 | • Knowledge and information essential to human communication and interaction should be free and accessible to everyone. This is why we created the most comprehensive set of free dictionaries available under open licenses so that anyone can contribute, download, redistribute, and modify the dictionaries for their own needs. These licenses guarantee that they will always remain free and useful to society. • To have the best dictionaries, you need to have the best tools. Every tool we create, from games, quizzes, and study tools to in-context word lookup is designed for you, the user. To us, this means that they should be intuitive, fast, easy to use, and hopefully fun. :-) |
Donnerstag, 17. Dezember 2009
Why you think you need grammar
Yet another great post from Ramses at Spanish Only: Learn How to Learn Spanish
I personally don't spend any of my time learning grammar, as listening, reading and learning vocabulary are more interesting and grammar knowledge comes as a result, not as a precursor.
If it's not top-down, get outta town.
Dienstag, 15. Dezember 2009
The Simulganeous (Simultaneous) Method
I just recorded a new item to the LingQ English library entitled 'The Simulganeous Method', which I translated from the original German
The original article was written by Matthias Poehm and can be found here
Here's the English text from the article:
Rhetoric Tip: The Simulganeous Technique
(note: 'Simulganeous' is explained below)
An important basic requisite for rhetoric is vocabulary. The more words you have available, the better you can express yourself.
The German language contains about 400,000 words. In the dictionary Duden there are approximately 120,000 words. Your passive vocabulary - these are all words that you understand, but not necessarily use yourself - comprises between 30,000 and 50,000 words. You know and understand the word 'exalt', for example, but would (probably) not use it yourself. And then there’s your active vocabulary - these are all the words that you say at least once over the course of a year. Your active vocabulary contains between 3 and 5 thousand words: Approximately 1/10 (one-tenth) as much as your passive vocabulary. However, there’s a step lower than that. The 'Bild' newspaper gets by with about 1000 words. On the other hand, that means that you can express just about anything with 1000 words. Konrad Adenauer, for example, is said to have gotten by with a vocabulary of 1000 words.
To expand your active vocabulary, you don’t have to learn new and unknown foreign words, no, it’s enough to 'lift' words from your passive vocabulary into your active vocabulary. So, words that you know anyway but simply do not use. For example, most of you understand the sentence "Since his appearance on 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire', the teacher has been exalted by his students as being an Einstein of general knowledge".
Although you understand the word 'exalted', you probably wouldn’t use it in this context (you’d be more likely to use the word 'glorified').
I have created a technique that allows you to expand your vocabulary without wasting time. You have a skill you didn’t know about and which you can just switch on.
You are capable of mimicking any speaker, whether on the radio, on television or directly from a CD, with a short delay.
Do it right now simply for fun. Switch on the radio or TV and speak simultaneously along with the speaker. You will succeed right away.
The great benefit of the Simulganeous Technique
I have called this technique the Simulganeous Technique. Simulganeous means: simultaneous, that is, simultaneously listening and mimicking. The GAN in 'GANeous' means: G for the same time (Gleichzeitig), A for actively listening (Aufnehmen), N for mimicking (Nachsprechen).
Wherein lies the great benefit of the Simulganeous Technique?
You expand your vocabulary without any extra time investment. You listen to the radio and television anyway, and I hope you also listen to other audio programs. So go ahead and use this opportunity. Whenever you hear a speaker, just repeat after them. If you also repeat rather than merely listen, your brain recognizes these words as already having been used. You are actively participating. And, for example, if you have already said the word 'exalted' itself 3 times out loud, then the chance that you will do so again will have increased dramatically. Your passive vocabulary is 'activated' bit by bit.
The next advantage: You’re pronunciation will be cleaner. You will automatically mimic the speaker - and they are mostly professionals. After a while you’ll pick up the speech behavior of professional speakers.
You will be able to speak faster. If you use speakers who talk at machine-gun pace as a model, then you will be able to do just the same after a certain period of time.
You will think more quickly. The response time between hearing and speaking will get shorter and shorter. In this way you’ll also shorten your 'rate of access' to the words.
You’ll retain more of that which you mimic 'simulganeously', and you’ll remember it longer.
The Simulganeous Technique and learning foreign languages
And one more thing on top of that: With the Simulganeous Technique you can even considerably improve your foreign language skills. If you have ever listened to a language tutorial on CD-ROM, you know what I mean. From the first syllable you can join in and mimic the whole CD 'simulganeously'. The learning effect is many times higher than if you were to only listen. In this way you learn the language much faster.
What you can also do: Mimic any message in French, English or Italian simulganeously. You do not even have to understand everything. Even if you only understand 50%, you’re already making great progress. The chance that you’ll actually use the words that your parroting is three times higher than if you just listen passively. You not only consume, but you also produce. This engrains itself much better in your memory, dramatically increases your speech flow and enhances your foreign language vocabulary.
Make speaking simulganeously your new hobby. I do it permanently. I have many audio books in English. Sometimes during a three-hour drive I talk simulganeously in English the whole time. Eventually it becomes so automatic that I do it quite unconsciously - it’s a lot of fun - and then I’m so fluent in English that it sounds like I’ve been in America for two weeks.
(Copyright Matthias Pöhm. This article is a permitted copy of the website www.rhetorik-seminar.ch and may only be used with the permission of the author.
The biggest verbal attack collection on the internet: 4’500 verbal attacks, insults and offences with its corresponding clever comeback linesVerbal-Attacks-Library)
Sonntag, 13. Dezember 2009
Screw grammar
This is the name of a great post on my newly-discovered blog of interest
Spanish Only: Learn How to Learn Spanish
Other great posts are
Also check out the Spanish-English Sentence Database here
Note: I recommend that only upper intermediate/advanced students with lots of natural listening and reading experience use SRS systems to accelerate their learning of new phrases (and you should always learn PHRASES and not just words). If you're a beginner/low intermediate learner, just stick to your listening, listening, listening (that's how much listening you should be doing!), reading and saving lingqs at LingQ.
How long does it take to become fluent in a language?
This is a re-post of one of my posts on a recent thread on the LingQ forum (http://tinyurl.com/y8b4ogz):
In language learning, 'hard' is a relative term. It all depends on what linguistic and cultural background you come from. If you're language and/or culture is more similar to that of the language you're learning (http://tinyurl.com/ydlcg7c), you'll learn faster than others, all things being equal. In the same way, if a language you're learning is similar to another language you've already learned, all things beings equal, you'll learn faster. This is simply because your brain 'puts the pieces of the puzzle together' faster than it otherwise would.
***Instead of thinking about Spanish/French/German (FSI Level 1/2 languages) etc. as being 'easy' and Japanese/Chinese/Thai (FSI Level 4 languages) etc. as being 'difficult', think about Japanese/Chinese/Thai etc. as being 'normal' and Spanish/French/German etc. as being 'easier than normal'.***
That's because when you're learning Japanese/Chinese/Thai etc. as an English speaker, you're essentially 'starting from scratch' in terms of having a related grammar and vocabulary base. Almost nothing in your language shares anything in common with these languages, so you're learning as a child would - from nothing.
But in fact, you've STILL got an advantage over a child (and you will consequently learn faster than a child would), because you ALREADY speak another language and know about the world (you already have 'schemata' http://tinyurl.com/ycewufa), which means you have a greater imagination for what someone COULD be saying, and language learning is all about guessing and discovering.
When you're learning Spanish/French/German etc., however, you've already got a headstart/advantage, because grammar and vocabulary in those languages is similar to that of English. So you're able to learn AT A FASTER THAN NORMAL RATE than someone whose native language doesn't share those similarities, and much faster than a child would.
In these threads Steve gives a lot of great advice on the subject:
http://tinyurl.com/ych94ta
http://tinyurl.com/ycb5dfp
Definitely check out the first link 'Language Learning Difficulty for English Speakers' (http://tinyurl.com/5w8k32) in the first thread, but remember that these figures are based on FSI CLASSROOM COURSES, and that with LingQ learning independently you can learn much more efficiently (you spend all your time with interesting input, instead of potentially boring teachers, grammar, and people), and therefore faster.
***Instead of thinking about Spanish/French/German (FSI Level 1/2 languages) etc. as being 'easy' and Japanese/Chinese/Thai (FSI Level 4 languages) etc. as being 'difficult', think about Japanese/Chinese/Thai etc. as being 'normal' and Spanish/French/German etc. as being 'easier than normal'.***
That's because when you're learning Japanese/Chinese/Thai etc. as an English speaker, you're essentially 'starting from scratch' in terms of having a related grammar and vocabulary base. Almost nothing in your language shares anything in common with these languages, so you're learning as a child would - from nothing.
But in fact, you've STILL got an advantage over a child (and you will consequently learn faster than a child would), because you ALREADY speak another language and know about the world (you already have 'schemata' http://tinyurl.com/ycewufa), which means you have a greater imagination for what someone COULD be saying, and language learning is all about guessing and discovering.
When you're learning Spanish/French/German etc., however, you've already got a headstart/advantage, because grammar and vocabulary in those languages is similar to that of English. So you're able to learn AT A FASTER THAN NORMAL RATE than someone whose native language doesn't share those similarities, and much faster than a child would.
In these threads Steve gives a lot of great advice on the subject:
http://tinyurl.com/ych94ta
http://tinyurl.com/ycb5dfp
Definitely check out the first link 'Language Learning Difficulty for English Speakers' (http://tinyurl.com/5w8k32) in the first thread, but remember that these figures are based on FSI CLASSROOM COURSES, and that with LingQ learning independently you can learn much more efficiently (you spend all your time with interesting input, instead of potentially boring teachers, grammar, and people), and therefore faster.
Shout out to red, you know who you are! :)
Freitag, 11. Dezember 2009
Khazumoto's Wisdom: Desires and Decisions - If you want to succeed, be persistent
Thanks to Khazumoto of AJATT for the following wisdom:
"You see, everyone has desire. Everyone wants to be good at something. Everyone wants to know a cool language, everyone wants mad kung-fu skills, computer-hacking skills…you name it. Everyone wants to be able to play a piano concerto with their eyes closed using only their big toe. So, the difference between those who do know a language, do have kung-fu/computer hacking skills — et cetera — and those who don’t must, in fact, be very small, and it is this: Those who have the skills didn’t just want to be good, they decided to be good. Want or decide — one is a wish, the other is a choice. One can get crushed, forgotten and swept away by the hectic business of everyday life; the other is inevitable — it sweeps everything out of its path, it crushes, avoids or otherwise overcomes obstacles. Like commercial breaks or uninvited missionaries, it’s always all up in your face.
So, if you want to be good, then good luck with that. If you’ve decided to be good, then gosh help anyone or anything that gets in your way!
How about you? Do you just want to be fluent in Japanese, or have you decided to be?"
and for turning me on to this related Calvin Coolidge quote:
“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/desires-and-decisions (http://tinyurl.com/b8ckoy)
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/you-can-have-do-or-be-anything-but-you-cannot-have-do-or-be-everything (http://tinyurl.com/q7rub3)
Donnerstag, 10. Dezember 2009
Free Chinese/Japanese/Korean TV series and movie streaming w/English subtitles
I happened on this site by way of jjmountain's fantastic Korean blog (http://koreanasitis.wordpress.com/)
http://www.mysoju.com/browse/
http://www.mysoju.com/browse/
It's an amazing collection of free Chinese/Japanese/Korean TV series and movie streaming w/English subtitles.
Mittwoch, 9. Dezember 2009
Why I Prefer the LingQ Method / The Importance of Vocabulary
This is a slightly modified re-post from the LingQ forum (http://tinyurl.com/yhywy68)
This is an interesting excerpt from 'Vocabulary Instruction for Academic Success' by Ahley Bishop, Ruth Helen Yopp and Hallie Kay Yopp:
"*Providing Extensive Experiences with Language
Language learning cannot occur without exposure to language. Research shows that most vocabulary is not directly taught; huge numbers of words are learned incidentally—through experiences with language. Thus, it is crucial that teachers establish language-rich environments.
This means that teachers must offer myriad opportunities for students to hear and engage with spoken language and to read, write, and engage with written language in multiple contexts. Indeed, Johnson (2001, 19) stated that “the best way to help schoolchildren expand their vocabularies … is to provide plentiful, interactive oral language experiences throughout the elementary and middle grades.” Nagy agreed that “experiences with rich oral language are critical for vocabulary growth” and noted that wide reading “is the primary engine that drives vocabulary growth” (2005,29). Thus, one essential aspect of vocabulary instruction is exposure to plentiful language in the classroom."
Obviously we know that teachers are not necessary to 'establish language-rich environments' or 'provide plentiful, interactive oral language experiences' - all you need to do is consistently surround yourself with the language with a system like LingQ and an mp3 player, and regularly use the opportunity to speak with native speakers and use new words and phrases via the LingQ tutor system to promote your active vocabulary.
Dienstag, 8. Dezember 2009
Hugosite.com – Learn English in 365 Lessons
Someone posted this on the LingQ forum a few days ago and I think it's a great resource for English learners:
It's a collection of 365 videos teaching English through situations.
Montag, 7. Dezember 2009
Khazumoto shows off his Nihongo skills
Khazumoto from AJATT speaking mad fluent Japanese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejRkuX1RGf4&feature=player_embedded# (http://tinyurl.com/yk56oy9)
Ya, I'd like to achieve that level of fluency in Nihongo...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejRkuX1RGf4&feature=player_embedded# (http://tinyurl.com/yk56oy9)
Ya, I'd like to achieve that level of fluency in Nihongo...
Sonntag, 6. Dezember 2009
Making your passive vocabulary active
This is a re-post from a recent thread of mine on the LingQ forum (http://tinyurl.com/yhrebo4):
Many upper intermediate/advanced students have recently expressed their concern to me that they don't feel like they've been making much progress recently, especially as it concerns vocabulary.
In our group discussion 'Language Learning Experience and Methods' from last Thursday we talked about possible methods for breaking through these plateaus, and we came up with some different ideas.
One of my suggestions was for students to keep an 'active vocabulary wishlist' that is, a notebook with words and phrases they've recently learned in their reading and listening that they would like to be able to actively use. Learners can start out with just one new word or phrase per conversation/writing, and gradually increade the number of new ones they try to actively use.
When you use the new word or phrase, you can (a) immediately ask your tutor if you've used the expression correctly, or (b) hope that the tutor will have been paying attention and will correct you in the conversation report if you used the word/phrase incorrectly. Personally, I prefer (a).
The great thing about keeping all these words and phrases in one notebook is that every time you have a conversation you can look back and see all the expressions you've already used, which is a nice indication of your progress, and it's also a good review.
Although I know everyone does not agree with me, I also think Spaced Repetition Listening is a great way for advanced learners to improve, as they don't need as much extensive input as they need to specifically target new words and phrases they would like to make active, and increase the rate at which these words and phrases go from being passive to active, as the 'activeness' of a word or expression depends to a great extent on how frequently you've heard/read it (hearing the words and phrases in meaningful contexts is, of course, much more important to the beginner), just as how often you hear/read a language determines how active it is in your brain, as we found out in our discussion about active versus passive languages you've learned/grown up with.
For more on this subject, confer http://tinyurl.com/yhfj8v7
I look forward to your feedback and new ideas on the subject:)
Many upper intermediate/advanced students have recently expressed their concern to me that they don't feel like they've been making much progress recently, especially as it concerns vocabulary.
In our group discussion 'Language Learning Experience and Methods' from last Thursday we talked about possible methods for breaking through these plateaus, and we came up with some different ideas.
One of my suggestions was for students to keep an 'active vocabulary wishlist' that is, a notebook with words and phrases they've recently learned in their reading and listening that they would like to be able to actively use. Learners can start out with just one new word or phrase per conversation/writing, and gradually increade the number of new ones they try to actively use.
When you use the new word or phrase, you can (a) immediately ask your tutor if you've used the expression correctly, or (b) hope that the tutor will have been paying attention and will correct you in the conversation report if you used the word/phrase incorrectly. Personally, I prefer (a).
The great thing about keeping all these words and phrases in one notebook is that every time you have a conversation you can look back and see all the expressions you've already used, which is a nice indication of your progress, and it's also a good review.
Although I know everyone does not agree with me, I also think Spaced Repetition Listening is a great way for advanced learners to improve, as they don't need as much extensive input as they need to specifically target new words and phrases they would like to make active, and increase the rate at which these words and phrases go from being passive to active, as the 'activeness' of a word or expression depends to a great extent on how frequently you've heard/read it (hearing the words and phrases in meaningful contexts is, of course, much more important to the beginner), just as how often you hear/read a language determines how active it is in your brain, as we found out in our discussion about active versus passive languages you've learned/grown up with.
For more on this subject, confer http://tinyurl.com/yhfj8v7
I look forward to your feedback and new ideas on the subject:)
Samstag, 5. Dezember 2009
100% OF WINNING IS SHOWING UP
The title of this post was borrowed from http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/showing-up
This is a re-post from a recent thread in the LingQ Forum http://www.lingq.com/learn/zh/forum/46/4850/
I don't know much about Antimoon, but I did read Steve's post on some of the things that Antimoon recommends and I don't think that Khazumoto's method resembles theirs at all, except for the SRS learning, which I think is helpful (in some form - I prefer Spaced Repetition Listening because it's more natural than flashcards) at an advanced level to target increasingly specific vocabulary and break through plateaus.
Admittedly, up to now I haven't concentrated on one language exclusively, but I have also never achieved near-native level in terms of VOCABULARY in any language that I've studied, although I've attained it in speaking fluency in German. For this reason I'm particularly interested in Khazumoto's experiment and also his idea of 'laddering' languages once you've achieved an advanced level in one of them, that is, learning L3 through L2, L4 thorough L3 etc., as mentions in this facetiously titled post: (http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-do- i-learn-500-languages-at-once)
As Khazumoto says:
'All your learning of Japanese (or any other language) is, is simply a string of moments in which you learn something and remember it in the next moment when you’re learning the next thing, such that you know more in the next moment than you did in the previous moment. You know more now, than you did one second ago; you know more one second later, than you do now. You know more today than yesterday and more tomorrow than today. That’s it. The key here is the moment. You don’t have to spend ten years, you only have to spend this moment, right here, right now.'
So if we can at least slightly impede the process of forgetting what we've learned by understanding how memory works and taking advantage of that understanding by using something like an SRS, then it will (a) take much less time before we reach a level at which we can understand and appreciate authentic content, (b) accelerate our arrival at a state of critical mass, that is, the point at which you start speaking naturally without having to 'try', and (c) increase the rate at which words pass from being passive to active, as the 'activeness' of a word or expression depends to a great extent on how frequently you've heard/read it (hearing the words and expression, of course, is much more important to the beginner).
In this sense I agree with you completely that consistency is key, and with consistency you WILL reach your goals at some point, even without SRS, and that goes for anything in life that you want to achieve or learn. As Khatzumoto says:
'You don’t have to run tomorrow morning. You just have to have your shoes on and be standing outside... 100% OF WINNING IS SHOWING UP.'
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/comfort-zone-growth-zone-panic-zone
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/showing-up
As long as you put your running shoes on (sign in to LingQ) and walk outside (choose a lesson and have it open on LingQ) every day, you will more than likely learn something. And the more consistently you workout (and have fun), the better the shape and disposition you'll be in:)
This is a re-post from a recent thread in the LingQ Forum http://www.lingq.com/learn/zh/forum/46/4850/
I don't know much about Antimoon, but I did read Steve's post on some of the things that Antimoon recommends and I don't think that Khazumoto's method resembles theirs at all, except for the SRS learning, which I think is helpful (in some form - I prefer Spaced Repetition Listening because it's more natural than flashcards) at an advanced level to target increasingly specific vocabulary and break through plateaus.
Admittedly, up to now I haven't concentrated on one language exclusively, but I have also never achieved near-native level in terms of VOCABULARY in any language that I've studied, although I've attained it in speaking fluency in German. For this reason I'm particularly interested in Khazumoto's experiment and also his idea of 'laddering' languages once you've achieved an advanced level in one of them, that is, learning L3 through L2, L4 thorough L3 etc., as mentions in this facetiously titled post: (http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/how-do- i-learn-500-languages-at-once)
As Khazumoto says:
'All your learning of Japanese (or any other language) is, is simply a string of moments in which you learn something and remember it in the next moment when you’re learning the next thing, such that you know more in the next moment than you did in the previous moment. You know more now, than you did one second ago; you know more one second later, than you do now. You know more today than yesterday and more tomorrow than today. That’s it. The key here is the moment. You don’t have to spend ten years, you only have to spend this moment, right here, right now.'
So if we can at least slightly impede the process of forgetting what we've learned by understanding how memory works and taking advantage of that understanding by using something like an SRS, then it will (a) take much less time before we reach a level at which we can understand and appreciate authentic content, (b) accelerate our arrival at a state of critical mass, that is, the point at which you start speaking naturally without having to 'try', and (c) increase the rate at which words pass from being passive to active, as the 'activeness' of a word or expression depends to a great extent on how frequently you've heard/read it (hearing the words and expression, of course, is much more important to the beginner).
In this sense I agree with you completely that consistency is key, and with consistency you WILL reach your goals at some point, even without SRS, and that goes for anything in life that you want to achieve or learn. As Khatzumoto says:
'You don’t have to run tomorrow morning. You just have to have your shoes on and be standing outside... 100% OF WINNING IS SHOWING UP.'
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/comfort-zone-growth-zone-panic-zone
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/showing-up
As long as you put your running shoes on (sign in to LingQ) and walk outside (choose a lesson and have it open on LingQ) every day, you will more than likely learn something. And the more consistently you workout (and have fun), the better the shape and disposition you'll be in:)
Freitag, 4. Dezember 2009
All Japanese All The Time (AJATT) - How to learn Japanese (and any other language) on your own having fun and to fluency
Easily the coolest blog ever on language learning (not only Japanese) besides Steve's, both for its content and for its humor.
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/all-japanese-all-the-time-ajatt-how-to-learn-japanese-on-your-own-having-fun-and-to-fluency
I recommend reading the whole blog, but some of my favorite posts are:
-Cute Girls, Mathematics, Language
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/cute-girls-mathematics-language
-10,000 Hours: Building Listening Comprehension
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/10000-hours-building-listening-comprehension
-Why You Should Keep Listening Even If You Don't Understand
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/why-you-should-keep-listening-even-if-you-dont-understand
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/all-japanese-all-the-time-ajatt-how-to-learn-japanese-on-your-own-having-fun-and-to-fluency
I recommend reading the whole blog, but some of my favorite posts are:
-Cute Girls, Mathematics, Language
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/cute-girls-mathematics-language
-10,000 Hours: Building Listening Comprehension
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/10000-hours-building-listening-comprehension
-Why You Should Keep Listening Even If You Don't Understand
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/why-you-should-keep-listening-even-if-you-dont-understand
Donnerstag, 3. Dezember 2009
How I learned to understand 1000 words of Mandarin in 1 month
The secret has been to work primarily with dialogues, as I think the brain responds best to conversations (given that they're the basis for all communication) starting out at about 1 minute, and getting progressively longer. I describe starting from scratch here
http://davidamartin2sblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/learning-mandarin-from-scratch-2.html
This INTENSIVE and REPETITIVE listening (and re-reading if I had forgotten something) in combination with the EXTENSIVE and REGULAR listening to larger dialogues (I love the LingQ Chinese Podcast, there's so many cool topics) while reading along in English helped me to accustomize myself to the language very quickly.
I also experimented with transliterating the larger dialogues into pinyin and printing them out so that I could read along and create my own vocab lists in the margins/above the words to improve my extensive reading and listening without having to learn the characters, which I think helped me a lot to understand longer passages and expose myself to a lot of new vocabulary in a short period of time.
You can access 31 of the 40 lessons of Zhang Peng Peng's Intensive Spoken Chinese here
http://www.chinese-tools.com/learn/chinese
http://davidamartin2sblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/learning-mandarin-from-scratch-2.html
This INTENSIVE and REPETITIVE listening (and re-reading if I had forgotten something) in combination with the EXTENSIVE and REGULAR listening to larger dialogues (I love the LingQ Chinese Podcast, there's so many cool topics) while reading along in English helped me to accustomize myself to the language very quickly.
I also experimented with transliterating the larger dialogues into pinyin and printing them out so that I could read along and create my own vocab lists in the margins/above the words to improve my extensive reading and listening without having to learn the characters, which I think helped me a lot to understand longer passages and expose myself to a lot of new vocabulary in a short period of time.
You can access 31 of the 40 lessons of Zhang Peng Peng's Intensive Spoken Chinese here
http://www.chinese-tools.com/learn/chinese
Mittwoch, 2. Dezember 2009
Spaced Repetition Listening with Anki
I just figured out that you can upload audio as large as you want onto the front of flashcards in Anki, and you can put the transcript/translation on the back.
That means that you can use Anki to do spaced reviews of your listening (vocabulary in context) - I'm doing this with the extracted dialogues and transcripts from ChinesePOD.com
Anki gives you four options for grading your comprehension/performance:
Again - You'll see the card again soon
Hard - You'll see the card again the next day
Good - You'll see the card again in 3-4 days
Easy - You'll see the card again in 7-9 days
Of course, each time you see a card and choose one of these options, Anki recalculates the interval accordingly, and over time all of these intervals will become longer, eventually to the point where you don't have to review certain items for years.
In the context of listening, this means that the levels would be such that:
Again = 0-25% comprehension -> You'll see the card again soon
Hard = 25-50% comprehension -> You'll see the card again the next day
Good = 50-75% comprehension -> You'll see the card again in 3-4 days
Easy = 75%-100% comprehension -> You'll see the card again in 7-9 days
Obviously these levels are based on your subjective opinion of your rate of comprehension, but I think that if you use Anki in this way with short (max 1-2 minutes) content containing new vocabulary, over time you will see rapid progress and passive to active vocabulary transfer (especially as a beginner).
The 'Who is she?' or 'Eating Out' series on LingQ would be perfect to use with this method if you're just starting out in a language:)
For more advanced learners, this could be used as a supplement to your regular, more extensive listening and reading.
That means that you can use Anki to do spaced reviews of your listening (vocabulary in context) - I'm doing this with the extracted dialogues and transcripts from ChinesePOD.com
Anki gives you four options for grading your comprehension/performance:
Again - You'll see the card again soon
Hard - You'll see the card again the next day
Good - You'll see the card again in 3-4 days
Easy - You'll see the card again in 7-9 days
Of course, each time you see a card and choose one of these options, Anki recalculates the interval accordingly, and over time all of these intervals will become longer, eventually to the point where you don't have to review certain items for years.
In the context of listening, this means that the levels would be such that:
Again = 0-25% comprehension -> You'll see the card again soon
Hard = 25-50% comprehension -> You'll see the card again the next day
Good = 50-75% comprehension -> You'll see the card again in 3-4 days
Easy = 75%-100% comprehension -> You'll see the card again in 7-9 days
Obviously these levels are based on your subjective opinion of your rate of comprehension, but I think that if you use Anki in this way with short (max 1-2 minutes) content containing new vocabulary, over time you will see rapid progress and passive to active vocabulary transfer (especially as a beginner).
The 'Who is she?' or 'Eating Out' series on LingQ would be perfect to use with this method if you're just starting out in a language:)
For more advanced learners, this could be used as a supplement to your regular, more extensive listening and reading.
Using Anki with Smartfm, and eventually with LingQ
Anki is a spaced repetition system (SRS). It helps you remember things by intelligently scheduling flashcards, so that you can learn a lot of information with a minimum amount of effort. Here's an intro video:
http://ichi2.net/anki/screencast1.html
The following was borrowed from http://howtojapan.blogspot.com/2009/03/using-anki-with-smartfm.html
"Where do I get good sentences to use with Anki?"
smart.fm is the answer. It has over 10,000 sentences with a picture and a sound file. It also has it's own online learning system.
Take a look at how to get the smart.fm plugin for Anki here:
http://ichi2.net/anki/wiki/Plugins#Importsmart.fmi tems.2Candgenerallists
Once you've downloaded it, instructions on how to use it are here
http://wiki.github.com/ridisculous/anki-iknow-importer
With the latest Anki release, you can also download using Anki's built in plugin manager. The plugin provides full control over what card types are created.
-------
I've been experimenting with Anki and my LingQs, but so far I can only import them one-by-one. I'm trying to find a way to mass import them into the program. Does anyone have any experience with Anki?
http://ichi2.net/anki/screencast1.html
The following was borrowed from http://howtojapan.blogspot.com/2009/03/using-anki-with-smartfm.html
"Where do I get good sentences to use with Anki?"
smart.fm is the answer. It has over 10,000 sentences with a picture and a sound file. It also has it's own online learning system.
Take a look at how to get the smart.fm plugin for Anki here:
http://ichi2.net/anki/wiki/Plugins#Importsmart.fmi tems.2Candgenerallists
Once you've downloaded it, instructions on how to use it are here
http://wiki.github.com/ridisculous/anki-iknow-importer
With the latest Anki release, you can also download using Anki's built in plugin manager. The plugin provides full control over what card types are created.
-------
I've been experimenting with Anki and my LingQs, but so far I can only import them one-by-one. I'm trying to find a way to mass import them into the program. Does anyone have any experience with Anki?
Yiddish vs. Hebrew
This is from one of my recent posts on the LingQ forum
(http://www.lingq.com/learn/zh/forum/1/4799/)
Yiddish is a Germanic language with Hebrew (Semitic) influence, while Hebrew is simply a Semitic language.
Here is the the Our Father in German:
Alle Menschen sind frei und gleich an Würde und Rechten geboren. Sie sind mit Vernunft und Gewissen begabt und sollen einander im Geist der Brüderlichkeit begegnen.
Here is a transliteration of the Our Father in Yiddish (I capitalized some nouns for comparison):
Yeder Mentsh vert geboyrn fray un glaykh in Koved un Rekht. Yeder vert bashonkn mit Farshtand un Gevisn; yeder zol zikh firn mit a tsveytn in a gemit fun Brudershaft.
And here is a transliteration of the Our Father in Hebrew:
Kol benei ha'adam noldu benei xorin veshavim be'erkam uvizxuyoteihem. Kulam xonenu batevuna uvematspun, lefixax xova 'aleihem linhog ish bere'ehu beruax shel axava.
As you can see, Yiddish and German are quite similar, and if you speak German you can understand even spoken Yiddish quite well. You can listen to the above examples by searching each language here http://www.omniglot.com/
As far as learning them, I imagine there are more resources for Hebrew than for Yiddish; however, Yiddish will be easier for you to learn as it's a Western European language. But, where there's a will, there's way.
Check out these Google searches for Hebrew resources I recently did for a friend:
http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1SKPC_en___US35 5&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=learn+hebrew
http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1SKPC_en___US35 5&aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=hebrew
and these two sites I've already checked out and they're quite good:
www.learnhebrewpod.com
http://www.hebrewtoday.com/ntext.asp?psn=16
The same search in Yiddish yields some interesting resources as well.
(http://www.lingq.com/learn/zh/forum/1/4799/)
Yiddish is a Germanic language with Hebrew (Semitic) influence, while Hebrew is simply a Semitic language.
Here is the the Our Father in German:
Alle Menschen sind frei und gleich an Würde und Rechten geboren. Sie sind mit Vernunft und Gewissen begabt und sollen einander im Geist der Brüderlichkeit begegnen.
Here is a transliteration of the Our Father in Yiddish (I capitalized some nouns for comparison):
Yeder Mentsh vert geboyrn fray un glaykh in Koved un Rekht. Yeder vert bashonkn mit Farshtand un Gevisn; yeder zol zikh firn mit a tsveytn in a gemit fun Brudershaft.
And here is a transliteration of the Our Father in Hebrew:
Kol benei ha'adam noldu benei xorin veshavim be'erkam uvizxuyoteihem. Kulam xonenu batevuna uvematspun, lefixax xova 'aleihem linhog ish bere'ehu beruax shel axava.
As you can see, Yiddish and German are quite similar, and if you speak German you can understand even spoken Yiddish quite well. You can listen to the above examples by searching each language here http://www.omniglot.com/
As far as learning them, I imagine there are more resources for Hebrew than for Yiddish; however, Yiddish will be easier for you to learn as it's a Western European language. But, where there's a will, there's way.
Check out these Google searches for Hebrew resources I recently did for a friend:
http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1SKPC_en___US35 5&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=learn+hebrew
http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1SKPC_en___US35 5&aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=hebrew
and these two sites I've already checked out and they're quite good:
www.learnhebrewpod.com
http://www.hebrewtoday.com/ntext.asp?psn=16
The same search in Yiddish yields some interesting resources as well.
Dienstag, 1. Dezember 2009
Learning the Mandarin Characters (Hanzi)
Once you've got a good vocabulary base in Mandarin, and preferably not before, you'll want to get started on learning the Hanzi.
I've found the following combination quite good for learning the characters:
1) Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters - gives you picture stories with built in mnemonics for remembering the tones and pronunciations of the 800 most basic characters (HSK Level A), and builds up your character knowledge systematically going from least to most complicated by only introducing characters containing components you've already seen
2) Tuttle Chinese-English Learner's Dictionary - Contains the 4,800 most frequently used Chinese vocabulary items, including the 3000+ words for HSK Level A and B proficiency, and over 4,700 sample sentences with characters and pinyin, and the best thing, all the entries are arranged alphabetically by pinyin in the main dictionary, or can be looked up as in a standard Chinese dictionary. Compound words are broken down into their constituent parts to facilitate learning and understanding.
If you combine these two resources with Skritter's (http://www.skritter.com/about) Spaced Repetition approach to learning how to write the characters, you'll gain the character fluency you're striving for in no time!
Also, smartfm.com has a great program for learning the 2,500 most common characters (http://smart.fm/goals/49389-chinese-characters-level-1-beginner) using the Spaced Repetition Method and memory games, and it's free!
Also, this is a good free site for the 4000 most basic characters, and each entry also contains a flash video of the stroke order:
http://www.learnchineseez.com/read-write/simplifie d/index.php?page=1
I've found the following combination quite good for learning the characters:
1) Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters - gives you picture stories with built in mnemonics for remembering the tones and pronunciations of the 800 most basic characters (HSK Level A), and builds up your character knowledge systematically going from least to most complicated by only introducing characters containing components you've already seen
2) Tuttle Chinese-English Learner's Dictionary - Contains the 4,800 most frequently used Chinese vocabulary items, including the 3000+ words for HSK Level A and B proficiency, and over 4,700 sample sentences with characters and pinyin, and the best thing, all the entries are arranged alphabetically by pinyin in the main dictionary, or can be looked up as in a standard Chinese dictionary. Compound words are broken down into their constituent parts to facilitate learning and understanding.
If you combine these two resources with Skritter's (http://www.skritter.com/about) Spaced Repetition approach to learning how to write the characters, you'll gain the character fluency you're striving for in no time!
Also, smartfm.com has a great program for learning the 2,500 most common characters (http://smart.fm/goals/49389-chinese-characters-level-1-beginner) using the Spaced Repetition Method and memory games, and it's free!
Also, this is a good free site for the 4000 most basic characters, and each entry also contains a flash video of the stroke order:
http://www.learnchineseez.com/read-write/simplifie d/index.php?page=1
Learning Mandarin from scratch 2
This is a continuation of one of my earlier posts from November about starting out from scratch in Mandarin using Zhang PengPeng's 'Intensive Spoken Chinese', which I just found out you can access the first 30 chapters of for FREE at http://www.chinese-tools.com/learn/chinese
The book is simply a collection of 40 short dialogues with pinyin transliterations, wordlists and audio to learn about 1,000 common words in Chinese.
This is simply a reiteration of my earlier post, with an addition at the end:
Following each chapter is also a relevant grammar point, but I just skipped those in my hunger for more vocabulary.
My method was
1) read (the pinyin) and listen without understanding first
2) read and listen and look at the word list on the side of the page to figure out what they are saying
3) read and listen again to see if I understand
4) listen without reading to test my comprehension
This only took about 10 minutes for each dialogue, and I found that I could learn to understand a dialogue with sometimes 30 new vocab words in that time.
Once you can understand without reading, move onto the next lesson and do the same. Try to do a lesson a day. Then it's just a matter of listening to the dialogues every day over the course of a week or so and after that occasionally repeating, and within about a month or less you can understand 1000 words of Chinese (in context).
My method was
1) read (the pinyin) and listen without understanding first
2) read and listen and look at the word list on the side of the page to figure out what they are saying
3) read and listen again to see if I understand
4) listen without reading to test my comprehension
This only took about 10 minutes for each dialogue, and I found that I could learn to understand a dialogue with sometimes 30 new vocab words in that time.
Once you can understand without reading, move onto the next lesson and do the same. Try to do a lesson a day. Then it's just a matter of listening to the dialogues every day over the course of a week or so and after that occasionally repeating, and within about a month or less you can understand 1000 words of Chinese (in context).
To learn even more effectively, use the following approach:
Day 1: Do the four steps above for dialogue 1
Day 2: Do step 4 for dialogue 1, do all four steps for dialogue 2.
Day 3: Do step 4 for dialogues 1 and 2, do all four steps for dialogue 3.
Day 4: Do step 4 for dialogues 1, 2, and 3, do all four steps for dialogue 4.
Day 5: Do step 4 for dialogues 1, 2, 3, and 4, do all four steps for dialogue 5.
Day 6: Do step 4 for dialogues 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, do all four steps for dialogue 6.
Day 7: Do step 4 for dialogues 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, do all four steps for dialogue 7.
DAY 8: DO STEP 4 FOR DIALOGUES 2,3,4,5,6, and 7, DO ALL FOUR STEPS FOR DIALOGUE 8.
Day 9: etc.
Continue with this pattern, removing one dialogue and adding one every day, until you've finished all the dialogues. Each dialogue is only a minute long (without the vocabulary review), so you only need a maximum of about 15-20 minutes a day, including each day's new lesson. By the end of the month you will know these dialogues quite well and have a very solid basic knowledge of Chinese, and you will be ready to start out learning on LingQ!
Improving your Mandarin reading and listening without having to learn lots of characters
LingQ is about input, not about memorization. Learning the Chinese characters requires memorization. Therefore, I am striving to attain basic fluency in Chinese before concentrating on the characters, and I'm currently using what I consider to be a pretty innovative method to improve my extensive Chinese reading and listening skills without having to learn the characters:
1) I translitere the LingQ podcasts, which are beyond my current level in Chinese, using PopUpChinese.com (which has the best transliteration software I've found so far, parsing the words correctly 99% of the time) and print the pinyin text on paper with a space between each line.
2) Once I've listened to the text and read along with the rough English translation, I go back and read the text on LingQ and write the definitions of the words I don't know (highlighted in blue and yellow) above the pinyin in the printed paper text - you could also write them on the side.
3) Once I've finished that, I listen to the text again while reading along in pinyin and looking above the unknown words (or on the side of the text) for the definitions.
4) When I can understand the words while reading without looking at the definitions, I just listen, without reading.
I find that this is a great way to improve your listening and reading skills without have to know a lot of characters, as my brain still remember words written in letters better than in the characters. This will also help you to 'pick up on' words in your other listenings and readings.
Besides that, I find it more effective anyway to go back and learn the characters in a context you're already familiar with and for words you already know on LingQ after using this method.
The Popup Chinese pinyinization tool can be found here
or simply by going to the homepage and clicking on 'chinese tools'.
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