Steve for example, right now, I mean with my language learning I, I listen daily, maybe an hour to the same content, tomorrow, on the way to work I have a 7 minute audio lesson from the linguist book ready to listen to, I have done lingqs and flashcards tonight, I will probably listen to that lesson 7 times tomorrow, then move on to the next lesson in the course, do you think by the time I get to 10000 words, lingq words, from the lingq word count, of doing this, you would be at a stage whereby you could listen to the news etc? Thanks and enjoying the videos
I find this to be a very interesting subject. One must understand what is being said first. I believe that to be very important. I am unsure how many of my 48,000 plus words in Spanish are passive or active. Without daily interaction with Spanish speakers, it is difficult to know. For example, I think I have a much larger vocabulary in Spanish than Norwegian, but I am much more fluent in Norwegian. I don’t have to think to speak. I just speak. Yet for discussions beyond the normal, I still sometimes struggle to find the words. I understand however nearly everything being said and continue to add words. Since I live in Norway that is to be expected. I think the LingQ system is great. I am reading my 4th book in Spanish now. I feel it has opened a whole new world being able to read in Spanish. I also called a friend in Panama, and spoke Spanish with her. At first she tried to speak English with me, but after a little while she said “Your Spanish is so much improved.” “You understand nearly everything.” I felt the entire time I was struggling with speaking, but did understand most everything. However, at times words just came out without thinking. Realizing that I get excited about how much I have progressed. I am now going to live in Panama for six months. It will be very interesting to see how quickly my passive words turn active. For me this system here at LingQ has changed my world for the better.
The number of words may not always reflect the actual level in the language . The reason I’m saying this is that I sometimes find myself reading something in Hungarian let’s say , and though I know most of the words in a sentence I don’t necessarly understand the whole meaning and not because of the words I haven’t yet figured out their meaning .
Madara, That is because of collocation. It is how words fit together to form a meaning or common word combinations that come together often to form a meaning in context. Knowing collocations is what makes you sound fluent when used correctly. That is why I think LingQ is so good. I can’t just drill these in my head or mind. I must read or hear them over and over without drilling. Then they will become part of my ability to use them in the new language. For me, it is real important to focus on reading and listening first then speaking. I get to the point where it is easy to read and understand the spoken language, but still struggle to pull the words out of my brain to speak. However, my passive words quickly become active once in an environment where I need to use them and I hear them spoken in a natural way. For me learning a language is a process. The process however never ends. Even in our native language we can continue to learn during our lifetime. While I had some knowledge of Spanish before starting on LingQ, the amount of progress made since beginning in March is nothing short of amazing. LingQ has opened up a new Spanish World for me. This is not a LingQ commercial, but truly how I feel. I am very thankful for their system. I am lucky enough now to be leaving to go spend 6 months in Panama. Afterwards, I will get serious with my Russian.
@kristiansand: I have to agree with what you said. The thing is that there aren’t to many resources in Hungarian ( not to mention that it still isn’t here on Lingq) so I can’t really spoil myself listening and reading things of interest .
I also tried ( not to often though) to write down paragraphs in Hungarian from Wikipedia on things that interest me, and I used a pencil for known words and a fountain pen for those I didn’t know. The thing is that with this method I kind of wasted some time which I could’ve used to read( though in language learning we should also dedicate some time for writing ) .
@MADARA Yes, I would think it would be difficult to find resources for Hungarian. It would be nice if there was a software that you could create your own known and unknown word lists. I used to underline Norwegian words I did not know and write them in the margins with the translation or on another sheet of paper with the page number. I read at lot of Norwegian books doing it that way. So I understand. It seems time is our friend and our enemy when learning a new language. It is clear to progress you must put in the time whatever the method used. Good luck and keep going through the process.
@kristiansand:Thank you and good luck to you too !
I also wanted to ask you if you’ve heard of Mike Campbell’s polyglot method (- YouTube) ? I believe his method is very useful because you’re able to create your own audio material . OK the thing is that in this video he’s talking about books that have bilingual sentences but he was also talking in another video about reading from some novels so I think he’s approach sounds very tempting .
@MADARA: I have looked at a lot of different methods, and I have tried to incorporate the parts that might work for me. Yes, I have seen his method. I keep a notebook with sentences as well. I don’t really study it, but just read through it now and then. Just writing something down helps. I also use the SRS system in LingQ, but I never drill trying to remember words. I review, read, and listen a lot. I speak with some native speakers and write some as well. I like to write a dialog to situations that I might find myself. Re-read and re-write now and then. Any kind of system like the Gold List, SRS, or sentences where one keeps repeating words in context works best for me. Trying to drill words into my mind slows me down. I can’t drill enough words in my head to make it worth the time. Exposure, Exposure, Exposure to the language is what works for me. I will once in a while listen carefully to the language I am learning while observing English, but the focus is always exposure to the new language though. Doing that kind of shows me the differences in structure. Then I follow that up by listening and reading in the language I am learning. Then listening without reading. Repeat. Repeat, and so on. I love reading books and placing them in LingQ. I am not much on old historic novels, but more modern books. I think creating your own audio is great especially when there is a lack of material, but you must include listening to native speakers as well. Like I said for me it is exposure. Keep in touch and let me know how your Hungarian goes. If you see an interesting system tell me about it, because I am always interested to look at new ways or methods.