I agree with xxdb, its a seperate skill that requires practice. I always find when i spend time doing listening on LingQ with podcasts or watching videos and taking transcripts and reading those, my listening comprehension goes up noticeably. Although thats compared to using apps like duolingo or babbel rather than just reading.
I know others will be like that you dont have any stats to back that up, but I definitely see a difference when im at the dinner table with our polish family, and my wife has noticed a significant difference in the last 6 months of focusing on listening mostly (again i read transcripts as well, but it wasnt a priority).
To rinse and repeat what others have said, try finding content that is somewhat interesting. Lingq has lots of short stories and other content originally designed for reading that has audio, so perhaps even start there, listen and read simultaneously if you like. You could consider a test run the ultra reading for a month or so that peter is suggesting and see how that goes for you. Would be intetesting to have an n=2 rather than 1 
But I think just be sure that its something you are prepared to do, dont do it because i or peter for that matter is suggesting it.
I think if we can enhance the pace of the process, and find ourselves getting into more interesting content, that in and of itself is motivating. People will have better sdvice than me for speaking a second language but i see steve saying (and others but this is lingq qfterall) all the time that in order to get good at speaking, we must speak a lot. But to have the words, that comes through the input. So it seems that the approach for reading, listening, and speaking is the same, you have to do it a lot to get good at it, and they each need to be individually addressed. But reading and listening will contribute and form the basis of speakingâŚ
I guess this is why i was looking for success stories on input which are beyond YT polyglots and i know theres research to back up the method, but sometimes its nice to put faces to who had success that arent making a buck of us.
âget listening for freeâ
- This might work for languages where the gap between the oral and written dimensions isn´t so large. This is the case, for example, with German, Spanish, etc. But as soon as âdialectsâ are involved, it´s a different ball game, of course.
- If the gap is larger like in French and Portuguese âreading + listening (or a lot of listening alone)â is the way to go because the pronunciation (contractions, etc. included) is really sophisticated in these two Romance languages. Example: engl. "I don´t know = fr. âJe ne sais pasâ â contracted pronunciation in informal French: âsch(e) paâ
- "Reading + listening (or a lot of listening alone) is also a must for languages with pitch accent such as Japanese and Swedish and tones (Chinese, Vietnamese, etc.).
In general, beginners and intermediate students should avoid âreading aloneâ for long periods of time in all languages that have a writing system (Note: Most languages on planet Earth are only spoken. Therefore, reading isn´t an option at all). And I´d say that âreading while listeningâ is probably one of the best strategies for many (healthy) learners.
However, as soon as learners reach an advanced level (C1 and higher), they can do whatever they want: reading alone, listening alone, reading-while-listening, reading alone first - listening later, etc.
Congrats, @tjbandel: looks like a good week for you!
âI will keep you all updated!â
Please do!
Your stats might also be interesting for my book on âUltrareadingâ (in combo with my own stats that I keep outside of LingQ / ReadLang).
Hi, slashdash!
Both problems arise automatically from your previous choices:
- A learning style based on fluctuating states of the mind
âI just donât have the willpower.â
No learner on planet Earth should rely on fluctuating states of the mind (volatile feelings of pleasure / fun, motivation, will power, etc.).
That s the completely wrong learning style that systematically creates motivation problems, leads to on-and-off-learning, increases the likelihoold of giving up, etc.
The solution is threefold:
- A convincing âwhyâ: Why do you need the L2?
- A habit-based learning style: just check the comment section below plus B.J. Fogg âTiny habitsâ / J. Clear âAtomic Habitsâ.
- Cultivating the habit of getting comfortable with the uncomfortable.
If you adopt an habit-based learning style, you will learn almost on auto pilot after 8-10 weeks - without any motivational problems. In contrast, if you don´t switch, these problems will haunt you - for ever:-)
- Approach to digest comprehensible content
âIâve doing book reading for 2 years nowâ
Reading without any listening isn´t a good strategy at the beginner / intermediate stages.
Maybe it´s time to try some âultrareading while listeningâ based on timeboxing? See the âblueprintâ in the comment section below.
The only question then is: will you find an interesting audiobook for your language level with the matching e-book version that you can import into LingQ?
After that, say goodbye to the âintermediate level plateauâ, because there is no plateau in sight - just the next book you find interesting.
If this is the case for me in Spanish and Portuguese, it will also be the case for you in German! You should give it a shotâŚ
Good luck
Peter
PS -
If you want to progress faster, read non-fiction first (at an A2/B1 level) and fiction later (at a B2 level and higher).
Reading non-fiction texts first will definitely improve how at ease you feel in GermanâŚ
Yes, I agree we (and the language learning community in general) need more personal success stories - with detailed stats.
Learners relate to such stories, but not to science, abstract arguments, etc. alone.
Hi Peter,
Your posts about ultra-reading are really interesting.
Please could you tell me how you create LingQs and move words to âknownâ as part of this method?
Do you pause the audio when you need to create a lingQ or change the status of a word, or do you continue for the whole 25 mins and the return to the text later to do those things?
If itâs the latter, I assume you have your settings so that words donât automatically change to known when you go to the next page?
Ill post a comment once i reach 1 month and compare statistically to the average month of progress of the past. If I still feel the method is working well for me, ill compare three month challenges. The only caveat will be that i will take 2 weeks off prior to my exams in june so that might have to be considered in comparing the stats. But I suspect i will make more progress anyway.
Then perhaps once ive done my summer intensive block with output focus, ill give you a functional perspective. Im all for what helps the language community and i love what you said that people dont relate to science or abstract arguments. We do need more âeveryday peopleâ who have done this talking about it.
A convincing âwhyâ: Why do you need the L2?
This is just one line but believe me, this is an entire ebook. And no-one so far has given me a reliable key to unlock this. Starting from Think Grow Rich, the technique are improving but shifting oneself is not an easy game to understand.
Hi, Essie / Davide!
-
LingQ states
I used to mark LingQs, but I think Toby´s approach is better:
âIn the reader settings there is a Highlighting mode option to turn it off. This means no words are highlighted, new, known, unknown, LingQs, none. At this point LingQ becomes almost a normal e-reader that just happens to have a connected dictionary of my supplied definitions.â (@noxialisrex)
-
Do you pause the audio
Almost never - only iwhen I find a text passage particularly âinterestingâ (whatever that means: a âstrangeâ syntactic construction, etc.).
-
Testing
To test how much of a text (passage) I really understood, I might
- go through the audiobook again later separately (just for fun)
or
- do some Anki exercises based on the LingQ cards exported to Anki (the advantage: they provide contextual information about the text I have already read).
or
- make an oral / written summary
etc.
Probably we could ârefineâ these aspects a bit more.
Unfortunately, Iâm not using LingQ v5.0 at the moment. Instead, Iâm reading with ReadLang, because I want to write the book on âultrareadingâ based on the software category âaudioreaderâ and not only one specific product (âLingQâ).
However, in a few weeks I´ll come back to finally test LingQ v5.0 
Hope that helps
Peter
Reg. the âwhyâ question, I´d distinguish two cases:
- I need languaga ABC for work.
- I want to study / live in XY therefore I need language ABC.
etc.
- the tricky case with insights from the research on âtransclasseâ, for example.
âshifting oneself is not an easy game to understandâ
No man is an island: I´d say we have to change our networks or network connections in order to âchange ourselvesâ (in a more profound and permanent way).
This is also why âsocial mobilityâ doesnât work very well in most societiesâŚ
Apart from that, I´d probably start with Simon Sinek (2017), âFind Your Whyâ.
Iâm not Peter, but I make LingQs currently only when I do not understand the word in context or when I need to check a word. As I am reading I just pick the first definition if possible (usually one isnât available). I do not stop unless the section seemed really important and I felt I missed something valuable.
I make the LingQ as an indication that I didnât recognize the word, and will later see it, but will only look up the word if I see it 3+ times in short succession and still do not understand it or I know it is blocking my comprehension of a passage.
I do not really know how, but magically given time I see gold words and understand them in context, and then eventually without. If I recognize a LingQ in context, then I mark it known.
I should say, I very recently turned off highlighting in LingQ, so now no words, LingQs or otherwise, are highlighted so this is not relevant anymore. Going forward, LingQs will only become known words if I go through them outside reading (which I am unlikely to do).
In both those cases there is a necessity. In fact, we know that motivation and passion donât represent anything in building habits. The process needs to start before. I understand that you are creating a method for the afterwards but Iâm interest to know if you also are paying attention to whatâs happening before with the same intensity.
Before those there is a necessity. But this is not enough.
Before the necessity there are other things.
To me, everything seems only really to work when âthere is no choiceâ.
At this moment we can find every solution to unlock the most efficient method regardless of pleasure or pain and we push through. All the rest is just amateur.
Now, the question is that this âthere is no choice - this is the only street in front of meâ can be probably created by others from the young age. With all bad consequences that can have.
But a monk could be also aware of this from very soon or have unlocked this for himself.
Now, all the others, which means us, could artificially put themselves in the position of âno choiceâ to push through?
If yes, what would be the leverage to increase the right necessity to the level of no choice in order to unlock the habits mechanism? Habits are not a problem, not so essential, they are just a consequence of whatâs happening before. They will come naturally because that person wonât have any other choice that do whatâs required to achieve a goal that would be the only thing he could do. Language included.
@Toby / Peter: I think this point needs more clarification. Because one thing could be starting a language from the beginning, another switching to this method when you are intermediate or already advanced.
In some cases you donât even have created a LingQ yet. In another you might already have thousands and so on.
Same thing with Known Words. Because I still see many Known Words achievements on your profile but I donât understand how LingQ could create those without anything highlighted.
I understand you are in the process of developing, refining or improving your method now and I think this thing here, using this method with LingQ, would need more details once you better understand whatâs working and whatâs not.
I definitely follow your progress up close as itâs very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your reply.
Out of curiosity I just tried a 25 min reading + listening session and it was interesting. I feel like it does allow you to cover a lot more ground. Iâm going to experiment with it over the next couple of weeks (on top of my usual approach).
Iâm finding it hard to understand the part about switching highlighting off, sorry (just because it is so different to how I normally use LingQ). Does this delete your âknown wordsâ count? And Iâm assuming it stops anything changing in your stats - i.e. because there is no longer a distinction between known/unknown/lingQ, nothing âchangesâ after you have read a text? At my stage (upper beginner / lower intermediate) it just feels like a scary step to take.
You mentioned you could maybe export LingQs to Anki to check your understanding - Iâm just wondering how the system would identify which those are, if youâve switched the highlighting off?
Appreciate Iâm really getting into the detail here! Happy to start a separate thread if that is more appropriate, or if there are places this has already been discussed please just let me know.
Thanks
Hi Noxialisrex,
Thanks for your reply!
Itâs so interesting to learn that some people have actually turned their highlighting off. Iâve asked Petter some questions about it above, so wonât repeat it here.
I think this whole topic is really interesting - thank you for sharing your experiences.
Without highlighting LingQ simply moves the words to known either at the end of the Lesson or in my case when turning the page. I would 100% not start like this. I transitioned to this after reading 4 million words and being able to read paper books or online articles and forums without LingQ.
LingQs method was very useful in calling out my relationship to words. Even without a definition knowing that I had seen that exact form of a word was information about it. Similarly seeing a word unhighlighted meant at some point I had seen it in context and understood it (or at least felt that I did).
What it does with your Known Words will depend on your settings within LingQ, in my case it sets words to known just by turning the page (or changes them to a LingQ if I create one). I figure the loan words are a wash for LingQs never becoming known words anymore.
This does mean names and English words will get flagged as known going forward, but as I replied to Davide. I am at a point where I donât really âneedâ LingQ so treating like a mobile and web friendly Calibre that also stores my content and tracks my stats works perfectly well for me. And in the event that I actually do check Duden for a definition (or Google images when it is an animal or food) I can store that for the future.
Davide, it´s not advisable to use âultrareadingâ as an (absolute) beginner.
Learners need to have some more or less solid foundation first (Michel Thomas, Assimil, slow reading while listening on LingQ, some grammar light approach, etc.).
In other words, it works best at an intermediate level B1 or B2.
âin the process ofâŚâ
Definitely, I´d call it a method in motion (being at version 0.x)
Hm, I´d say it´s the other way around:
âTiny Habitsâ rely on a series of techniques to create a kind of necessity where there was none before - and then benefit from small, incremental gains that accumulate over the years.
Thatâs the beauty of it!
However, for this âmagicâ to work, you need to know what these techniques are and how to use them properly.