How many hours do you guys learning everyday? what the strategy do you using ? Could you share some tips here ?
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Iām just a beginner and I have various time constraints so perhaps my study isnāt a great example.
I spent about 1.5 to 2hrs each weekday, and very little on weekends. I aim for about 10 hours per week.
I try to read 500 words and listen to an hours worth of material each weekday.
My reading is split between re-reading older texts I am familiar with and covering new texts. Similarly my listening is split too. I tend to listen to lessons many many more times than I read them.
I work very slowly through newer texts, looking up grammar and vocab. For older texts I try to see if I can get some kind of flow going to my reading (trying to just understand it as I read it rather than cross-referencing parts of the sentence).
So far it seems to be working well.
Prepare to get a barrage of posts saying ābe more specificā because I asked the exact same question a few months ago, and thatās all the responses I received.
But, to answer your question, at the moment, Iām focusing on Steveās method, or lots of āinputā. Basically, everything revolves around reading and listening, and occasional speaking (I read out loud).
To add my own flavor:
To start a lesson, I would create my LingQs, then I would read the lesson without audio. Afterwards, I would listen to the lesson while reading. I do a combination of these things until I can understand most of the lesson without clicking on words, or just listening without reading.
I try to make it a point to read at least 1000 words a day, and listen at least 0.5 hours a day.
In the future, Iām going to start āreverse translationā and focus on remembering words better. Iām also going to try and write and speak more.
Iām not very structured, as I TRY to get the goals done, but a lot of times, it doesnāt work out ideally.
I just change everything I can do, as far as possible, over to my target language.
eg yesterday:
-wake up to Beijing 87.6 FM radio for an hour or so
-morning ā listen to, and read, local news and weather in Chinese from SBS
-lunch with Chinese friends
-evening watched Top Gear, Funniest Home Videos and some NBA with friends in Chinese
-hang out on Chinese online forums
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At the minute I combine my āLingQā activities with writing and speaking.
I LingQ a new Russian lesson on LingQ just before I go to bed. I then listen to it repeatedly on my commute to work (1 hour).
When I get home from work I read and listen to the lesson a few more times until Iām confident that I understand most, if not all of it.
I am also going through Assimil at the minute and writing out each lesson by hand, and then doing a grammar analysis of each text. Once I have finished the Assimil lessons I plan to continue doing this with Evguenyās Russian course lessons - I have found that itās really helped me to notice the case endings, when to use each case and how to identify various nuances in meaning.
I also try to have a Skype lesson at least once a week, but that varies based on how much time I have available!
Hi,
My current routine looks like this:
I open a new lesson.
I go through the lesson checking all yellow lingqs for their meaning and if I know them already I just change their status to 4 or Known. At the same time Iām creating new lignqs from blue words.
When I finish reading the lesson I go back to the beginning and then I read it once more time but without making stops to check the meaning of words + I listen to the audio at the same time.
Iām currently focusing on getting as much input as possible and I like variety so instead of rereading each lesson like 10 times and relistening it for 20, I go through them fast.
I used to spend a lot of time on each lesson until I could understand basically everything and all the lingqs would become known. But that was problematic for short lessons so I canāt imagine doing that now when my lessons are so longā¦ Iād need to be spending like 10 hours with the same lesson and that would just kill me 
Thatās like 30-60 minutes of learning each day. Iām trying to figure out a way to spend more time.
Also, there was a post by Steve on learning routines/techniques on Lingq that could be of interest to you. I donāt have the link to this topic but I have a saved version of it on my Evernote, hereās the link to it:
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s247/sh/1d153b8e-5c88-416c-a4db-051d34b20899/e6bd7e27b9cc775b4fddcbc75478a33d
I am learning two languages Italian and modern Greek. For each language I try to listen to lessons for about an hour, I read and create lingq of 1 or 2 lessons per day. Then I also learn words based on SRS for every day. As for the Italian I try to put my knowledge also in practice and in the evening I go to the Italian online chat.
Your question comes at a time when I am just about to review my three monthsā progress. I am both happy and unhappy with my progress! My target was 10,000 Russian words recognised and I will end up with 7500 words.
My method has been this:
- Listen to a text, of which I might understand 25%. Although, I prefer to translate them first.
- Translate the text and highlight all the unknown blue words.
- Use the multiple choice flashcards to learn the words. My method is to quickly flash the answers by clicking instantly on the answer that I intuit is right based on resemblances and correspondences. I do not at this time look at the context unless I get it wrong. My average correct responses are probably over 95%.
- The proof of the effectiveness of my method is when I read the text again, when it all black and white. I can usually understand 95 % of the text when I read it now. If I have forgotten any words, I simply highlight them again.
- The one area where I am unhappy is in my listening comprehension. Even though I may know every word, when I listen, my comprehension is probably only 25 ā 30%. I can get the gist of what I hear because I have previously translated it, and I can instantly recognise many words. But some pass by me in a haze.
- I have begun to have conversations with my wife for 20 minutes every day to try to improve my comprehension and speaking skills, but It is slow and painful!
- The answer is to listen more, but I dislike listening to texts that I do not understand. I have to translate them first, otherwise I just feel that I am listening to white noise!
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I can completely relate to 7. I read a lot but I donāt spend enough time listening. I tried listening to radios but thatās just pointless, at least for me. Then when I read a lesson and then listen to it I donāt feel like listening to the same material over and over again. I listen to it once and Iām done with it. I move on.
Iām currently looking for a nice female Italian voice that I could listen to just for the sake for enjoying it. Perhaps Iād be listening more then and with time my listening comprehension would also improve.
Could you write more in details how you use flashcards? Iām interested in that approach because I have never really used this function.
Letās say you have 100 new words from a lesson. Do you go over and over again over them until you get all of them to Known status?
I find it interesting how much people vary when it comes to listening. Iād much prefer to listen to something interesting but difficult, and then listen and re-listen. Even if a lot of it sounds like noise, I get satisfaction hearing words and phrases that I hadnāt noticed before. Listening feels like a crossword puzzle: its not about understanding the whole audio from start to finish, but working it out one clue at a time.
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There is an algorithm for review of words, New wordsare to by reviewed after 1 day, second revision is after 3 days, 3rd is after 7 days and 4th after 30 days.
Thanks for you guys to sharing your thought and these will help me a lot.
I pretty much ignore the algorithm as mentioned by Sarka below. I also ignored Steveās advice to not get hung up about Flash cards and to see how often the yellow words come up. I tried that and I hated it! My object is to get my text all white as soon as possible. I do this by Flash carding all my words using the multiple chose option, the following day and the next few days after that to clear them all. My object is to read and understand all my text, to at least to 95%. I really do flash the words in a millisecond - this may sound like I am not paying attention, but I am. I am associating the words with the translation by resemblances. Remember, I have already translated them once, when I read the text through the first time, so I am recalling the association in an instant. When I read the text again, I will be seeing the words in their context. Today, my wife read me an A4 page of text that I had never seen before and I was able to translate about 98 % of it. So, how do I know my method works? Surely, if I donāt keep to the prescribed algorithm I couldnāt possibly remember all the words, could I? Well, of course, I donāt remember every single word, but I do remember a lot of them. The proof is that when I open another text of say 500 words, 350 of them will be white, 100 will be blue and 50 will be yellow. When I read this text, I should know most of the white words and I do. There may be 4-5 that I need reminding of, so I will highlight those again. I recommend instant Flashcarding using the multiple choice option, which seems to be working for me. I am, in effect, using the method of the algorithm, because I am seeing the words in a variety of contexts and this reinforces the memory of the words.
This is the routine I try to stick to for 6 days a week:
Morning: 1/2 hr of listening to Korean lessons while walking the dog. First I listen to yesterdayās lesson I studied, then listen to a new lesson.
Study time: go through new lesson each day from Talk to Me in Korean using Lingq interface. Mark words I know. Ignore flashcards and yellowing and all that. I go through the lesson twice ā @40 minutes after breakfast.
Then:
Driving to work: Listen to French podcast or audiobook
Lunch break: Alternate reading, one day French, the next day German book w/ audiobook, mostly on Kindle, but sometimes on Lingq.
Driving home: Listen to German podcast or audiobook.
Evening jog / shopping / cleaning / other dead time: Alternate between French, German, and Korean podcast listening.
For fun: Watch shows on Netflix with alternate French/German audio tracks when available.
So, my total āStudy timeā is 40 minutes for my āactive study languageā with another 40 minutes or so of reading for pleasure for my previously studied languages. But my total exposure time using ādead timeā can be 3 hours or more depending on the day.
Overall, I tried to build a routine where various languages can be incorporated into my daily activities without it being āstudying.ā
Hope this helps.
āMy object is to get my text all white as soon as possible.ā
Personally I try and make my text as yellow as possible! By making lots of new lingqs. An all white text would terrify me! Goes to show everyone uses lingq differently
sphaisell, I too am āmaking lots of new lingsā. But when I tried leaving them yellow, I hadnāt learnt them. So, I wanted a method whereby I could run the words through my head multiple times. By doing this it clears the yellow highlights. I love seeing as much white as possible because then I know that I know the words. If I have forgotten a few, I just highlight them again and go through the same process. Anyway, each to his own. You know over 53000 of Spanish words, so keep on doing what you are doing!
Yeah, it wasnāt a criticism at all, more of a compliment! Iām just celebrating how flexible lingq is, and how we all find different ways to use it to our advantage!
The word lingqs I definitely do move to known (although not via flashcards, Iām not a fan), but once theyāve gone white theyāll disappear in bigger lingqād phrases and constructions. I donāt tend to ever turn those to known, which is why my page gradually turns completely yellow.
I wonder whether we can find someone who aims to turn their page completely blue?! Hmmmā¦perhaps not.
I was also complimenting you on your method! I agree that we each have to find a method that works for us. I am still refining my method. I need to listen more, but I hate listening and not understanding. My ideal scenario is that I understand the text completely before I listen to it. Even then, I have trouble in making an immediate translation when I hear even words that I know! My wife is helping me by reading a text slowly and giving me time to translate it, before moving on to the next sentence. I do listen to texts at normal speed as well and just accept that I am not going to be able to understand it all at first.
I think slowing down listening is always a great idea - who determines what is ānormalā speed anyway? Some people speak English far too fast for me (or too slow) and I am a native speaker!
Even after 1,000s of hours of listening to Spanish, I still slow down iberian Spanish podcasts down by 20% because those guys can seriously talk fast!
I read on the computer until my eyes hurt which is about 20 minutes. Some days I by-pass that and read dual text books. Iāve been reading mostly duel text books for the last year but recently have been using lingq.
I also received 3 books from Glossika last week and am reading those sentences aloud though IPA is horrible and useless out of the gate.