@Skyblue I’d have to say the first 2 months maybe, I wasnt getting much exposure to the language. I’d do an hour work a day which would consist of revising the words that were new to me in eacho unit of my little teach Yourself book.
It’s only the last maybe 3 and a half months where I’ve been getting a lot more involved in spanish. My maths is awful (and I’m right handed, so obviously I’m not a “special” “gifted” polyglot xD) but Over the last 3 and a half months I’d say I’ve done at least a good hour a day of focused work, and on most days too i’ve done in addition general revision of words studied the previous sessions with flashcards on Lingq which usually takes maybe 30-35 minutes and also at least an hour Listening (usually in the background).
@Imy, Skyblue: The point about “inefficiency” you raised really struck a chord with me. I have often wondered if what I was doing with my languages was 100% efficient. For English it was reading some blogs and watching the entire series of “Lost” almost twice (thinking about how many hours I had put into it made me feel guilty - but it was over a hundred hours for sure). For Turkish it’s now composing different wordlists, like list of commonly used verbs, list of Arabic and Persian loanwords, writing my own reference grammar etc. Maybe it’s kind of quirky, but I enjoy doing things like that.
I often had second thoughts about doing it (“Shouldn’t I rather be listening to Turkish right now? Or reading authentic texts?”), but I think now there’s no point in striving for 100% efficiency. I like to do a little bit of this and a little bit of that, I try not to neglect any aspect of learning a language. What really matters is that I spend some time with my languages every single day and I do only things that I feel like doing.
I don’t know how polyglots can get fluent in a language in the short period that many claim. It seems to me that to be really proficient in a language takes a very long time, and requires a broad spread of activities.
Spending a couple of hundred hours Watching “Lost” sounds like an activity that probably ought to be in there somewhere.
I’m not a fan of popular American TV either, but “Lost” has absorbed me right from the beginning. Didn’t have much choice but watch it all. True, they didn’t talk that much, but at least I learnt a few new words and phrases: “junkie”, “con”, “hatch”, “every nook and cranny” (every time I want to say “crook and nanny”, though…).
The funny thing is I very often remember when exactly I learnt a specific word For example, whenever I say “preposterous” (one of my favourite English word ever!), I always remember the scene in Harry Potter (the book) where it was used and by whom.
Does having favourite words make me a language freak? Do you have any favourite words in English, even though it’s your native tongue, or is it only typical of non-natives?
Wow, I didn’t know “ostensibly”, but I like it “onomatopoeic” is in Polish “onomatopeiczny” or “dźwiękonaśladowczy” (literally: “imitating sounds”), so maybe in Russian it’s something similar as well.
“puerile” is also awesome. “awesome” is awesome too.
For example, whenever I say “preposterous” (one of my favourite English word ever!), I always remember the scene in Harry Potter (the book) where it was used and by whom.