I had this discussion about language learning methods with a friend, so I just wondered:
How many of you use steves approach to learning and grammar (LingQ only)?
How many of you do use grammar exercises, drills and the like?
How many of you take notes?
How many of you copy out texts?
How many here use flash cards or SRS systems, like anki?
How many of you do borrow books in the library?
Does your learning approach differ, if it’s your own book?
Those of you, who take notes: Do you prefer digital over old-fashioned pen & paper?
Interesting questions! But who can know how many of us …?
I just read, listen, make links, rehearse the daily links. And now and then I look up things in a grammar. That’s all!
I don’t borrow books from library. If I want a language book I will buy it, because I like it and it’s not that expensive for the amount of time it will get used. It doesn’t change my approach other than that I always have the book to look up something.
Depends on the language. If I am practising my Japanese for example, I do not use LingQ and I spend more time writing physically on paper. I will use LingQ for it eventually but it won’t be my “main method” as much as it is with Dutch.
I mostly use LingQ for Dutch and at this point it is basically all the “actual studying” I do (I use Steve’s approach). I also text and speak in Dutch few hours a week and I watch almost only Dutch tv. Nothing else. When I started, I studied grammar books for 1.5 months. I did not do a single grammar exercise and will not do a single grammar exercise. I read a grammar point and then next time I am reading or speaking, I make sure I am thinking about that grammar point.
As for SRS, I did use Anki quite a lot when I started learning Japanese in university. I no longer do it. I prefer to just read and learn words that way as they repeat themselves.
I would say I do pretty similar to Steve with languages that are offered on LingQ. I buy a Teach Yourself or Assimil, go through them while using LingQ at the same time, with more focus on LingQ. I also don’t really tend to have the urge to speak to people right off the bat when I use LingQ, because I usually use LingQ with languages I plan to learn over a period of years.
Languages that aren’t offered on LingQ are a bit more tricky and inconvenient. I usually will buy 2-3 learning books, go through them in a few months, writing down the lessons/notes on paper, doing the exercise drills, etc, and also talking to people in the language whenever I can. After this point I can usually move on to real content, so I’ll search the web, or maybe go to the Library.
Also Pen and Paper highly out rules the digital, however, after I take the notes on paper, I usually type them to get acustomed to a new keyboard layout or accents.
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
I don’t understand. Are you asking if I own a book does my method differ from that if I borrow it, for example, will I mark it up?
Yes
How many of you use steves approach to learning and grammar (LingQ only)?
LingQ doesn’t give any aid to grammar other than what the reader might figure out, so I readily google for various bits of grammar and read a variety of outside sources. However I do primarily listen and read, and I do this using LingQ.
How many of you do use grammar exercises, drills and the like?
No exercises or drills.
How many of you take notes?
I sometimes write in the notes section for a lingq. Does that count?
How many of you copy out texts?
Never.
How many here use flash cards or SRS systems, like anki?
I did a year ago - prior to starting LingQ, but I found it to be a chore and stopped doing it.
How many of you do borrow books in the library?
I get my content online.
Does your learning approach differ, if it’s your own book?
Unsure what this question is asking.
Those of you, who take notes: Do you prefer digital over old-fashioned pen & paper?
Digital.
Well, I used to learn languages using other methods. But once I tried Steve’s advice I found it to be next to 100% accurate. Massive comprehensible input is,IMO, literally the only way to go, and this site makes it super easy.
Every time I use flashcards I regret it afterwards. They’re just not that efficient. You might memorize them for a second but…long term? Idk. Only if you happen to encounter them in your reading immediately after.
For me, most of my learning is reading out loud. For my money it’s the most efficient time you spend with a language. Of course in order to get to where you can read with a decent accent you have to do a lot of listening and imitating native speakers. (The key is to try to copy them exactly down to mannerisms and pauses, etc., as if you’re playing them in a movie. Some people seem to find this awkward though)
I’m learning Korean. Here in Japan there’s an embarrassment of riches available for studying Korean (and Chinese), comparatively less so for other languages. Korean and Japanese are so similar in structure and vocabulary that it almost feels like I’m cheating, so other than LingQ, all my studying is done with Japanese materials.
My main focus is using the 6-month NHK audio program that runs 15 min daily from Monday thru Friday, with accompanying texts. It’s the most easily available learning material, but also very well made. You can stream the previous week’s audio from their website, so I grab that and study at my leisure. Currently I’m only 4 months behind…
Then I use paper flashcards, simply because I haven’t found any apps that let me learn the words to my satisfaction before immediately trying to throw them into their SRS review cycle. Reviewing paper cards over time is less convenient, but I know them a whole lot better than when I’ve tried using Anki or Memrise or whatnot. Also, I like making non-linear cards like this: http://i.imgur.com/mbJc1no.jpg
I’m going through a monthly magazine (also by NHK) to practice my Hangeul, as well as a bimonthly magazine-with-CD that’s for students of Korean that has articles and audio at various level. I actually just today used the ABBYY TextGrabber iOS app to OCR one of the latter’s sample texts, and added it into LingQ with its audio track, so that might become an increasingly useful tool.
I also have a selection of random books on Korean that caught my eye, that I scanned in with my ScanSnap and put on my iPad as CBZ files. Because, portability!
And of course I’m enjoying ramping up my usage of LingQ!
