Thank you Shakespeareanbard. I really appreciate you uploading the entire Bible. Will you be uploading any other translations? What do you mean by “subjunctive”? Also, Vostros? Is that Spain Spanish?
One tip is to stop watching videos about language learning. And stop watching and learning about ‘methods’. These are distractions that steal time. I should know, i’ve wasted hundreds of hours reading about ‘how to learn a language’ rather than actually spending time with the language.
Read, fight through it, listen, work on your phonetics, enjoy the language as if you’re not even trying to learn it. Watch, listen and read because you find it pleasurable. The language will come off the back of that.
Sitting down and studying a list or a method or worrying about if you’re specifically doing the exact right thing is a waste of time.
When I first saw Christophe Clugston I thought he would probably be at least a very nice foreign language student because he was claiming all the time about how scientific his method was, how he was using all the academic knowledge to achieve language proficiency and so on. But a few videos later I realized how mysterious his method was and I lost my interest completely after hearing 10 seconds of his really bad Italian. I would never judge someone for his language mistakes (this text has probably a bunch of errors too since English is not my native tongue), but this guy does everything he can to scream to the world that he has the holy grail of language learning, so I think he must be judged accordingly to his own parameters.
About using LingQ as a total beginner, I believe I agree a lit bit with those critics who say that this site is better for intermediate students, not because beginner lessons are not good, but because it’s sometimes difficult to create a progressive program simply searching for interesting lessons in the library. And I don’t agree with Steve when he says that grammar is not important to beginners. I don’t know how he studies at this level, but I suppose that I would be very trick to study German or Latin, for example, without any notion about the concept of declination or to dedicate yourself to the study of Spanish or Portuguese without any indication if your native tongue has a less complex verbal system like Chinese or even Russian. Thanks to that, I believe LingQ is a very very nice complementary tool because the Flashcards system works pretty well, the cell app allows with to study your lessons at any time (I never wait to the elevator at my work without taking a look of my lessons, haha), some lessons are really interesting, you can participate of this community and, off course, you can easily upload any kind of material to your private study using this system, which can, off course, helps to solve this problem of progressiveness because you can simple upload the lessons of the material of your preference (I strongly recommend Assimil).
Just a correction (I can’t edit my original post, I don’t know why):
- […] it would be very trick to study German or Latin […]
Yes, it’s normal. We all struggle with language learning, particularly in the early stages. Don’t worry much about what to do and what your current level is or what kind of weird mental contortions you find yoursel engaging in. Just expose yourself to the language everyday. Try to understand as much as you can and pay attention to how the language works, what you find difficult, etc.
Keep it up and it’ll become easier and more natural much sooner than you think
LOL, you will come to know the subjunctive mood and its conjugation very well my friend. yes, the Reina Valera is written using to some extent the Vosotros verbal form (informal “you”) as they use it in Spain. Some other translations don’t hardly use it at all. The reason I start with the RV1960 is that it is the standard Bible even in Latin America, no other bible is used nearly as much. It will take me some time before all the bible is uploaded because I am going through it as I upload it.
I can’t comment on Italian but i’ve heard his French and it is D.R.E.A.D.F.U.L. Like properly bad. Like A0 style thick American accent type of bad. Yet he claims his parents are French and he was born in Paris. Probably a lie.
Ps your English is FANTASTIC.
This is true! I have wasted a lot of time in the past on that, too. My only use for videos and blog posts about language learning these days is when I need a motivation boost.
Thanks, Prinz_PooBeard! Very kind of you.
Thank you for that tip. I do have a tendency to watch way too many videos. Hmm… I guess I DO have more time than I think. Now that I think about it, I watch language learning videos for about an hour or more per day. I need to spend that time on LingQ. I keep waiting for a first “ah ha!” moment to come to me on reading and listening here on LingQ. I’m sure all of you have had many of those moments, where you hit a milestone and feel like you have accomplished something.
Well…lots of people excel with just using the language, meaning talking/writing, others need to understand the concepts and some need to dive in and get as much input as possible, which lingQ provides.
I took a french course at uni when starting to learn last year and I felt so dumb. It was just using a language book with listening and lots of vocabulary and a native speaker as a teacher. Mostly we spoke about the vocabulary and applied the phrases instantly. For example we listen and read through a dialogue, where a woman shopped groceries. Than we needed to play our own dialogue, sometimes in front of others. I just couldn’t remember that fast and studying before seemed a waste of money.
This month I took up french again, but with texts and I feel progressing so much faster…like I would be good at language learning. It’s kind of a personal preference though. What worries me a bit is, that I understand much faster than being able to apply my skills. But on the other hand I found myself forming sentences and translating things on the way to work, which I wasn’t able after doing the course…which I obviously failed by the way.
Just try lingQ for a while and maybe use a grammar guide/book next to it or other websites to make sure you comprehend. For example tenses or changing verbes/adjectives/… or phrases.
Have fun trying things out. I even go to bed with french ASMR, which sounds strange, but it works, because it’s much slower and very easy vocabulary.
Just be aware that you need to buy the old assimil courses! The new ones are really no good. I was so disappointed, because it’s not much content at all, less exercises. I even asked myself why those courses are hyped that much and sent them back. After a while I found someone talking about that topic on youtube and he showed the differences between the old assimils and the new assimils. That’s a huge difference, believe me. You can as well stick to lingQ alone, because that’s basically what the new assimil offers.
Hi Patalou, I’m not sure which language, and which language pairing you were studying but I’ve used the modern editions of Assimil and I’ve found them to be excellent for European languages. I’ve heard of claims of the old ones having been “better,” but I’ve also seen Assimil improve many things with their latest editions with more modern content etc. So, for example, just because an older German to Spanish edition may have been better, that doesn’t mean that the latest English to Spanish edition is not an excellent choice for someone starting out today.
I tried to start Croatian with it, but it wasn’t my cup of tea. I can’t remember if I used German or English…the later is more likely, but German is my mother tongue. If I find that video I’m talking about, people can see for themselves and decide what they like. It has been a while since I watched it, but I’ll post it once it’s found.
I think the modern version needs more exercises in order to reflect the price tag…you can have much more fun with lingQ/LWT for less money, hence you work with your interests and it’s expandable.
Right now I enjoy working with basic texts and watching TV shows/youtube videos/movies if I’m lazy. I even have a grammar book to look things up, but my french isn’t that far advanced, so there isn’t much need for it at the moment. So, yeah, language learning is a very personal thing.
-----------------> found it sooner than expected: https://youtu.be /XLvTEqXqlsI
Not necessarily needed to pay for tutors. Of course, this helps, but you can find free language partners practically everywhere. There is an app called HelloTalk, which allows you to connect with hundreds of people in your target language (the first language is free). For Chinese (and China is on a 12-13 hour timezone difference from where I live), every time I sign on, I can find hundreds of people willing to practice their language with me. this is a language exchange app. I even ironically met my girlfriend (and who knows she may even become my wife) via this app.
iTalki is also another good resource, one can find plenty of tutors without much difficulty for a reasonable price in most languages. The website also has a function to where you can meet other students and do a free language exchange with him/her.
These are just two of the more popular resources online, and I haven’t even mentioned meeting people in person, which I try to do all the time. When I am on the street, and I recognize a few words in Chinese, I try to talk and practice. When I am at a restaurant, I practice, when I am at a coffee shop, I practice. Technically speaking, I don’t really need to pay for a tutor, it seems like the world is my tutor. Once again, I will stress, a tutor will improve your level faster, but it isn’t necessary to have a tutor. You can find ways to do it for free if you don’t have the money to pay for a tutor.
If you started from scratch on LingQ, and you are already at 14,300 words, I salute you, my friend. That is an excellent accomplishment. Congratulations, and I hope you keep at it. I can’t wait to see where you will be in the next 10 months.
My milestone came around 8000 words. I was reading 1jour1actu - a news website for kids. And i read an article and understood everything. I didn’t even realise i understood everything until i’d finished reading it.
Soon after i gained full reading fluency but then my listening dragged behind.
So i changed tack - i started watching comprehensible shows - cartoons, cookery programmes etc. Now my listening is touching fluent but not quite there yet.
Interestingly i do pretty much zero talking yet if i need to talk i can, quite comfortably at a sort of ‘utility’ level where i just use the language to get what i need. These interactions are easy with no speaking practice but for debates or full on conversations i have a way to go.
Nobody excels just by using the language. We can only use what we know. Any person using language at a high level has had thousands of hours of input.
My wife does no reading and she is fluent in French, but only at a basic level. She had enough of a level from school to be able to get comprehensible spoken input when she’s communicating with other French people. She’s around a B2, but she would be C2 + by now if she read a lot because her listening comprehension is at near 100%.