I know that the LingQ system is to read and then listen to the same content over and over again. I was doing this when I was a beginner complete at learning Portuguese, and I found this extremely helpful because if I tried to listen to even the most basic, beginner lessons without reading first I would be completely lost and not understand one word.
However, I have been learning Portuguese with the LingQ method for almost 4 months now, I now know over 7,000 words. I have found my learning method drifting though. I am now able to understand TV shows and video I find on youtube (I comprehend about 50% of what is said). I am also able to understand a good portion of podcasts I listen to, especially those with a single voice instead of many friends chatting together and joking around.
I find it very exciting that I can understand raw, real Portuguese and follow movies and TV shows where I can visualize what’s happening. I still find reading very helpful as I constantly learn new vocabulary and see new patterns of usage and whatnot. I have been finding very interesting blogs on the Internet written by Brazilians, for Brazilians on topics I find very interesting and find these native blogs very fun to “study” on LingQ. While I would prefer to always be able to hear what I read and read what I hear, I find that it is just not practical. The stuff that I am able to both read and hear is very limited in quantity and just not as interesting as what I can find out there. Nevertheless, I love the LingQ site to be able to import text, look up new words, save them and be able to immediately see when a word comes up that I already looked up.
I am just wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar issue, and what everyone’s views are on the importance of always reading and listening to the same sources. Do you think it is a good idea to separate the two once you are more advanced? I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts and viewpoints!
My opinion, humble as it is, is this: once you are very advanced, the listening and reading will be separate. I mean, I read my books, and listen to things when I need my hands. That is in my native tongue though. But, until you are pretty “up there” in your foreign language, I think the combination is great, when it’s available.
Yes as we get better at the language, we listen to something and read other things. There are times when I would like to have transcripts of some interesting podcasts where I keep missing some key words.
On another note, I hope that we will soon have a new feature at LingQ that will enable you to apply all LingQ functionality to any site you find on the net without having to import it. You will then see your yellow words and blue words in any text you come across.This is on our list and is not that far off, I gather.
That would be really nice. I would definitely be interested in using that feature, as I often find importing a chore. Soemtimes I just want to read and LingQ right when I come across it!
I often have trouble understanding all of what I hear, especially when I listen to native podcasts. but that’s the real language right, and you can’t have a transcript when you’re talking to someone in person. I guess it’s best to put myself in that situation ASAP, its a humbling experience to listen to something you haven’t read yet and then inspiring when you start understanding it.
I put the link on the other thread (“My hobby, my passion”). Brazil is basically having a podcast competition right now where people can vote on their favorite podcasts for the podcast awards. If you go to the website there are about ~100 different podcasts listed, each with a short description of what it’s about, and a link to their website. I read through and found a handful that sounded interesting to me then went to their websites, where you can usually find a link to find them on Itunes and subscribe that way. Now they automatically download and sync to my ipod.
I was thinking if sometime in the future you could add a section to the LingQ site where members could share their favorite outside resources, for music, books, podcasts, tv shows, blogs, etc. I often find myself frustrated because it is difficult to know where to begin with these things, but then every now and then I stumble across a gem like that site from which I can find lots of good resources. Maybe it could be in the form of a wiki where members could simply go in and tell their favorite TV shows, youtube videos, movies, singers, etc. for each language. Or maybe you could include links for some of the websites and try to partner with the websites, so they include your link on their website. Just a thought.
Hi Janna, I did what you suggested for German. I created some Google documents with helpful informations for learners. The Link to the document is http://tinyurl.com/yjdvle5