How do you work with setting goals in particular language learnings (in LingQ)?
- let’s assume focusing on the only one language at a time
- despite the fact, learning language is never ending process, at the specific time I want (need) to stop active learning the particular one and focusing on another
I can predict numbers of LingQs creation per day but I can not predict numbers of creations new words (which seems for me as the best reasonable goal - as setting for e.x. 30k words and move on to another language then)
- because I need to know if my goal is achievable and time-bounded (in 1, 2 years for e.x.) or my speed of reading and working with LingQ leads to the time equal a decade…
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I think it’s better to set activity, rather than _result goals, which are precisely the ones you can predict.
The best stats besides, and probably over lingqs are number of read words and, depending your goals and method, maybe listening time.
It’s the same logic as with a training system: you program your exercises, sets, reps and so on, what you do , the results are sure to come but at their own pace
As ftornay has pointed out, goals are better set around activities and time spent, as opposed to results. Some good, manageable goals to have for long term growth:
Baseline time goal:
– Minimum 30 minutes of engagement with the language on most days – aiming for at least 6 days a week. 7 is better, 5 is okay.
Within this baseline time goal are baseline activity goals:
– 1 Assimil lesson, or similar course lesson a day
or
– 2000 words of a book read and listened to (2000 is one full LingQ lesson’s worth of text when you import a book), this is also an equivalent of 7 printed pages of a paperback book.
and / or
– 30 minutes of passive listening of podcasts or audiobooks, when reasonably comprehensible (passive listening should either be additional to, or at least alternated daily with reading activity)
and / or
– 30 minute conversation with a fluent speaker.
– All other activities including TV watching and Duolingo, are considered supplements to these activities in my opinion, since they don’t deliver the same desired impact within a 30 minute time frame.
These are my baselines, more is always better, but the above is very maintainable on the long term for most people.
LONG TERM results goals I wanna achieve with the above activities, but NOT on a time schedule:
– Reading books unassisted with relative ease
– Listening to audiobooks unassisted
– Watch movies unassisted
– Fluent conversation ( I put this last, because I think it’s actually the last of my concerns, and it will happen as a byproduct of the other three)
USELESS / UNSUSTAINABLE GOALS in my opinion are:
– “Fluency” in X months.
– X amount of words leaned per day / week etc.
– X amount of words lingq-ed, etc.
– I’m gonna learn a language just by “insert some easy sounding activity here I heard from some youtuber”
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Thank you guys. I am completely with your comments. However, on the other hand, how can you be sure the amount of time is enough if your target is number of words?
“If your target is a number of words” – do you mean X number of words learned per day, or do you mean that your target is to learn X amount of words overall on the long run?
As I mentioned before, X number of words learned per day is NOT a good target to set because as you advance you will encounter less and less new words, and your words learned per day will decrease, even though your proficiency will increase at the same time.
However, X number of words to know overall on the long run IS a good target because it gives you the right milestone without tying to a daily target.
Think of it this way: if your goal is to become a professional basketball player, your coach doesn’t say to you “Score 10 points each practice, then you can go home.” More than likely, your coach will say “We’ll practice various skills for 2 hrs and then you can go home.” As part of this practice, on some days you will score 20 points, on other days you will score none. But if you practice 2 hrs every day, eventually you’ll just become really good at basketball.
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…exactly, but the coach know how many hrs he needs to achieve for e.x. 70% success in shooting in long run…
I would like to set X number of words to know. I am not sure if my speed is fast enough :-).
I have been adding a fixed numbero Russian words each day. As I add more words, it becomes harder to add the same amount the next day. It has worked well for my motivation level.
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Do you mean X number of words to know for each day, or X number of words to know as a long term goal?
As a long term goal. For example, to have 20k / 30k words in category Known words.
I see, that’s good. I think a good long term goal to have is to continue with LingQ until you can hit that magic 98% of comprehension level where unassisted reading of paper books becomes comfortable.
In my experience, to do that, you’d need to complete Advanced Level 2 + about 15-20% with known words here on LingQ – Advanced 2 is usually around 30-35K known words, depending on the language, so with + 15-20% that lands you in the range of 35-42K known words. After this mark, you can evaluate where you stand with comprehension and which way you wanna continue.
In my case, with German, I’ve decided to “Graduate” from LingQ at the 50K known words mark, and with French I’ve set my Graduation number at 40K, which I’m about to hit. (German has a lot more compound words, so the feeling of 50K vs. 40K with French is about the same to me as far as comprehension is concerned.)
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How long did it take you to “graduate” in German? 50k is a reasonable but a LOT of new words
“How long” is difficult to answer because I was doing other things like Assmil before I started with LingQ, and I also interweaved learning other languages while working with German. But a good statistic to look at is that I read 1.85 million words on LingQ while marking those 50K words.
A full LingQ lesson when importing a book is about 2000 words, so 1.85 million words is 925 LingQ lessons. So if one was to read on average of 4000 words a day – 2 full LingQ lessons, a reasonable pace – they could hit 50K in 462.5 days.
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