Study Plans

Open Forum
41

Exactly Helen, approximately 80% comprehension is what I would call listening and understanding (being able to ‘follow along’).

They say the basic equation is based on they’re being next to no similarity between your native language (L1) and the language you’re learning (L2). So, for example, if I listened to 1000 hours of Chinese (which we can safely say shares nothing in common with English except for a few borrowed words which to my mind do not at all sound similar):

1 - (2.71800^(((-.0018)(1000) / (1)) = 0.834670259

then my acquisition of Chinese would be 83%, which is what ALG calls the ‘speaking threshold’, after which students are allowed to start speaking the language, and the point at which fluent speaking starts.

However, for a language like Spanish, which has a language ease (L) of .4 because of the vast similarities between the two languages and the little effort it takes to come to understand a great many words:

1 - (2.71800^(((-.0018)(400) / (.4)) = 0.834670259

then I would reach the speaking threshold (the end of the silent period) after only 400 hours, and in fact I found this was approximately the case while I was living in Spain, as I learned from basically 0 just by listening and without having a class.

Once I reached about this many hours of listening and understanding, which didn’t take very long because my students were constantly talking in Spanish in context in my English classes (that is, they were talking about the content of the class so I had enough background knowledge to follow their conversations) and my roommates would talk to me in easily comprehensible Spanish every day, I got to the point where I felt I was thinking in Spanish and coming up with natural sentences.

I could not have repeated the same feat in China, as I would have picked up on nearly nothing of what my students were saying and had a much more difficult time retaining it even if I had.

So if we take the 1000 hours it took just to reach the speaking threshold of 83% for Chinese and devote those hours to learning Spanish instead:

1 - (2.71800^(((-.0018)(1000) / (.4)) = 0.988885819

then we’ve reached a 98% comprehension of Spanish after the same amount of time.

For further reference check out

http://effortlessacquisition.blogspot.com/2004/10/critique-of-auas-automatic-language.html

I agree with you Helen, you really only need to understand about 80

42

Personally, as a begginer here on lingq, I am struggling to know when to move on to the next lesson or whether to open another lesson but continue listening to the previous one. How do I know I have listened enough times to an item?
Is it okay to work on maybe two lessons a day but always reviewing and listening to the older ones?

Any feedback is much appreciated,

Olie.

43

Olie, if you are starting with a language it is helpful to listen up to ten or more times. Gradually you will listen less often to each lesson. You should move on when you understand 75-80% of what you hear. A general rule is to do what you feel like doing. Keep a balance between repetition and keep things fresh and stimulating.

44

What I do is I pick a piece of content. I read it over a few times. I print it off, put it to a word document and double space it ( I just like being able to have a rough copy of what I am learning with me at times when I have time to read), and then highlight words I don’t know. I later go back and LingQ those words. I review those words many many times. (Each one about 15-30 times as flashcards) I then listen to the audio without the text a few times…maybe 10 times as a minimum. I then listen and follow along with the text with my finger about 10-20 times as a minimum. On a piece of content, I like to listen to it about 50 times. I read that piece of content throughout the day when I can. Once I have gone through a piece of content like this and I am able to understand a good 80-90% of it, I move on and find something else. This is only with audio and text content. When it is just text content, I do everything minus the audio parts.

To review, I read over all of my old pieces of content out loud or silently many many times, and I may listen to it without following along with the text in front of myself.

It usually takes a few days to get through a piece of content actually. Somethings I may do more and somethings less. It all depends on what time I have on that day.

45

what do you mean write 100 words? A) write the words you don’t know 100 times or B) write any words 100 times? if someone can answer this for me I would be greatful.

46

@Roz - Steve means to write 100 words in your target language. Don’t just write words but try and write sentences or even a paragraph depending on your capability. A good thing to try is to take some of the words you are trying to learn and to try and write sentences using these words. Keep your sentences short and simple especially at first and don’t worry about trying to use all your new vocabulary. It’s just a chance to practice a little bit in your new language. Good luck!

47

@Mark thanks