in the contents, I am able to connect the words with familiar contexts. So there is nothing wrong with reviewing words and phrases, or even constructions of grammar, as long as the contexts for these words, phrases and grammatical constructions, are already familiar.
You first have to earn the words by reading and listening to a variety of content. You, in fact, have to read and re-read, listen and re-listen. And in so doing you build up a bank of contexts that are familiar to you. Then you can review the words and phrases and remember them. That is how you earn the words. The list or any other shortcut wil not work. So I say, you have to earn it to learn it.
There are language learning geniuses out there like Powel Janulus who learned 60 or 80 languages. He said that he could learn most languages in a month. I am not one of those people. For me it takes time.
I believe you have to put in the time and earn the language. But that is why it is so important to enjoy what you are doing to learn the language.
In sports it has been found that to improve in sport A it is often a good idea to practice sport B. Tennis or ping pong or gymnastics may improve the strength or quickness or balance needed for ice hockey, for example.
I think the same works in language learning. If a person speaks only one language and starts to learn a second language, I believe there are many advantages to starting to learn a third language as wel .
First of al , I believe learning a third language wil improve the language learning capability of the brain. There is no doubt that I am a better language learner now, at the age of 59, than I was as a seventeen year old in school trying to learn French. I have learned so many other languages that I am simply better trained at language learning.
Second, the more languages you become familiar with, the more you become independent from your native language and culture. This independence is important in terms of your attitude towards a new language and in terms of your ability to master the structure, vocabulary and pronunciation of another language.
I think it is worthwhile taking a two or three month break from your major target language (say English) to study another, say Spanish or Chinese for a few months. The goal is simply to train your mind. You would not expect to master this minor language, but rather to cross train your mind.
I am not sure this works for everyone. I am sure it works for me.
I am happy to receive comments and this morning there are three, two from Pako and one from Blinger. Blinger recognizes the need to make mistakes in learning a language. Blinger points out that language learning can be like playing the piano. Blinger points out that we need to chal enge ourselves with more and more difficult pieces on the piano so that we can gradual y raise our level. Language learning is like that says Blinger, and Blinger is right.
Pako claims that we have to avoid mistakes when learning languages. He feels that language learning is different from learning the piano.
In my view, language learning has a lot of similarity with playing the piano. First of al , if you do not enjoy playing the piano, you wil probably not do wel . If you can play pieces that you like you wil learn faster than by playing pieces you do not like. Both require repetitive practice. In both cases, most of the work needs to be done by the learner on his or her own.
The improvement in both is gradual. And in both cases, most learners are best to avoid theory.
Yet language learning is also different. One difference is the large quantity of new vocabulary, words and phrases that has to be learned. The only way to learn new vocabulary is to constantly read and listen to new content. Yet to retain the words and phrases and to get a feel of the language you need to repetitively read and listen to things you have already covered before, especial y in the early stages.
I think a key concept in language learning efficiency is simplicity. The greatest damage has been done to language learning by the complicated theories of the academic linguists. Once we get into terms like interlanguage, sociolinguists, phonemes, al ophones, discourse analysis, speech acts, morphemes, and I do not know what else, we are getting far away from anything that wil help the learner. Similarly I am not a fan of games and role playing. The introduction of the computer creates new opportunities to find new gimmicky approaches tha t distract the learner from the task.
What you need first of al is lots of real authentic language on subjects of interest to the learners. Then you let the learners listen to it and read it over and over, and help them systematical y learn the words and phrases that they want to learn from these texts. You encourage them to write. You explain and provide feedback as they learn from the language.
You talk to them on subjects of interest. You encourage them to go and meet the language wherever and whenever they can. Those who become autonomous motivated learners learn the language. The others never real y do, wherever they study.
There is a point of view amongst language teachers that learners should only use monolingual dictionaries in the language they are trying to learn. Al of my experience argues against this point of view..
I am neither a classroom teacher nor an interpreter. If I were I would own monolingual dictionaries. But I am a language learner. I do not study dictionaries. I learn from content. I have done so for over 40 years. My shelves are ful of foreign language readers with glossaries which give simple translations of words into English. To me these are mere hints of the meaning. Only after meeting these words in many contexts do I learn how to use them. I do not want lengthy explanations of new words, nor unrelated examples of the words in use, nor synonyms nor other, to me, irrelevant information. I want a quick hint so I can get back to trying to figure out the meaning of what I am enjoying reading (and often listening to). A dictionary does not define the meaning of words. Usage does. A dictionary just reports on different examples of common usage at the time of printing.
Language learning is, to me, a fuzzy logic process. We can try to learn words and rules deliberately, but mostly we learn incidentally, from listening and reading, as we get used to the language. The content needs to be interesting, in order to keep us motivated. Thanks to online dictionaries, MP3 files etc, I can alternate between easy texts and difficult texts, I even recommend doing so. The meaning of what I am reading is sometimes unclear. There are contexts which I do not ful y understand. But I do not ask why, because I know from experience that it al becomes clearer eventual y. The important thing is to continue the exposure to content of my choosing. In that task the quick hint based on the experience of my own language is most effective. Using a monolingual dictionary in the language I am learning is less efficient. I have tried. And in language learning efficiency is the great accelerator, the great intensifier.
Progress in language learning is like an upside-down hockey stick. During an initial period of study you actual y progress quite noticeably. From not being able to say anything, you al of a sudden can actual y say something in the new language. You can even understand or read something in the new language. Wow!
That is the first steep growth period. That is the blade of the upside-down hockey stick.
Most learning material is directed towards this first stage. You cover the usual subjects like the train station, the bank, the post office etc. However, you still cannot carry on a conversation.
You stil cannot function at the train station, bank or post office. In a way you have an ornament and not a useful tool.
It is the next long stage of language learning, the shaft of the hockey stick, that is the most difficult. There
