Many people have their own way of learning a language. I believe that there's no best and unique method because everybody is different!
My question is: What are the things that you constanly see language learners doing that to you wouldn't work at all?
To me, for instance, flashcards don't help at all and it's an extremely boring method. I might start doing them but within a few minutes I get fed up with them.
Starting to speak from day one (but with translator), some people have no foundation and basics and yet they want to talk but of course, with the help of the translator. They type what they want to say and then read it to the tutor/partner. That does not work for me either. I need first to acquire some basics befoe I jump into speaking!
Reading books when they're still not comfortable with it: If I don't have vocabulary enough to read a book and understand at least the concept without having to check all the time in the dictionary, then I won't read a book that it's not suitable to my level, but apparently many people do it!
Duolingo: no comments!
But again, I'm not saying they are wrong methods, it's simply that they are not for me! What about you guys?
@Torusan
I agree with you on the pronunciation drills but it has worked with me while I was learning the Russian alphabet because it's crazy but I would never want to learn that way with languages of latin alphabet.
@Christina
It's true, feedback is important, one of the reasons that I prefer to have a tutor here than a language partner is that I (at least as expected) can get feedback. When talking to language partners, most of the times they won't correct you or give you advices unless you made an extremely horrible unacceptable mistake and if I get used to the mistake, that would be hard to get rid of it.
And also I would never learn a language without studying the grammar in the beginning, accquiring lots of vocabulary and ready-to-go sentences in the beginning is definitely not my type of learning!
@Quynh
You know, I'd never learn a language by audio only as well but I do use it a lot in my everyday life just to get used to the sound of the language and to start catching words and sentences that I already can manage, it helps me a lot. In every language that I study, my best skill is the listening, because I'm constantly listening to the language in different ways, it is a slow but guaranteed process for me.
(@Murillo Costa - Your title should read something like "The things that other language learners do that wouldn't work for you." As it stands now, it reads like the <em>languag</em>e wouldn't work for you.) It's a good question. I actually use flashcards, but only as a supplement rather than a main method. Your other comments are spot on from my standpoint. There are many methods I don't agree with, so I'll just list a few.
A long silent period. Some people will go hundreds of hours without speaking a word. This would drive me nuts, and if they read in that time, it will lead to bad pronunciation.
Mining sentences as the main thrust of your learning. Super boring, and super inefficient for me.
Never systematically study grammar. C'mon - you'll probably spend less that 1% of your language learning time on this in the long run. You can't possibly call that a "grammar based method".
Insisting that you can only learn if it's "fun". Things can't always be fun, so don't waste your energy trying to convince yourself and others that every minute you spend on languages is a delight. Develop a neutral attitude and stabilize.
Use music as your main learning method. Can you say "bad pronunciation"?
Play games as your main learning method. Can you say "A1"?
Follow the advice of undertalented polyglots like Benny and Moses. Self explanatory.
etc
I agree with you about the flashcards. Really hate them. The only time I use them is if my school teacher makes us learn a large group of words in a small amount of time (maybe a week). Because my grades are on the line, I sometimes resort to using flashcards to memorize them quickly for the test. When I have time, though, I go back and try to learn those words some other ways.
I personally don't use anything audio only. People would recommend listening to radios or audiobooks, but they don't work for me. When it's a language I'm unfamiliar with, my eyes and brain start to wander if I don't have something visual to hold my attention.
Immersion without any feedback
I've seen people making huge progress with this method, but it cost me an irreversibly bad grammar whenever I tried it. I think some feedback is important, at least in the beginning. For example subtitles, a grammar book, a friend, a teacher or anything that might serve as a road map.
Vocabulary without grammar
If it's not a matter of survival, I'd rather point than use random words with common roots that may or may not make sense when I speak. Some people manage to communicate, but for me it's impossible.
Learning grammar by reverse translation
That's so 17th century and so wrong on so many levels...
Reading books
Not before level B1 (or A2 for visual learners)
I did learn a lot from advanced books, with the help of a good dictionary and a handy highlighter, but it was time consuming.
I am just learning a second language (English) and I started to learn in at the school, so my opinion might be biased but I think, in my case, it was important to attend classes the first years, to acquire vocabulary and grammar, to be able to understand the language later. Once you have the basic knowledge everything is fine! I like reading books in English and I tend to watch videos (on the internet) in this language whenever is possible. Of course writing here and having the chance to talk to English speaker is also great. I think everything you do in the language you are learning, will help you to improve, if you are constant and serious.
