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Alex
What is your language learning process?

At the beginning of learning a language it is always a struggle to find you rhythm. What works for you what doesn't. What helps you get motivated and what makes you feel as though you've wasted valuable study time without accomplishing anything useful. So I'm curious what works for you in your own little voyage to language proficiency. 

What is your learning process? 

What kind of products/resources do you use?

Do you have routine or a certain amount a studying that you do each week? 

 

 

 

Jan 5, 2015 11:41 PM
Comments · 5

I like to watch cartoons such as Caillou and Petit Ours Brun. I think its cuz I'm still technically a kid and so I get to connect with what's goin on and also because the language is kept simple and speech is slow enough for a beginner's ears to adjust to. Every night before I sleep or early in the morning, are the times where I tend to work on my French mainly because I tend to remember stuff easier in the morning or when I'm bout to sleep. What are your study habits?

January 6, 2015

Like Gustavo, I find that consistent daily effort is key.


Every day, I do a combination of reading, writing, spaced repetition and listening.  I also try to have conversation practice a few times a week. For example:

- Converse in French for at least 30 minutes (x2)

- Attend French class (x2)

- Practise FluentU for at least 5 mins (x6)

- Study Memrise for at least 5 mins during commute (x7)

- Listen to French music of news while getting ready for work (x7)

- Practise Anki for at least 5 mins (x3)

- Read 1 page of French text (x3)


I set my objectives on the coach.me and track them there so I have visibility on how I'm following up on my goals.  You'll notice I set the goals as small (e.g. just 5 mins).  I trick my mind that way - I can certainly find 5 mins somewhere in the day, and always end up doing more than just 5 mins.


I try to do as much as I can in the morning because I find my willpower seriously fading as the day goes on.  


Good luck!

March 6, 2016
I do a lot of different things but always try to stay close to the oldest, tried and true method, which is reading.
In my mind, reading well written texts is still the most important thing in language learning.
There are numerous reasons why reading is so important, but I'll mention just one.

A language lives in various sequences of words forming one dimensional structures, and texts are what presents these structures in their most beautiful and purest forms. A text doesn't have sounds or pictures accompanying it, which you might think is a shortcoming but it is also an advantage because it puts your brain in the ideal state of cognitive operation.  With texts, the brain works almost entirely through the medium of the language, freed from having to process extraneous aural or visual input. When we read, it only works on two things - the text and its own base knowledge accumulated from past experience.

I believe this is the best way to work on our grammar(sentence patterns) and vocabulary, and these two things are the crux and bulk of language learning.  If you expand your grammar and vocabulary wide enough, most other things fall into place and sort of naturally follow.  Language learning is essentially a game of two things - a set of core principles (grammar) and the vast vocabulary which work based on them.

So there you have it.  You read, read, and read, while studying grammar and looking up words, and complement reading as you like with other lesser activities like listening, watching, and conversing with people.

March 6, 2016

For me , one of the best ways for absolute beginners is Pimsleur ,it's such a great program that helps to get familiar with a language and get used to the syntaxes,  after that ,I think Assimil is an interesting choice since it combines natural learning through conversations, and  breaking down the language through grammar notes.

March 4, 2016

TV Series/Movies/Books/Cartoons
Everyday i try to study at least 15 minutes 

i think it's the easiest way it works for me

January 6, 2015
Alex
Language Skills
English, French
Learning Language
French