My study methods. Thoughts?

Discussion in 'Learning Techniques and Advice' started by spanglish1205, Apr 1, 2015.

  1. spanglish1205

    spanglish1205 New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2015
    Messages:
    3
    Native Language:
    English
    Advanced Languages:
    Spanish
    Intermediate Languages:
    Italian
    Basic Languages:
    Portuguese
    Hey guys,

    Here's a list of how I start a new language. I spend a hell of a lot of time doing it so I was really curious to see if anybody has any other methods to share other than what I am doing and any thoughts. I´d be glad to hear!

    I usually go through the following programs to study a language:

    Beginner:
    -Pimsleur and Michel Thomas during my commute to work. This is good because it is during "dead" time. Pimsleur is especially very good at getting a base, functional level of conversation down. Michel Thomas is okay but better than nothing to help during this "dead" time.
    -I use Rosetta Stone a little for vocab but its not the greatest - money or time wise.

    Intermediate/Advanced:
    -Anki flash cards - EXTREMELY helpful to learning vocabulary. It is a spaced repetition program that will program the cards to reappear at a specified interval for you to be able to retain. There are several shared decks available in each language or you can create your own.
    -Read newspapers: any new vocab I put into an Anki deck
    -Read books: start off with children's stories and work up. If you have a kindle you can get a english translation dictionary and every word you highlight is translated and saved. Later on I go and put these words in an Anki deck.
    -For listening practice I watch TV, movies and TedTalks.
    -Grammar books of course.
    -Skype one on one tutoring - definitely the method I've progressed the most with. I use italki, which basically connects students and native speaking teachers. You can take advantage of exchange rates so the avg lesson is about $10/hour which pretty much beats any other paid course you can get. You can also connect with other students and exchange languages on Skype for free.

    Best of luck on your language learning!
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 2, 2015
  2. Big_Dog

    Big_Dog Administrator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2014
    Messages:
    1,039
    Native Language:
    English
    Advanced Languages:
    Spanish
    Intermediate Languages:
    French, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Swahili, Thai
    Basic Languages:
    Korean
    Nice. My method is here.
    You don't go into much detail, which is fine, but that's the reason it's hard to tell the differences between what you do and what I do. Two differences that I think I can see:
    1) you don't do much pronunciation work at the syllable/word level
    2) you don't write
    Even if you don't want to have native-like pronunciation, or become a really good writer, I still believe you will reach your goals faster and better by including these 2 items in your program.
  3. Bob

    Bob Active Member VIP member

    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2014
    Messages:
    339
    Native Language:
    English
    Intermediate Languages:
    Cebuano, Greek_ancient, Spanish
    Basic Languages:
    Filipino, French, Hebrew_clasical, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian
    how successful have you been so far? :)
  4. spanglish1205

    spanglish1205 New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2015
    Messages:
    3
    Native Language:
    English
    Advanced Languages:
    Spanish
    Intermediate Languages:
    Italian
    Basic Languages:
    Portuguese
    Big_Dog Yes, the pronunciation work I get is mostly from speaking practice during regular conversation and my Italki lessons. I don't do a ton of individual pronunciation work right now but I have done some work with tongue twisters etc to try to help. What do you do for pronunciation? The writing practice I do is mostly from pen pals on Italki. Nothing extensive. Any advice on the writing part?

    Bob, so far it has worked great! In the past year of using this my Spanish has gone from a low B1 to a high B2/low C1 level. I feel like Italki lessons and Anki flashcards definitely moved the needle the most. In 6ish months my Italian has also gone from nil to an A2/B1 level as well.
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 2, 2015
  5. pensulo

    pensulo Member VIP member

    Joined:
    Aug 30, 2014
    Messages:
    68
    Native Language:
    English
    Basic Languages:
    Serbo_Croatian
    I'm not sure if you've plugged your discount referral link enough yet..;)
  6. spanglish1205

    spanglish1205 New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2015
    Messages:
    3
    Native Language:
    English
    Advanced Languages:
    Spanish
    Intermediate Languages:
    Italian
    Basic Languages:
    Portuguese
    Lol I'd be happy to send it again if you need!
  7. Big_Dog

    Big_Dog Administrator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2014
    Messages:
    1,039
    Native Language:
    English
    Advanced Languages:
    Spanish
    Intermediate Languages:
    French, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Swahili, Thai
    Basic Languages:
    Korean
    Fixed. Good catch pensulo. I'm an italki member, so the link just went to my profile page. spanglish1205, this is you first and only warning. Do it again and I'll ban you for spamming.

Share This Page