Questions tagged [learning-methods]
For questions about methods, techniques, and/or practices that assist in learning another language
257
questions
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I want to train myself to use the Chinese grammar particle 了 correctly: how do I go about doing that?
Motivation: In Chinese grammar, there's a particle 了 which has two main uses: completion 了 (post-verb) and change-of-state 了 (end of sentence). I'm bad at using this particle (see How does someone ...
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0answers
47 views
What are some of the most useful methods of teaching English grammar?
As a practising English teacher I have observed that teaching of grammar does not help the learners to speak or write fluently or even correctly especially in speech.only a few ...
2
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3answers
125 views
Must we start teaching reading and writing with the Alphabet?
It is common practice to start with the Alphabet of a language while teaching reading and writing.
But some linguists I know say that we need not begin with the Alphabet but ...
2
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1answer
45 views
What strategies there are for learning a Romance language when I already know a Germanic language?
In a comment on another question, What is the difference between Germanic and Romance languages?, Robert Columbia wrote:
There are actually known strategies for learning a language from one of ...
3
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0answers
30 views
How important is to find language exchange partner?
Currently, with all social networks and internet, it seems that everybody suggest [citation needed] that the primary way to learn a language is to find a language exchange partner.
Beyond the obvious ...
7
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1answer
57 views
Polish affricates learning tips
I find Polish affricates extremely challenging, especially the juxtaposition of non-palatized and palatized affricates, e.g. dżem vs. dźwięk, ćma vs. czas.
Any learning tips, e.g. using a widely ...
5
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1answer
37 views
Can a baby learn a new language by interacting with a foreign language speaker over skype?
A friend who took a linguistics class in college once told me that an infant can't learn a new language by sitting in front of a TV program because the TV program doesn't react to their facial ...
3
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1answer
54 views
Is the use of mother-tongue in the English class a boon or a bane?
I teach English in a government school where the medium of instruction is both English and the regional medium Telugu. The slow learners opt for Telugu medium and they are not able to follow my ...
4
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1answer
60 views
Is it difficult for the low proficiency learner to learn a second language like English?
As a teacher of English I have observed that any child acquires the first language naturally. But learning a second language like English seems to be very difficult for the low proficiency learners. ...
4
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1answer
47 views
Are learning and acquistion the same?
Many books on English Methodology treat learning and acquisiton synonymously. But I think they are different.
Some professors I know say that they are different.
Some others say they overlap and ...
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2answers
46 views
1 Month Curriculum For Learning Spanish Conversationally
I have set a goal to learn Spanish at a conversational level in 1 month, with 2 prior years of experience at a traditional highschool, with information retained but still not able to hold a ...
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2answers
91 views
When studying Japanese, how much should I be able to retain at the end of a Genki textbook chapter (Self-study concerns)?
I've been studying Japanese since about January using the Genki second edition workbook and textbook. I try to get in an hour session each day but I have been a little on and off with it; I think its ...
2
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1answer
44 views
How can I learn to speak in SOV when my L1 is SVO?
I have been learning Hindi for almost 2 years, and my mother tongue is English. I find that I can understand things in Hindi that I read or hear, and I have a working vocabulary, but I struggle to ...
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1answer
53 views
Way to prevent speaking fluency of acquired language to be lost or possibly enhance it further
In general fluency, there was a related question: How can I prevent myself from forgetting a language? which suggest speaking to yourself a lot. But how about your general speaking fluency? I have a ...
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0answers
19 views
Listening a short sentence from a movie in English and figure out what it suppose to be said [duplicate]
English is my second language and I have trouble listening and figuring out what it's said when spoken fast in English.
This is the sentence.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=...
7
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2answers
81 views
Should I correct my grammar mistakes or just ignore them while practice speaking?
While practice speaking a foreign language, I often find myself make a mistake during the speech and correct it immediately. The mistakes usually come from grammar, which I rarely do in writing. For ...
4
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1answer
46 views
How to learn the building of sentences?
Understanding a large number of words, either spoken or written, is one thing, but producing a sentence in a target language is another.
I am not referring to understanding how to read/hear a ...
5
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1answer
67 views
How can I avoid the huge gap between paper and oral skills?
I learned four foreign languages but all of them have one thing in common; reading is the best and writing follows it, and then after the huge gap come listening and speaking. My reading and speaking ...
5
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4answers
103 views
Is it possible to learn a language without translation?
Let's assume I have no knowledge in a language I want to learn. I know only some basic alphabet, but don't know any words. Is it possible to learn a language just by watching videos and reading books ...
3
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1answer
64 views
How to learn a language for which very few resources are available?
In the past, people have posted several questions about learning languages for which very few resources are available:
How can I learn a language with little documentation/resources (Georgian)?
How ...
2
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0answers
53 views
How to learn Malayalam without any resources
I've been interested in learning a language called Malayalam. The problem is though, there is a complete absence of any well-written comprehensive Malayalam textbooks or grammar guides for English-...
3
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1answer
57 views
How can the natural approach to language acquisition work for L2?
So, I was seeing a video today where the narrator brought this approach as the best for L2 acquisition. I believe it can be useful, that's how we all learned our L1 after all, but I wonder how it can ...
3
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0answers
23 views
Should I mix different dialects on minimal pairs deck?
After posting this question, I investigated why I don't understand the sound difference, and I found out that one of the reasons must be the different dialects that exist in the deck. I installed the ...
4
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1answer
55 views
How can you understand the pronunciation differences if you don't understand them even on minimal pairs training?
The minimal pair training seems to be the best way for adults to distinguish the sound difference on a foreign language that doesn't exist in his/her native language. According to Fluent:
But it’s ...
3
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1answer
82 views
Learning japanese, 1 month progress (Tokyo)
I am a Japanese Language student here in Tokyo. I don't know if I'll get a downvote for this question, but might as well try. I've been studying Japanese for about a month now here in Japan using a ...
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0answers
50 views
What is the proper etiquette for a nonnative speaker who wants to practice Mandarin at a Chinese supermarket in the US?
There is a Chinese supermarket in the US I often shop at. I often hear the staff speaking Mandarin or Cantonese, and occasionally Hakka or Fujianese, amongst themselves and to Chinese customers. I can ...
3
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1answer
49 views
How should I decide the order of learning each of languages if you learn all of them in the end?
I wonder if you will have learned multiple languages in the end, the order of learning each of them has any influence and if it does, what is the most effective order to learn.
For example, suppose ...
3
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0answers
38 views
How can I find an appropriate image for a word on SRS?
I'm writing a script that converts my list of bookmarked words into SRS, with audio and image on it. Now, I'm writing a script to fetch an image from Google Image, but the images I got are mostly ...
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0answers
13 views
Should the answers on SRS also be the target language?
I bookmarked words I didn't know while reading texts in a foreign language, and then created my own Anki deck from the list of bookmarked words. Originally I used English as the answer (translation) ...
4
votes
1answer
56 views
Does one's target level make a difference?
Learning the script for Arabic, Greek, Russian, etc. seems too expensive an investment if one wants to learn just a little of the language (say A1 in the CEFRL). Likewise grammar beyond the very ...
5
votes
1answer
79 views
How can I make sure my pronunciation based on IPA is correct?
I have read this question and answers titled "How can I learn IPA?" and now start to (finally) learn IPA and phonetics.
However, while the question asks about the way to learn the IPA, which focuses ...
3
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2answers
108 views
How can I get over lack of learning resources in “minor languages”
Sometimes I want to learn a language but give up due to the lack of resources available. These languages tend to be the ones that very few people learn using English.
In my opinion, one of the core ...
9
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1answer
96 views
How to overcome limitations of memory palace?
I frequently use the loci method (memory palace) to learn vocabulary, but I find that after 150-200 words my house is full with words/images and there is no space left.
I know of people who can ...
4
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1answer
67 views
Does learning a new language while in the target country instead of learning the current language reach the goal of acquiring both faster in the end?
Here is the situation:
I have now been learning French for two months.
I will start to stay in South Korea for one month.
After staying in Korea, I'll stay in France and attend language school for ...
5
votes
2answers
159 views
Are paper flash cards better for retention than digital flash cards (both self made)?
Language Learning Stack Exchange currently has sixteen questions about flash-cards, fifteen questions about anki and twenty questions about spaced-repetition. There is no doubt that spaced repetition ...
4
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3answers
118 views
How to get most language learning benefits from frequent casual conversations with natives?
I know several languages on various levels:
Polish native
English C1-C2
German B2-C1
Russian B1
Spanish B1
I have tons of opportunities to speak to natives:
English - quite a few people at work (...
6
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1answer
137 views
What is the better way for structure the learning of 5 languages in 1 year and 6 months?
It's really this, I have a dream to speak Japanese, Korean, Standard Chinese, French and Russian. I know it is hard and very difficult to learn five language at the same time.
Right now, this is my ...
4
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0answers
39 views
Best way to improve your ability in a language post A-Level (Exams at age 18)
It is fairly clear how to get your standard of language up to an A-level standard (exams taken at age 18 in the uk) due to clear syllabi and textbooks up to this standard. However, I find that past ...
6
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2answers
109 views
kannada learning - beginner's way
I am a native Marathi (Maharashtra, India) speaker and I wish to learn Kannada.
These 2 languages are totally different except for a few words in common.
To start with, I would like to learn basic ...
2
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0answers
21 views
What is the easy and effective way to learn in tandem live, when speaker A has B1 and speaker B barely has A1 in the language of A speaker?
I learn German (~B1), my friend learns Russian (~A1, just a little bit of the vocabulary and ability to pronounce the text). Mainly we communicate through English. Next couple weeks we live together, ...
5
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1answer
59 views
Do gender differences affect language learning strategies?
As far as I know, there have been many discussions and a considerable amount of research about differences in learning between boys and girls, or men and women. See for example:
Gender differences in ...
6
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1answer
58 views
Is it a good idea to practice American English by listening to radio from the USA?
While I was looking for a better way to practice American English I found a website, where you can find radio channels from all over the world. Do you think it is a good idea to practice your ...
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0answers
52 views
Can adults learn grammar like 5 or 6 year old kids?
As the title said. Learning a language is complicated, but children can easily pick up any languages around them. Can adults learn grammar like toddlers? and How?
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0answers
43 views
how can I structure my plan learning korean?
I am not a native speaker of Korean and not-native speaker English. I want to make a plan for learning Korean well and maybe arrive to B2 in July 2019.
I do not have a lot time because I get up 6 Am, ...
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0answers
32 views
Resources for learning the Silbo Gomero (Gomeran Whistle)
Here's a fascinating video on the Silbo Gomero, or whistled tongue of the island of Gomera in the Canary Islands of Spain. Today, it's essentially used as an encoding of Spanish that can be carried ...
asked Nov 20 '18 at 13:41
Columbia says Reinstate Monica
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Coming from Spanish, where do I start learning English?
Is there any manual or website that I recommend to start learning English?
Honestly, with my mother tongue (Spanish) I have forgotten and sometimes left without understanding, some concepts that are ...
2
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3answers
132 views
What are the effective ways to learn and remember any word. And use that in the right way
I am having trouble with picking the right word for the context that I am talking about. To get rid of the problem I practiced to find all the forms of any word that I encountered ever through books, ...
7
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2answers
221 views
Is shadowing really a technique for interpreter trainees?
Shadowing is a technique for improving pronunciation popularised by the polyglot Alexander Arguelles. There are many YouTube videos about the technique; most of them don't demonstrate shadowing in the ...
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0answers
68 views
Learn alphabet by replacing letters in native text
I've read before somewhere about a way to quickly learn how to read a foreign alphabet. You take an unfamiliar letter and put it in English words where the sound of that letter makes sense. That ...
4
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1answer
79 views
How many Hanzi (Chinese characters) are theoretically possible to learn per day using Heisig's RTH?
I am currently learning three new Chinese characters per day using Heisig's Remembering the Simplified Hanzi (1 and 2) combined with Anki. This leisurely pace suits me because Chinese is not my top ...
