Questions tagged [learning-methods]
For questions about methods, techniques, and/or practices that assist in learning another language
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How can I improve the sophistication of my Chinese grammar usage?
I'm starting to become aware of a weakness in my Chinese grammar. While in my speaking and writing I'm generally grammatically correct (of course, not always), I don't often use more sophisticated ...
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What is the anticipated usage of this Chinese textbook's long lists of questions and answers?
The Chinese HSK6 textbook series 《HSK规范教程 6上》 by 王璕 has many pages like the following
wherein there are many listed questions and answers, such as
最近一年你身边有什么灾难发生吗？
In the previous year, has a ...
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How can I improve my listening for a selection of Chinese HSK6 words?
I downloaded Mandarin Corner's mp3s where, for each of the 2500 Chinese HSK6 words, Teacher Eileen says the word twice, then its example sentence twice. I note down the words which I don't near-...
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How can I go from "I can express myself" to "I can express myself in multiple ways"?
Most of the time, I can express myself appropriately in Chinese (speaking and writing). The catch is, my language would sound more fluent if I were able to say essentially the same thing in multiple ...
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Two common ways to increase vocabulary -- which is more efficient?
I just wondered how I can increase vocabulary to be able to communicate better and enjoy magazines, books and news programs in English.I have two vocabulary workbooks that contain around 2000 words ...
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How can people with the same native language and target language practice with each other?
In this thread Dr @Rebecca J. Stones raised a very interesting question on the reasons behind Chinese people who are eager to practice English don't simply practice with each other, and I've shared my ...
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Equivalent of interlinear for audio?
I'm interested in learning a foreign language by audiobook format where the sentence is read once in English, then a second time in the foreign language.
Does this have a name?
Do any resources like ...
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Why is "fluency development" so commonly overlooked?
Prof. Paul Nation in Learning Vocabulary in
Another Language (2001) put forward his idea of four strands to learning/teaching languages: (a) meaning-focused input, (b) meaning-focused output, (c), ...
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Japanese: Are there computer games that support learning the Genki I and II textbook vocabulary?
Are there computer games that use the Genki I and II textbook vocabulary? Sometimes playing a game allows for better memory formation of vocabulary compared to straight memorizing lists and viewing ...
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Are there any studies on whether it is more effective to study a language a bit everyday or have a couple longer sessions?
As with trying to learn anything, language learning obviously takes time and practice, but many people, myself included, have limited time to dedicate to a language learning practice. With limited ...
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How to Know if a Movie/Show is Translated Well Enough to Help in Language Learning?
As addressed in questions like this, watching movies and shows in your target language can be a good way to practice your listening skills, while also being exposed to new vocabulary and spoken ...
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How does learning math differ from learning second foreign languages (L2)?
Peer-reviewed publications analogize learning math to learning a L2. But what are the DisAnalogies and CounterArguments? How can you distinguish learning math from learning L2?
Luciana Oliveira, ...
user13681
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How to go about learning a heritage language that I lost as a child?
I used to be bilingual in French and English when I was very young but when I began school in Australia, I stopped speaking French so I could get better at English and now at 16 I can understand the ...
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Are there effective ways to improve oral English or a platform which emphasizes students' improvement?
Am I the only one who feels that these English-teaching websites are just a way for teachers to make a few bucks here and there?
It seems that the majority don't really focus on the intricacies of ...
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Is this a good way to learn English?
In the anime Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai, there's such a scene of a notebook.
As you can see in the picture, it's almost barely a list of vocabulary, I mean, there's no example sentence. Besides, ...
user13474
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What is the most efficient set of languages needed to easily become proficient in any language?
I’m not familiar with the terminology to ask this question properly, so I’ll do my best in laymen’s terms.
I’m a native English speaker, so I find certain elements of other languages particularly ...
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Improving English language at B1 level
I'm an English learner, starting from two years ago and with self-study and want to know how? Just with Google Translate when reading articles and translating words I don't know, and after some time I ...
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Any apps for "progressive" language learning like Toucan?
What I mean by "progressive" language learning:
The student starts by learning a small amount of vocabulary and grammar.
When practicing the foreign language, the student replaces the ...
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What are some effective options for an American with no nearby Korean-speakers to learn Hangul?
After studying the evolution of language at a very superficial depth I've decided that I want to be able to communicate using Hangul at something like the conversational level. There seem to be no ...
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Why don't Chinese people who are eager to practice English simply practice with each other?
If you've ever been a "foreigner" in China (especially in major cities), you may have encountered the intensity in which some Chinese people try to practice English with you. I certainly ...
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How to memorize Indonesian words easily?
I don't know whether it's just me, but I think that many Indonesian words look very similar. Are their any ways to memorize them (i.e tips and strategies) or tools to help me?
Thanks!
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Which 'direction' to use for memorizing new words?
When trying to memorize new words, a person might have a list like:
boy - ولد
girl - بنت
Here we can assume English is native and Arabic is foreign.
My question is, which 'direction' should I memorize ...
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How can I squeeze language practice into small chunks of time?
Since my time is very limited, the most success I have had with learning
languages has been with the Babbel app; its focus on
small lessons (around 5-7 minutes) works well for me. However, there will
...
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Read new language with child
I wish to read English with my children. They are preschool age and have no English. I began by substituting the bedtime story with an English story but they got frustrated by the fact that they didn’...
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How to choose texts to use for "learning by reading"?
How to choose texts to use for "learning by reading"?
The style that one aims for?
However, how is one supposed to know whether the stuff that one reads is "good"?
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Is there any research on "natural" language learning methods?
All the language learning material I see seems to follow the school example of just throwing information at you. Sure it works but I have seen something that works better. What I mean by better is ...
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How to master English prepositions?
I have been trying to learn English prepositions so many times but so far I have failed. It is the only thing that gives me so much pain. I have watched so many movies or videos and also read many ...
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In what order should English grammar be revised?
I am currently 3rd in my college and I am planning to prepare for competitive exams. I plan to revise my English grammar as I sometimes find sentences wrong, mainly because of grammatical mistakes.
As ...
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How to improve my usage of vocabulary
I have been having trouble recently, related to my vocabulary.
While writing essays or whatever writings in English, I recognized that my sentences were mostly consisting of 'simple' words. Such as '...
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How to learn sciences in a foreign language?
If someone wants to learn science subjects in a foreign language what should they do if there is not much material available comparing the two languages?Especially if one is yet to enter a university ...
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How can I know that I am making progress?
I learn English everyday. I keep on reading, writing, speaking and listening. How can I know that I am making progress? Is there any quantitative standard?
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Learning a language without studying grammar
I'm more or less capable of explaining my thoughts in English and I've recently started learning Spanish. Of course, there's a bunch of various articles/videos/posts on how to do it.
But one thing I ...
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Is it faster to learn new languages at the same time or one after the other?
For adults who are learning new languages, does the research indicate that it is better to focus on one at a time, or to study a bit of each more frequently?
What learning schedule maximises ...
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Learning schedule with multiple languages
I am wondering how to schedule learning my languages to get the best results and to give each of the languages enough time.
Currently I am learning English(C1), German(B2),Turkish(A2) and Spanish(A2).
...
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How do I learn to read and write a language I can already speak fluently?
Born and brought up in the city of Kolkata, I've been surrounded by people who speak Bengali almost all my life. We speak a different language at home and my schooling has been in a different language,...
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How to learn phonemic vowel length?
I recently started learning Mongolian and I'm having trouble with phonemic vowel length. I have great difficulty distinguishing long and short vowels both in listening and speaking. I find it ...
user9600
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When learning a second language, should one choose a program focusing on grammar and structure or one that focuses on conversation?
I have a friend who wants to learn English and is debating between two different programs. One is more focused on conversations while the other is more focused on grammar, reading, and writing. Any ...
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What is the best manual (non-program) research-backed SRS spacing?
I am learning Japanese Kanji via Remembering the Kanji, but this question could apply to any vocab or grammar flashcard sets.
I know that programs such an Anki have an algorithm that decides the best ...
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Spanish verb tenses cheat sheet?
This is rather embarrassing, but I lived in Spain for five years from the age 9 to 14, and I also went through their education system, but I still do not know when to use which of los tiempos verbales....
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What do Chinese students do with the lists of new characters in 语文 textbooks?
In my grade-3 语文 textbooks, we find lists of new characters which appear in the accompanying essay, such as the following:
I'm curious as to what what Chinese students actually do with this. I ...
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Constructivism Learning Theory for English language teaching
Constructivism is a theory of learning to help the learners to construct something based on their own understanding. it implies that learners are encouraged to construct their own knowledge instead of ...
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When the Foreign Services Institute says "X class hours" are required, how many hours of self-study are assumed?
From the Foreign Language Training website, we find e.g.:
The following language learning timelines reflect 70 years of experience in teaching languages to U.S. diplomats, and illustrate the time ...
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Learning to speak without thinking about grammar
I recently started learning (modern) Greek. As this is the first time I've tried to learn a second language, I have a question about learning to speak more naturally. Because Greek has such a ...
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How can one acquire a language just by listening without the visuals?
I have watched Stephen Krashen's talk on language acquisition.
And I learnt that according to decades of research and experience, the best way to pick up a new language is to acquire - just like ...
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Struggling with learning, especially without outputting
I'm trying to learn Japanese, and I know quite a bit already (I used rtk to learn the meaning/ stroke order or about 2200 kanji, know over 1700 vocab, listen and watch a lot of videos constantly ...
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Language learning seems tough and a long process
English is not my mother tongue, but in my country it was compulsory for all the schools to teach their students English right from KinderGarten. I remember we used to have a picture book of English ...
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I have been reading a lot recently but how to improve my writing skills?
I am a working professional and English is my second language. I realised that my vocabulary is very weak so I started reading. I don't have enough patience to complete a novel so I started reading ...
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Problems teaching the 'gn' and 'gh' to an English learner
I'm teaching a French girl English (I'm not a qualified teacher, I'm more of a language assistant, I'm an English native, I'm at university at the moment).
She is having trouble with pronouncing words ...
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Should I learn Japanese pitch accent right from the start?
I just started learning Japanese regularly, and I was wondering if it's worth it to work on pitch accent while learning grammar and vocab or forget it for now and start working on it when I can speak ...
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Is there any such paper that shows passive listening helps language learning?
I have been searching on Google Scholar to find a paper presenting research results on whether passive listening helps learning a language, but I could not find any. Is there any such work that shows ...
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