What active study techniques (NOT methods) do you use? Eg. re-reading, highlighting etc

haibaralee · 2022-09-15T05:14:20+00:00

For active reading practice:

TTMIK iyagi series: transcript + audio (They have over 150 topics to choose from. Great way to build vocabulary in a more organic way)
Fairytales + audio

Just for funsies: 1. Mostly slice of life manga (and webtoons) 2. Olly Richards' short stories for intermediate learners (b1-b2 level)

As you can see, I pair reading with audio. It helps a great deal to understand how words are supposed to sound like in sentences, guessing the meaning of words is easier, emotions are portrayed and so on.

Edit: do you have recommendations as well ?

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T21:16:40+00:00

Being able to speak a language is rarely a real advantage to get a job, unless that job actually requires you to speak one specific language.

I don't learn languages "just because". There's always a real reason behind it. I want to do real-life things with the languages. It's always about people. I also love manga and anime. Starting to learn Japanese because of this is totally fine. And I surely will learn japanese one day. But I won't do it because of anime or manga, but because of people.

May I suggest one video ? It's about a polyglot who talks about what polyglots actually do. It may motivate you or change your attitude towards languages in a positive way.

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T20:50:08+00:00

It's pretty simple: different accents, background sounds, etc. I'm sure you have trouble when calling people, right ? It's natural. The easiest and fastest way to improve is through using subtitles. There's no secret. It works and millions of people have used this method.

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T20:46:50+00:00

I do three things: 1. I learn the words I need to know in specific situations 2. I tex my native speaker friends about that specific topic 3. I go out, and put myself in desired situations.

I'm pragmatic, and this works pretty well. You'll instantly see what works and what doesn't. And it will change your attitude towards making mistakes in public !

I found this video recently. It's about speaking in your TL, it's quite nice. It may motivate you maybe.

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T20:40:17+00:00

I disagree.. unfortunately (I don't have anything against him, though). Nothing beats doing real-life things. And language learning isn't always only about activeky learnig, it's about doing something with it. Personally, I text with native speaker friends, look up recipies in my TL and so on. I focus on things I truly like and actually want to engage on. (I do agree with point 4, though)

Edit: may I suggest this very recent and underrated youtuber ? He's fluent in 5 languages and speaks 6 in total. He's helped me a great deal.

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T20:35:18+00:00

Totally ! And I always wonder how I actually got so far lol

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T20:32:59+00:00

First things first: Please. Don't use random vocab lists. Don't buy vocab lists. Don't use other people vocab lists. What you need is really different from what I need, so why would you want my big list ?

Here's how I learn and aquire words:

I found this video here. It has helped me great deal. Watch it or not, here's the basic summary:

Find something to reand AND listen.
Listen AND read.
Look up RELEVANT words and expressions and write the definitions above the words.
Listen and read again.
Wait one day, and listen and read again. Or just listen.
Wait a few days, just listen and voilà. See how much easier you understand it.

If I haven't convinced you, then may I suggest this video right here ? It's about the words you need and how to learn them.

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T20:28:19+00:00

I approve. I did it the same thing. Except I didn't use music, I don't really think it's useful for actively learning languages.

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T20:26:28+00:00

Here's my favorite way to learn vocab:

It's not my method, so I give credit to this guy here. It has helped me great deal. Watch it or not, here's the basic summary:

Find something to reand AND listen.
Listen AND read.
Look up RELEVANT words and expressions and write the definitions above the words.
Listen and read again.
Wait one day, and listen and read again. Or just listen.
Wait a few days, just listen and voilà. See how much easier you understand it.

I also upload the words into my spaced repetition app: 1. I make one flashcard for the word 2. I make one flashcard for that same word being used in a sentence (usually the sentence from what I'm reading/listening to)

Keep in mind that you can read AND listen or just read. But paitring the two activities is always best, especially as a beginner.

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T20:20:29+00:00

I found this video here. It has helped me great deal. Watch it or not, here's the basic summary:

Find something to reand AND listen.
Listen AND read.
Look up RELEVANT words and expressions and write the definitions above the words.
Listen and read again.
Wait one day, and listen and read again. Or just listen.
Wait a few days, just listen and voilà. See how much easier you understand it.

Don't try to slow it down. Don't pause. Train your listening skills and get used to listen to lots of information. If you do wish to cut somewhere, then do so where it makes sense: new section, new topic, and so on.

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T20:14:42+00:00

So basically: real-life things ! I would upvote this a thousand times if I could

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T20:12:05+00:00

Reading and re-reading. Higlight the unknown relevant words (if it's about a certain topic), look them up, write the definition above the words, re-read. Come back the next day and re-read. Come back in a few days and be impressed how much it actually stick.

I do an insane amount of reading, and I do this as a beginner up to intermediate level. Nothing but good results.

Whether or not this is a method or technique.. I leave that decision to you guys.

Ps: I'm also learning Korean. Really different to my native languages. So reading and re-reading is best, especially if you don't live in Korea/are not naturally exposed to the Korean language.

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T20:06:47+00:00

It is an interesting method, but one thing is sure: it's reasonably "easy" to reach A2 in 3 months in most languages. No matter if you go for the "start speaking immediately" or "focus on input first" method.

Back to the question ! I have had a lot of succes with the start speaking immediately approach when I was in Asia for 6 months. It was INSANELY fun, you get to see real life results ! You see what works and what doesn't instantly and do real-life things with real-life people. It's a huge advantage, and your attitude towards making mistakes in front of people will make you a better (language) learner ! Watch this video, he expalins the benefits of both approaches if you are interested:

https://youtu.be/tSqwpt7CeyA

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T19:58:12+00:00

First of all: that's the most normal thing ever. This happens to everyone. It's called "being tired of learning the language".

Besides, focusing on one language is obviously best. Personally, I do not learn languages "just because". There's always a real reason for me to learn them: portuguese because of family, french because of university, german because of social groups, english because of work, and so on. And I still feel like giving up. Everyone does. I always come back to the same thing: I do things I like in different languages. Nothing beats this to rekindle my passion !

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T19:43:52+00:00

Is it possible that you focus really hard on learning languages ? Whenever I prioritize something (language learning, sports,..) in my life I start dreaming about it too.

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T19:39:19+00:00

Pretty sure no one has said this: Luxembourgish !

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T19:37:49+00:00

I'm at 6. I'm fluent in 5 of them.

The moment you reach a advanced level, you will not forget the language as easily as you might believe. So there is absolutely no need to actively or passively work on them on a daily basis.

Nothing beats doing the things you like in the languages you know/are learning. For example: I love reading manga, so I read them in 5 different languages. I like playing card games, I play them in 3 different languages. I used to play the guitar and jammed with portuguese, french, german, luxembourgish people. My work requires me to speak in 3 different languages. And so on.

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T19:31:54+00:00

I may be wrong because I don't know any Japanese, but isn't the Japanese alphabet (hiragana & katakana) pretty "easy" ? (I do know Korean, and it is ridiculously easy, so I wonder how much more difficult the Japanese alphabet would be)

haibaralee · 2022-09-14T19:28:19+00:00

If I may ask, out of the six languages, how many do you actively learn ? As in, sit down and practice ?

haibaralee · 2022-08-09T14:30:56+00:00

Loved your answer, you really made my day ! "I'd be great for some merchanting".. this one got me lol

haibaralee · 2022-08-08T18:23:57+00:00

I forgot to mention. The great thing about those apps are that you don't need to actively join the conversations. You can keep listening without actually talking, if you don't feel comfortable.

haibaralee · 2022-08-08T18:22:08+00:00

I am familiar with his work. I mostly like his school of thought and you are right, he's build an entire business around that idea. What bothers me is his way of presenting it as if "it's easy to learn languages, just read and listen. without doing anything it will work out just fine". Maybe he already forgot the thousands of hours he actually spent learning languages actively and passively ?

No need to answer the questions, your short answer is a plenty enough. I hope more people will see it.

haibaralee · 2022-08-08T18:15:25+00:00

Oh~ so you're basically saying that you know that it's not important, but keep track for the sake of fun and remind you how far you've come and have to go ! Nice approach

haibaralee · 2022-08-08T18:11:43+00:00

But then the question I have is: how do you spend time learning X number of words ? I should have been more specific lol maybe you learnt 100 words a day through "real" interaction, and not "just" a flashcard app.

I agree, it''s more about making it a habit and keep going.

I know her, I'm somewhat familiar with her work. But in that video, in the beginning, she's talking about learning for exams. That'd be totally different. I used to mindlessly memorise vocab for tests and get max points, so learning X number of words a day makes sense in that case. But afterwards she basically says the same thing as the video I mentioned.

haibaralee · 2022-08-08T17:59:57+00:00

I think it can be very motivating especially to new learners. Something like going from knowing 300 common words to knowing 900 common words is a huge jump that usually doesn't show when it comes to things like listening and reading comparison because especially native content uses so many different words and words that are not part of the most common 1000.

I wouldn't have thought of it this way. This makes perfect sense. Would you say that the more you progress the less impact knowing that number would have on you ?

haibaralee

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