2 posts tagged “listening”
I find the poor quality of reading material for languages like Russian and Korean very annoying. What is equally annoying is the poor quality of language CDs. Inevitably when I start learning a language from scratch, as is the case with Russian or Korean, I depend on language programs that I can buy in the store or online. (The Linguist is not yet available for these languages.) What is most annoying is the amount English on these CDs. "Lesson 5" it says in English. Or "The next episode is about Sally and Igor going to the Post Office, see if you can understand what they are saying." Or: "Try to answer the following questions after listening to the episode". Why the English? Let me figure it out. I want to listen to these texts 20 times to get used to the language. I do not want to listen to English. What better way to get used to numbers (always very difficult in any language) than to hear them in the language I am trying to learn. Why not just say "Chapter 34 on page 245" in Russian or Korean! Why not!!!! What goes through the minds of the people who make these recordings? Is my reaction so different from other learners?
I read recently that children do most of their talking to themselves in their first few years of learning a language. Here I talk to myself in Russian. This is something we can all do when we want. We can record ourselves and we can share these recordings with others, or simply keep them as records of our progress.
Miko asked, in a comment here, about learning how to read in Russian and how to best retrieve vocabulary. I believe that one should combine reading and listening when learning a new language. This makes it easier to learn vocabulary. The audio and visual learning are combined. When reading you can select words and phrases for particular study and review. You become more observant of what is happening in the language. This is the process we try to make more efficient in The Linguist.
However, when you go to speak, it is the words and phrases that you have heard so often, that start to come out. As long as you do not let your native language get in the way too much, and let yourself go in the new language, it will gradually come.
You must believe that the mistakes do not matter. The mistakes you are making, the holes in your vocabulary, the constructions that seem strange and impossible in the new language, they will eventually become second nature to you if you keep going, and enjoy yourself.
Oh, and Miko, to learn to read Russian you just have to start. The first few weeks are tough, and thereafter, whenever you read, you are improving. Having learned Chinese characters, Japanese Kana and Korean Hangul, Russian writing is really not that tough. you just have to force yourself at the beginning.
