language systems 1

[Mecklybver]

I think assimil is great since you can learn a lot of cultural aspect of the language and I don't particulary like vocabulary lists.

[MrNakedCulture]

That's a very interesting approach.

It's incredible to see how passionate you are about it and I deeply respect that.

Although I use Michel Thomas as a backbone for my language studies. Besides that is nice to see that you know how you can grasp the language better in a certain way that works for you.

[CheeseBubbles]

you should check out the "living language" series. I like it very much.

[lingosteve]

@CheeseBubbles I tried it and did not like it.

[Polyglot1990]

@lingosteve I agree with you Steve, the living language series is not good

[katanamanatee]

Firstly, love LingQ! Any plans for eventually creating a Bokmål Norwegian one in future?

I largely agree with everything you say but I think the Michel Thomas stuff is quite exceptional at teaching a language's structure in a very different and memorable way.

Afterwards you are encouraged to keep reading and listening, and you strengthen what you've learned.

I think you would be truly surprised if you checked MT stuff out sometime. My father and I certainly were.

Keep up the great work!

[lingosteve]

I do not say that others do not like Michel Thomas. Obviously many do. I do not like to listen to English when I learn languages, because I listen over and over.

Re Norwegian we would love to add many more languages but we have a few things to do first.

Thanks for the comment.

[katanamanatee]

Ah righty, fair enough! Not all methods will suit everyone I suppose and no doubt your way works!

I'm actually following a similar method to what you do with my Norwegian, I read and listen to native Norwegian media and pick new sentences and words to learn and keep building on that. Thankfully, being half Norwegian and having visited Norway a lot, I am familiar with the structure which helps.

I'd be happy to help contribute material whenever Norwegian LingQ appears.

Thanks a lot.

[kpham24]

Will Arabic be available soon?

[lingosteve]

We have our hands full right now with other issues. Cannot say when.

[blackjamm]

6:38 - damn right. I've found that the main thing that has revolutionised my language learning has been wikipedia. I've been learning Indonesian/Malay for about five months now - no time at all really. But I've been reading Indonesian wikipedia for five minutes a day throughout that time, and my reading is, I would say, pretty reasonable, if a little formal. I can't recommend it highly enough - free and full of frequently updated information.

Books are great too, of course!

[Deorca]

I agree that having a decent book to work from is pretty indispensible. On the other hand, I've done Michel Thomas and Pimsleur courses that I have listened to once or twice and can remember what I learned years later. They're neither of them the be all and end all to language learning, but they are a great start, I found.

[eestipoiss92]

I have the same Teach Yourself Russian language books. :)

[m32amir]

I agree that Michel Thomas is not that good when you are about to start studying your 8th or 9th language, but I still think that for beginners it's simply the best way to learn the basics of the grammar!

[Pelle90]

You can use Pimsleur by just editing it with Audacity. Just clip away all the english.

[yahags]

I know this will not sound "smart" but I think reading paper books is a thing of the past and everyone today should switch to electronic books in PDF or HTML. There are many devices and tricks that can help recreate the experience.

[tsskiller08]

The only problem with that is you'll need a device about 7-20 times more expensive in order to view them on the go. Books don't require a battery or electricity either.

[yahags]

tsskiller08 of course it costs money, but if you're already spending it on books (here they are expensive) you could as well not buy 7-20 of them and get an electronic reader or laptop instead. If you already live in a place with electricity charging the device should not be a problem.

[tsskiller08]

The cheapest grammar book is between $10-15 USD. The Kindle for example is $400. I would rather spend $50 and buy books that would last many years longer than a Lithium-Ion battery in an electronic device.

[yahags]

You will not be able to instantaneously share or copy&paste contents of that book. A book or any information in electronic form is up to date, immediately available, comes in a format which allows you to process the data, it saves trees too. A paper book is just a piece of finely shredded wood. All you can do with it is put on shelf or throw it out. If you upload a good text document on the internet it will probably stay on people's HDDs forever. Paper will be unreadable after 80+ years.

[qwertyuiop726]

I disagree. For all its advantages, electronic media is still cumbersome, unreliable, and often expensive. Plus, I enjoy what you might call the "feel" of paper books, the aesthetic aspect of having something in my hands that I can flip through, without a light shining in my face, etc. But that's just a personal preference, of course.

[yahags]

qwertyuiop726, if used properly (ie you put effort into figuring how things work) electronic media *is* reliable. I enjoy the aesthetic aspect of computers. No book will ever recreate the blinking, the sound of radiator spinning.

[qwertyuiop726]

That's fine. But when you say "everyone should switch to electronic books", you're assuming that EVERYONE will prefer them to traditional books, which is just not true.

[yahags]

OK I get your point. Let me correct myself: "Everyone who is more concerned about efficiency than aesthetics should switch to electronic books".

[qwertyuiop726]

It's not JUST aesthetics. I've tried electronic books before, and I find them incredibly awkward and annoying to use. Maybe the technology will improve in the future, but right now it's like the equivalent of calling ENIAC an improvement over the abacus, in terms of ease of day-to-day use.

I'm not some kind of technophobe; I just think the technology sucks in this case.

[yahags]

qwertyuiop726 I meant open healthy standards like HTML, TXT and (not so much) PDF. Not any of the proprietary DRM sony-style books with rootkits where you're limited in 1001 different ways and told how many pages you can read per minute.

[qwertyuiop726]

I wasn't really talking about the DRM issue either (although I agree that open standards are a good thing). I mean that the actual hardware itself- Kindle, Sony Reader, etc.- has so many disadvantages that, to me, they far outweigh the advantages. Again though, I'm only speaking for myself.

[yahags]

I have it too, it sucks balls. Agree with you on that one in 100%.

[yahags]

Sorry, I misread. Meant just the Sony one (srs-505 to be precise). OK so some/most of them suck. Who says to buy the sucky ones. There's also laptops and eeepc and other electronic devices. Sure it requires effort to pick the right device for the right thing but so does buying the right car. Who said it's gonna be all easy. It's an investment.

[lingosteve]

I have to agree with qwertyuiop726. I like sitting down with a book. The feel of a book, the cover, the paper, softness, the ability to enjoy it even when dog eared and all marked up. For plane reading I prefer a book. But for language learning I think I would use a portable e-book because it is more portable and comfortable than my computer.

[littlegreymen]

I have a question: what would you recommend to somebody who wants to learn a language with very few resources devoted to it, like Kurdish?

Thanks for the videos. Keep posting, you handsome man, you.

[lingosteve]

try Teach Yourself or Colloquial or search with google

[lingosteve]

I do not know this series, but learning the Kanji or Chinese characters is a task that requires some kind of system.

[qwertyuiop726]

Steve, I'm sure you've answered this somewhere before, but what do you think of the "Remembering the Kanji" series for Japanese? It seems to be quite polarizing.

[zocurtis]

This was my suggestion!!! hehe

[anouhida]

Hi Steve, it's Hida

first I would like to thank you for the help you are providing us with, I just can not stop taking notes from your videos...they are of a great help for me, besides I am learning a lot about English from your speech.

after I get my BA degree in English I am planning to study Spanish or German.. but these are languages that are not found in our society so I am not exposed to them outside home...how can I manage to learn another language?

[acromel]

Thanks Steve, that's helpful.

I've had a look at LingQ and it looks good. I'm still studying kanji so there's not too much benefit for me until I've finished learning to read. It's a bit frustrating but, once the kanji are done, I think that progress will be much faster - and then I think LingQ will really be the most effective way to start to make sense of content.

Thank goodness for Heisig or I never would have attempted Japanese. I've already got my sights on Mandarin next!

Cheers.

[nachomancer]

You could also get in some listening whenever possible while studying kanji.

LingQ as well as many other podcast audiobook blogs have tons of material you could simply listen to passively. You won't see the benefits immediately, but it's honestly never too early to begin listening, and you will develop a familiarity with the language and eventually pick up vocabulary and grammar.

[acromel]

Good advice. I started that way, training the ear etc, and it was really helpful (I still listen to podcasts and watch lots of Japanese films). It helped a lot with basic grammar, vocab and pronunciation. The problem was in getting past the basic grammar - so I decided that I couldn't put off kanji any longer!

Whereas grammar with kana is a real pain (for me at least), with kanji it's a doddle. It's so much easier that I'm sure the overall effort will be much lower - and much more fun. :o)