Uncle Davey lectures on Gold List System at Moscow BKC-IH

[ma1achite]

Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and expertise on youtube and HTLAL! I'm studying spanish and will be starting a goldlist book as soon as I can get to the office supply store and pick one up.

One quick question: After a few thousand words have been absorbed by this method, do you think it is possible to activate vocabulary by simulating immersion via intensive listening/watching of native materials and online language exchange? (AJATT style) Or must one be in-country?

[usenetposts]

@ma1achite I think you need to be in a situation where you can't escape the language or just walk away from it. At least when you start activating. In due course you might be able to activate just off the TV or DVDs, audiobooks, even novels, but when you first get used to the activating process, you need probably to either go there or have a visitor from there who doesn't speak the language where you live and which forces you to speak that language all day.

[Batyaboo]

Thanks. My problem is that when I look at that head list after two weeks - it's like it's the first time in my life that I'm seeing it!!! Test my memory? Hahahaha! What memory? But when it's words that I've encountered before, in class or on some video, they're obviously more familiar.

[usenetposts]

@Batyaboo You don't need to rush it when you write them down. You can think about the words, you just don't try to commit them to memory and learn them. You can enjoy the look of them and the sound of them, but don't go forcing associations.

[Batyaboo]

It's me again. Thanks so much for posting this.

My difficulty is with the first distillation. If the head list is a list of completely new words and not words I've learned already I don't remember ANY of the words!!!! What do I do if I can't shave off 8 words? Group together a few words (which I can't remember to begin with) and put them on one line? Do I stand a chance of remembering them that way? It's a wee bit discouraging but I'm not giving up!

[usenetposts]

@Batyaboo Yes, you can group similar words together then. You also should test your memory from the Russian to the English or whichever own language you used, not vice versa.

[RoathRipper]

hi there, thanx for this vid. any chance of the book coming out soon?

[usenetposts]

@RoathRipper In a month or so I'll be able to make better progress. In the mean time there are more and more articles on the blog huliganov tv

[dada5053]

something tells me u chose ur british passport

[usenetposts]

@dada5053 You're half right, but I can't go into that...

[dada5053]

seriously what nationality r u & u r a very good actor i might add

[usenetposts]

@dada5053 Many thanks. I don't really hold with the concept of nationality, as people are not free to choose it, but I have this little paper booklet which they tell me is important for some reason I don't understand, with British passport written on it. I'm just this guy, you know? A bit like Zaphod Beeblebrox.

[dada5053]

seriously what nationality r u

[zoffo]

Book out yet?

[usenetposts]

@zoffo It's still not finished. i've had so much work on. Thanks for the reminder.

[zoffo]

How's the book coming along. I started doing the method using whatever is available on the net but wonder if I am doing it correctly. Thanks.

[snapperface]

I want to ask you how many verbs should one put in the headlist? I am using the method for Hebrew and Arabic currently and with the many conjugations of each person in each tense I can barely squeeze each verb for ,lets say Hebrew,in 3 lines. I can have 8 verbs on a 25 line page this way with a line left over. In a 2500 line book, what would you recommend as far as my situation with verbs?

Perhaps I should use a second headlist book for verbs only...or?

[snapperface]

Through a distillation ,if I do not remember a certain person in a certain tense it is easy to simply carry that word over to the next group,sometimes grouping a few of them on the same line.Usually if I remember the verb at all I remember all tenses and persons?gender etc.

But the initial headlist I find it necessary to write out every thing.

This in modern Hebrew is around 25 words.

This is why I ask about the number of verbs as they easily take up considerable space in my headlist.

[usenetposts]

@snapperface I had a similar issue with Spanish. In my opinion a valid way is to have all the various persons as separate line items on the head list, and also the infinitive as separate, and then in the first distillation the infinitive might still be in its own line with the definition, the three singular persons on the next line and the three plural on the line after. In the next distillation I would put the infinitive as one line, then the 1st and 3rd persons sg and plural on the next line,

[usenetposts]

... cont'd because the 2nd person forms can usually be inferred. In the 3rd distillation I would be only putting the parts that could not be easily inferred, and of course if I was clear that I remembered them I was dropping them out, and usually the infinitive was also dropping out by that stage. And so on.

[zoffo]

how is the book coming along?

[zoffo]

Book finished yet?

[usenetposts]

Some chapters finished. But I wanted to do a nice comprehensive book.

[norfnorfnorf]

Thanks you for your videos. I can honestly say I understand almost all you said from the first try, so I will use it(already started). Half a year ago I couldn't understand anything of what you had told.

BTW You, English-talking people love to use words like "head list". They are kinda new to me, because we don't usually use them, so I don't completely understand what do they mean. Well, the harder to listen - the remember=)

[usenetposts]

head list - glavnyi spisok.

[norfnorfnorf]

I know, you said it. What I meant was we don't use such phrases here=)

[usenetposts]

Right. That's because it's a term I invented for the system.

[marcokrk1]

overuse of the word OK, OK?

[usenetposts]

Okay.

[usenetposts]

They seemed to.

[itsthehand]

how old was you when you learn't your second language

[usenetposts]

I started learning French at eight, but I had already picked up some Welsh from my grandfather.

[zoffo]

Hi

How is the Goldlist book going? I think there are a lot of us out there waiting patiently for this book so we can begin to use your method to its fullest potential.

Thanks.

[usenetposts]

Thanks for the reminder. I've got less time these days, owing to a new job, but I hopefully will be ready in about a month or so.

[zoffo]

Great looking forward to downloading a copy.

[ArchangelJulian]

so,your name is viktor huliganov or uncle davey?

[usenetposts]

Neither is actually on my birthday certiflicate...

[ArchangelJulian]

then are you at least Russian?

[usenetposts]

Only mentally.

[ArchangelJulian]

so,what is your nationality?

[itsthehand]

so yes what are your nationality

[lilwing89]

When you said it takes 500 hours for one to learn a foreign language, did you mean 500 hours in total, or 500 hours in a classroom?

I have studied German for only 2.5 years (1 y. high school, 3 semesters uni) In that time, less than 400 hours. However I am fluent in German, now studying abroad. I'm often compliment for my fluency and accent (when I reveal where I am from) In comparison to other students, who have been studying for longer, I am doing much better.

Just curious what you think.

[usenetposts]

I mean a total. No classroom time at all is required, in most cases. Sometimes classrooms are entirely counterproductive, as the teacher is trying to make him or herself essential to the process instead of giving the student ownership of the language learning process.

[hughmarcparis]

I don't sign the same way everytime. Is this a problem?

[usenetposts]

It could make it easier for people to forge your signature if you make a different signature each time. You might find bankers turning down your cheques or your signed credit card slips, but the signature is, when you think about it, an absurd and overrated system anyway. The only reason it is survived is that modern IT systems have shown us that no matter how sophisticated you get, someone can always crack it, so why not keep it simple with a handwritten signature?

[usenetposts]

The audience were Russians, who weren't going to thank me for doing a Russian accent in a language school they went to to perfect their English! The Russian accent in the Huli films is to help people learning Russian.

[davidcurtin1]

Oh God this sounds so confusing I would love to try it but I need more help in understsnding it.

[usenetposts]

The book is on its way.

[usenetposts]

Yep, you re-write it without the 30% you know, or by bunching them up if you didn't quite remember 30%.

This is the best way to go about it patiently, and in a relaxed way, taking advantage of the strength of the subconcious faculties in memory that God gave, just like he made us that we didn't have to think about heartbeats and breathing also. By deliberate rote learning we waste time, cramming material into short-term memory, and then blaming ourselves when we inevitably forget it.

[usenetposts]

No, don't look at them at all in the14 days. Then you test yourself to see the ones you learned automatically, but only once the 14 days are up. You re-write about 2/3 of them, and do the same again.

25 at a sitting is a good optimal number.

[bisgfyinef]

Would the same idea work if, lets say, I wanted to do something like severely increase the vocabulary of my mother tongue? I.E. write down 25 words (or however many) per day, and look back every two-three weeks to slowly but surely build 'the vocabulary bank?'

[usenetposts]

Yes it will. It is in fact the ideal tool for that purpose.

[Sirob11]

How many headlist should I write a day. One ore as many as i like? Do I have to write just one every day? Thank you.

[usenetposts]

Don't do more than one without a brak of ten minutes or so doing something else, but then you can go through that cycle as many times as you like until you risk getting bored with it. I suppose I rarely do more than 6 in a day. I do an average of about 10 a week, but that is because I have a lot to do. At that rate it remains a pleasurable discipline.

[zoffo]

What is the best way to keep tabs on the progress of your ebook on the Gold List? Do you have a newsletter or a list to subscribe to or should we just check here on Youtube? Haven't tried your method as yet as I am not sure I fully understand it. Many thanks.

[usenetposts]

It's a very good question. I need to take some time and do it, but right now in the audit season I haven't been able to progress it much. If you are a subscriber, then I'll do comments on it in my vids from time to time. Thanks for the encouragement.

[Dolforwyn]

Have you tried using this goldlist method on other subjects besides language learning? I will start doing it this week to prepare for my english exams at the end of the year and if it really works I intend to experience more with it.

[usenetposts]

Oh yes, it worls with a variety of things.

Anything you can put in a list, it will work with.

But to use it for exams you need to start early and not leave it to the last minute.

The minimum time it takes to filter off to gold level is 8 lots of 2 weeks, which is about 4 months. That means covering the whole syllabus in the first part of the year. I don't know how practical you will find that.

[VanguardDragon]

Wow, i feel like such a lemon. You Russian accent is very convincing. 20 languages? That is phenomenal. You are a treasure to our species.

[usenetposts]

What a pleasant comment!

[theaaroneason]

Very interesting. Are classroom sizes often that small in Moscow? I take it this is a graduate level course?

[usenetposts]

I got the impression that they were what I would think of as an MBA level. ithink as long as you have a few students in a class it makes it work for both the school and the students. It is not always necessary to pack out a concert hall. Seminar style is were some of the best thinking and learning gets done.

[fearsomegladiator]

What a truly amazing ability; languages and accents, simply amazing!

[usenetposts]

Many thanks.

[willy752]

from*

[willy752]

This has shattered my illusion of Huliganov! I don't know how I will recover form this. I thought my Russian teacher was a crazy Russian guy! P.S. I've been waiting a long time for RL102 -19!!!!!!

[usenetposts]

It won't be long, it's on the pipeline. There's a new version of the preps table in the google group already, which was WIP for that..

[eurojaaa]

Where can I buy the notebook to write in?

I've always preferred writing on papers with the blocks (graph paper?) rather than lined paper.

[usenetposts]

The big supermarkets are often good places to look. Just make sure it's at least 40 lines deep, is attractive and hard-wearing and contains enough sheets. The 96 sheet ones are over too quickly, although they make for good books for the second set of distillations (4-7)

[bubblybombshell]

I've been trying to learn French for years but I still cannot speak it fluently, I can write and read it though. I try watching videos in French but they speak so fast it's hard to follow! I guess, I have to try harder, like you say. Fantastic lecture, it's a pleasure to listen to you. 5 stars

[usenetposts]

Many thanks. I think that the correct progression is to go from reading magazines, books, etc through to listening gradually. You can use Pimsleur for that, but what you could also do is take an extended holiday with some people in France in order to get it activated. That would need you first to have learned a good few thousand words to the passive part of the brain first.

[gemisto]

Is there no limits to your talent? Always a pleasure listening to you - in any language!

[usenetposts]

How kind. Many thanks.

[usenetposts]

In the head list you should write the conjugations in full the first time you come across a verb of this type. Let's say the first -er verb you come across is 'aimer'. You would write the conjugation out on separate lines like so:

aimer - to love

j'aime

tu aimes

il/elle aime

etc.

you note on a separate line that it is a regular -er verb paradigm.

The next time you come across one, say acheter, you write:

acheter (to buy) (reg -er verb).

[usenetposts]

For each irregular verb you write the conjugation in full in the head list.

In the second list you might omit parts of the conjugation which can be inferred from knowing other parts of the conjugation. For instance, you can usually work out the vous form if you know the nous form. And you will drop them versus condense them at the rate at which you are comfortable that you basically know them, at least passively, and would not make a mistake with them.

[usenetposts]

You might end up with the infinitive and the least regular person form on the same line, and then the next time be ready to drop it altogether. Hth.

I cannot say about Rosetta Stone, as I have not seen it in shops. Where I live you have to send off for it. The materials you use should be interesting and pleasant to use, and should cover the grammar in a methodical way without "baby" explanations. It should also build a decent vocabulary, and have good recordings, on CDs. If RS fits, then ok.

[usenetposts]

My method is not a course in itself, but a way of making sure what's in the course ends up in your head in an efficient, non time-wasting way, and a way which may also be very motivating for you if you are more numerically and logically inclined. In fact, the only courses which don't match too well with goldlist system are ones giving learning instructions which are misguided, or used by teachers whose way of using the course centres on their needs, not yours. It works outside of a course, too.

[usenetposts]

In fact, I'm planning to do a film called "gold list method for advanced learners" showing techniques on how advanced learners can go beyond courses. The courses usually introduce pretty much all the grammar and about 2000 words, but then leaves you to get the next 8000 you might need on your own! Goldlist method, plus a couple of useful techniques, bridges that gap, and can get you to 10,000 words in the way no course, per se, can. It can also unify in one worksystem several subsequent courses.

[rick33604]

You've got me captivated on your system. Is there any time frame as to when your gold list book or "gold list method for advanced learners" film will be available? Also have you decided on prices yet?

Thanks for your time.

[usenetposts]

The book will be faster than I reckoned, because I have got dragon going on one machine, which means I can write at over 100 words a minute. As far as pricing is concerned, if it is printed the publishing house would decide that. If I self publish it will more likely be an e-book at only a very nominal fee per pop. The videos would always be free.

[rick33604]

Superb! I've subscribed to your channel and will keep an eye out for updates on your book.

Many thanks.

[DrStench13]

Wow! Which 20 languages do you know?

[usenetposts]

It's on the usenetpostsdotcom user page at wikipedia.

[sevenskirt]

There are only 3 teachers at my school whose methods I love (my former French teacher inspired me the most to keep on doing language related things).

My main problem is that I lack consistency. I can easily understand grammar (you don't need to learn it, you just understand it, that's all).

However, I'm too lazy to learn vocabulary. It's not hard for me to learn either, I'm just lazy at times.

When will I have to re-learn the little amount of the forgotten vocabulary of the 25-words set?

[usenetposts]

NOOOOooooOOOOOh! Don't TRY to learn it. You don't try to learn with this system. If you think you have learned these 25 words, or even most of it, over a short period, you have failed to apply the system, and most probably wasted time pushing it into the short term memory again. Please listen to the explanation one more time. You stand to save many times more hours than it will take for this to click. Sorry to get heavy, but it looks like you didn't quite get what I'm trying to say so far. :)

[sevenskirt]

Ok, I've just watched the whole video (yesterday I stopped at about 20:00). Things are now clearer!!

When having written down the words and I couldn't remember 6 words after two weeks, should I then write these down in a new vocabulary book? Is that what you where calling distillation on your Goldlist site?

[usenetposts]

You rewrite the words from the top left on the top right, then after two weeks the top right to the bottom right, and then the botton right to the bottom left, after another two weeks. The second book is then a chance to regroup into a new top left 25 the hardest to remember words out of the first four pages, that is the first 100 of the initial book. The second book can usually be a lot slimmer than the first book.

[sevenskirt]

What is best when learning several languages at the same time? Is it even good?

I like languages, too, and I've thought about learning 3 languages at the same time.

I have been capable of being consistent at first but because I'm still at school (17 years old), things get busy (school isn't difficult, it's just boring).

I hate the way my language teachers teach me vocabulary. The lessons are so boring and I don't feel challenged at all.

[usenetposts]

Teachers teaching vocab is a waste of time and your money. That never seems to stop them, though.

You shouldn't try to learn related languages at the same time. Unrelated languages are fine, but harder to do, obviously.

Treating your vocab book as a game played with your own subconscious self, which is the essence of the goldlist system, might make it less boring. It will also empower you and put you back in control of your language learning pace and direction.

[sevenskirt]

Actually, it's the lessons at my own school I'm talking about that are boring. I've never been at a language course somewhere else.

The languages are Greek, Russian and Hebrew. I've chosen different languages because of personal interest (Indo-European, Slavonic, Semitic). I am not interested in Romanic languages. Once you know the word "To imply", you know it's equivalent immediately in French, Latin, etc.

I've spent my time on English the most and, still, my French has got better, too.

[KokoKolla]

Interesting. I will try this method to help me continue my language study. Especially since I want to learn to fluently speak a lot of them.

[p12bat]

Always greatful for your language courses, thanks allot - I'm using your gold list to learn Icelandic at the moment.

You are looking very trim there! Keep up the good work!

[usenetposts]

Great. Let me know how you get on. Will you be reading the sagas or doing business there (which is a bit of a saga itself these days)?