thevagrant88 wrote:I'm using it with Japanese and one of the things I've found very helpful to make it more effective is writing down the entire sentence, passage, or phrase in a hyper-literal, word for word English translation to wrap my head around the different syntax. Vladimir Skultety calls this "cave man" speak and really makes the listening-reading method more approachable with a language that has such a different structure.
Even setting aside the L-R method, reversed word order is definitely a big obstacle just on its own and it probably manifests itself in a lot of different learning methods. Like you, I'm a fan of direct translations that try to preserve word order.
I remember hearing about a Korean textbook that basically started off written in English, but then quickly moved on to a variation of English that used Korean word order, but with English words. The idea was to get you used to the SOV word order while mentally still in your native language. After this transition, it then gradually replaced the English words by their Korean counterparts.
For example, instead of saying "Now, let's learn about Korean grammar."
It might instead say "Now, Korean Grammar about learn let's."
Then later on, it might say "Now, 한국어 Grammar about learn let's." (or perhaps some romanisation of it)
I have never seen this book in person, only heard of its concept, but this is the book I wish I had started with.