How do you learn a new language from scratch?

General discussion about learning languages
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mentecuerpo
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Re: How do you learn a new language from scratch?

Postby mentecuerpo » Wed Apr 14, 2021 2:00 am

IronMike wrote:I follow iguanamon's Multi-track Approach. I love that method of all the ones I've tried.


I agree with you, I like iguanamon's approach a lot. I have his multitrack approach blog saved in my favorite's folder.
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Re: How do you learn a new language from scratch?

Postby Deinonysus » Wed Apr 14, 2021 10:51 am

mentecuerpo wrote:Thank you for your contribution, Deinonysus.

Do you find that you can learn new words with Duolingo besides the written practice?

Lately, I have been thinking of doing Duolingo in combination with listening to natural language content as much as I can during my day.

Of course, I will not understand the new language sounds with extensive listening, but Duolingo will help me decode the sounds as I slowly learn new words with the app.

Yes, Duolingo is quite effective at teaching new vocabulary if you use it right. It should be used in a browser where you can type your answers from scratch, not in the app which usually forces you to use word banks. Duolingo uses a combination of overlearning (you need to complete a lesson five times to finish it) and spaced repetition (completed skills will "break" and need to be reviewed).

What's even more effective is combining multiple resources together with media. This is core to why Barry Farber's "Multiple Track Attack" (also adapted and evangelized by Iguanamon, as referenced earlier in the thread) is so effective. IMO Duolongo's spaced repetition schedule is much too slow, but this doesn't matter so much if you use it in conjunction with other courses and media. For example, I learned several new German words yesterday in Duolingo, but one of them (Verein, meaning club), is now seared into my memory because I coincidentally ran into it in a YouTube video as well.

I'm not sure if Duolingo is the best for decoding a language's sound system, but depending on the quality of a course's audio it can certainly contribute. Of my main trio of resources, Pimsleur is probably the best for wrapping your head around a new sound system, but what's even better is to find some something with minimal pair drills. I had a surprising amount of trouble finding anything good for German (I still struggle with long vs. short ä, ü, and ö despite having studied German for many years and having completed all five levels of Pimsleur), but I'm trying out the Fluent Forever app.
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Re: How do you learn a new language from scratch?

Postby El Forastero » Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:31 am

None of the language I have learned to a high level were "From Scratch" because I have been constantly exposed to it (english) or it's a language rathe similar to my native one.

So the only experience learning form scratch is with russian, which I am still strugling with. My aproach was based on this course https://www.russianforfree.com/ , some youtube channels for beginners, and follow the lessons there, but I needed to repeat them several times.

The alphabet was a huge obstacle, but the pronunciation was easy thanls to the other languages I had already learned. For the vocabulary, I used Memrise and finished the 7 levels. Once the couse was finished, I tried to do intensive listening but I hadn't had enough level to do this part efficiently.

The most limitating and restrivtive issue was my time. I have around an hoyr to study and some 10-minute periods throughout the day to practice listening or to do some memrise excercise. After six months, I suspended and realized that I barely got an A1 level. Only when I have at least 2 hours per day I'll resume this project.
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Re: How do you learn a new language from scratch?

Postby Ogrim » Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:55 pm

I have a déjà vu feeling of a similar thread not so long ago, but I will answer anyway rather than searching for that old thread:

When I start a new language from scratch, I prefer the "old-fashioned" method I used when I first started learning languages on my own back in the pre-internet days. That means no fancy apps or online courses, but a physical course book with audio recordings that are as close as possible to natural native speech. I look for the course that best suits my learning style, which means longish lessons with lots of text and vocabulary, thorough grammar explanations and a good selection of written exercises. (So this excludes Assimil most of the time.) Then I make word lists, similar to how Iversen does it, and once I've been through a few lessons and start getting a "feel" for the language I acquire a grammar book and some additional learning material at intermediate level to challenge myself further. As I proceed, I turn more and more to iguanamon's multitrack approach, adding "native" material, adapted readers, YouTube videos etc.

A concrete example: When I started with Arabic from scratch a couple of years back, I tried out different courses before I landed at a German one by Langenscheidt. I then got a Larousse Arabic-French/French-Arabic dictionary and a "Pictionary" aimed at Arab children (meaning pictures and the corresponding word in Arabic). Once I got through most of Langenscheidt, I found a book called Arabic voices, and then an adapted prose version of Romeo and Juliet with audio, grammar and vocabulary explained. I've written about all that in my log. In parallel I have been exploring Arabic music, checking out short news clips on Al Jazeera (which I still don't understand much of to be honest) and watching a few Arabic series with subtitles, all to get a feel for "real" spoken Arabic, even dialects.
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mentecuerpo
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Re: How do you learn a new language from scratch?

Postby mentecuerpo » Tue Apr 27, 2021 1:35 am

SteveLingQ updated his video series on "Learn a New Language from Scratch."

https://youtu.be/JWh1o-RgFGE

In this 16 minute video, Steve walks the language learner step by step on how he learns a new language from scratch.

He uses the lingq Ministories as the tool.

The student continues to work his/her way into the Ministories, combining reading the text while listening to the audio. Day by day, there is progress. The student learns new words and gets familiarised with the new language.

Gradually, the "discovering the language" process continues until a "breakthrough the language" moment occurs. Once the language learner has a base, the language learner can then branch off into more challenging, authentic content.

I hope Seve expands on his "breakthrough the language" moment. Perhaps the breakthrough happens when the sound of the language does not seem too foreign anymore. Maybe the breakthrough is signaled when words and phrases are beginning to make sense and understood naturally or when simple grammatical concepts get internalized without using much effort (think personal pronouns, with simple verb conjugations in the correct agreement with the subject).
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mentecuerpo
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Re: How do you learn a new language from scratch?

Postby mentecuerpo » Thu Apr 29, 2021 3:54 pm

Stefan wrote:This thread might be of interest: Your Language Learning Strategy...In 50 Words or so
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