Thoughts on the Repetitive Listening Method?

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Mr Dastardly
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Thoughts on the Repetitive Listening Method?

Postby Mr Dastardly » Fri Jun 04, 2021 1:32 pm

There is a YouTube channel called Motivate Korean, wherein the host is an advocate of "Repetitive Listening" as a primary learning method. Repetitive Listening involves taking a 10-20 minute audio clip of compelling native content, and routinely listening to it several times a day (without transcript, initially) until one is able to comprehend the material easily. A single piece of content may be listened to up to 100 times over a week or two before reaching mastery. Once the recording is mastered, one goes on to select a new piece of audio, and so on.

The host seems to have reached a high level of Korean, and attributes his success primarily to Repetitive Listening. Channel guests and subscribers also claim success using this method.

The host has posted several videos on the topic of Repetitive Listening. Here is a link to one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUylryS ... ac_Mug_9EL

So, what do you think about Repetitive Listening as a primary learning method? I'm particularly interested to hear thoughts on efficiency and quality of learning.
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Re: Thoughts on the Repetitive Listening Method?

Postby luke » Fri Jun 04, 2021 2:09 pm

Yesterday I heard a youtube clip of a parrot singing Stairway to Heaven. At times he sounded just like Robert Plant, the singer for Led Zeppelin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9xaikDoY2I

Wish I could sing like that.
Last edited by luke on Fri Jun 04, 2021 7:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Thoughts on the Repetitive Listening Method?

Postby Le Baron » Fri Jun 04, 2021 2:56 pm

I don't know. If the guy says so, then who am I to say otherwise? Over the long-term maybe it really works, because it's harder to evaluate over the long term and actually work out which things you did actually contributed most (I'm sure it's usually all of them combined + time).

When you learn something by heart you really just learn one thing by heart. You learn a clip? Right, then you learnt that clip and there'll be words and structures you might be able to use for the next clip, but then why not just move onto that next clip after a few listens and encounter the same things plus some new content?

I listen a few times, maybe even ten or fifteen times, but 100 times seems to me ridiculous. 90 of those listens could be fresh content, where some - actually a lot of - high-frequency words/structures will be present anyway. Also I like to read the transcript, either first or after the first few listens. You just recognise words better when you listen again instead of wasting time trying to untangle things you'd never guess in a million listens without it being pointed out.
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Re: Thoughts on the Repetitive Listening Method?

Postby outcast » Fri Jun 04, 2021 2:57 pm

I do it with Korean, and did it with Chinese (and still do it from time to time). I didn't really do nearly as much with French or German. But not 100 times. 10-15 is enough because my goal is not to catch every single last word.

My opinion is that it is useful (though a bit tedious), as a method when learning quite distant languages to your mother tongue (vocabulary and/or grammar), or languages with heavy tone Sandhi to parse the word boundaries. That is why I did more repetitive listening with French than German.

But as always it depends on the learner. A Less "effective" method may be MORE effective for some learners, because they stay engaged in the exercise. And even the most effective method will not be as effective if the learner tunes out due to disinterest.
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Re: Thoughts on the Repetitive Listening Method?

Postby DaveAgain » Fri Jun 04, 2021 3:05 pm

Small White mentioned doing something like that.

https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 231#p72231

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A polyglot gathering talk recommended 'overlearning' some of L2 audio, songs were the example used.

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I have several radio plays I've listened to repeatedly. Far longer than the audio length suggested in your korean video :o
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Re: Thoughts on the Repetitive Listening Method?

Postby Beli Tsar » Fri Jun 04, 2021 3:43 pm

DaveAgain wrote:Small White mentioned doing something like that.

https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 231#p72231

Except that, as I understand it, she uses the transcript much earlier and more systematically, making sure she understands the clip fully before playing it in the background? She says further down the conversation that she aims for audio with no unknown words at all. That feels like a very different use of time!
Given the results she has gained, and which Ari gained before her, it seems a pretty effective method.
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Re: Thoughts on the Repetitive Listening Method?

Postby lusan » Fri Jun 04, 2021 3:45 pm

outcast wrote:I do it with Korean, and did it with Chinese (and still do it from time to time). I didn't really do nearly as much with French or German. But not 100 times. 10-15 is enough because my goal is not to catch every single last word.

My opinion is that it is useful (though a bit tedious), as a method when learning quite distant languages to your mother tongue (vocabulary and/or grammar), or languages with heavy tone Sandhi to parse the word boundaries. That is why I did more repetitive listening with French than German.

But as always it depends on the learner. A Less "effective" method may be MORE effective for some learners, because they stay engaged in the exercise. And even the most effective method will not be as effective if the learner tunes out due to disinterest.


I did it for Polish using Assimil. Did it work? I have no idea because I also did many others things.
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Re: Thoughts on the Repetitive Listening Method?

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Fri Jun 04, 2021 4:15 pm

I would totally do this for Chinese. I would never do this for French or German. Distance from English makes such a difference.
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Re: Thoughts on the Repetitive Listening Method?

Postby smallwhite » Fri Jun 04, 2021 7:49 pm

Beli Tsar wrote:
DaveAgain wrote:Small White mentioned doing something like that.

https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 231#p72231

Except that, as I understand it, she uses the transcript much earlier and more systematically, making sure she understands the clip fully before playing it in the background? She says further down the conversation that she aims for audio with no unknown words at all. That feels like a very different use of time!
Given the results she has gained, and which Ari gained before her, it seems a pretty effective method.

Yes to all. I do enough guessing when I listen to live radio, I don’t need to waste precious desk time on guessing these. Really effective method really worth trying.

2-minute clips would be better than 20-minute clips because you can more easily rank short clips by difficulty/familiarity, and gradually retire the easiest ones. Just like Anki young-mature-leech. Or simply apply 1-2-4-8-16 intervals on all clips regardless of familiarity.
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Re: Thoughts on the Repetitive Listening Method?

Postby AnthonyLauder » Sat Jun 05, 2021 5:15 am

I am sure it is very effective, but I am not sure many people have the power of concentration to do it. I know that after listening to the same Assimil lesson a dozen times I sort of zone-out and cannot listen to it any more.

It reminds me of Anthony Hopkins, who claims to read the complete script for a movie at least 150 times, until he knows not just his own, but everyone's parts by heart. He then writes it all out by hand, slowly and carefully, from memory, five times, which he says completely internalises it all as if it were his own creation. He claims he can feel chemical changes happening within himself as the role he is playing is so deeply known that it becomes a part of him.

That sounds fantastic, and I wish I had even a fraction of that capacity. Alas, I am a mere mortal, who gets bore and distracted.
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