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Re: Your plan of attack - Speaking

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 5:00 pm
by YtownPolyglot
I'm in the early stages of Brazilian Portuguese, and I find myself listening much more than speaking. It's not so much to get the accent right or the pronunciation right. It's about prosody for now. Do I get the rhythm right? Do I not sound like a robot from the USA?

Re: Your plan of attack - Speaking

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:23 am
by smallwhite
How about other members? How are you learning to or how have you learned to speak your target language(s)? What is your overall strategy, and what actual activities do or did you do? What worked best for you, what didn't work, and what's neither but is at least enjoyable to do? Have your beliefs, strategies and methods changed over the years?

(Please indicate your target language and the level in question to put things in perspective for us!)

Re: Your plan of attack - Speaking

Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 11:21 pm
by snowflake
Studying Mandarin, at intermediate plateau

1. Do Island variation:
........1.1. Write, get corrected (specific iTalki instructor as concerned about developing my own usage and eventually consistency)
........1.2. have writings recorded by native so I can chorus/shadow
2. Chorus Glossika , speaking fluidity.
........2.1. as I develop my own personal usage will I need to stop using Glossika?
3. AP class; signed up for one at local Chinese school after rereading how John Pasden learned Chinese. Also thinking about comments in “Achieving Success in Second Language Acquisition” on needing to be periodically evaluated.
4. Periodic assessments
........4.1. AP Class will push me to do some assessments since multiple mock tests are included
........4.2. My annual trips to Taiwan gives a window to my Mandarin level
........4.3. if I get motivated will take ACTFL OPI
5. In response to some earlier comments in this thread
........5.1. Local meet up not that helpful
................5.1.1. Very little Mandarin is spoken during meetings
................5.1.2. One organizer who is a native speaker makes fun of Taiwanese usage
................5.1.3. Another organizer doesn't care about tones
........5.2. Language exchanges helpful
................5.2.1. better understand the culture which feeds into how things are said
................5.2.2. Get questions answered
................5.2.3. Practice speaking and listening

Speaking cannot be developed without also taking into consideration listening, writing and reading skills as they're intertwined.

Re: Your plan of attack - Speaking

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 9:01 pm
by solanderdog
golyplot wrote:I'm trying the Mimic Method to learn to speak French. I haven't gotten very far yet, but I'm hoping that it will work well. Would anyone be interested in a language log to document my progress (if any)?


How did it go? Would you recommend this method?

Re: Your plan of attack - Speaking

Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 4:05 am
by golyplot
solanderdog wrote:How did it go? Would you recommend this method?


I was too lazy and/or perfectionist to ever get beyond the second lesson.

A month ago, I got an email saying that Idahosa would no longer be offering feedback, which pretty much destroys the main selling point of the course, IMO. Recently, I decided to give it another try and go through the course materials on my own without feedback. Perhaps not worrying about having to get everything right might actually make things easier.