Serpent wrote:Why?olim21 wrote:That's something learners often think: they are too slow. That's why we see slow-speed podcast and such. I don't think that's true, though.
I already explained all of this, but let's try again another way. That impression of being too slow is just that: an impression. This is a symptom of a the real problem underneath. The problem is that you are not ready to understand yet. Either because you don't know the words and/or the patterns of the language (or not well enough), and/or the sound of the language you hear in your head when you read is too dissimilar. The result being that you have to concentrate to figure out the meaning of each word and/or just recognize it when listening and its connection with the rest. It requires too much time, more than you have anyway. The consequence being that you can't follow.
Imagine the two different situations:
In the first one, you are a learner, you have some understanding already but not enough. When you hear a word it makes you think about how it sounds familiar, you're sure you've heard it before. You try to remember a context with the same word. After some thinking maybe you finally reach the thought corresponding in your mind with the idea that the word is supposed to describe. Now you still have to figure out the relation with the rest of the current context. It is slow and also prevent you from thinking about the actual meaning of what you are listening to.
In the second situation, you know the language, you can be a native speaker or a learner having reach a native level. When you hear a word, the corresponding thought (or series of thoughts) are immediately created in your brain (your hearing triggers the thoughts), they merge or take over the previous context. No need to think, no need to remember, it is instantaneous (almost).
In the first case, you don't know. What you do know is how to recover the meaning. In the second case, you just know. The consequence is a big difference in reaction time, this speed improvement is the byproduct of your learning.
Serpent wrote:What about the learners who can understand a lot in writing but still need those podcasts?
I also answered this one already. I you want to know, please read my other posts.
Serpent wrote:I actually like reading, I'm just slow. Please avoid making assumptions.
No assumptions? Are you serious? It's impossible, I'm a human being after all, that's what we do. We make assumptions all day long. And when they don't match with the reality we observe, we change them. There is no way around it. Assumptions are not a problem, not being able to let them go is.
Serpent wrote:Have you heard of the LR method?
It would be hard not to. You can see LR mentioned once every ten posts, it was even more than that at HTLAL. So yes I heard about it. And although I agree with a lot of it and you could even say that I use a variation on it to some degree, what are you supposed to do when the language you want to learn is fully opaque? Imagine Greenlandic as an English speaker for example. Words don't even match at all.
Serpent wrote:That's still a good starting point. If you can find something you want to understand and put in the hours, you're going to understand more.
For sure. That doesn't contradict what I have been saying all along, though.
Serpent wrote:And depending on the language combination the similarities may well be clearer in the spoken language.
Sure, Maybe. What combination are you thinking about?
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OM