Move to using only native materials

General discussion about learning languages
William Camden
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Re: Move to using only native materials

Postby William Camden » Thu May 18, 2017 6:04 am

I see no particular virtue in only relying on native materials or seeing that as a goal, although the better you are at an L2, the more you will use them.
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AML
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Re: Move to using only native materials

Postby AML » Thu May 18, 2017 11:14 am

zenmonkey wrote:Depends on the language and availability but there is not reason for not using the tools available. I intend to continue to look at reference material, workbooks, etc as I move to C1. Yes, I certainly focus more on native material but I don't adhere to a rule where I have to only use native material.


Indeed, you are correct. I made the mistake of saying "only".
My bad.
I should have said "rarely" or "on occasion".
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Cavesa
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Re: Move to using only native materials

Postby Cavesa » Fri May 19, 2017 4:41 pm

It's not necessarily one or the other. I wholeheartedly agree that native stuff should take much more place in one's learning routine from B2 on, I would even say from B1 on.

But the idea that a B2 learner is beyond all that resources for learners can teach them, that is simply not true. It is a very common mistake.

Yes, I got from B2 to C2 French using mostly native materials. Hundreds and hundreds of hours of native stuff against a few dozen hours with stuff for learners. Yes. But I consider it a mistake I didn't invest much more time into detailed grammar learning, as I don' have time and don't feel that motivated after my DALF exam, as I have lots of more immediate obstacles before me. There are more areas like that, but this is the most obvious example.

Sure, it is a common mistake that B2 or even C1 learners stick to courses and don't venture outside to the more interesting materials not prechewed by anyone, not recommended by some backward teacher. It is extremely common. Another quite common problem is sticking to too easy beginner and intermediate resources, despite the fact a big dose of native ones would help much more than completing the fifth B1 course.

However, the opposite is wrong as well. Why avoid a high quality resource? Especially grammars. You can speak fluidly and get across any message you want, but without very strong command of grammar, you will always be performing much worse than you should be.

I would say a more pressing problem is lack of such resources for learners of many languages, perhaps even most languages.
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aaleks
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Re: Move to using only native materials

Postby aaleks » Fri May 19, 2017 5:21 pm

Cavesa wrote:Sure, it is a common mistake that B2 or even C1 learners stick to courses and don't venture outside to the more interesting materials not prechewed by anyone, not recommended by some backward teacher.

Is it really possible to get up to C1 without using native material? I ask because I don't know well enough these levels. I have some general idea what each means, but I might be wrong. In fact I don't know my own level of English, I just assume that since I understand native books and movies/series (including the most frequent idiomatic expressions) my passive skills are somewhere about C1 (maybe listening C2) and productive skills are far behind (A2 pobably).

P.S. I'm an adept of early moving to native materials and using textbooks and dictionary in L1 at the same time :D
Last edited by aaleks on Fri May 19, 2017 7:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Move to using only native materials

Postby arthaey » Fri May 19, 2017 5:45 pm

zenmonkey wrote:It's time to throw out all this stuff (and the other bookcases too) !!!

You just let me know when you're liquidating, and I'll PM you my mailing address. I will "selflessly" take the problem off your hands! :fends off all the other LLorg book-vultures:

:D
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whatiftheblog
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Re: Move to using only native materials

Postby whatiftheblog » Fri May 26, 2017 1:50 am

I went native only when I was probably a high B2-low C1 overall through a prior combination of formal instruction at school, time spent conducting research in the language, a few months of RFI (radio) now and again, and a few months spent in-country. Best decision I ever made, should've done it earlier, would never go back:

1. All of the material I'm exposed to in French is organic - it's written/spoken by French people for French people. Having tutored English in the past (briefly, in college, but still), I know that the material presented in course books at the upper intermediate level and above is always at least slightly stilted, slightly unnatural, almost robotic. I don't want to expose myself to that, I have no desire to relive high school.

2. All of the material I consume is, by default, related to stuff I like. There's simply no way for me to be bored. I can spend 10 hours marathoning political speeches without a problem (although now that I've seen literally all of them, I'm watching more vlogs and docs now, too). There are a lot of people on this board who've posted about particular courses being boring, sluggish, or simply of poor quality - my method is a safeguard against that.

We'll have a better idea of the results a little later in the year, but for now, I just got my cover letter [thing I'm submitting for a selection process] back from my native francophone friend, and he suggested I modify 1 phrase and 1 word for better flow. So hopefully it's... working?
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