How do you learn best?

[Seneca]

Over the years I learned about myself that I have a hard time picking up new information from just listening. I will forget it fast. So, I write everything down when I listen to a lecture. And even then I need to rework the information myself later on and not just mechanically put what I hear into writing. So, I know that learning with audio will not be efficient for me and I simply won't pick up new vocabulary from there most of the time, at least not in any reasonable amount of time.

I found this interesting. Have you ever done a course like Michel Thomas, Paul Noble, Language Transfer, etc...? I am curious if listening only isn't good for you as a tool for learning vocabulary, or if you also don't do well with those courses. I think they all have in common that they try to work off your memory without you writing things. Do they not do it for you even when the goal is different? Or have you not tried those courses to know?

[blaurebell]

I found this interesting. Have you ever done a course like Michel Thomas, Paul Noble, Language Transfer, etc...? I am curious if listening only isn't good for you as a tool for learning vocabulary, or if you also don't do well with those courses. I think they all have in common that they try to work off your memory without you writing things. Do they not do it for you even when the goal is different? Or have you not tried those courses to know?

I have tried to do Michel Thomas twice, but I just felt lost, uncomfortable and was grinding my teeth over the silly mistakes of the "bad student". In general I'm not very good with audio only stuff and I will simply forget what I hear unless I hear it a few times. Some years ago I did one of those teaching company lecture courses on philosophy. I couldn't tell you which philosophers were covered or what was said about them. It was entertaining though! That said, when it's simply grammar and I already know all the words I do just fine - I wouldn't be able to do FSI as an audio only course at an advanced beginner stage, but at B2+ it's actually pretty alright and it seems to do something for me. Occasionally the chunks for repetition get too long for me too - I couldn't repeat 3 sentences in a row accurately in any language. That simply overloads my short term memory. Part of it is probably also because I've always avoided this kind of situation, because I know I'm bad at it. It could definitely be trained, but frankly I just tend to use methods that are more efficient for me without training and involve reading and writing.

[Seneca]

I found this interesting. Have you ever done a course like Michel Thomas, Paul Noble, Language Transfer, etc...? I am curious if listening only isn't good for you as a tool for learning vocabulary, or if you also don't do well with those courses. I think they all have in common that they try to work off your memory without you writing things. Do they not do it for you even when the goal is different? Or have you not tried those courses to know?

I have tried to do Michel Thomas twice, but I just felt lost, uncomfortable and was grinding my teeth over the silly mistakes of the "bad student". In general I'm not very good with audio only stuff and I will simply forget what I hear unless I hear it a few times. Some years ago I did one of those teaching company lecture courses on philosophy. I couldn't tell you which philosophers were covered or what was said about them. It was entertaining though! That said, when it's simply grammar and I already know all the words I do just fine - I wouldn't be able to do FSI as an audio only course at an advanced beginner stage, but at B2+ it's actually pretty alright and it seems to do something for me. Occasionally the chunks for repetition get too long for me too - I couldn't repeat 3 sentences in a row accurately in any language. That simply overloads my short term memory. Part of it is probably also because I've always avoided this kind of situation, because I know I'm bad at it. It could definitely be trained, but frankly I just tend to use methods that are more efficient for me without training and involve reading and writing.

Huh, that is interesting. May I ask what courses you generally look to cover the kinds of grammar that Michel Thomas goes over? If it applies to anything you ever wish to learn, I believe that the Margarita Madrigal books (the "Magic Keys to...." and "See It & Say It in..." series) are sort of the written form of Michel Thomas. So it could be a nice approach for your style!

[blaurebell]

Huh, that is interesting. May I ask what courses you generally look to cover the kinds of grammar that Michel Thomas goes over? If it applies to anything you ever wish to learn, I believe that the Margarita Madrigal books (the "Magic Keys to...." and "See It & Say It in..." series) are sort of the written form of Michel Thomas. So it could be a nice approach for your style!

Assimil and Duolingo are my usual starter courses, passive grammar mostly. This is enough to get me reading and after lots of exposure I then activate it with some proper grammar drilling - FSI and progressive grammar books. I usually don't learn languages with the aim to produce it quickly. For me comprehension is the most important part.

[PeterMollenburg]

Imo, learning styles are a myth. For example, seeing words in their written form is going to help most people remember them better; I don't think that means most people are "visual learners".

I actually tend to agree with this. I think humans are able to be moulded or adapt to different modes of learning, rather than are set into separate categories. I'm not a course learner, I've just done so many of them, because I wanted to, that I moulded myself to learning mainly via courses.

That sounds like you have a preferred style of learning.

Indeed I do, but only after doing so many courses. Had I known there were other ways to learn languages back in the late 90's and into the 2000s I doubt I would've stuck with courses, but they've worked in a way for me because I kept persisting at them, since after a few, I was familiar with the format. It's the chicken or the egg thing - what comes first the type of learner/preferred learning style or the learning itself. For me it's the learning itself. Yes we may begin with a preference to picking up a language course, or watching movies, but what we tend to be drawn towards (for whatever reason, including lack of other options) is quite possibly what we'll become better at utilising.

I used to be okay at basketball. That took training. I used to be okay at kayaking and a pretty decent runner, and a pretty casual average cyclist. The amount of training and work I put into each activity ensured how good I would become at each activity (give or take a few natural things - ie perhaps I was more built for running than basketball). My point here is I was not born a kayaker, nor a basketballer, nor even a runner. All this things my body moulded to/adapted to, just as one's brain can be moulded to learn through various avenues. I could very well become an avid reader or 'visual learner' by having the enthusiasm to undertake those activities and then persuing them in a regular fashion. My learning through reading would improve, my learning through watching (and listening) would improve with training (provided I was interested).

So if one states they are a visual learner, i'd argue they weren't born that way, they just prefer to learn through pictures as they have found that has worked for them and they have focused on that method.

I could be wrong, just my take on it all.

[Steve]

I tend to separate my learning into two general categories: concepts and skills.

When learning concepts (or "learning about something"), I usually find reading and visual means most efficient. I think that this is because I can pause, think, process, re-read, skip around, or whatever very easily. Audio forces me to follow the pace and order of the speaker. Once in a while, I find a presentation very good and get a lot out of listening.

When learning skills ("learning how to do something"), I simply need to practice in an effective manner. Sadly, it took me about 20 years to realize this with foreign language learning. I found that I need to listen, watch, observe, practice, and do whatever active and passive activities I need to do to see the skill in action as well as practice doing it myself. My sense is that a combination of disciplined focused practice on particular details as well as a more holistic practice of the entire skill is needed.

I'm finding that this dichotomy of "learning about something" and "learning how to do something" seems to be an effective way for me to acquire new knowledge and skills. In hindsight, I'd been doing that with my technical skills my entire life, but had never really thought of it that way.

I'm taking what I learned about splitting language acquisition into concepts and skills and consciously applying them to a new endeavor. I decided I wanted to write some books for my new granddaughter and thought I'd try to learn how to draw in order to do the illustrations myself.

I spent a couple of weeks watching a lot of YouTube digital art tutorials and reading a number of articles on the basics of drawing. I was pleasantly surprised to find the theory was all trivial to me because of my background in physics, mathematics, geometry, and computer graphics. I bought a graphics tablet last Sunday along with a drawing program I'd been researching (and caught it for over %50 off). I decided to do my skills development in 2 parts. I'm trying to spend some time on both each day now (in between language practice). The first is an FSI like drilling of practicing basics like drawing lines, circles, etc. I'm under no illusions about the amount of work that will take. The second is a more Assimil-like doing very simple "complete sentences" to bring it all together. It remains to be seen how well this works, but I'm having fun so far and seem to be progressing. Here's my first attempt at a fantasy type landscape a few hours after I got the software installed. I've never done this type of freehand stuff before. The understanding of general theory seemed to be yielding results immediately even with minimal real skills. I've attached my first attempt at a landscape a few hours after I got the software. It roughly follows a tutorial I saw on YouTube. It's certainly no higher than A1 (language level reference not saying A - One ), but it was encouraging to see that this methodology was already yielding promising results.

[reineke]

Where's Cainntear? I learn best by ear (but not because I believe in learning styles) and away from the Internet.

[Theodisce]

Where's Cainntear? I learn best by ear (but not because I believe in learning styles) and away from the Internet.

I fully subscribe to that except that most of my content comes from the Internet.