Learning through video lessons?

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Expugnator
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Learning through video lessons?

Postby Expugnator » Sun Jul 28, 2019 4:23 pm

How do you guys go about inserting video lessons in your language routines?

For some languages they might actually be the most comprehensive learning source; most channels end up after a dozen or two of them.

I personally prefer reading whatever contains explanations about the target language in an L1; because reading is faster, I can move through the text more conveniently as well. If I have time I might try audio lessons, but from my experience I either focus on content or on form. As for audiovisual lessons, I think there is too much time that goes away for explanations themselves, for introductions, for effects, for repetitions. If the video lessons can be made a good use of by just listening, then I'd probably give them a try in parallel with some not so attention-driven activity; otherwise I'd skip them altogether.

On the other hand, new YT channels pop up all the time and for some languages they can't be neglected; I'm thinking about Syriac, Guarani and a few others from my research. Even for larger languages it might be the chance to have instruction on your own L1 when not English.

The fewer times I've actually incorporated YT or any other lessons on my desk study time, I've paired them up with a textbook proper, the way I do with audio-only courses like Linguaphone, and I'd prefer really short spans, no longer than 10 minutes. I confess I've mostly just listened to the audio instead of watching the video, though in the case of learning a new script I'd force myself to watch it.
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lichtrausch
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Re: Learning through video lessons?

Postby lichtrausch » Sun Jul 28, 2019 6:02 pm

Due to their low information density, I view them as a minor supplement to fill in some gaps in colloquial language. I only subscribe to two or three channels that make these types of video (typically under 10 mins long), so I just watch the videos as they are released.
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Re: Learning through video lessons?

Postby Speakeasy » Mon Jul 29, 2019 9:34 pm

A similarly-themed question was posted recently under the “Language Programs and Resources” sub-forum. Although the discussions focused on two pay-for-view sources of videos for language-learners, the issues are pretty much the same … uh, er, I think.

Any Yabla Users? – LLORG – July 2019
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=10712
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Re: Learning through video lessons?

Postby Elexi » Mon Jul 29, 2019 9:44 pm

I use video lessons all the time - I use a CEFR course book to see what is covered per lesson and level (most 'X as a foreign language' course books contain a table of what will be covered in a lesson) and find lessons on those subjects on YouTube.
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Re: Learning through video lessons?

Postby Sayonaroo » Tue Jul 30, 2019 12:34 am

lichtrausch wrote:Due to their low information density, I view them as a minor supplement to fill in some gaps in colloquial language. I only subscribe to two or three channels that make these types of video (typically under 10 mins long), so I just watch the videos as they are released.


same here. I watch at 1.5x usually even if that means I can't hear the target language well in the video lol... ie this series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0um2L_R ... 1BAA6959F7

I prefer video with sound played at 1.5x to reading about the grammar without sound since I need to get used to pinyin, sounds of mandarin, etc let alone the tones. Also pinyin is misleading if you don’t have it memorized perfectly which is something I refuse to do so I need my audio. I’m gonna learn pinyin from reading and listening a lot over a long period of time lol

I recently thought of a way to efficiently generate anki cards from educational videos with text on the screen. I use sharex to take screenshot of the YouTube rectangle and I can mass import the pictures into anki. I recommend mattvsjapans video for recording audio or taking screenshots on your computer efficiently
Last edited by Sayonaroo on Thu Aug 01, 2019 11:36 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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jimmyy
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Re: Learning through video lessons?

Postby jimmyy » Thu Aug 01, 2019 9:58 pm

Hi,

I have a love/hate relation with videos in learning languages.
I like the ease and the fact that you just click on a button and then just receive a lot of information.
I do not like it because I need to scroll back and forward a lot.
I also prefer the lessons with exercises.

There are two types of videos, the usual ones with a teacher (sometimes good, other times less) that presents a lesson.
I like more, what I call real-life situations in the particular country where the language is spoken. I believe it teaches you as well their culture and it's more attractive to watch/remember. However most of the times in this case you get to hear many other words, and if you are just at the beginning and vocabulary is pretty small, then it's complicated. It's like the youglish site.

And then there are these types of sites, where you can see some videos and then be able to do exercises: https://www.learnro.com/romanian-emergency

I prefer this last type, but I'm curious what's your views on it?
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Re: Learning through video lessons?

Postby Sayonaroo » Sat Sep 21, 2019 1:59 am

Sayonaroo wrote:
lichtrausch wrote:Due to their low information density, I view them as a minor supplement to fill in some gaps in colloquial language. I only subscribe to two or three channels that make these types of video (typically under 10 mins long), so I just watch the videos as they are released.


same here. I watch at 1.5x usually even if that means I can't hear the target language well in the video lol... ie this series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0um2L_R ... 1BAA6959F7

I prefer video with sound played at 1.5x to reading about the grammar without sound since I need to get used to pinyin, sounds of mandarin, etc let alone the tones. Also pinyin is misleading if you don’t have it memorized perfectly which is something I refuse to do so I need my audio. I’m gonna learn pinyin from reading and listening a lot over a long period of time lol

I recently thought of a way to efficiently generate anki cards from educational videos with text on the screen. I use sharex to take screenshot of the YouTube rectangle and I can mass import the pictures into anki. I recommend mattvsjapans video for recording audio or taking screenshots on your computer efficiently


So recently I made the realization that youtube is a fantastic source for mandarin because there are so many videos and I refuse to memorize pinyin. Plus I can search in korean, Japanese, and English. It's feasible to find videos in formats that are helpful to you ie they only speak your target language, they speak english and your target language, they don't insert MUSIC (ugh my biggest peeve!!) or sound effects. I recently came across this one where they speak mandarin 95? 97%? of the time with english captioning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un0-7NM ... Xd&index=1

So this video was interesting for like 15 minutes then I got bored so I stopped watching it but I'll definitely continue watching it probably in a week or so when my enthusiasm builds up because I like the format and I like learning about grammar. I got the brilliant idea to download the mp3 of this youtube video (search chrome/firefox plugins/websites etc) since she only speaks mandarin in the video (minimal english) to relisten to it since I'd rather re-listen than rewatch (plus I get real listening practice since I only have the sound). So I put the mp3 through audacity to truncate silence ( I set it so silences that are 0.3 sec gets cut down to 0.15 sec) since she talks too slow and there is too much silence. I watched this video at 2x just to get the grammar info laid out and read/hear the examples and not to perfect my pronunciation/tones/listening comprehension etc etc (I prefer to do that with interesting content). If I remember correctly, the mp3 went from 57 minutes to 20 something minutes. I'm curious to see how differently I'll perceive the video when I re-watch it after however many re-listenings.

I got the idea to listen to the mp3 of the youtube lesson since I had been listening to the french dubs of american shows I recently finished watching in English. As far as I can tell listening to French dubs of something I already saw is more productive than listening to some random french podcast or watching some french tv show since I have context, I know the characters and there is no culture barrier. Also dubs are easier than actual French shows. by the way they cast the voices well so I can easily tell who is who.
Last edited by Sayonaroo on Sat Sep 21, 2019 4:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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lichtrausch
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Re: Learning through video lessons?

Postby lichtrausch » Sat Sep 21, 2019 4:07 am

Sayonaroo wrote:So recently I made the realization that youtube is a fantastic source for mandarin because there are so many videos and I refuse to memorize pinyin. It's feasible to find videos in formats that are helpful to you ie they only speak your target language, they speak english and your target language, they don't insert MUSIC (ugh my biggest peeve!!) or sound effects. I recently came across this one where they speak mandarin 95? 97%? of the time with english captioning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un0-7NM ... Xd&index=1

Here's a good channel for learning some Mandarin through Japanese.

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Re: Learning through video lessons?

Postby Cainntear » Sat Sep 21, 2019 12:09 pm

Sayonaroo wrote:I got the brilliant idea to download the mp3 of this youtube video (search chrome/firefox plugins/websites etc) since she only speaks mandarin in the video (minimal english) to relisten to it since I'd rather re-listen than rewatch (plus I get real listening practice since I only have the sound).

Don't you normally look at people when they're talking to you?
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Re: Learning through video lessons?

Postby Sayonaroo » Sat Sep 21, 2019 1:08 pm

Cainntear wrote:
Sayonaroo wrote:I got the brilliant idea to download the mp3 of this youtube video (search chrome/firefox plugins/websites etc) since she only speaks mandarin in the video (minimal english) to relisten to it since I'd rather re-listen than rewatch (plus I get real listening practice since I only have the sound).

Don't you normally look at people when they're talking to you?


Of course. I just mention that because people are always talking about whether to watch with or without subtitles.
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