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L-R: Natural Listening | ||
Tags: Listening-Reading (L-R) | Listening | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| glidefloss Senior Member United States Joined 5766 days ago 138 posts - 154 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 9 of 18 16 May 2009 at 4:42am | IP Logged | |||||
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Bob, do you think LR is useful? Did you start fresh? Which language are you using it for?
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| Bob Greaves Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6477 days ago 86 posts - 91 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 10 of 18 16 May 2009 at 8:42am | IP Logged | |||||
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Glidefloss
I am using it for Spanish. I didn't start "fresh". I started with Pimsleur (Comprehensive and Plus), checked out all MT, and moved on to Platiquemos (updated FSI) and did about 3/8 but it was not pleasant. I then started to look for something different and decided to try either Prof A's shadowing or L-R. I could not quite understand some of the details required for shadowing, so I plumped for L-R. The instructions for L-R, I thought, were much more specific. So one morning I copied all the relevant info from the original thread onto a word file (missing out all the nonsense that clogged the thread) and started L-R. I am not sure how effective L-R is yet. Since I haven't had a feeling of a breakthrough it's difficult to judge, although I am sure that little by little my comprehension is improving. The main problem, apart from long hours (I try for 3 hours a day on weekdays and sometimes 5 hours on weekends) is the quality of material. The books that are available have been: World Without End, Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Harry Potter. The Dan Brown books were so awful that I felt I had lost the will to live by the end. The one in reserve is Don Quijote, but I am concerned that the language may be archaic and I won't be able to know that it's not current. Bob 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| JS-1 Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5781 days ago 144 posts - 166 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), German, Japanese, Ancient Egyptian, Arabic (Written) | Message 11 of 18 20 May 2009 at 12:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think one important thing left out of most L-R discussions is the huge variation in
the way that a text can be read. I have two German audiobooks. One is Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, and the other is Das Parfum by Patrick Süskind. The recording of the Hesse book is very easy to follow, while the other sounds quite indistinct. They are both commercial recordings, and the issue is not so much the sound quality as the style of the narrator. I also found the same thing with Japanese, where some recordings are quite easy to follow while others sound like nonsense to me. Anyway, I found L-R very useful for German, but had less success with Japanese, although I did German more intensively. Somehow I can follow conversations in German that are above my level in the language -if that makes any sense. It hasn't helped me to speak though... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bob Greaves Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6477 days ago 86 posts - 91 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 12 of 18 20 May 2009 at 2:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
Bump. For all the discussions on the perceived efficacy (or not) of L-R, I am still amazed at the seeming lack of anyone seeing it through to a satisfactory conclusion. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5564 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 13 of 18 20 May 2009 at 2:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
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So far I did only about 20 hours of L-R for Spanish and I find that my general listening comprehension has increased (I suddenly understand lyrics to shouted and whined Japanese rock songs without paying special attention. I can't think of anything else I did differently, other than said L-R)
I personally think that, unless you already have reached basic fluency, understanding an unknown foreign word at natural speed can only happen if you already have a firm grasp on the context and have a word for it in your first (or second ...) language. I've been listening to thr NHK Spanish news and understand surprisingly many 'unknown' words, but they hardly speak at natural speed. The BBC Mundo news are more challenging and I those speakers also speak quite slowly. The words I do understand this way are mostly cognates, loanwords or words I know the Latin roots of, like terremoto - words I might've understood in reading, but not when spoken. Edited by Bao on 20 May 2009 at 2:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| JS-1 Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5781 days ago 144 posts - 166 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), German, Japanese, Ancient Egyptian, Arabic (Written) | Message 14 of 18 20 May 2009 at 3:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
I think the problem with seeing it through to a satisfactory conclusion is that (for me at least) once the text has become transparent it is extremely boring to go through it again. The peculiar combination of intense concentration and boredom can become very difficult for a six-hour stretch. I just couldn't bring myself to continue with the same text -no matter what the reward. Maybe a change of books at this stage would have been a good idea. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Woodpecker Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5609 days ago 351 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian) Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 15 of 18 20 May 2009 at 4:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
Bob, it would be wonderful if you could post the text of that word file. :-D 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bob Greaves Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6477 days ago 86 posts - 91 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 16 of 18 20 May 2009 at 4:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
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[/QUOTE]
Bob, it would be wonderful if you could post the text of that word file. :-D[/QUOTE] Someone (Volte I think) also did it and posted somewhere in the forum. Not sure where though. I will try to find it later. Later: I think this is the summary on rapidshare: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=12368&KW=l%2Dr Edited by Bob Greaves on 20 May 2009 at 5:22pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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