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’Creative’ language learning | ||
Tags: Drill/exercise | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| jmagyar Triglot Newbie SlovakiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5179 days ago 16 posts - 21 votes Speaks: Slovak, Hungarian*, English Studies: German | Message 1 of 3 14 March 2015 at 12:10pm | IP Logged |
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Hi everyone!
I want to restart learning German and I've been looking for a good course to get me started when I came across a course and a learning technique that sounds interesting and I'd like to know your opinion. It is the so-called 'creative language learning'. It was put together by a Hungarian, Ottó Gál and the base language is Hungarian (my first native language). The main idea is that the learner should be an active participant right from the beginning. That means that he or she should speak and form sentences right away. In my opinion, it uses a very decent vocabulary, introducing the most frequent words at first. From them, the learner is supposed to form a lot of sentences, expressions and he or she can check it right away because there is an answer key right next to the exercises. There are two volumes (the first one for beginners, the second one for advanced learners), but it looks like it is really just a single course taking you somewhere to basic fluency. Each unit has a number of parts. The first one is a word list, with an accompanying explanation of the words that are used differently in German than in Hungarian (the book refers to them as problematic ones). The next part introduces the grammar concepts that will be covered in the lesson. Then, every unit has a lot of drill-like exercises where you are supposed to translate expressions or sentences into Hungarian and then into German. Of course there is plenty of audio material with the right pronunciation of every answer. Most of these exercises target the current grammar points, although some are supposed to let you make sure that you haven't forgotten any topics that have been discussed in an earlier lesson. There is a not complimentary part in each unit and that introduces idioms and colloquial expressions. What do you think about it? I'm tempted to try it, mostly because it is in my native language and the many drills suggest that I'm not supposed to learn a lot of rules, instead just get a feel for what sounds right and what sounds wrong. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| chokofingrz Pentaglot Senior Member England Joined 4991 days ago 241 posts - 430 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Japanese, Catalan, Luxembourgish | Message 2 of 3 15 March 2015 at 8:29pm | IP Logged |
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Of course - translating sentences from TL->SL and SL->TL has been the basis of many good language courses for decades. It activates the brain in ways that other methods like listen-and-repeat, fill-in-the-blank or listening-reading simply don't. But it would be better still if you learned the main grammar rules at the same time. Very few adults reach an advanced level based on "feel" alone.
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| jmagyar Triglot Newbie SlovakiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5179 days ago 16 posts - 21 votes Speaks: Slovak, Hungarian*, English Studies: German | Message 3 of 3 16 March 2015 at 11:41am | IP Logged |
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Thank you for your comment. Yes, I was planning to get another textbook for grammar and
use this course supplementarily. I might also get a workbook to get used to the written language, too. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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