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Pattern in my language learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| guiguixx1 Octoglot Senior Member Belgium guillaumelp.wordpres Joined 3893 days ago 163 posts - 207 votes  Speaks: French*, English, Dutch, Portuguese, Esperanto, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 1 of 4 06 June 2015 at 1:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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as time goes by, I think that I see some sort of pattern of how my brain does to learn a language, depending on the level of the language. Let me explain this :
When I have a language ranging from level A0 to B1-B2, I realize that the best way for me to learn is to expose myself to the language as much as possible, tu such an extend that I dream in the language. And as soon as I can speak, I have to do this. Of course, there is nothing new here. One particularity is that, after a couple of weeks-months, when I'm "fed up" and feel an improvement, I generally want to stop studying, and either stop languages, or switch to another language. I only come back to the initial language after some time (a couple of months-1 year). And when I go back to that language, I realize that, after some getting used to it again, my level is generally better than when I left it, as though it is still working and improving in my brain without it being used. I thus learn, then stop, then learn again, etc, until level B1-B2. When I get to B2, this "immersion" method doesn't seem to work anymore, and I think that, to get to C1, I need to use the language regularly, daily if possible, to get to C1 after maybe one or two years. That's what happened with my dutch, and I suppose that this is what I have to do with my Spanish: not necessarily studying it intensively for months, but rather using it on a daily basis, while I also study weak languages. Would I thus have to use a B2 language one hour a day, and for an entire year, and immerse myself in a weak language for the remaining time? Does anyone seem to work the same way? Understanding this pattern is very important for me, and will maybe change my language summer plan... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4810 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 2 of 4 06 June 2015 at 4:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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Sorry about perhaps too long post but you got me a bit confused by your terminology.
I: Yes, taking a break can be beneficial. But a break is not immersion, not even "immersion". Immersion is being surounded by the language for larger amounts of time. It can be in country immersion or you can just spend time listening and reading the language at home, often just by switching some activities from your native language to the target one. Using the language, that you mention later, that is exactly immersion. Taking a break can be a good thing, the brain processes the knowledge and either puts it to long term memory or loses it. But expecting to progress mostly by taking breaks, that sounds weird to me. But you are surely right that a pattern of intensive studying,break,studying,break,... is a good way forward, I progress similarily. Perhaps it might be interesting to compare our experince with various lengths of the phases. II: I am not sure whether this use of the cefr levels is a perfect reference frame. They are a good lead but assessment (especially self-assessment) is a tricky thing at times as the scale doesn't take into account all the skills and approaches. A bigger trouble is trying to fit into the cefr categories. It is perfectly normal people are better at one skill than another. It is normal people are able so speak fluently about things relevant to their job but have never learnt to speak about anything else. And so on. Why I mention this: perhaps you would have easier time progressing towards your goals if those were something easier to imagine. Such as understanding a demanding movie or writer, writing a work related article and so on. A "C1" is still just an abstract idea, a sum of skills that are being tested in the exams, something you get to piece by piece. It is never a situation like "yesterday, I was B2. Today, I am finally C1." III: But following your frame of the thought: My experience is perhaps different. Immersion became totally necessary after I already got a DELF B2 (no self-assessment, the real exam). The huge amounts of books, tv series, movies, music and so on, that is what got me to C2, the amount of practice and tutoring, while useful, was a tiny piece of the time spent on my progress. But you don't call that immersion, you call it "daily use", which I can agree with. But the daily use is immersion, not the breaks. Normal studying, however, is important at the advanced stages as well, from my experience. To cover the gaps, rectify mistakes learnt at the earlier stages and so on. IV: To the last paragraph and therefore the question. By "immersing in a weak language", what do you mean? Studying it intensively? Using it? Taking a break? I am getting confused by your use of the word immersion, I must confess. While there are various opinions on htlal, people mostly immerse in their stronger languages while studying (with courses, grammmar books, anki etc.) the weaker ones. Whether an hour a day is enough: It depends on how much progress do you expect from your summer study plan. From my experience, at least some longer immersion sessions (like a few hours of reading, several episodes of a tv series in a row) are sometimes much more useful than a shorter every day session. But it may be just a matter of preference. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| guiguixx1 Octoglot Senior Member Belgium guillaumelp.wordpres Joined 3893 days ago 163 posts - 207 votes Speaks: French*, English, Dutch, Portuguese, Esperanto, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 3 of 4 06 June 2015 at 6:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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When I speak about levels, I indeed estimate a general knowledge, as point of reference, though I should indeed rather think about "being able to watch TV", or "being able to speak with a native speaker with basic easy".
When I speak about immersion, I mean using the target language as much as possible, and trying to never use any other language, but I do it at home. I don't go abroad for this "immersion" When I speak about immersion in a weak language, I mean thus only using this language for a period of time, studying it and using it as intensively as my brain and schedule allow it. After this time, I just simple stop using it altogether and take a break of a couple of months (generally). The language then gets rusty, and decreases a lot, but when I study it again, it comes back quickly, and I often feel that I am more at easy and master the grammar better (though I haven't tried it with many languages yet) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6398 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 4 of 4 07 June 2015 at 3:42am | IP Logged | ||
See bow wave theory :) 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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