Language Learning Update

A few things have changed since our original language commitment and no, before you say it we haven’t given up already.

I’m sure this whole process is going to change dramatically as we work our way through various materials and courses. Some things will work for us and some won’t and until we find out what those things are there is bound to be a lot of chopping and changing.

I guess the most dramatic change of approach is that we’ve stopped attending the weekly Romanian lesson at Kirsty’s school. This may sound a bit crazy and possibly the worst decision we could have made, but I’ll try and explain further.

Our main drive for learning Romanian is to be able to communicate with people around us, whether it be our neighbours, staff in stops or other dog walkers in the park. Rather than giving us the confidence to speak and make mistakes with people the lessons were making us feel more negative about the language, not only about the language itself bu our ability to learn it.

The lessons were in the style you would expect from a school teacher, it’s similar to the way we were taught foreign languages at school. One look at the statistics of British people who speak a second language will tell you all you need to know about how well this method works. The focus is on the grammar, which of course has its place, but it hasn’t worked for us in the past and we’re keen to try something different.

CC Flickr Credit: D Sharon Pruitt

We decided our time could be better spent using methods that might benefit us more. As I mentioned above, they might not but we’ll never find our style of language learning unless we keep trying as many different methods as possible.

I’ve been reading The Polyglot Project by Claude Cartaginese recently (which I got as a free download from Fluent in 3 Months). Although there are a number of courses and methods for language learning mentioned throughout the book, my main reason for reading it is purely motivational. Claude basically got all his favourite YouTube Polyglots to contribute a small section to the book, each one sharing their experience of learning languages.

What I like most about the book is how honest everyone is. Many people admit to struggling with languages and previously believing they didn’t have what it takes etc. There are also sections from people learning their first non-native language who are going through the struggle we are at the moment: What is the best method for me? How should we approach language learning? It’s reassuring to read that everyone goes through the same struggles.

While everyone has different methods, a common theme throughout the book is the idea that foreign languages are not being taught correctly at schools and that method of teaching simply doesn’t work (in most cases). In terms of understanding grammar, reading and writing they can be very successful but aren’t you learning the language so you can get out there and talk to people?

This seems to be the downfall of formal language lessons, the speaking practice just isn’t there and while people may be confident in all other aspects of the language they often crumble when faced with the prospect of speaking to natives.This is the direction we felt we were going with the lessons at the school and it became a bit of a downer.

Another common theme throughout the book is enjoyment and enthusiasm. If you’re not enjoying the process of learning a language then you almost don’t stand a chance.

Hence, goodbye lessons.

Listen and Repeat.

Pimsleur Method

We’ve been doing the Pimsleur method for a couple of weeks now and found it to be quite useful. Even after a few days we were feeling much more confident with our pronunciation and began using more words out and about.

For anyone who isn’t aware the Pimsleur method is what feels like an old school audio course, in fact that’s exactly what it is. Rather than just repeating phrases however, the focus is on using them in context and ensuring correct pronunciation by breaking the phrases and words down.

While it’s proving to be helpful, we are well aware of the drawbacks. The main one being how formal the conversations are and in turn some of the words you learn are very unlikely to be used in everyday life. Of course, If I become the CEO of some huge corporation tomorrow then that could change.

Despite this, the Pimsleur method feels like a positive way to get started and build some confidence with the language, even if to begin with it is just explaining that we don’t speak Romanian or getting by in the most basic of interactions.

LingQ

We’ve only really just stepped into the world of LingQ the last couple of days so can’t really give a full opinion just yet. The frequency with which it’s mentioned in the book above encouraged us to take a look and we can certainly see how it could work, whether it’s right for us yet remains to be seen.

Once we’ve done a few of the ready-made courses on LingQ then we can start importing our own text. We’ll then be able to learn by reading articles of stories about stuff we are actually interested in, doesn’t that sound better than grammar tables?

Language Learning Apps

Kirsty and I have already split off when it comes to our favourite language learning app. To be honest we don’t spend a lot of time on the apps, they’re just used when we have a bit of dead time, whether it be waiting for the tube or cooking dinner.

I’ve been using Memrise which is a free app (there is a paid premium option, but I haven’t found a need for it yet) which is useful for you guessed it, memorising words. It’s quite a simple concept, but I’ve found it very useful with helping me remember words that come up in the Pimsleur course. There are loads of different courses with thousands of words and I’ve grown quite fond of the app.

While I’ve been using that, Kirsty prefers to use Mondly. It’s also free to download but quickly becomes limited before you have to pay, Kirsty liked it enough to do so and paid the £12.99 for full access. There’s a lot more going on in this app with pictures for prompts and speaking sections and it reminds me a lot of Duolingo (which unfortunately doesn’t offer Romanian, yet). Kirsty likes it a lot but I prefer the simplicity of Memrise. 

So that’s where we are at the moment with learning Romanian. Despite dropping the lessons, we both feel much more confident not only with using Romanian but in our ability to learn the language.

Oh, and we’re still watching lots of Disney films, last night it was Monsters Inc.

As usual, If you have any advice or apps/websites etc we should check out then we’d love to hear about them.