cookiemonster
Legendary Member
- Location
- Hong Kong
Language learning
- Thread starter Cathryn
- Start date
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My daughter was teaching English to Adults /Young adults in Pamplona. They'd have the formal lesson then my daughter would introduce something less formal. What really went down well was when she brought in her music player and played the Pogues " Sickbed of Cuchulainn"
They absolutely loved the music and she wrote the Lyrics on the blackboard and went through them line by line explaining the colloquialisms / use of language. She wasn't a great deal older than her students so they all gelled really well and had some great visits to the local Cider houses. She also became quite a good Flamenco dancer 😎
They absolutely loved the music and she wrote the Lyrics on the blackboard and went through them line by line explaining the colloquialisms / use of language. She wasn't a great deal older than her students so they all gelled really well and had some great visits to the local Cider houses. She also became quite a good Flamenco dancer 😎
Chislenko
Veteran
Totally agree gavroche.
One of the problems you get is that books / courses etc teach you what I term as bank / church / official letter language not what you hear on the street / in the pub.
If you look at an example in English I would never say "Where are you going this afternoon"
It would probably sound more like
"Whereu off savvy"
Half the words get missed / truncated and the rest rolled in to one.
Chislenko
Veteran
Will you have to get some sort of visa to stay in France for a year now the 90 in 180 day rule applies to Brits in the Schengen area?
DaveReading
Don't suffer fools gladly (must try harder!)
- Location
- Reading, obvs
OP
OP
Cathryn
Legendary Member
- Location
- Marlborough, Wiltshire
I think so. Grrr. Even thinking about it makes me angry. (I have at least 8 years to wait so it's not a pressing problem). Damn Brexit.
OP
OP
Cathryn
Legendary Member
- Location
- Marlborough, Wiltshire
I taught my Y6 class (aged 11) the french for the swimming pool today - la 'piss-scene'. They didn't stop laughing for ages and it's all they told their class teacher when he returned. Job done.
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
I scraped a German O level, but never had any grasp of it.
Sixteen words for 'the' and the various cases, genetive, dative, etc was enough to defeat me.
Sixteen words for 'the' and the various cases, genetive, dative, etc was enough to defeat me.
) but still, somehow nice to know.
OP
OP
Cathryn
Legendary Member
- Location
- Marlborough, Wiltshire
This is one of my very favourite language videos. Makes me laugh every time.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_xUIDRxdmc
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_xUIDRxdmc
Yellow Fang
Legendary Member
- Location
- Reading
I am trying to learn Latin. I have read Gwynne's Latin, the Kennedy Primer, Winnie Ille Pu, and I am trying to read De Bello Gallico by your friend and mine, Julius Caesar. The problem with Latin is that even when you know the vocab, it's difficult to work out who's doing what to whom.
Once a Wheeler
…always a wheeler
Lots of good observations in this thread. You are probably already aware of the exercise possibilities offered by the following sites
https://my.babbel.com/en/
https://www.fluentu.com/
https://www.memrise.com/app
Adjectival endings in German? There is nothing to explain: like death and taxes they just are. Here is my way of getting them off pat but it may be anathema to you, so do not feel in any way surprised if this strikes you as daft:
Ground rule: NEVER read and speak at the same time. Read as often as you like, speak as often as you like but NEVER read out loud.
Of course, a lot of people find this silly. It has very low face value and, surprisingly, many people simply do not have the self-discipline never to speak when they are reading, never to read when they are speaking and always to look themselves in the eye when they speak. However, if you regard each stimulus-response pair as a Galibier and just grind your way to the top, the Galibier soon becomes a Poggio and you swiftly swoop down to victory.
Mit allen, guten, fröhlichen Wünschen für Ihren schnellen, spasshaftigen, kummerlosen Erfolg, wegen der anstrengender, leistungszielender, wiederholender Spiegelmethode. Es erwartet Ihnen eine flüssige, fehlerlose, erfolgreiche Sprachfähigkeit.
https://my.babbel.com/en/
https://www.fluentu.com/
https://www.memrise.com/app
Adjectival endings in German? There is nothing to explain: like death and taxes they just are. Here is my way of getting them off pat but it may be anathema to you, so do not feel in any way surprised if this strikes you as daft:
- Buy part 1 and 2 of this old and out-of-date book: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Ealing-C...MItICQ4cO67wIVh63tCh2g6g0uEAUYASABEgIrZfD_BwE
There is a single volume editon containing both parts if you can find it. (Failing The Ealing Course, any appropriate printed programmed exercise set will do.) - Go the Übungen (exercises) section and identify the exercises which practise adjectival endings. If by some miracle you managed to obtain the sound recordings to go with the book, and you can set these up as a language lab exercise as originally envisaged, then simply plough through the language lab exercises as instructed in the book and you will quickly master the adjectival ending phenomenon.
Ground rule: NEVER read and speak at the same time. Read as often as you like, speak as often as you like but NEVER read out loud.
- Sit in front of a mirror. Have the book on your lap open at the page with the first exercise you want to do.
- Read the first stimulus. (Remember: all reading is silent.) Then read the response. Repeat this silently until you can remember both.
- Close the book, but keep your thumb in the page.
- Look up and look at yourself in the mirror. Silently remember the stimulus.
- SPEAK the response to yourself in the mirror.
- Look down, open the book. Check that you got the stimulus and response correct.
- Repeat until you have got the (silent) stimulus and (spoken) response correct twice in a row, then go on to the next stimulus. (Remember: NEVER read out loud, ALWAYS be looking at yourself when you speak.)
- When you have gone through the complete exercise correctly and unhesitatingly twice in succession. Go on to the next one.
Of course, a lot of people find this silly. It has very low face value and, surprisingly, many people simply do not have the self-discipline never to speak when they are reading, never to read when they are speaking and always to look themselves in the eye when they speak. However, if you regard each stimulus-response pair as a Galibier and just grind your way to the top, the Galibier soon becomes a Poggio and you swiftly swoop down to victory.
Mit allen, guten, fröhlichen Wünschen für Ihren schnellen, spasshaftigen, kummerlosen Erfolg, wegen der anstrengender, leistungszielender, wiederholender Spiegelmethode. Es erwartet Ihnen eine flüssige, fehlerlose, erfolgreiche Sprachfähigkeit.
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Following on from the classroom / street differences, I've lived in France for getting on for 13 years now. I didn't speak a (serious) word of French before getting here so was taking lessons when I arrived. We were taught proppa (BBC?) French... then I had to learn how the French actually spoke it.
Most people don't talk proppa (in any language); they make grammatical errors, use the wrong word, mispronounce, miss words out, talk rubbish generally... it's a nightmare to understand when you're a beginner, even if well versed one. And that's before you even take into account accent and regional differences. You have to think pretty quickly and it is tiring. That said, it is pretty cool when it dawns on you that you DO understand and actually people talk about pretty much the same shoot in any language.
Getting to grips with the different expressions and sayings etc (that don't mean the sum of the words) can be pretty enlightening too.
Oh, and I'm still rubbish at French. One of the things that I have learnt and reconciled myself to is that I'll never speak it as a native speaker might. As good as I may get, I'll never have those native speaker intuitions and 'feel' for the language.
Most people don't talk proppa (in any language); they make grammatical errors, use the wrong word, mispronounce, miss words out, talk rubbish generally... it's a nightmare to understand when you're a beginner, even if well versed one. And that's before you even take into account accent and regional differences. You have to think pretty quickly and it is tiring. That said, it is pretty cool when it dawns on you that you DO understand and actually people talk about pretty much the same shoot in any language.
Getting to grips with the different expressions and sayings etc (that don't mean the sum of the words) can be pretty enlightening too.
Oh, and I'm still rubbish at French. One of the things that I have learnt and reconciled myself to is that I'll never speak it as a native speaker might. As good as I may get, I'll never have those native speaker intuitions and 'feel' for the language.
glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
matticus
Guru
But what makes you think the lessons were poor preparation? It's not like you've done a control experiment to compare!
I think language is like jazz; you will be much better at it if you first learn to play by the rules.
