I tried an intense method to learn Spanish for 30 days
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- Опубліковано 21 жов 2024
- I changed how I approached learning a language - this is the story of what happened...
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Flash cards helped me with japanese, but for spanish I listened to content 8 hours a day and spoke to my friends in spanish for 4 hours a day 5 days a week and I got good really fast.
Nice!
I would say my study routine is very ad lib. But it generally involves about a half hour of Anki and then some reading or listening. I'm studying Korean. The Anki cards are reading cards (target language both written and spoken on side 1).
when you started speaking spanish your vibe suddenly became so familiar to me it felt like you were mi primo for a second
Jajajaja! Gracias primo!
When I was learning French (traditional methods) many years ago I used a notebook to create sentences, or parts thereof, to reinforce noun gender. I rarely make mistakes in that regard so maybe it helped. I don’t know for sure. Anyway, what it did teach me was that context is paramount. Words are defined by the company they keep.
For Spanish, I’ve not used any method other than CI. I love the ease of it and I love the fact that everything I’m picking up is in context. At this point in time, I’m not motivated to try anything else but that may change in the future. I like that others try things and report their experience.
That's interesting. CI is a real pleasure to use - pair with a great tutor it makes learning the language so engaging
Awesome video Matt! Really interesting to hear your experience!
Cheers buddy!
Forget flashcards. They feel like compulsion, work. Just write a sentence from a book, podcast whatever, and attempt ten different variations and see how many you get right. Make a different sentence tomorrow. You can keep the result or tear it up, but I wouldn't bother reviewing it, just try to get as near to a perfect score as possible over time.
what do you mean by variations? how do you check whether they are right?
Writing sentences is way more "work" than doing flashcards
@@kipkiphoera Google translate or chatgpt etc. You're not sitting an exam, but trying different things. You're the only judge.
Write this comment in a language you have learned using your method.
@@tanizaki "Scrivi questo commento in una lingua che hai imparato usando il tuo metodo."
"Puoi scrivere questo commento in una lingua che hai appreso tramite il tuo metodo?"
"Potresti riformulare questo commento in una lingua che hai studiato con il tuo metodo?"
"Prova a scrivere questo commento in una lingua che hai imparato seguendo il tuo metodo."
"Riusciresti a scrivere questo commento in una lingua che hai imparato grazie al tuo metodo?"
"Riformula questo commento in una lingua che hai appreso con il tuo metodo."
"Puoi per favore riscrivere questo commento in una lingua che hai imparato attraverso il tuo metodo?"
"Come riscriveresti questo commento in una lingua che hai studiato usando il tuo metodo?"
"Riscrivi questo commento utilizzando una lingua che hai imparato con il tuo metodo."
"Hai mai provato a scrivere un commento in una lingua che hai appreso con il tuo metodo?"
I find SRS is useful early on when learning a new language, when I know too few words to really make good use of easy comprehensible video content on UA-cam, etc., but when I am able to enjoy content without struggling to understand, that's what I prefer to keep doing, since that also consolidates grammar and so much more (intonation, prosody, rhythm) at the same time, creating a natural understanding as much as possible, as well as improving listening skills.
Lots of useful points made about flashcards in the video and the comments. As you found out they can feel like having a second job but they are effective. I find that if you have a regular commute (not driving or cycling) and/or go to the gym regularly for slow paced cardio on a bike, stepper, treadmill, etc then you can easily fit them in. Also probably most useful to focus on 1k-2k highest frequency words to just get to the point where you can do something more enjoyable - so use them as a means to an end. But if you find you really never make time for them, find them onerous or just dread doing them it's clearly not the right method for you.
Hi Matt, I was thinking it would be better to start with cloze deletions, and then when the cards become mature you can swap them to a new deck and increase the size of the deletion to include a bigger chunk. I found that multiple passes lead to me memorizing the whole sentence better
Yeah, that sounds like it would be a sensible approach. I just wanted to jump straight in and see what it was like. To be honest, it was more to try creating new sentences using the card as a prompt. Shorter would definitely have been better!
I trust more in massive input (read, listen, watch..), apart that it is easier than producing output, which by the way is harder... but I know I have to do it and to practice speaking in order to improve my speaking skill
Matt. I really enjoyed comparing your experiences to my own with flash cards. I'm learning Korean, and am far from being conversational. Some comparisons that were interesting to me.
1. I'm also most productive in the morning with flashcards.
2. I've been most productive with flashcards when I had a goal to learn X # of words by a certain day--I usually don't like goals like that, but it worked for me with this. My definition of learned was that it was in my deck and had successfully remembered the word at least once. By the time I was approaching my goal, I had to do an hour of flashcards per day and I was struggling to learn the new words, and losing interest in the activity.
3. For me, 10 new words per day was close to a sweet spot, but I had to "give myself permission" to have days that many of the words were of English origin and easy to remember. If I try the exercise again I might do 7 or 8 words. However, it was good for me to have a way to build in easy days so that when I didn't want to do flashcards, I could find an easier way to maintain momentum and my habit.
4. For 30 minutes, I really enjoyed flashcards. Usually not longer.
5. It is difficult to quantify, but as a beginner, I think that spending a lot of time on vocabulary flashcards paid big dividends. Before this push to learn a bunch of words I was focusing on immersion, but didn't feel like I was making tons of progress. As I've gone back to more reading and fewer flashcards, my reading is much better now--because of my time focused on beginner vocabulary.
6. I thought I'd make flashcards by reading things and then building flashcards from that. Whenever I tried that it took forever to build the deck. I found success by using a beginner vocabulary book and learning those words, page by page--again I found it useful to give myself permission to skip words that I didn't want to learn for whatever reason.
7. I love using mnemonics to remember words. I use them regularly, not occasionally. It's the words that I don't have tricks to remember that I usually forget. It helps me remember whether I see the word in my flashcards or in native context.
Thanks again for sharing your experience.
Thanks so much for your comment. Yeah, I didn't mention it in the video but I found when I was thinking about creating sentences from content I had to keep part of my attention looking out for phrases to add. I found it reduced my enjoyment of being immersed in content so I just stuck with what I started with
I enjoy your videos, Matt! I'd like to share a little about my own language learning. I moved to Japan with my wife and three little ones in 1988. I call that the Dark Ages of Language Learning. The only tools I had were textbooks, flashcards, and cassette tapes that came with the textbooks. It was horribly slow, tedious, and frustrating. By the time I returned to the States in 1998, I had acquired a decent facility in the language. I was a teacher in Japan and earned a graduate degree in applied linguistics at the university where I was teaching. Once I returned to America, I had no chance to use Japanese and no time to study it, as my job was so time-intensive. Plus, I had a child in high school, a child in middle school, and a child in elementary school. Fast forward to 2022, I had just finished my PhD and had a little time to return to Japanese. I was shocked by how much of the language I had forgotten. I took two semesters of college-level Japanese to scrape the rust off. I'm still very, very rusty, but I'm making a little progress. Now, all that to say, I related to so much of what you said in this video. I hate flashcards and the apps that substitute for them. I think they have their place, especially if someone is a beginner beginner. You've got to get vocabulary into your head. But there are soooooo many useful alternatives for someone who already knows a thousand or two thousand vocabulary words. Anyway, this is a long paragraph just to say, I appreciate your videos! This is the Golden Age of Language Learning for sure, and your videos add to the wealth of language learning knowledge and advice! Thank you!
Thanks so much Tony, I'm so glad you find them useful. I'm sure you'll put your Japanese back together before long. I'm the same with Chinese - I'm looking forward to getting back into graded readers. Good luck!
Flash cards arn’t for me. Many words have multiple meanings depending on context. I listen and read and the important words repeat at regular intervals anyway. It takes time and I really don’t think there is a quick fix or secret hack, unless you’re willing to study 8 hours a day, but even then I feel there would be diminishing returns. I’ve found 1.5-2 hrs a day to be a sweet spot to remain consistent and avoid burnout.
I was impressed that you jumped right into doing full on sentence production flash cards. Those have to be the most difficult ones possible. I burn out on most production cards after a few days, even easier ones like vocabulary or closed delete. I didn't track my progress but I went from very slow, basic, tedious Japanese to pretty fluent over several years. But I don't think I could have personally have done it without living in Japan. I'm not sure though. I've been trying to learn Korean in the US and I feel like I've hit a wall.
It was a lot but definitely an interesting experiment. Good luck with Korean!
Totally relate to what you say at 21:52 - I have also books, podcats, youtube channels I love in my target language which is awesome to learn and keep being motivated. I think flashcards can be very helpful but I woud always use them IN ADDITION to comprehensible input, not as main focus.
Totally!
I have a Chinese program, LingQ, books with audio and flashcards... and I just don't think I have the time. I listen when I can, but I do a lot of "turn this on and try to catch some sleep before..." I work 12 hour shifts overnight, homeschool kids during the day, and appointments every week. I watch UA-cam between calls, but in English so I don't forget to speak English at work. I only get two 15 minute breaks at work during the night, so I use that time to bathroom and get more coffee. I found I can't study at work or I stutter trying to remember English. My schedule changes next month, so I hope to change my study schedule to be more consistent. My goal currently is one full lesson a week, at least five flash cards a night, and review one short story a week on LingQ. I read when I can or just listen to the audio books while falling asleep.
Wow! Good job. That sounds intense. I've heard that sleep is important for encoding memories too
@matt_brooks-green I know it is, but for the next 5 years I just don't have time to sleep.
Something must be going well with my Mandarin, though. I watched the first episode of a show with Mandarin sub instead of French or English subs. I got the jokes and most of what was going on. I switched the subs to watch again to make sure, but I was understanding. On my day off this week I will watch the next episode in Mandarin with Mandarin subs.
follower of Refold here. I'm all about flashcards to get to intermediate levels. I go back and forth but really don't like them although they do work if paired with immersion. I'm going back and forth if intensive reading is just as helpful if not more than the SRS when you have the top 5 or 10 words down.
I use Lingq on sentence mode and have a transcript of a show and a read super slow as if each sentence is like a Zen koan and spend time with where I get stuck until I understand the full meaning of the sentence. I also do this with random pages of the books I'm reading.
Good work. I'm doing more intensive reading and I have to say it's really powerful. I like the zen koan analogy!
@@matt_brooks-green Of course most of my time is spent in immersion but this is what works for me for intensive study.
Very busy right now so I listen to an hour of content daily and I have Spanish conversations online about five times a week
Good job!
Great video!
Thank you so much!
One of these days, Matt, you’re gonna need to explain to why family why I stop having breakfast with them to watch your videos.
Hahaha! Sorry Jeff! Hope you enjoyed it
I like Memrise its not perfect but on days when I'm not feeling motivated I want to keep my streak going and once I do that it gets me started. Equivalent would be to say it gets me to the gym on days when I don't feel like it.
I can see that being helpful. Consistency is super important
Interesting video.
Thank you!
Do you feel like you made better improvement in the last month then you would have without implementing this technique?
Obviously it's very hard to say either way. There was clearly an opportunity cost in that it was time I couldn't do other stuff (I noticed I read less int eh month I did this for example). I think the fact that I made the sentences too hard reduced the efficacy of this as a method. Speed running a load of much shorter chunks I feel would give you more bang for your buck. Also, if you can remember them in that format you're going to have them to hand in a conversation rather than pausing and taking too long to retrieve the longer phrase. I'm glad I tried it though
Five minutes in no useful information.
Yeah, but the sixth minute was absolute 🔥 🤣