Editing Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Techniques-for-learning-languages

[[File:Teaching-languages.png|thumb]]

In this article, we will explore techniques for learning languages that are both effective and enjoyable. Many of these techniques are not scientifically verified, but they are worth a try. From bilingual conversation and mistake logging to spaced repetition and obstacle listening, these techniques will help you improve your language skills and gain confidence in your ability to communicate in a new language. 

* This page has a [[Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Difficulties-of-languages|child]].

== Bilingual conversation ==
When you are talking with your language & culture exchange partner, make them bilingual for each sentence.

Let's see which language to speak first, and which second:

If you want to focus on understanding,

# If your speaking skill is good and your partner's listening skill is bad,  you speak your target language first.
# If your speaking skill is bad and your partner's listening skill is good,  you speak your partner's target language first.

If you want to focus on training,

# If your speaking skill is good and your partner's listening skill is bad, you speak your partner's target language first.
# If your speaking skill is bad and your partner's listening skill is good, you speak your target language first.

But if it's a chat on computer with text, it doesn't matter which one first, which one second.

If your partner can't speak a sentence well, you should say how to do it, with grammatical assistance, and your partner should repeat it fluently.

== Mistake log ==
Keep a log about which type of mistake you tend to make, and pay more attention to it.

[[Language/Multiple-languages/Grammar/Common-Mistakes]] This page is also incomplete.

== Parse and categorize ==
Find sentences, and parse them with tools such as

http://www.mapsofspeech.com/2017/10/02/treeform/

Then categorize those sentences with the trees' pattern, then you will have a really better understanding of the sentence structures.

== [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandem_language_learning Tandem] ==
This method is not what you do in the app named Tandem.

In tandem, you and your partner are native speakers of the target language of each other. In a period, you both only speak one's native language. In the next period, you both only speak the other's native language. Then the next period, and so on. The lengths of the periods are equal.

== Synonym groups ==
When you find a word, try to find its synonyms, as many a native should know as possible, make them a group, mark their usage differences, and name the group with the word most frequently used or the one you know best. This can be realised by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesaurus thesauri].

If you like, you can also have antonyms. But I guess too many words may discourage you.

== Morse code training ==
“Are you serious?”

Creativity comes from deviation.

It helps to train concentration for listening. Maybe it's concentration, not limited to listening.

Morse code training software is not hard to find on every common operating system.

== Surrounding vocabulary ==
Yes, right now, from words like “computer”, “screen”, “lesson”, “technique”, “polyglot”, “club”, “website”, “browser”, “grim”, “pixel”. What you can see will be on your vocabulary list to memorise.

This method can be combined with “synonym groups”.

== Instant sentences ==
Write down whatever sentence you can make up instantly, on the text bar of Google Translate.

Its accuracy is not guaranteed for all languages. You can translate back to check it.

== Echo ==
Record your voice when your are reading an article, play the recording to see how you pronounced and if you can understand yourself.

You may have met English teachers who can point out your incorrect pronunciation and have incorrect pronunciation themselves. They lack this type of training.

Keep in mind that your recognising your words doesn't mean that your pronunciation is correct.

== Text emerge ==
Listen to a text and look at the translation of the text. Try to recognise every word you heard with the help of the translation.

You may wonder where to find such listening materials with translation. Find a text in your target language, translate it with Google Translate, then listen to the TTS voice.

== Reversed flashcards ==
When creating flashcards, write the word on the back, the definition on the front. In this way, you will consider how to express something instead of guessing the meaning of a word.

== Affix and root groups ==
Put the words with the same affix or the same root in a group, and memorise them with Anki or something alike.

This helps you to build a solid impression of an affix or a root.

== Say the sequences ==
Try to say the number in your target language following the sequences:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!sequence
!result
|-
|k * 5
|0, 5, 10, 15 ...
|-
|<nowiki>-(k * 5)</nowiki>
|0, -5, -10, -15 ...
|-
|1 / ((k + 1) * 5)
|1/5, 1/10, 1/15, 1/20 ...
|-
|<nowiki>-(1 / ((k + 1) * 5))</nowiki>
|<nowiki>-1/5, -1/10, -1/15, -1/20 ...</nowiki>
|-
|
|
|-
|k * 2
|0, 2, 4, 6, ...
|-
|k * 2 + 1
|1, 3, 5, 7, ....
|-
|<nowiki>-(k* 2)</nowiki>
|0, -2, -4, -6, ...
|-
|<nowiki>-(k * 2 + 1)</nowiki>
|<nowiki>-1, -3, -5, -7, ....</nowiki>
|-
|1 / ((k + 1) * 2)
|1/2, 1/4, 1/6, 1/8 ...
|-
|<nowiki>-(1 / ((k + 1) * 2))</nowiki>
|<nowiki>-1/2, -1/4, -1/6, -1/8 ...</nowiki>
|-
|
|
|-
|k * 3
|0, 3, 6, 9, ...
|-
|<nowiki>-(k * 3)</nowiki>
|0, -3, -6, -9, ...
|-
|1 / ((k + 1) * 3)
|1/3, 1/6, 1/9, 1/12 ...
|-
|<nowiki>-(1 / ((k + 1) * 3))</nowiki>
|<nowiki>-1/3, -1/6, -1/9, -1/12 ...</nowiki>
|-
|
|
|-
|2^k
|1, 2, 4, 8, ...
|-
|<nowiki>-(2^k)</nowiki>
|<nowiki>-1, -2, -4, -8, ...</nowiki>
|-
|1 / (2^k)
|1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, ...
|-
|<nowiki>-(1 / (2^k))</nowiki>
|<nowiki>-1/2, -1/4, -1/8, -1/16, ...</nowiki>
|-
|
|
|-
|k + 1
|0, 1, 2, 3, ...
|-
|k - 1
|0, -1, -2, -3, ...
|-
|1 / (k + 1)
|1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, ...
|-
|1 / (k - 1)
|<nowiki>-1, -1/2, -1/3, -1/4, ...</nowiki>
|-
|
|
|-
|k * 11
|0, 11, 22, 33, ...
|-
|k * 11 + 1
|1, 12, 23, 34, ...
|-
|k * 11 - 1
|<nowiki>-1, 10, 21, 32, ...</nowiki>
|-
|k * 11 + 2
|2, 13, 24, 35, ...
|-
|k * 11 - 2
|<nowiki>-2, 9, 20, 31, ...</nowiki>
|-
|k * 11 + 3
|3, 14, 25, 36, ...
|-
|k * 11 - 3
|<nowiki>-3, 8, 19, 30, ...</nowiki>
|-
|k * 11 + 4
|4, 15, 26, 37, ...
|-
|k * 11 - 4
| -4, 7, 18, 29, ...
|-
|k * 11 + 5
|5, 16, 27, 38, ...
|-
|k * 11 - 5
|<nowiki>-5, 6, 17, 28, ...</nowiki>
|-
|
|
|-
|k * 9
|0, 9, 18, 27, ...
|-
|k * 9 + 1
|1, 10, 19, 28, ...
|-
|k * 9 - 1
|<nowiki>-1, 8, 17, 26, ...</nowiki>
|-
|k * 9 + 2
|2, 11, 20, 29, ...
|-
|k * 9 - 2
|<nowiki>-2, 7, 16, 25, ...</nowiki>
|-
|k * 9 + 3
|3, 12, 21, 30, ...
|-
|k * 9 - 3
|<nowiki>-3, 6, 15, 24, ...</nowiki>
|-
|k * 9 + 4
|4, 13, 22, 31, ...
|-
|k * 9 - 4
|<nowiki>-4, 5, 14, 23, ...</nowiki>
|-
|k * 9 + 5
|5, 14, 23, 32, ...
|-
|k * 9 - 5
|<nowiki>-5, 4, 13, 22, ...</nowiki>
|-
|
|
|-
|k / (k + 1)
|0, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, ...
|-
|(k + 2) / (k + 1)
|2, 3/2, 4/3, 5/4, ...
|-
|<nowiki>-(k / (k + 1))</nowiki>
|0, -1/2, -2/3, -3/4, ...
|-
|<nowiki>-((k + 2) / (k + 1))</nowiki>
|<nowiki>-2, -3/2, -4/3, -5/4, ...</nowiki>
|}

== Vocabulary division ==
The words to memorise looks too many, which frustrates you all the time.

Now, divide them into many small groups, complete smaller goals and make yourself confident:

#Find a number of words according to frequency;
#Divide them with the the traits. If a word has two or more, place it into each of the corresponding groups;
#Memorise the words with a same trait, one trait by another, one frequency level by another.

For example:

{| class="wikitable"
!
!part of speech
!part of speech
!...
!affix
!affix
!...
!irregular inflection
!irregular inflection
!irregular inflection
!...
!collocation
!collocation
!...
!topic (not linguistic)
!topic (not linguistic)
!...
|-
!
!adjective
!noun
!...
!with prefix “ab-”
!with prefix “for-”
!...
!irregular verb
!plural with “-es”
!plural with “-a”
!...
!collocate with “to”
!collocate with “at”
!...
!related to topic “tools”
!related to topic “medicine”
!...
|-
!1-500
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|-
!501-1000
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|-
!1001-1500
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|-
!1501-2000
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|a group of words
|a group of words
|...
|-
!...
|...
|...
|...
|...
|...
|...
|...
|...
|...
|...
|...
|...
|...
|...
|...
|...
|}

Learn them grid by grid. It's better to have hyperlinks for “a group of words” and direct to another page, if you are going to build webpages or create e-books for it.

This can be combined with [[Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Ideas-about-language-learning#Vocabulary matrix|Vocabulary matrix]].

== Language comparison ==
Compare your target language with languages you have learned.

It means that you will need to learn your native language as a non-native speaker, recognise your native language from outside.

== Learn from mistakes ==
When visiting sites with automatic translations, see how hilarious they can be.

But there are more important works to do: think why they are mistaken. When you reach the answer, you've got a bit more insight about languages.

== Text variation ==
Write a text involving tense, voice, etc. and change the tense, voice, etc. inside it. Then let other people check your texts.

== Synonym challenge ==
Write as many synonyms of a word as possible and check dictionaries, write down the synonyms you haven't known yet.

== Video interpretation ==
Instantly describe what happened as you see, like sports commentators. It requires collaboration with a native speaker.

Try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npTC6b5-yvM

== Conversation recurrence ==
Chat with a native speaker with voice. Then try to repeat the conversation in a faster pace, until you can fluently express.

== Association ==
It is said that you can remember something easier if you make use of as many sense organs as possible. So you can try this: When remembering vocabulary, associate the word with your emotions.

For example: When seeing the word “racist”, you can instantly think of somebody and hate as hysterically as possible. <div style="color:white">Yeah, it's a joke.</div>

== Obstacle listening ==
To improve your listening skills even higher: open Twitch, TikTok, recordings of apes or other noise sources when listening, as well as lowering the volume of your listening materials.

== Spaced Repetition == 

Spaced repetition is a technique that involves reviewing new information at increasing intervals to help remember it for longer periods of time. 

It is a useful tool for language learners because it helps them remember vocabulary and grammar rules more effectively. Essentially, spaced repetition involves reviewing and practicing new material at timed intervals to ensure that it is retained in long-term memory. This technique can be used with flashcards, language learning apps, and other tools to help learners remember new information more effectively.

==-- AUTHOR --==
[https://polyglotclub.com/member/GrimPixel GrimPixel]

==Other Lessons==
* [[Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Internet-Blogs|Internet Blogs]]
* [[Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Internet-resources-for-learning-specific-languages|Internet resources for learning specific languages]]
* [[Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Astrology-in-different-Cultures-and-Languages|Astrology in different Cultures and Languages]]
* [[Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Internet-Courses|Internet Courses]]
* [[Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Websites-of-Cuisine-Recipes|Websites of Cuisine Recipes]]
* [[Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Important-Technologies|Important Technologies]]
* [[Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Different-ways-to-greet-in-the-world|Different ways to greet in the world]]
* [[Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Video-Games-with-Real‐Life-Locations|Video Games with Real‐Life Locations]]
* [[Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/IRFP-in-brief|IRFP in brief]]
* [[Language/Multiple-languages/Culture/Philosophical-and-Religious-Texts|Philosophical and Religious Texts]]
<span links></span>