How do you study when you are trying to learn a new language?

[joãocabral]

So, decided to make this thread after reading another one that was related to this.
Just for some clarification, I'm fluent in English (mother language is Portuguese) but I learned not by studying, reading, etc. I learned just like I learned Portuguese, by playing games, listening songs, just like babies learn by listening, so I learned, the "easy way".
Now I'm a bit older, and I"m trying to learn Spanish and a thing I realized about myself is, that, even though I'm fluent in a foreign language, I don't know how to actually learn one, since I never made an effort to teach myself.
That being said, what's your proccess when you are trying to speak another language? books? videos? courses? what works best for you?
My current method is doing Duolingo, which i have a streak of 310 days, and watching some videos, but I still think my spanish level is pretty trash.

 

[Terminal Velocity]

I started learning English in a serious manner after I finished school at 2000. I bought a book called ''English without a teacher'' that book helped me a lot, it put in order the sparse knowledge I had until then, how to talk present, past and future, it was great, I didn't just read that book I studied it, I kept notes. When I finished with it I was surprised when suddenly I could understand documentaries and other clear and consistent speaking media. After was fun, movies, English forums, game chats, all helped me improve while having fun.

So obviously I suggest to you a good book that assumes that there is no teacher to explain anything and everything has to be explained in the book. Good luck

 

[KGIII]

I started learning English in a serious manner after I finished school at 2000.

You write better than many native English speakers.

As I mentioned in the other thread, my path was a combination of formal study (now mostly forgotten) and immersion (still retained well enough). My MOS was that of a security guard and a previous MOS was motor vehicle operator (light and medium duty). I was attached to the embassy in Peru. I did get some formal Spanish lessons but those sucked and I really learned by just being around it.

None of the forms I ever filled out were in Spanish. So, I have no clue how to spell it, though I can read it well enough - if that makes sense. I could probably try writing in Spanish, but it will look as though it was written by a five year old.

 

[gvisoc]

Last time I did that, I packed my life in 21 kilos and moved countries. For extra motivation, having a local marrying you once there gets you deeper roots!

Jokes aside, last time I formally studied a language was because I had to pass an English proficiency test to get a permanent visa, so I threw myself down the hill of tuition + total immersion:

• I went to a tuition company and practiced a lot the exam format. This was like paying an insurance, but I didn't want to risk my visa prospects.
• Went out a lot more with locals. That led me to get those deeper roots I was mentioning, all being said.
• Stopped reading and consuming media in my mother language (Spanish)
• Put the radio all the time at home. Even if not listening.
• Unsuscribed from all Spanish-spoken media and podcasts (saved an OPML for after the exam)
• Tried to think my inner dialogue in English. That's bloody hard, but it's what really makes the difference. If you can do it (there are people that don't have inner dialogue and I find it magic and fascinating, but that's another topic) thinking in the language you want to learn is like practicing your conversation 24/7. Especially if you're an over-thinker.

I obviously didn't stop talking to my Spanish family, but that was about it. All the rest of my life had only room for English for 6 months, including my own thoughts' inner dialogue.

It was probably an overkill, but it probably got me the best English I could get for the time I had.

 

[osprey]

My MOS was that of a security guard and a previous MOS was motor vehicle operator (light and medium duty)..

MOS Months
MOS Microsoft Office Specialist
MOS Military Occupational Specialty (US Army)
MOS Metal-Oxide Semiconductor
MOS Mean Opinion Score
MoS Ministry of Sound (London Night Club)
MOS Man On the Street (type of interview)
MOS Made of Steel
MOS Moment of Silence
MOS Mu Online Server
MOS Museum of Science (Boston, MA)
MOS Man of Steel (aka The Man of Steel; also seen as TMOS)
MOS Margin of Safety
MOS Material On Site
MOS Madonna of the Streets
MOS Manual of Style
MOS Mates of State (band)
MOS My Oracle Support (software)
MOS Missions of State (US Navy)
MOS Mambo Open Source
MOS Mom over Shoulder (texting; aka Mother over Shoulder)
MoS Miracle of Science (science fiction)
MOS Medical Outcomes Study
MOS Make Out Session
MOS Marked Out of Stock
MoS Motorways of the Sea (EU)
MOS Model Output Statistics
etc.

I could only laugh at some of the substitutions, and sorry for the ignorance, but which one, if any?

 

[KGIII]

I could only laugh at some of the substitutions, and sorry for the ignorance, but which one, if any?

List of United States Marine Corps MOS - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The "MOS" in your list just mentioned the Army. You can have an MOS and a PMOS, where the PMOS is your Primary MOS. I was a qualified motor vehicle operator during this stint and finished my contract attached to the brig where I was what a civilian would call a 'transportation officer'. I moved detainees from one place to another, while ensuring their safety, health, and rights - while also ensuring they remained in custody.

It was an interesting job, I suppose. I've done a lot of different jobs, largely due to needing to pay for an education. I'm a very rare bird in some regards. I left the USMC and then rejoined the USMC about four years later. The second enlistment was to save some money to pay for grad school as I knew I'd be able to still get accepted into the graduate program.

It's a pretty long story.

Now, back to the topic of the thread...

 

[osprey]

Aha! The Marine Corps. Thanks for that, and the info. I keep a list of acronyms which helps me and my ordinary memory. Acronyms are so abundant in IT, and growing.

More or less on topic, as far as learning languages go, there's a natural learning period in human development, which is in childhood, and it doesn't involve anything formal in terms of learning syntax, grammar, semantics and phonetics. It's learnt by immersion. After this optimal period, whatever second natural language is learned, such learning is usually detectable by the accent of the speaker. It's almost impossible for a language learnt beyond childhood and early youth, to sound like a native speaker, though the actual facility with the learnt (second) language may not be inferior in any way. In fact, second language learners often have a more detailed awareness of the grammar of that second language. There's still contention about whether language learning is innate or environmental ... the nature and nurture debate in a different guise.

Since native speakers learn by immersion, adults can replicate that method. Formal learning, especially in academic contexts which has little or no immersion, is the alternative that uses conscious modelling and the overt learning of rule governed insights to reproduce the linguistic outcomes. The French night school language classes that I'm familiar with try and use immersion for the couple of hours of tuition by prohibiting any language other than French being spoken. The tutor throws severe frowns at transgressions. Such immersion is however, a small gesture. There's quite a bit of research which shows that learning a second language as an adult is one of the more effective counters to age related cognitive deterioration, and also perhaps dementia. Doing crosswords, and other word games apparently doesn't cut it.

As an English speaker, learning French in an academic environment from about 12 years old, and developing some fluency, despite trying to "get rid of my accent", I found it wasn't possible. Visiting France, highlighted that so much when French people could pick that I was a native English speaker. Knowing French though, was so much better in France than some colleagues who had to get by with travel booklet language guides.