extraordinary07 said:
yeah i was looking to do a language like german, and i'd be willing todo that much work for it and more as well. can you reccomend any study techniques you always use that help? thanks.
Study techniques again come down the individual and the type of language. I haven't actually studied a European language yet, but in general the best way to go about language study is;
- Keep up with the vocab, revise nightly
- Sound files, sound files, sound files, sound files
- Write a lot
The last point is the strategy I personally use all the time when I'm bored and I find it really effective. It's a great way to keep refreshing vocab as well as your grammar points. As you progress weekly you'll start to be able to write more and more... just starting off with like "My name is Mike. I study x and y languages at the University of New South Wales". Eventually you'll be able to add more and more, like "I am a x year student. My favourite foods are x and y. My fav sports are x and y" etc. Then you'll find yourself being able to link all these sentences up as you start to learn more in depth grammar.
Just doing this while sitting on the train or what ever really helps.
Also just grind the hell out of the vocab, and an early tip if you haven't studied a language before... using additional vocab/structures in your speaking tasks will generally impress your tutor/lecturer as well as give you an edge. I'm not saying learn an additional million words, but just a few little things here and there really make a difference.
This is just my personal approach, your tutors and lecturers will have far more tips and tricks that you can incorporate.
Of course, using the language all you can between your friends/class mates is constantly refreshing, fun, and good practice.
~shinigami~ said:
Thanks for starting the thread man.
I was gonna ask something similar but for chinese.
Have you studied an Asian language or know any Chinese already?
You'll need to put a lot more work in to Chinese than some other languages, considering the study load of characters and vocab, as well as learning the pronunciation which is a challenge of it's own. I'd HIGHLY suggest at LEAST 30mins a night, on top of a weekly study session. I'd try put in an hour most nights though.
Just listen to a lot of Chinese music/watch a lot of dramas too... REALLY helps with Chinese.
And don't forget, if you don't know the tone... you don't know the word.