Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site sdcrdcf.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!barryg From: barryg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Barry Gold) Newsgroups: net.nlang Subject: Re: Learning/Retaining a Language Message-ID: <1673@sdcrdcf.UUCP> Date: Tue, 15-Jan-85 22:29:48 EST Article-I.D.: sdcrdcf.1673 Posted: Tue Jan 15 22:29:48 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 18-Jan-85 01:23:57 EST References: <208@philabs.UUCP> Reply-To: barryg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Barry Gold) Distribution: net Organization: System Development Corp. R+D, Santa Monica Lines: 26 Summary: I've found the following principles help a lot while acquiring a language. 1. Don't try to learn vocabulary as= Instead try to tie each new foreign word in to the same sort of referents you have for the English word. (Thus, instead of saying "fune" is Japanese for ship, associate "fune" with a mental picture of a Japanese ship, and only secondarily with the way the equivalent word is pronounced/spelled in your native language.) 2. One of the best textbooks I used introduced each grammatical principle with "pattern sentences" to be memorized and used as bases for variations. Devise something like this, and then run changes on the pattern with all relevant vocabulary. Try to use sentences which tie in to the culture in which the language is used. 3. Most textbooks don't give you a feeling for what diction level words are. In your own language, you know what words/phrases/grammatical patterns are formal/colloquial/slang, but it's hard to figure that out for foreign languages. You might supplement formal study by buying comics in the foreign language. Seeing movies and television shows helps too. Hope this has been of some help. --Lee Gold