(UPDATE: I re-wrote my notes in an effort to make them easier to understand.)
A good video on YouTube, "how to learn any language in six months". It's about 18 minutes long and, if you understand even some of it, will learn and understand exactly what you need to identify in order to learn your target language, be it English or some other language. My notes are below.
NOTES
-There are four key elements to learning any language: meaning - relevance - attention - memory
-All that means is that there are FIVE principles and SEVEN actions you need to take:
The FIVE principles are:
1) Concentrate on language that is relevant to you.
2) Your language is a tool, use it to communicate from Day 1
3) When you understand the message you will unconsciously acquire the language
4) You must develop your language muscles which can be done by speaking. This is known as physiological training.
5) You will learn best if you are calm and relaxed, this is the best psycho-physiological state to be in in order to learn. If you're unhappy, depressed, anxious or otherwise not totally committed to your language acquisition, then you won't be able to focus and your studies will suffer.
The SEVEN actions are:
1) Listen a lot!
2) Focus on getting the meaning first (use body language)
3) Use patterns you already know and start mixing - 10 verbs x 10 nouns x 10 adjectives.
4) Learn the most important group of words.
5) Get a "language parent", someone who can help you learn your language.
6) Learn how to pronounce words by watching the mouth and face.
7) Link words to an image.
Finally...
-Learn to tolerate ambiguity. Put another way, you won't know everything at the beginning and will make a lot of mistakes. That's why it's important to have what he calls a "language parent," who is like a mentor but differs because they will allow you to make mistakes so you learn.
Language parent "rules"
-works to understand what you are saying
-does not correct mistakes
-confirms understanding by using correct language
-uses words the learner knows
A good video on YouTube, "how to learn any language in six months". It's about 18 minutes long and, if you understand even some of it, will learn and understand exactly what you need to identify in order to learn your target language, be it English or some other language. My notes are below.
NOTES
-There are four key elements to learning any language: meaning - relevance - attention - memory
-All that means is that there are FIVE principles and SEVEN actions you need to take:
The FIVE principles are:
1) Concentrate on language that is relevant to you.
2) Your language is a tool, use it to communicate from Day 1
3) When you understand the message you will unconsciously acquire the language
4) You must develop your language muscles which can be done by speaking. This is known as physiological training.
5) You will learn best if you are calm and relaxed, this is the best psycho-physiological state to be in in order to learn. If you're unhappy, depressed, anxious or otherwise not totally committed to your language acquisition, then you won't be able to focus and your studies will suffer.
The SEVEN actions are:
1) Listen a lot!
2) Focus on getting the meaning first (use body language)
3) Use patterns you already know and start mixing - 10 verbs x 10 nouns x 10 adjectives.
4) Learn the most important group of words.
5) Get a "language parent", someone who can help you learn your language.
6) Learn how to pronounce words by watching the mouth and face.
7) Link words to an image.
Finally...
-Learn to tolerate ambiguity. Put another way, you won't know everything at the beginning and will make a lot of mistakes. That's why it's important to have what he calls a "language parent," who is like a mentor but differs because they will allow you to make mistakes so you learn.
Language parent "rules"
-works to understand what you are saying
-does not correct mistakes
-confirms understanding by using correct language
-uses words the learner knows
