I think the best method is to learn like a child. A child learns differently to adults because of different expectations. Children spend a few years perfecting basic common communication. Young children aren't expected to read. They learn by listening. They also learn WHOLE sentences. They really don't learn single words like adults do. So adults should emulate that when they begin learning a language: 1) Restrict the range of language 2) Spend at least one year learning that restricted range to perfection 3) Learn whole sentences (they should be short). 4) Learn by listening mostly. Then if you follow these rules, you will be fluent in the language, speak in sentences (even without knowledge of grammar), and have good accuracy and pronunciation. Yes, your vocabulary may be restricted and your range of language will be narrow too, but you will be able to SPEAK and communicate with natives on at least a basic level, and your communication will be native-like. This is MORE than what many adults who study languages for TEN YEARS in the traditional system can do. Many adults cannot SPEAK (except for saying "Hello" and "thank you") even after years of studying a language in a classroom. They don't feel comfortable even making small chat with natives. Then when you've mastered that stage (it should take one year), you can move onto reading and writing, just like children do, and concentrate on acquiring vocabulary, and in general broadening the range of language. You can do this relatively fast, since you would have acquired the fundamentals of the language by that stage. In other words, adults are far too ambitious, and because of this, their communication skills are worse than a young child's even after studying for a few years. So, to repeat: Learn Stage 1. Perfect Stage 1 before moving onto Stage 2. Only after Stage 2 has been perfected (the learner is speaking Stage 2 language fluently and accurately), you can move onto Stage 3. And so on.
What helped me massively was listening to news in my language if choice. News anchors usually speak clearly and you have pictures to help you deduct what is being said if you don't know the entire vocabulary that is used. My mother tongue is German, and I taught myself english, spanish, french, vietnamese, latin and ancient greek - now I've moved onto modern Greek. I also really like duolingo, the exercises are often more memorable than our school textbooks were and it encourages you to make a daily effort. Consistency is key in learning a language.
Grundsätzlich stimme ich dir zu ;) By the way, out of curiosity, how did you get involved with ancient Greek? I always wanted to learn a little bit for the sake of the philosophical literature I go through, but never really found any solid material for it (contrary to Latin).
@@philosophiahelvetica ah, so I'm an archeologist and it's a requirement to acquire the "graecum" as well as the "großes Latinum" to enroll in the subject. fortunately our university had high intensity courses on ancient greek which made learning a lot easier. I can thoroughly recommend the "reading greek" books by the joint association of classics teachers, I think there are three of them covering different areas of the language. It's been a couple of years though, so I hope I remembered that correctly. :)
It's surprising to hear how badly French is taught in Switzerland of all countries. Of all the countries in all the world that might need to get language teaching right, Switzerland probably tops the list. What you describe is how French is taught in many English-speaking countries. Hence the never-ending Anglo-Franco wars in Canada and the Brits who won't give up their egg n chips for anyone... I suspect the reason is partly to do with cost. Learning a language is largely audio-visual, which costs money. A reused textbook is a lot cheaper. Plus, some teachers like teaching grammar. They can just copy/plagiarise all day every day. Clearly some 'top' institutions are good at that.
It's Very informative video dear..
I think the best method is to learn like a child. A child learns differently to adults because of different expectations. Children spend a few years perfecting basic common communication. Young children aren't expected to read. They learn by listening. They also learn WHOLE sentences. They really don't learn single words like adults do. So adults should emulate that when they begin learning a language: 1) Restrict the range of language 2) Spend at least one year learning that restricted range to perfection 3) Learn whole sentences (they should be short). 4) Learn by listening mostly.
Then if you follow these rules, you will be fluent in the language, speak in sentences (even without knowledge of grammar), and have good accuracy and pronunciation. Yes, your vocabulary may be restricted and your range of language will be narrow too, but you will be able to SPEAK and communicate with natives on at least a basic level, and your communication will be native-like. This is MORE than what many adults who study languages for TEN YEARS in the traditional system can do. Many adults cannot SPEAK (except for saying "Hello" and "thank you") even after years of studying a language in a classroom. They don't feel comfortable even making small chat with natives.
Then when you've mastered that stage (it should take one year), you can move onto reading and writing, just like children do, and concentrate on acquiring vocabulary, and in general broadening the range of language. You can do this relatively fast, since you would have acquired the fundamentals of the language by that stage.
In other words, adults are far too ambitious, and because of this, their communication skills are worse than a young child's even after studying for a few years.
So, to repeat: Learn Stage 1. Perfect Stage 1 before moving onto Stage 2. Only after Stage 2 has been perfected (the learner is speaking Stage 2 language fluently and accurately), you can move onto Stage 3. And so on.
What helped me massively was listening to news in my language if choice. News anchors usually speak clearly and you have pictures to help you deduct what is being said if you don't know the entire vocabulary that is used.
My mother tongue is German, and I taught myself english, spanish, french, vietnamese, latin and ancient greek - now I've moved onto modern Greek. I also really like duolingo, the exercises are often more memorable than our school textbooks were and it encourages you to make a daily effort. Consistency is key in learning a language.
Grundsätzlich stimme ich dir zu ;) By the way, out of curiosity, how did you get involved with ancient Greek? I always wanted to learn a little bit for the sake of the philosophical literature I go through, but never really found any solid material for it (contrary to Latin).
@@philosophiahelvetica ah, so I'm an archeologist and it's a requirement to acquire the "graecum" as well as the "großes Latinum" to enroll in the subject. fortunately our university had high intensity courses on ancient greek which made learning a lot easier. I can thoroughly recommend the "reading greek" books by the joint association of classics teachers, I think there are three of them covering different areas of the language. It's been a couple of years though, so I hope I remembered that correctly. :)
It's surprising to hear how badly French is taught in Switzerland of all countries. Of all the countries in all the world that might need to get language teaching right, Switzerland probably tops the list.
What you describe is how French is taught in many English-speaking countries. Hence the never-ending Anglo-Franco wars in Canada and the Brits who won't give up their egg n chips for anyone...
I suspect the reason is partly to do with cost. Learning a language is largely audio-visual, which costs money. A reused textbook is a lot cheaper. Plus, some teachers like teaching grammar. They can just copy/plagiarise all day every day. Clearly some 'top' institutions are good at that.