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How can I keep learning on my 1.5 hr commute?

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Re: How can I keep learning on my 1.5 hr commute?

#41

Post by percept »

edw519 wrote: post #34

There is a company that makes language CDs specifically for drivers . Put "Behind the Wheel" into the Amazon search box to see what's available. About 5 years ago, I had a 60 minute commute each way for about 6 months. So I learned French. It worked really well. Lots of listening and repeating, both in French and English. Increasingly difficult levels. And stuff you'd actually use. I went to Paris and surprised mysel…

Did you have any problems with only hearing the language and not being able to see it?

I tried Pimsleur and couldn't stand not seeing the words--I felt like I was both adding and missing letters.

Re: How can I keep learning on my 1.5 hr commute?

#42

Post by edw519 »

percept wrote: post #41
edw519 wrote: post #34

There is a company that makes language CDs specifically for drivers . Put "Behind the Wheel" into the Amazon search box to see what's available. About 5 years ago, I had a 60 minute commute each way for about 6 months. So I learned French. It worked really well. Lots of listening and repeating, both in French and English. Increasingly difficult levels. And stuff you'd actually use. I went to Paris and surprised mysel…

Did you have any problems with only hearing the language and not being able to see it? I tried Pimsleur and couldn't stand not seeing the words--I felt like I was both adding and missing letters.

Did you have any problems with only hearing the language and not being able to see it?

No. But I forgot to mention that Behind the Wheel is strictly a "conversational" program. I seriously doubt if I could read Victor Hugo after going through it. But in everyday conversational situations, the repetition and training, like weight lifting, paid off nicely. The conversation flowed, almost effortlessly. I even surprised myself, finding the right word (except the time I ordered a sidewalk sandwich) and properly conjugating all the verbs. Pretty cool.

Re: How can I keep learning on my 1.5 hr commute?

#43

Post by thisisnotmyname »

I have a 40 minute commute (each way) that is mostly a train ride. When I first started with this commute I was very worried about wasting that much time every day, so I brought lots of printed material with me and would try to study on the train. Now that I've been doing it for 3 years I've completely abandoned that - I just use the commute as a mental break. After a hard day of work ~40 minutes of daydreaming is just what the doctor ordered before making the most of my evening.

Re: How can I keep learning on my 1.5 hr commute?

#44

Post by drtse4 »

Try some language course of the Michel Thomas series, each lesson is roughly 60 minutes and audio only, it's aimed at the development of the spoken part of the language and so there are no books exercises to do. Perfect while driving. I've listened to a few CDs of the japanese and mandarin courses, really well done.

Re: How can I keep learning on my 1.5 hr commute?

#46

Post by billyj »

fluxcapacitor wrote: post #31

Pimsleur CDs. They are great for car driving, because the programs are organized so you listen in a continuous play (as opposed to normal language CD books that assume that you will be holding the rewind button to repeat the last sentence). They also leave pauses so you can speak without having to pause the audio manually. And no workbook to follow, so you can keep your eyes on the road :) Of course such course will…

agreed fully! Pimsleur is really a terrific program for starters. Blows Rosetta Stone out of the water.

Re: How can I keep learning on my 1.5 hr commute?

#47

Post by nonrecursive »

stefanobernardi wrote: post #16

Audiobooks dude. Just buy yourself a few and you'll never go back. It's just learning without the hassle of staying seated and having books in your hand. While I was commuting I listened to so many that literally changed my life. My favorite being Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazi (You can also download a few mixergy interviews).

I have a commute that takes an hour each way on average. Some audiobooks I've enjoyed:

* I Drink For a Reason - very funny

* Stumbling on Happiness (sounds self helpy but is actually a great book on our inability to predict how we will feel about situations in the future)

* A Brief History of Everything - one cool story after another

* A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier - hard to bear, but eye-opening

* Getting Unstuck - buddhist talk by Pema Chodron

* Born to Run - great, exciting story. Sometimes I would sit in the parking lot or the driveway after arriving in order to keep listening.

Re: How can I keep learning on my 1.5 hr commute?

#49

Post by MikeCapone »

edw519 wrote: post #34

There is a company that makes language CDs specifically for drivers . Put "Behind the Wheel" into the Amazon search box to see what's available. About 5 years ago, I had a 60 minute commute each way for about 6 months. So I learned French. It worked really well. Lots of listening and repeating, both in French and English. Increasingly difficult levels. And stuff you'd actually use. I went to Paris and surprised mysel…

C'est une bonne idée!

Re: How can I keep learning on my 1.5 hr commute?

#50

Post by nwomack »

billyj wrote: post #46
fluxcapacitor wrote: post #31

Pimsleur CDs. They are great for car driving, because the programs are organized so you listen in a continuous play (as opposed to normal language CD books that assume that you will be holding the rewind button to repeat the last sentence). They also leave pauses so you can speak without having to pause the audio manually. And no workbook to follow, so you can keep your eyes on the road :) Of course such course will…

agreed fully! Pimsleur is really a terrific program for starters. Blows Rosetta Stone out of the water.

It's certainly more useful than Rosetta while driving, but that's a pretty subjective statement.

I am an American native learning Chinese as my first additional language. I found Pimsleur to be marginally useful, but I am now almost done with Unit 1 of Rosetta and for me, Rosetta is much better than Pimsleur...

It really depends on a combination of things, such as your learning style, and perhaps which language you are learning.

One thing of note, is that Rosetta is more about the long haul. If you just want to learn a few conversational pieces it might be better to go for Pimsleur... Rosetta doesn't give you much you can use conversationally at first, it spends a lot of time teaching you things like "this is a girl" "this is a girl and her dog playing" and what not.

Also, if you used Rosetta v2, from what I understand v3 is leagues ahead of v2. I have no personal proof of this however, since I just use v3.

If you want to get somewhere approaching fluency without going to classes, I don't think it can get much better than Rosetta Stone + Flash Cards.

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