I work for a language learning company, where I am building VR apps for immersive (in both the VR and language learning sense of the word) language learning.
Unusual, evidence-based ways to get better at a new language
41–50 of 166 posts
Re: Unusual, evidence-based ways to get better at a new language
#42At least for Christians a good way to learn a foreign language is to read the Bible in that language, because (1) they are probably used to read a chapter or two on a daily basis (thus, the routine is already there), (2) and they probably remember some passages in their native tongue (thus, already having a translation of the text). This helped me. YMMV.
Wouldn't your learn a pretty archaic version of the language? I know that the bible passages I've read were very strange compared to everyday speech.
Depends on the translation you're reading. The original texts are in Hebrew and Greek so everything we read is a translation. You probably read the English KJV version, which was translated in 1611 and is thus the English of that time.
More modern translations such as NIV or ESV will read more like modern everyday speech.
Re: Unusual, evidence-based ways to get better at a new language
#43At least for Christians a good way to learn a foreign language is to read the Bible in that language, because (1) they are probably used to read a chapter or two on a daily basis (thus, the routine is already there), (2) and they probably remember some passages in their native tongue (thus, already having a translation of the text). This helped me. YMMV.
This is good advice, but > they are probably used to read a chapter or two on a daily basis This sounds mental. Reading the Bible on a daily basis? I’m pretty sure that this is not the norm for the vast majority of (devout) Christians (at least in Western/Central Europe).
It's called a "quiet time". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiet_Time
Re: Unusual, evidence-based ways to get better at a new language
#44I learned how to turn a stream of nonsense (from my perspective) into words by listening to hundreds of hours of Spanish TV that I didn't understand. Spanish audio + Spanish subtitles (to figure out how to parse sound, and to map sound to writing), and then Spanish audio only (prevent reliance on reading). Surprisingly effective. Incomprehensible input appears to be quite valuable. At some point I'll try applying my…
Well that's pretty much how you learned your first language already! You didn't even need subtitles.
Keep in mind the brain's disposition to learn changes depending on age. And as an adult your brain will struggle for many different reasons: stressful day, lots of other information streams, far less time for learning, decreased flexibility, etc.
As a kid I learned 3 languages (including the native one) with relative ease. As an adult I really struggled to learn the fourth using what I think are the same techniques. Given the factors above the reality may be that it's almost impossible to learn in the same conditions.
Re: Unusual, evidence-based ways to get better at a new language
#45"Don't pay too much attention to grammar." Breaking that rule is one of the ways my high school failed to teach much German to most of its students.
I agree this seems to be the way forward. I'm brushing up on my rusty and useless high-school German as a result of my company's work with a German client lately – it makes everything a bit easier for extended trips. The advice I got from them was basically the same – if your goal is to be able to engage in basic conversational interactions, it's far more important to build up a useful vocabulary that it is to get the correct tenses or genders.
Re: Unusual, evidence-based ways to get better at a new language
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
I did this with the first Harry Potter to help me learn German, back when I was re-reading all of the Harry Potter books as each new one came out.
One problem is that with books like Harry Potter the names tend to be "translated" as well, which will often throw you off.
Yes, but it's a minor problem. You usually know who's it referring to.
Re: Unusual, evidence-based ways to get better at a new language
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bible, Thora and Koran are all good for that purpose because even if you don't know them in your own language, you can compare the foreign language version with your native version verse by numbered verse. So are publications by international bodies like the UN (though those tend to deal less with sex, drugs and rock-and-roll than the religious books).
I'd think that would not be very reliable considering how much variation there is among bible translations even in one language. For instance, if you compare some passages of the Jewish Publication Society translation of the Tanakh with some Christian translations of the OT, you might wonder if they were actually referring to the same original text.
This is true of all translation I think. Apart from the simplest of sentences, there is usually more than one way to phrase something. Different styles of translation account for this differently, e.g. some seek to make literal word for word translations while others try to preserve higher level semantics. So those styles may produce different sentences and they can both be right.
Re: Unusual, evidence-based ways to get better at a new language
#48At least for Christians a good way to learn a foreign language is to read the Bible in that language, because (1) they are probably used to read a chapter or two on a daily basis (thus, the routine is already there), (2) and they probably remember some passages in their native tongue (thus, already having a translation of the text). This helped me. YMMV.
This is good advice, but > they are probably used to read a chapter or two on a daily basis This sounds mental. Reading the Bible on a daily basis? I’m pretty sure that this is not the norm for the vast majority of (devout) Christians (at least in Western/Central Europe).
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Re: Unusual, evidence-based ways to get better at a new language
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is good advice, but > they are probably used to read a chapter or two on a daily basis This sounds mental. Reading the Bible on a daily basis? I’m pretty sure that this is not the norm for the vast majority of (devout) Christians (at least in Western/Central Europe).
I'd argue that it definitely is a norm for devout Christians in the US. Bible chapters are a lot shorter than you think (if you're not familiar with the Bible), though. It's a bit of a No True Scotsman, but a lot of people who claim they're devout don't really read the Bible at all, just make public judgments about people. The actually devout people I know usually have a copy of the Bible near the bed, often with an…
I don't know about Protestant denominations but my mother grew up extremely Catholic (in the US) where every single part of life revolved around church. The family was about as devout as you could possibly get, including not practicing birth control. However, individual Bible reading wasn't practiced. In fact, individual Bible reading was actually discouraged by the nuns.
Re: Unusual, evidence-based ways to get better at a new language
#50At least for Christians a good way to learn a foreign language is to read the Bible in that language, because (1) they are probably used to read a chapter or two on a daily basis (thus, the routine is already there), (2) and they probably remember some passages in their native tongue (thus, already having a translation of the text). This helped me. YMMV.
This also helped me learn Chinese, along with translated worship music.
For English speakers learning Chinese:
https://pingtype.github.io/bible.html#_home
For Chinese speakers learning English:
https://pingtype.github.io/bibleEnglish.html#_home
Songs:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwKrKHi_rqtAjt0eIvhEB...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwKrKHi_rqtBNfDESXQuk...