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From: markrose@spss.com (Mark Rosenfelder)
Subject: Re: The (DO NOT)'s of language learning?
Message-ID: <D3suFz.9D@spss.com>
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References: <3hbiop$sf5@masala.cc.uh.edu>
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 1995 19:35:58 GMT
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In article <3hbiop$sf5@masala.cc.uh.edu>,
David Frenkel <frenkel@ox.tcs.uh.edu> wrote:
>After almost a year and a half of study of Spanish, on my own,
>but in a city with 3 TV channels in that language, and with the
>usual opinion being  that it is "easy" (this not being the reason
>I chose it), I am thouroughly dissatisfied with my progress.
>
>Not wishing to ask once again on sci.lang how to learn a languange,
>I would really appreciate it if someone posted his pet list of things
>NOT to do while learning a language. 
>Hope I can recognize my own sins in it.

First, don't think you can learn Spanish from the TV.  :)  I can speak
Spanish fairly well, being married to a Peruvian, but I still sometimes
have difficulty with Spanish TV.  Talking to people is much easier!  
You can ask a person to repeat themselves or explain further; and you're
guaranteed to understand at least half (your half) of the conversation!

So, marry a Hispanic.  Try out your Spanish a lot.  Rudely ignore her
attempts to switch back to a language you are more competent in.
Set aside certain activities (e.g. walks, dates) which will be Spanish-only,
and stick to it.  Insist on speaking Spanish with her bilingual friends.

Oops, you wanted what *not* to do.  Don't read books or execute drills
that bore you (you'll learn faster from material that interests you).  
Don't look up every word you don't know; try to guess whenever you can.
Don't worry too much about grammar; worry about vocabulary. (You can get
by with bad grammar; you can't communicate at all not knowing the words.)
Don't just sit here reading sci.lang; subscribe to soc.culture.mexican.  :)
Don't be contemptuous of non-literary sources; comic books can be excellent
resources.  Don't expect the colloquial language to work just like the
literary language your texts will focus on.

All this is more than usually idiosyncratic and anecdotal.  
