Wanda Kaishin

This shouldn't surprise anyone. What I'd like to see is a study comparing 1) 100% pure immersion to 2) 90% immersion + 10% grammar study, because I'm sure that a mixture is more efficient than pure immersion.

Sometimes I suffer from cramps in my calves, especially when I sleep. Last night was the worst ever- they woke me up three times. So this morning my calves are tender, and it's uncomfortable to stand up. But here I am, at my standing desk, studying languages. That's how I know I'm addicted!

One Semester of Spanish Love Song What do you think?

Check out Idaho Ness This guy is probably the world's most famous rapping polyglot.

Hahaha - yes, it's true. But I recommend you take this thread lightly and tell us how you know you are addicted to language learning.

Instead of working a normal job, I study languages all day. That's how I know I'm addicted. How about you?

I disagree with this, because I believe I don't really think "in a language". I consider the dialogue that goes on in my brain to be sort of a side effect that turns off and on, depending on what I'm doing. For example, when I'm typing, the dialogue is loud and clear, but when I'm thinking about members of the opposite sex, it doesn't exist. So when we make a decision, I don't necessarily think in a language.

Hahaha - Sir, your honesty is refreshing!

And you quoted me because...? (Btw, communicate with is grammatically correct.)

That's got to be tough - learning languages with a hearing problem. Do you use a hearing aid?

I think this is the kind of thing you should take up in a pm involving admins and mods, rather than posting it publicly. Personally, I like the way things are run here, but I'm willing to listen to your complaints and examples and go with direction from our leadership. So I suggest creating a pm like I described, deleting this text from your post, and deleting my post completely.

Yes, there are many languages that aren't written.

So you're basically looking for links to lists here? I personally don't have any, but here are (imo) the two best forums to ask these question: http://forum.koohii.com/ http://www.chinese-forums.com/

Many people who try to curse in L2 come off sounding humorous. If that doesn't bother you, then please continue.

If you could speak just 5 languages, including your native language, what would they be? Ok, maybe you don't plan on ever learning 5 languages, but in your dreams, what would they be? And if you already have more than 5, which 5 would you keep? My list is: 1) English (native) 2) Thai (I spend so much time there) 3) Spanish (haven't used it actively for a while, but I hear it all the time) 4) Russian (I'm very attracted to these people) 5) Mandarin (It's sort of my flavor of the week right now)

To me, there isn't much of an impact. Firstly, it takes thousands of hours to reach a high level in a language, and most of us only spend a small portion of that with a teacher. Secondly, I personally only use teachers for conversation practice, so they play a lesser role in my language learning than in many others'. But if you're stuck in a class, of course a good teacher will make a big difference for that period of time.

Are you talking about reaching C1/C2? I agree. Although it may be technically possible, it's probably a fulltime-lifetime effort, which eliminates just about everyone. Although I have to admit there are 2 guys on youtube who are probably pretty close to 10 X C1/C2. That used to be my lifetime goal, but I changed it to 12 X B2+

This is very common in language learning. I think it most typically happens when the learner is immersed in the language. She learns it to the point where she feels she is functional. She sees the payoff for improving beyond this point as being greatly diminished, so she relaxes into the comfort of this level. I've seen this happen a lot, and I think these people are also the ones most likely to overestimate their level. I can't count the times I've had someone at a B1 level tell me they were "fluent" or even "C2". It's like they fail to see how many issues they still have for some reason.

Thanks - I learned something new today

I've heard about it, but haven't used it for anything myself. Another list that's pretty popular, is the list of most frequent words; I often see it talked about in language learning discussions. For example "did you know that only 10 words make up 25% of the English language?" type discussions.

I wrote this a while back:

Can you give an example by telling us a famous actor who uses this accent?

Agreed. I know it's trendy now, but I can't help but feel sorry for the poor native speakers that have to listen to someone with such inadequate skills.

I'm actually quite amazed by the turn around on this philosophy. 10 years ago most people on the forums would say they prefer to work on their passive skills until they reach a certain level of comfort, and only then begin to speak. The forums were full of people who would wait years before starting to talk. Back then I was considered to be a bit strange for my early conversation philosophy. I was encouraging people to start conversing early well before Benny became popular. But now I'm pretty average. I start pronouncing and repeating sentences from day 1. I like to have good pronunciation before I start reading much, because reading before you have good pronunciation actually fossilizes bad pronunciation. This is the key to a good accent imo. That being said, I don't start to converse with native speakers until I have a reasonable amount of vocabulary and grammar under my belt. When I start to converse, I go 30 min in L2. So it takes a while to acquire the level to do that; about 2-3 months if I'm studying intensively. I write down all the unknown words/sentences my partner uses, and all the words I wish I'd known during the conversation, or words I forgot, and review them all before I have the next conversation. I try to do this every day, and usually bump it up to 60 min after a month or so.

When learning languages, many people prefer to wait for a while before they begin to speak. Some will wait for months or even years. Some will begin speaking (pronouncing/repeating) the language immediately, but wait for a period of time before having a conversation with a native speaker. Some begin talking to native speakers in the first day. Which method do you prefer and why?