Multiple language maintenance
Yesterday, I wrote about the need to maintain your old languages while learning new ones. In a minute, I'm off to do my second Pimsleur Turkish lesson, but I will also read at least a little German and Spanish today and, if I'm smart, a little French.
This post at The Linguist has a really great suggestion, though: Get yourself an iPod Shuffle or other MP3 player with a randomizing function, load it up with short bits of content in different languages and turn it loose. In this way, instead of practicing your new language all the time, while the others shrivel away, you acclimate your mind to monitoring what language you're using and switching between languages automatically.
This post at The Linguist has a really great suggestion, though: Get yourself an iPod Shuffle or other MP3 player with a randomizing function, load it up with short bits of content in different languages and turn it loose. In this way, instead of practicing your new language all the time, while the others shrivel away, you acclimate your mind to monitoring what language you're using and switching between languages automatically.
1 Comments:
I certainly like that idea for the iPod. I don't actually have an iPod (I must be in the minority!) but I do have an old MP3 player that I load my language audio courses on to on occasion. I don't think I'd be able to concentrate on an audio course if travelling by public transport (I prefer to read) but I do listen to the courses while doing housework or, occasionally, when lying in bed.
I've also 'appropriated' a small collection of foreign language Disney soundtracks and I have these playing on my Winamp while I work online. The playlist includes Dutch, French, Italian and Spanish (among others) and I find it a fun way to expose yourself to a language without feeling like you're actually studying. :)
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