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Old 05-25-2010, 02:41 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kulakovskyi View Post
It would work only as long as you achieve at least intermediate language proficiency, which is not the case here.
I have heard of some people learning English in the USA because they were watching American TV shows. Currently, I speak some French, but if I were to watch alot of French television, it might improve my French because I would be trying to not only speak the language, but understand it as well.
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Old 05-25-2010, 02:50 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ketabcha View Post
I taught myself Farsi and as a result I speak it with a Spanish accent since Spanish is my 2nd language. LOL
When I was learning Greek in Cyprus my pronunciation was good enough, except for a few consistent errors...like making all terminal S's sounding "sh."

When the teacher made a list and pointed them out, the answer was obvious. All my mistakes were pronunciations that I had drilled myself on over and over while learning Portuguese.

My teacher was actually rather enthralled. "I've never heard Greek with a Portuguese accent!"
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Old 05-25-2010, 03:03 PM
 
Location: Odessa, UA -> Jersey City, NJ
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Originally Posted by elnina View Post
Not necessary. You can learn new language without using a single word in English or any language you already know.
Yes, you can, but have you tried to? A couple of months after I started learning German I tried to watch every German TV show I could get my hands on, but watching a show where you can recognize only 1-3 words of every 10 didn't seem that useful.
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Old 05-25-2010, 03:08 PM
 
Location: Odessa, UA -> Jersey City, NJ
55 posts, read 72,363 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte View Post
I have heard of some people learning English in the USA because they were watching American TV shows. Currently, I speak some French, but if I were to watch alot of French television, it might improve my French because I would be trying to not only speak the language, but understand it as well.
It might work for you, so, yeah, it's definitely worth trying, but you would still need some self-teaching guide.
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Old 05-25-2010, 03:09 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kulakovskyi View Post
Yes, you can, but have you tried to? A couple of months after I started learning German I tried to watch every German TV show I could get my hands on, but watching a show where you can recognize only 1-3 words of every 10 didn't seem that useful.
What I was trying to say is that simply memorizing the words alone isn't enough. You have to live in that language as much as possible, participate in some cultural activities. You do need to know a few words, but it takes more than that. Just simply memorizing words isn't going to help much. My French teacher realized this. This is why she played French movies for the class. I watch Disney's Hercules in French.
I started watching Karate Kid in 2008. When I got the DVD's, I started watching it in English, but with Portuguese subtitles. I picked up a few words of Portuguese that way.
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Old 05-25-2010, 03:11 PM
 
Location: MichOhioigan
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Try streaming French radio stations over the internet. I listen to OUI FM out of Paris almost evey weekend. I am not sure how much it really helps to learn the language but it does allow your ears to tune in to the sounds and pronounciations of the language. And it is fun as well.
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Old 05-25-2010, 03:14 PM
 
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Originally Posted by J'aimeDesVilles View Post
Try streaming French radio stations over the internet. I listen to OUI FM out of Paris almost evey weekend. I am not sure how much it really helps to learn the language but it does allow your ears to tune in to the sounds and pronounciations of the language. And it is fun as well.
That isn't the only radio station in French. My French teacher from high school suggested this to me: Radio-Canada.ca
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Old 05-25-2010, 03:21 PM
 
Location: Odessa, UA -> Jersey City, NJ
55 posts, read 72,363 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte View Post
What I was trying to say is that simply memorizing the words alone isn't enough. You have to live in that language as much as possible, participate in some cultural activities. You do need to know a few words, but it takes more than that. Just simply memorizing words isn't going to help much. My French teacher realized this. This is why she played French movies for the class. I watch Disney's Hercules in French.
I started watching Karate Kid in 2008. When I got the DVD's, I started watching it in English, but with Portuguese subtitles. I picked up a few words of Portuguese that way.
That's exactly right, but, unless it was an educational movie you teacher played you, I bet you had some idea of French tenses and had a couple of hundreds of words in your vocabulary back than. My point is: you shouldn't rely exclusively on TV shows, as books/tutors are necessary until some point.
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Old 05-25-2010, 03:25 PM
 
73,007 posts, read 62,585,728 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kulakovskyi View Post
That's exactly right, but, unless it was an educational movie you teacher played you, I bet you had some idea of French tenses and had a couple of hundreds of words in your vocabulary back than. My point is: you shouldn't rely exclusively on TV shows, as books/tutors are necessary until some point.
That was the point I was trying to make. Relying on one technique alone won't help.
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Old 05-25-2010, 06:03 PM
 
Location: Eastern Washington
17,214 posts, read 57,064,697 times
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Also depends on how "musical" you are - if you can hear a sound and then make that sound, great, you can probably learn on your own. If you have a tin ear like me, you need someone listening to you speak and correcting your pronunciation.

Really there are 4 semi-independent language "tools" - reading, listening, speaking, writing. I listed them in that order since for my Russian that's strongest to weakest. I simply don't write much so spelling tends to be weak in the details - using the wrong "e" or omitting/superflous "soft sign", stuff like that.

Certainly listening to your target language in films, radio etc. is a good and low-stress way to learn. My first few trips to Kiev I left the local radio station on softly while I slept. I can't say if this really accomplished anything but at worst it was free and didn't hurt anything.

There really is an "inflection point", before you get a "critical mass" of target language knowledge assembled, you work your butt off and have nothing useful to show for it. It's like building a house - you first have to build the foundation, but while you are building that, when it rains you still get just as wet as when you had built nothing. But when you get your "language house" "dried in" - after that, at least for me, it started to be fun.

Many, maybe even most adult language learners quit before they reach the "inflection point".
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