Lingosteve LingQ...Thoughts please

[tk421]

I started with PIMS, RS and Michel Thomas and all are good to get you introduced but for me I realised that I was never going to be able to communicate because they aren't really going to help me understand a native speaking. E.g. I could order a beer, but they could respond in a 101 and more different ways.

I did come across a polyglot on youtube “lingosteve” and he spends the first year reading and listening and practically no time at all speaking.

As he puts it building a big passive vocabulary is key because if you cant understand what is being said or written then how can you communicate, and language is about communication.

Like he says if you understand what is being said you can formulate a response even with a very limited active vocabulary and the more you speak then the more your passive vocabulary becomes active.

He spends very little time on grammar rules or word lists, he says noticing is the key and that he skims a grammar book from time to time.

With reading as you can do it at your pace I can now workout a words meaning (sometimes) by the context and words I do know in the sentence. I will forget it (and thats ok) but as it comes up again more and more it will begin to stick.

From the start of my learning I was listening to Spanish TV but now doing radio more as it forces you to listen.

I can now hear what a native is saying even if I don't know a lot of what they are saying, it gets a bit difficult if they are excited/emotional or just really fast.

So where am I now 5 months in to Spanish, still at very basic level but enjoying what I am doing.

In his words if what you are doing is not enjoyable, why are you doing it?

If you enjoy PIMS, RS …......then continue at it.

[Kunstliebhaber]

Nice post.

About the communication, be logical:

Sometimes I don't understand what a foreigner tells me, but I answer them perfectly and according to the context because of the common sense.

If you're asking for a beer, there are more than 101 ways to answer, but semantically it is limited to a few sentences:

"Ok"
"Do you want something else?"
"What kind of beer do you want?"

So, being logical, why would someone answer "Get me a beer" with "Unicors eating flowers get no sugar in their coffees" ????????????

I know you got my point.