The many ways of using LingQ

Continuation from http://bit.ly/1fEZIae

I was asked earlier how I have used LingQ and I thought this thread could serve as a way for everyone to provide there own personal and particular approaches. I heard it recently described as a free-for-all (in the best of senses), meaning that there need not be any strictly tailored lesson plan or systematic approach in terms of lessons and choice of vocabulary. This, to me, is the beauty of LingQ: you can Do What You Like. So let’s hear what exactly each of us does, and how our individual preferences have influenced our use of it.

There might well be threads on this already, in fact I’m sure there probably are, but none are in recent use, so I thought I’d broach the topic once more.

I’m at work right now, and won’t be able to edit and refine what I’ve written like I normally would, so I’ll try to contribute in greater depth and accuracy later on. In the meantime I can provide a basic sketch of how I approach new content items.

Firstly, Korean isn’t quite panning out for me due to work, since it is a language that requires a very serious and genuine commitment. So I’m considering reprising my Spanish or Swedish studies, which are languages I already have a reasonable grasp of.

For Swedish or Spanish, I would likely do the following:

  1. Load a conversation (In both cases, the official LingQ podcasts).

  2. Listen first to figure out as much as I can based on what I already know.

  3. Read the entire item from start to finish, obviously saving words that are truly problematic. Names, cognates, and those words easily deducible from context I would probably change to Known.

  4. Read and listen together, repeating particularly problematic sections. If the article is lengthy, and the unknown word count especially high, I would probably deal with it in paragraphs, looping it until I have a less foggy grasp of it. Once the first paragraph has been studied, I would loop and study the second accordingly, and then play both the first and the second together until I am satisfied. Then I would focus on the third paragraph, and again, repeat all three. Rinse and repeat the method. Eventually I cover the entire item.

  5. This would involve review of the words, probably in a swift flash-card manner akin to how Steve does them: word and meaning on the front side, speed through them.

  6. This would involve standalone listening, either on a portable player or just at my PC while doing other things. There will probably still be aspects of the item that are unclear. No matter. The point of studying it is to cover as much as possible, while enjoying the conversation. The knots gradually untie themselves.

That’s it for now. Look forward to hearing everyone else’s approaches. The more varied and diverse, the better!

4 Likes

That’s just marvellous, thank you Chris! I more or less do the same but your explanation of how you do it is perfect and some of your ideas I can definitely learn from. I love the ‘rinse and repeat’ way of getting it over, ideal.

Very many thanks indeed and…thank Heaven for LingQ as I have learned so much since finding it!!! :slight_smile:

Sue

I just listen and read. I tried shadowing in normal speed. It turned out as a horrible mess.

I’m just all over the place. No elegans. More like my son in a toystore. Until I reach B1-ground its all just raw text materia for me, in a hunt for words. Just exposure and find ways to trick my brain, in no special order, to actually continue this (:

Edit: I have to edit that some podcasts in dutch, thanks to its content really drew my attention to this beautiful language. Even if I consider myself very beginner.