You know, when you’ve outgrown the simple audio scenarios that come with most language learning methods, but you still aren’t quite fluent enough to be able to read an entire book. When you are learning a foreign language, you often hit that awkward stage where you kind of know the language, but not really. Daily routineīuilding on the previous point, the most important thing about language learning is that you are consistent, and because you can listen to audiobooks while partaking in other activities, it’s very easy to make it a part of your daily routine.įind out what daily activities you could pair with an audiobook, like doing the dishes, etc. He ended up buying an audio course for German, and instead of just listening to music on his way to work he was able to actually use that otherwise wasted time, and through this small adjustment to his daily routine, he ended up actually achieving his goal. That’s 1.5 hours a day, 7.5 hours a week, 30 hours a month, and 360 hours a year you spend doing practically nothing. In his case, it took him 45 minutes to get to work. It might not seem like much, but using those moments to listen to something in your target language might actually be the thing that ultimately makes you fluent.Īs Stephen mentions in his TED talk – think about all the time you spend commuting to work. This can be a good or a bad thing, but overall I find myself getting less distracted because the narrator simply carries on with the story, and I find myself catching up to the story in a more natural way without getting frustrated all the time. However, an audiobook just runs whether you want it or not. I rarely have the patience to sit down with a book and read something, and things get even harder when I don’t actually recognize all the words and have to put down my book to translate things. These are the perfect moments to start listening to an audiobook to pick up a new language. Whether you are cleaning the house, commuting to work or brushing your teeth, your day has tons of tiny moments where your brain isn’t doing anything but your body is. However, there is always time for an audiobook. With everything else that’s going on in your life, it can sometimes be hard to keep up your language learning. Sitting down to read a book in a language you don’t quite understand yet can be challenging and difficult to do on a consistent basis. I wish this course -which admittedly helped me hugely even now, since it taught me to correct a lot of very basic mistakes - had been available to me when I started learning German.But I’d argue audiobooks might actually be more beneficial. What Noble is actually teaching you here is how to go about becoming fluent in a European language - work slowly, become familiar with cognates, don't stress if you forget something, and drill the grammar until it becomes instinctual. You're not going to become completely fluent in German by the end of this course, but it's still a good time investment for a beginner, since it will provide context for all the drudge work you'll eventually have to do. At the beginning, this method feels to be going much slower than language courses usually do, but by the end, you end up with a much more instinctual understanding of how the language is put together and feel comfortable speaking it. Noble's methods seem to be based on Michel Thomas', with the added advantage of using a native language speaker in order to learn proper pronunciation. However, as language courses go, this was surprisingly pleasant and thorough, and provided a lot of useful practical information very quickly. Language courses are painful by their nature: having to sit and slowly have grammatical rules explained is boring, it hurts your brain to adjust to all the new weird rules, and progress will always feel too slow given how complex learning a language is. ©2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Read more Learn German with Paul Noble combines an exciting, new, nontraditional approach to language learning with the easy, relaxed appeal of an audio-only product. Learn over 6,000 words in no time at all and - most importantly - learn how to make your new vocabulary work for you. No complicated grammatical explanations, no rote memorization, no writing - no stress. With Paul Noble, everyone really can speak a language.Īt the hotel, a native-speaking German expert helps Paul to deliver the course and to perfect your pronunciation. As a result of his negative early experiences, Paul has come up with a groundbreaking new method of language teaching that removes the need for months of study. He found himself feeling "confused, incapable, and unable to really say anything". Despite this, he still struggled with language learning at school. Paul Noble is a genius with a higher IQ than Einstein.
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