April, 2012 Language Learning Tricks

Transcribing Text: A Great Way To Get A Headstart Learning A Language

Daunted at the prospects of learning a new language? If you find following a formal lesson structure just a bit too daunting, the following technique offers a great way to familiarize yourself with a big chunk of the language. Stick to it and this could prove a great way to prepare yourself for formal lessons with your language software.

Who This Works For

Different people prefer different methods of learning. If you liked recording lectures in school and playing them back during review, this is probably an ideal way to get your first taste of the target language. If you listened to them while taking notes, this will probably suit you even better. Basically, if you learn well listening to audio lectures, this is a great way to get a quick grasp of the basic concepts surrounding a language.

Both beginners and intermediate learners looking for something fresh should find this a useful exercise. For novice speakers, this is a great way to get a more general view and feel for the language. For intermediate and advanced students, this offers a proactive way of practicing your listening skills and putting your active vocabulary to use. Additionally, it makes for a nice practice alternative, especially if you’re in a country where the target language is widely spoken.

Materials

Find a long piece of recorded audio in the target language, preferably one with a matching transcription. Speeches and monologues will be great, although you’ll probably have a hard time finding transcriptions for them. A better option will probably be an audio book (both a novel and a nonfiction volume will do), as you should be able to find a text version rather easily. Heck, you can probably buy both from Amazon at the same time. You don’t really need to purchase a book that you will like though (unless you want to), so just find something that’s available for cheap if you don’t want to spend too much money.

A music playback software with functions to slow down the audio will also be helpful. Titles with that feature are available on most any platform, whether you want to listen to your audio from a PC or a smartphone. Chances are, you’ll find slowing down the audio very useful, especially during the beginning when you might find a normal speaking pace just a bit too difficult to follow. It will also help if you can put markers on the audio, so you can return to right where you left off quickly, instead of having to forward and reverse every time to find the last part you listened to last time.

The Process

Listen to the audio and write down everything you hear. Yep, you’ll have no idea what you’re actually putting down, but that doesn’t matter — fake it till you make it. Don’t mind that you’re more than likely spelling everything wrong. The goal, at this point, is to get comfortable listening to the target language spoken, processing it in your head and figuring out what’s being said. Putting it down on paper completes the circle.

After finishing the entire audio, compare your transcripts to the text version. Note your mistakes for next time. Then, repeat the process over, trying to get it right the second time. Chances are, you’ll do better. Rinse and repeat.

Put It Down On Paper

You have two options in transcribing the text: you can type it on a computer or handwrite it with pen and paper. The first is fine, but the second is better. Writing stuff down old-school style forces you to slow down. Chances are, your mind is more focused when you work this way, compared to blitzing through the transcription when typing on a keyboard.

Remember: the goal is not to finish the audio you chose quickly. Instead, it’s to be able to transcribe the words you’re listening to as accurately as possible. As such, don’t be afraid to embrace the slow pace the pen and paper method promotes — it actually works in your favor.

Mental Stimulation

This process simulates the mental stimulation you can get from an actual conversation in the target language. While you won’t have to respond back like in a real exchange, you’ll have to engage your mind in what’s being said, focusing all your attention on it.

In-Depth Focus

When listening to audio in the target language, most people simply listen to context clues and keywords in order to understand what’s being said. You can’t quite do that here since you’ll have to write everything down with a pen and paper. Doing so forces you to understand what’s being said as accurately as possible, sentence per sentence and word per word. In fact, this is a great way to familiarize yourself with general grammar structures in the target language, especially with regards to where punctuations and certain articles normally go.

Details, Details

This form of exercise makes you pay attention to details — this word goes after that, that preposition substitutes for this noun and this synonym is actually used for this context. The details become impossible to ignore since you’re literally paying attention to every sound uttered and transcribing them to paper.

If you’re one of those averse to learning grammar, this works out great, too, since the process should expose you to the most common structures and forms the language uses. Simply put, you’ll get to focus on various details of the language that you otherwise probably won’t pay that much attention to.

Should You Do This?

We don’t recommend this technique for everyone. If you’re satisfied with your current classes or language software lessons, it will make good sense to stick with those. Jumping to a new technique like this can work to both spike your interest and improve your learning, but it could also end up breaking your erstwhile positive rhythm.

Those who are struggling with their current learning methods, though, will probably be served well by this, giving students a way to learn the language in a manner that’s personal and focused. Same with those who are bored with their current lessons and plateauing in their results — this could be just the boost needed to inject some new life into your training.

How Difficult Is Learning A New Language?

Most people who’ve never studied a second language always ask, “Is language learning a difficult endeavor?” The knee-jerk reaction for most of you, probably, is to wittily retort, “Well, you should try and see for yourself.” Of course, that answer doesn’t help anyone, so we’ll try to cover that question here.

Learning A Language Is Easy

Learning a language is no harder than wrapping your head around a new subject in school. Or learning a new sport. Or learning a new on-the-job skill. Sure, it takes work, but it’s also within most people’s realm of capabilities. Watched under that light, learning a new language is actually pretty easy.

Language learning isn’t a special field of study that requires special skills. If you’re reading this, in fact, then you’ve already learned English at some point in your life, just like you learned to walk, ride a bike or drive a car. Just like you learned elementary math, introductory biology and basic chemistry in school. Barring any brain impairment, everyone can learn a new language, so it’s no more easier nor difficult than any other area of study.

Language Learning In Practice

In the real world, most people struggle with learning a new language, all while they seem to do well enough learning new things for school, for work and for their hobbies. It’s not that the actual process of picking up a foreign vernacular is any more difficult; most of the time, success and failure in language learning comes down to how consistently you can persevere at it. And most folks just don’t care to put in the necessary effort.

When we’re in school, we sit through our lessons on a daily basis, take home assignment work and participate in regular testing to rate our progress. For the most part, we take to it like it’s our sworn duty. As such, we feel compelled to do the work on a regular basis. With many people who attempt to learn a language, there’s just not that kind of dedication when it comes to learning a new language, especially if they’re it without being required by work or circumstance.

Compare it to losing weight. Exercising 1 hour a day, 3 days a week sounds easy enough. Yet what percentage of people who sign up for annual gym memberships still use theirs after a month? The same goes with language learning. Most people put in the initial effort, but just don’t bother to follow through.

Difficulty Isn’t The Issue

Sure, there is some amount of difficulty with language learning. But it’s not anything special. For the most part, you won’t encounter anything that you haven’t faced learning a new skill at school, at work or at a gym. The real challenge is being able to motivate yourself to stick to the lessons and practice long enough so you can actually integrate the skills into your working abilities.

Being able to do the work, day after day, is where the real difficulties arise. There’s no shortcut to it. You’ll have to sit down with your language software on a daily basis, go through each lesson and practice as much as you can. All that, while attending to all the other things you have going on in your life.

But So-and-So Said It’s Difficult

Pick up a phrasebook and memorize five related phrases from it. Were you able to do it? Of course you were. That’s language learning in a nutshell — you just do the same thing over and over. Sure, you’ll also learn patterns, relationships and other elements of language along the way, but none of them will be any more difficult than that.

If you’ve had the idea that language learning is hard because someone told you, be wary. It’s no different than an 18 year old who failed the driver’s test twice saying “Getting a permit is so difficult.” Chances are, they’re saying it’s hard because it’s the easiest excuse available, not necessarily because they failed to learn because the subject itself is hard.

Motivation

That’s why it’s important never to lose your motivations — the primary reasons you have for studying the language. Your motivation creates intent and that deliberate intention is usually what pushes you to work through the grind involved in language learning day after day.

Without motivation, it becomes too easy to quit, since there’s no reason to subject yourself to these daily routines. Make sure you have them written down somewhere accessible, like your phone or on a note in your wallet. That way, you can check them out anytime you feel like skipping another lesson, class or opportunity for practice.

Commitment

Before you start a language program, make a commitment to stick to it. A strong intent to follow through on all the activities necessary to reach your learning goals can make the difference between doing the six months or so necessary to gain a strong facility of the language and losing interest somewhere down the line. Resolve to never quit until you’ve reached your goals (remember: make them measurable and specific), regardless of what they may be.

Time and Effort

If you’re going to learn a new language, you must be prepared to invest time and effort into it. Native speakers have been learning it since they were infants born into their families; your own path as an adult isn’t likely to be shorter or easier. You’ll need to put in your hours and do the work — there’s no warp zone to enter and exit out the other side.

Building a rich vocabulary requires committing one word to memory at a time. That usually means more than just reading a word, understanding its meaning and repeating to yourself until it sticks. Instead, having ready access to new vocabulary elements require repeated use in different situations, so that you gain an understanding of both meaning and the contexts in which they apply. That way, you get accustomed to integrating them in your speech, such that the right word comes to you right when you need it.

Just Enough To Get By: Learning The Language Minimum

Traveling to a foreign country soon? No matter how hard you try, chances are, there’s no way you’ll be able to study the language enough to come anywhere close to being fluent. But you don’t really need to be fluent, especially if you’re only staying a short while. You can learn just enough to get by and make a good trip of it.

How Much Study Time You Need

For learning survival phrases, you don’t really need a lot of time. I’ve known people who literally memorize “just enough to get by” during their flights to the foreign country and managed to build a sufficient vocabulary to make their way from the airport to the hotel communicating with locals pretty decently.

If you want to get around town after your first night, though, you’ll probably need to invest a little more time learning new phrases. We recommend doing at least an hour of work each day for at least a week, memorizing crucial phrases and sentences for general interactions. Just make sure you practice speaking them as much as you can — both to improve your pronunciation and sharpen your recall.

Learn To Say “Do You Speak English?” In The Local Language

Make this the first thing you learn. Learning how to ask people if they speak your language will be very helpful to you. For one, there’s always plenty of English speakers in most any place now, so there’s a good chance you’ll come across one or two that do. For another, it never hurts to ask.

Why not just ask in English? In all honesty, it’s rude. You’re a visitor and you’re forcing locals to speak your language? The least you can do is learn how to ask in their language. People are likely to be more amicable this way.

Put Priority On Important Words

Think “urgency” when deciding on which words and phrases you will learn. Let’s say you’re running late for the most important job interview of your life. On the way out the door, you realize you haven’t eaten breakfast. Would you really stop, go into the kitchen, and fix yourself a sandwich before leaving? Unless you’re dying from hunger, getting a bite isn’t really that urgent at that point. You get into your car and it won’t start. Do you call the mechanic to get serviced or find another way to get to that interview quickly? Of course, you go for the urgent thing. You decide to call a cab and tell the driver to hit the gas hard, promising to tip generously. On the way, you notice a stain on your pants. Do you go back home to change or do you simply plod on?

The same thing holds true when choosing the words and phrases you’re going to learn. You want to focus on what’s essential for the trip — the ones you need to actually survive while there. For example, learning the equivalent of “where” (so you can go, “where airport?” and “where hospital?”) is considerably more important than learning local greetings and pleasantries. Sure, learning how to say “Good morning” is great, but wouldn’t you rather memorize “I’m lost, please help” first?

In a nutshell, make a point of prioritizing those that you will need most during the trip. There’s a reason why they’re called “survival phrases” — there’s a good chance you could get in serious trouble if you don’t learn them.

Stick With The Essentials

Don’t bother venturing outside the essentials. For your purposes as a very short-term tourist, mastering the essentials will be more fruitful than gaining an expanded vocabulary. The more time you give to studying non-essentials, the less time you give to mastering your barebones survival skills. And that can hurt you in the end.

There are too many potential situations that you can get into as a tourist. Trying to account for them all within a short time frame isn’t just overreaching, it’s practically impossible. You’ll be shooting yourself in the foot that way.

Learn The Gestures

Gestures and body signals are usually easier to learn than language, so do some research on the common physical gestures in the culture. In some countries, nodding your head might mean a negative answer, while it means a positive one in yours. That kind of confusion can get in the way of even the most basic communication situations.

Learn how people talk. Do they prefer you to be in their face? Or to keep your space? This can vary from culture to culture, so brush up on how it works in where you’re going. Doing so can remove a lot of awkwardness once you’re in the country, trying to ask strangers where that massage parlor with the blonde girls are. Or even when asking something less risqué.

Outside of the gestures you learn, make frequent use of hand signals, as most of them tend to be universal. More times than not, they’ll allow you to communicate things you couldn’t otherwise put into words.

Learning Materials

If you have a language software on your computer, there’s a good chance it includes a whole section for survival phrases. Look for that, print out the suggested items to study and memorize them. Don’t bother doing the step-by-step lessons for now. At this point, you’re not really trying to learn the language — you’re just looking for a patch-up job to help you get by for a short period.

A phrasebook will probably be handy, especially a small one that you can keep in your jeans pocket. Forget dictionaries. You want to learn phrases you can use on the spot, not individual words you’d have to string together.

If you can find a phrasebook app for the target language, that’s even better, as you can have the reference in your phone for easy access the whole time. A tip for those using smartphones: don’t rely on online phrasebooks, as you never know the kind of internet access you will get abroad. Even if they have 3G and LTE networks available, it could cost you huge amounts, so always look for a phrasebook that will work seamlessly offline.

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