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Totally agree on vocabulary, it's by far the most important part. You can mostly understand and be understood without grammar. I pick comic books in the target
by ced 10y ago
Totally agree on vocabulary, it's by far the most important part. You can mostly understand and be understood without grammar.
I pick comic books in the target language, that I've already read in my native language, and start making word lists. Comic books are cool because obviously the pictures help, and the story will follow a theme, so the same words will come back over and over again. And they're not so long as to feel like you'll never make it through. Motivation is the #1 predictor of successful learning, and the apps have never appealed to me as much as reading a good story.
I'll suggest that schools teach grammar mostly because it makes for a much more "academic" lesson than teaching vocabulary. You don't need school to learn vocabulary.
- batbomb 10y agojust an anecdote, but my grandpa learned english from comic books.
- Terretta 10y agoFirst comic books, then children's literature. For example, for French, Asterix and Tintin, then Le Petit Nicolas. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_petit_Nicolas https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_petit_Nicolas After that, airport novels, because the vocabulary and grammar are straightforward.
- wingerlang 10y agoI have been planning to start looking (and translating) at movie subtitles in the language I learn. My theory It should show both natural speech, common words, common sentences and so on. Thoughts on that?
- ced 10y agoLots of people have learned English by watching Friends, the Simpsons, etc. You could watch movies in their original language, with English subtitles to help out. My guess is that comics are easier for your first 300 words or so.
- wingerlang 10y agoI actually meant English movies with [language I'm learning] subtitles. Not for the listening part, but for the vocabulary + grammar part of the sentences.