shmat

5 ms·

1.
by shmat 7y ago
I read a study that said that in your native language you only need to hear 1/3 - 1/2 of the syllables and your brain will automatically fill in the rest, which is why you can understand conversations in a noisy environment. In a
2.
by shmat 7y ago
Krashen never said that you can learn to speak and write just by listening and reading. He has said that it's a waste of time to speak too early, before you have understood a lot of input. You still have to produce a lot to get better
3.
by shmat 7y ago
Thanks. Good luck to you as well. You said in your post that listening comprehension was your weakest skill. Are you listening to more and different content? I've found some podcasts that include people with different French regional a
4.
by shmat 7y ago
Production is absolutely important, but harder to do. I talk to 3 French people every week, 30 minutes in French in exchange for 30 minutes in English. I also have conversations with myself in French (like a schizophrenic). Where I have bee
5.
by shmat 7y ago
That's one thing I disagree with in the original post. Like you, I created my own Anki deck and I'm convinced it's a better way to learn.
6.
by shmat 7y ago
We certainly haven't mastered language teaching, at least at public schools. What I remember most is being tested on verb conjugations of irregular verbs. Worst possible way to learn a language.
7.
by shmat 7y ago
I completely agree that there is a huge gap between B2 and that level you describe as automatic. I'm currently trying to bridge that gap, but I can't live in France so I think it will take me years. I know people who have done it
8.
by shmat 7y ago
I studied French from 7th-12th grade in an American High School. After that, I could not understand any French beyond "bonjour". I could not have a conversation in French. I could conjugate verbs and I could read some. Fast forwar
9.
by shmat 7y ago
My experience as a language learner (French) supports the study. When I use English (native language) subtitles, my listening doesn't improve at all. However, my improvement with or without French subtitles depends on my level of compr
10.
by shmat 7y ago
Sometimes new techniques turn out to be a disaster. I-495 in Massachusetts was built using a new technique for concrete roadways. Concrete is normally not used to build roads in New England because it doesn't handle frost heaves. The n
11.
by shmat 7y ago
I've worked with Swedes, and they were all basically bilingual in English. Except for a bit of an accent, their English was better than many native speakers. Of course, my sample size is only 20, but I was impressed. I was told that ma
12.
by shmat 7y ago
I wonder how much of the adult language learning research is like the research on physical fitness. There's decades of research about the precipitous decline in fitness and strength that comes with age. More recent research shows that
13.
by shmat 7y ago
When I first started learning French, I watched videos intended for French kids and I picked up a lot quickly. The biggest problem for me was, unlike a kid, I couldn't stand to watch them for very long. As an adult, boredom set in pret
14.
by shmat 7y ago
I started learning French 20 months ago at age 63. I've gone from beginner to B2 (upper intermediate) level in that period. It takes a lot of time. I immerse myself as much as possible. Whenever I'm doing chores, cooking, walking
15.
by shmat 7y ago
Learning morse code directly from audio is absolutely essential. Once you have learned all the characters by sound, I found it helpful to listen to code at a faster level than you can handle. You will miss characters, but I found it speeds
16.
by shmat 7y ago
I left Oracle 2 years ago when I decided to retire early. I was the developer contact for a set of internal APIs that are used by many Oracle products, so I worked with developers from all over the company in dozens of countries. The qualit
17.
by shmat 8y ago
This is a great example. The launch of Sputnik in 1957 galvanized the US. I started first grade in 1960, and throughout my elementary school years there was a huge emphasis on math and science. We did number theory in 4th grade and started
18.
by shmat 8y ago
I wish you luck. There's a lot of good advice in this thread, but if I were talking to my younger self I would say DON"T DO IT!!!!! I became a manager the first time when I was 28 and I was very excited about the opportunity. I f
19.
by shmat 8y ago
Did you read the article? It's not about most people. The article is about jobs in the Silicon Valley software/tech industry not just jobs in general. Everybody at startups and software companies gets options, and a small but not
20.
by shmat 8y ago
Good for you. We need more people to work on these kinds of problems. I admit that I was not altruistic. In my defense, I've given a lot to charities over the decades.
21.
by shmat 8y ago
The only one I beat myself up over is hanging on to options too long, since that was greed. The other decisions were all reasonable given what I knew at the time.
22.
by shmat 8y ago
Sometimes you don't make enough money to retire early from a combination of bad luck and poor financial decisions. In my career, I followed a pattern of going to a company just a bit too late to get the really low priced options. I&#x2
23.
by shmat 8y ago
Everybody says this about Parisians, but I haven't found it to be true. I've visited Paris 3 times for a total of almost 3 weeks and met very few rude people. I've met a lot more assholes in Manhattan than in Paris. Of course
24.
by shmat 8y ago
Stephen Krashen's Input Hypothesis says that you need comprehensible input. Immersion as a complete beginner does not give you much comprehensible input. He advocates that you need what you listen to be 95% understandable, which means
25.
by shmat 8y ago
I cycle 4 days a week for 2 - 4 hours each ride. I have tried various kinds of fasting including 16:8 and 5:2 and they've all been a disaster. I have extensive split times for the same rides and after accounting for wind/temperatu
26.
by shmat 10y ago
Both my paternal grandparents were immigrants. My maternal great-grandparents were immigrants. My wife is an immigrant.
27.
by shmat 14y ago
Yes.