I have studied two languages in a classroom setting. Both of which had overlapping similarities in their style of presentation. I have noticed through the years which styles and techniques work well for me. I have also determined the points of a language that often pose as a road block in my ability to grasp the language.
The first language that I set out to learn was Spanish. I started in middle school and quit my final year of high school. During the introductory classes I found myself learning very little because of the style of teaching. Often without warning the teachers would spring vocab onto the students without first explaining the structure of the language. For instance, in Spanish I felt like the teacher should have prefaced the class by explaining that there are conjugations involved and that there are articles that you must put in front of the vocab to show masculinity or femininity. With just that knowledge I would have spent more time learning the articles instead of just the vocab word itself. I ended up dropping Spanish because my core Spanish was terrible. However, after I learned what I should have done I began improving my speaking a writing skills. Alas it was far too late.
The second language that I have studied (and still learning) is Chinese. My teacher in high school did really well with setting up the class and the language. She prefaced the class by introducing pinyin. She then explained that the tones are important to learning Chinese and that by messing up the tones you can change the meaning of the sentence dramatically. After going over that she introduced characters, she explained that there are two forms (simplified and traditional) she emphasized that colleges often differ on which they teach so she emphasized both equally. This solid foundation has given me the means to be successful in the higher levels.
Aside from the overviews of the languages I have learned that I am a visual learner. Often times if I can match a vocab word to an object that I see everyday it tends to stick. This gets harder the more advanced you are but it also applies to grammar. If I can use the grammar in everyday conversation then often times I think about it while talking in English.
I have found that at the start conversation is important for speaking no matter the level of vocabulary. Getting comfortable speaking will give you the confidence to read and write and express ideas in the targeted language with ease. As far as tangible ways to learn vocab, I prefer to write and rewrite vocab on a white board or piece of loose leaf until I can repeat the vocab in random order the next week. It takes time but it is effective for long term retention (at least in my case).
Comments
That's pretty sweet that you know Chinese. I like the randomization of vocabulary idea.