<story><title>Language learning with Netflix</title><url>https://languagelearningwithnetflix.com/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sweetheart</author><text>I run a language learning app (leerly.io) which focuses on teaching language through comprehensible input, which seems to be at least somewhat how LLwN is approaching the problem of language acquisition. For those interested in how to get the most out of language learning tools like LLwN, some tips which are backed up by the field of applied linguistics:&lt;p&gt;- Don&amp;#x27;t translate! If you do, do so very sparingly. It sounds counter-intuitive, but stopping to translate often will just slow you down. That&amp;#x27;s because...&lt;p&gt;- The most important thing is just experiencing the language. You need hundreds and hundreds of hours listening to the language to really start to acquire it. Comprehension is inevitable, just optimize for time spent listening&amp;#x2F;reading.&lt;p&gt;- Avoid speaking. This has shown to actually hinder the process of acquiring a language. Speaking is the natural result of having learned a language. You&amp;#x27;ll notice when you&amp;#x27;re ready to start speaking a little because you&amp;#x27;ll occasionally have thoughts in your target language. Until then, speaking practice is virtually useless.&lt;p&gt;Maybe these will help you, as they&amp;#x27;ve definitely helped me learn Spanish. Buena suerte :)&lt;p&gt;Note: These tips are also only for people who want to learn a language to fluency. If you just want to learn enough to order at a restaurant, that&amp;#x27;s a different ballgame.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>solarmist</author><text>&amp;quot;Avoid speaking&amp;quot;
This is 100% a myth. The Defense Language Institute comprehensively disproved this in the mid-1970&amp;#x27;s.&lt;p&gt;I know this because it&amp;#x27;s discussed on the first day of classes at DLI as for why you need to learn to speak the language not just hear and read it. Because my job title was voice intercept operator.&lt;p&gt;Pre-1976 the Defense Language Institute did not score or rate students speaking ability because only reading and listening were considered mission critical skills.&lt;p&gt;Post-1976 it was considered a mission critical skill because it had such a dramatic effect on students final listening and reading abilities during the culminating Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT). Subsequently an Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) was developed and is considered an integral part of the DLPT.&lt;p&gt;Note: This was all direct, primary research done at the Defense Language Institute with thousands of participants annually, so it was direct cause and effect experiment.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s hard to find the specific research results summarizing this, but here&amp;#x27;s one example from that time period.
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;psycnet.apa.org&amp;#x2F;record&amp;#x2F;1975-10458-001&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;psycnet.apa.org&amp;#x2F;record&amp;#x2F;1975-10458-001&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Language learning with Netflix</title><url>https://languagelearningwithnetflix.com/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sweetheart</author><text>I run a language learning app (leerly.io) which focuses on teaching language through comprehensible input, which seems to be at least somewhat how LLwN is approaching the problem of language acquisition. For those interested in how to get the most out of language learning tools like LLwN, some tips which are backed up by the field of applied linguistics:&lt;p&gt;- Don&amp;#x27;t translate! If you do, do so very sparingly. It sounds counter-intuitive, but stopping to translate often will just slow you down. That&amp;#x27;s because...&lt;p&gt;- The most important thing is just experiencing the language. You need hundreds and hundreds of hours listening to the language to really start to acquire it. Comprehension is inevitable, just optimize for time spent listening&amp;#x2F;reading.&lt;p&gt;- Avoid speaking. This has shown to actually hinder the process of acquiring a language. Speaking is the natural result of having learned a language. You&amp;#x27;ll notice when you&amp;#x27;re ready to start speaking a little because you&amp;#x27;ll occasionally have thoughts in your target language. Until then, speaking practice is virtually useless.&lt;p&gt;Maybe these will help you, as they&amp;#x27;ve definitely helped me learn Spanish. Buena suerte :)&lt;p&gt;Note: These tips are also only for people who want to learn a language to fluency. If you just want to learn enough to order at a restaurant, that&amp;#x27;s a different ballgame.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>emptysongglass</author><text>&amp;gt; - Avoid speaking. This has shown to actually hinder the process of acquiring a language. Speaking is the natural result of having learned a language. You&amp;#x27;ll notice when you&amp;#x27;re ready to start speaking a little because you&amp;#x27;ll occasionally have thoughts in your target language. Until then, speaking practice is virtually useless.&lt;p&gt;This has to be the most counterproductive advice I&amp;#x27;ve ever heard. You need to start speaking as soon as possible. There&amp;#x27;s no other trick to learning a language than forcing yourself to speak.&lt;p&gt;For some it&amp;#x27;s easier because they&amp;#x27;re less socially anxious. For others it will be more difficult. I was in the latter camp learning Danish. You have to make friends with your fear or you will forever be stuck in what many language learners refer to as a &amp;quot;quiet period&amp;quot;. I was for a decade (!!!) If you don&amp;#x27;t start speaking you will forever have only an intellectual understanding of the language.&lt;p&gt;So speak. Please speak. Early and often. Babies sound things out early because they&amp;#x27;re trying to get a hold of it, the vocal contortions required.</text></comment>