xah talk show 2022-12-02
- how to learn a language (human language)
- difference between read/write and listen/speak
for verbal skill
- immersion is the key.
- find some radio, or youtube, of the specific lang. let it play in the background, non-stop.
- watch movies, or soap opera, tv shows, in that language. no caption, no subtitle. never.
- find a chinese girl friend. or, move to china, for half a year or so.
for read/write skill
- do 10 words a day, every day. write a list. (no definition)
- and every week, relearn, all the words i've written down. e.g. after a month, you need to review 300 words. after end of 2 month, that'd be 600 works.
- must start with easy words first. it does not work, if you learn words in shakespere or poem or journalism. do not pick words by going thru the dictionary. because, other than say 1k specific works, the rest words are rarely used.
- after half a month, do 5 words per day.
- start with children's books. lots picture vocabulary books for children. start there. up to book used for children below age 13.
- don't worry too much about grammar. just learn words, vocabulary.
find a list of the top 1k most used words in the lang. use that list.
- read and read. read is the key. (also write)
- read a short article or children story, or a page, per day. write down words you don't know.