How To Learn 2 Languages At A Time

May 31, 2010 by Editor
Filed under Language Learning Advice

Many novels are recorded and proposed as audiobooks. To listen to them revives one of the oldest traditions of the humankind , and one of the earliest method to learn and transmit knowledge : narration ; but it may also be added to the language learning tools .

A novel is meant neither to be easy nor to be difficult. The teller tells a story . The story itself may be complicated , with innumerable characters who live mingled adventures , but its writing may be quite linear, without words of more than three syllables . On the other hand, a very elementary story that involves no more than two characters may use flashbacks, rare turns of phrases, and obscure words .
To those objective elements of evaluation , the most significant point , that is 100% personal has still to be added: the reader’s penchant . The reader who does not like detective story will find difficult to read/listen to one, even if its writing is easily accessible .

When it comes to bilingual books, the level of difficulty is commonly established in accordance with the linguistics of the targeted language. If the linguistic degree is high, the text will be said for “Advanced” or “Experts.” The genre, for example, is seldom considered , even if it is one of the main criteria for the readers. It is not rare that the readership be forgotten and bilingual books for children seldom have their specialized section .

Now that bilingual audiobooks are added to the supply of language learning tools , the learner has to know how they are ranked . Bilingual audiobooks are not judged on linguistics only. The audio part has to be taken into account .
Let’s consider a beginner . His audiobook will show the attributes he needs to learn from the very beginning . For example, he will listen to his mother tongue first, to be able to understand the following translation . The sentences will be short . The longest ones will be cut in several pieces .
On the contrary, if we consider an advanced learner , he may find that it is enough to get no more than a summary in his own language , while the intermediate student will most certainly opt to listen to the foreign language first and try to figure out what he hears before checking his knowledge by listening to his own language .

Evidently , since there are levels within the levels , bilingual audiobooks cannot follow a mathematical formula . A student may say he is a beginner because he does not know how to ask questions yet, but the student who does not know how to say “ good morning ” or “ please ” will think that the first one is at an higher level.

The student who wants to learn a foreign language would be wise to aim at a level a little higher than his, without going for the stars .
An student at an higher level of knowledge should make the language he is fluent in his “source language” to learn a third one. Let’s say someone speaks Spanish and wants to speak French, to choose a French-Spanish bilingual audiobook will help him to go on preserving his understanding of spoken Spanish -and improving the way he pronounces Spanish as well- while starting learning French.
Given the state of the economy , to increase one’s chances of finding a well paid job cannot be detrimental . To multiply opportunities without effort is what makes bilingual audio books the best language learning software .

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