My go-to language learning hack!!!
I’ve always thought phrasebooks were useless. What’s the point of a list of highly specific phrases if I’m still a beginner? Instead I used to always go for grammar books only. But this app series changed everything. After years as an avid learner of new languages, this has become the first resource I seek. For three reasons. First, because this app is available in so many languages - including many which Duolingo and other mainstream apps haven’t gotten to. Second, because it provides audio, allowing me to hear full sentence samples of a new language right off the bat. Third, most importantly, the different format options for how to use the app make for the perfect recipe. There are so many ways to use it. The multiple choice quiz is especially clutch -an amazing way to combine exposure and comprehension. My personal strategy is 3 steps. First, I do the multiple choice quiz for a few sections. Even starting cold, it’s easy to guess the right answers based on clues (sentence length, punctuation, cognates). The key here is motivation (getting them right feels encouraging)and exposure. Sometimes I’ll also jump to sections that are mostly single word answers, like colors, animals, fruits, or numbers, to master some quick vocab. Second, I’ll go through a number of the sections and favorite all the full sentences (rather than isolated words) and then run quizzes on my full bank of favorites. This process immerses me in bite sized doses of “comprehensible input”, which is the key to intuiting the grammar of a new language. This means I’m running full sentence flashcards- like Anki on steroids. As I get better, I’ll try not to look at the sentence, pressing the arrow and closing my eyes to see if I’m visualizing the words correctly. Finally, I’ll use the “study” function on my favorites cards to run all of the sentences, and use the built in Anki-style flashcards, which then stored them for future study based on your self-assessment. All in all, this app is the best kept secret. Everything I needed to dive into Indonesian, and worth every penny!!
