Maintaing language ability

Submitted by Neil on Mon, 21/05/2007 - 09:48.
Neil's picture
Posts: 101
Joined: 2006-08-19

So when I graduated almost 2 years ago I had a very high level of Thai. Since then I have started learning Spanish and have been living in Spanish speaking countries for the past 9 months and I haven't really had a chance to practice my Thai. I was wondering if any you guys had ideas on how to maintain language ability whilst learning another language?

Thanks for your help! 



Mon, 21/05/2007 - 21:02
Ender's picture
Posts: 21
Joined: 2007-04-18
I have the same problem with

I have the same problem with english. I stopped learning it about year ago, and started german. I forgot some vocabulary :/ I think that the best way not to lose language abilities is to excercise and simply use this language.

Pozdrowienia 

Maciek 



Wed, 23/05/2007 - 15:16
Blackkdark's picture
Posts: 105
Joined: 2007-02-28
That's an easy one.

If you want to keep up to date on vocab and grammar and such, either find a book in that language or better yet, find a online newspaper in that language(s), so then you can get it practice anytime you need.  And if you don't know a word, just look it up.  Using articles is a well known practice for learning and reading common usage words and learning new ones amongst language learners, and it doesn't require the same commitment as a book or any literature.  You can also learn about culture this way as well.
Poetry is similar if you want to do the same thing, because they are often short, and you can learn about the writings that have survived for centuries.

--

Ciao,



Thu, 24/05/2007 - 22:30
Neil's picture
Posts: 101
Joined: 2006-08-19
you're right

 Hey man,

I think you're right, the thing to do is fairly obvious, its just finding the time (i.e tearing myself away from facebook) to do it. In this day and age of internet we can get pretty much any content in any language so i really have no excuse.

Right, i'm going to pull my finger out and look for some reading material to print.

Thanks!