Unconventional Methods of Language Practice
Posted: April 20th, 2023, 11:31 am
I often read aloud in the languages that I've studied. I have various novels and philosophical works in Spanish and try to do some reading a few times each week paying special attention to pronunciation. I used to do the same with Japanese too before I fell out with that culture and abandoned the language. I sometimes record myself speaking and then play it back.
I often have phone conversations with my Latino friends and therefore speak Spanish somewhat frequently even when I'm in the UK. I particularly like to speak with my Peruvian ex-girlfriend since we usually have deeper intellectual conversations. This method of language practice obviously depends on my friends' availability. I can't be assed with online language exchange because most people are boring normies.
The above are more conventional methods of language practice but I have some much less conventional ones.
When I'm alone and have no Hispanophone people to talk to, I sometimes lie down on the bed or sofa, enter a light trance state through meditation and then visualize everyday scenarios. For example, walking into a classroom and having a conversation with a teacher. Then I improvise a dialogue in which I alternate between myself and my imaginary interlocutor and verbalize the whole conversation aloud. Thus I practice Spanish by myself without any need for a language partner.
Another unconventional method of language practice that I often use is videogame roleplay. I turn on an open-world game - something like GTA - and either narrate my own actions, emotions, desires and intentions as the protagonist in Spanish as I play through the game or do roleplay with the NPCs. The fictitious environment of the game and its events give me some context in which to speak/narrate. This method is pretty fun. I get to threaten and insult enemy gangsters and law enforcement and hit on female NPCs (those with big knockers) in my target language.
Another thing that I used to do is take things that I've written in English and translate them. Whenever I came across a word or expression that I didn't know how to translate, I'd look it up with an online dictionary (usually wordreference or Reverso). I managed to improve my Spanish vocabulary a lot doing this.
Does anybody else here use any unusual methods for learning or practicing foreign languages?
I often have phone conversations with my Latino friends and therefore speak Spanish somewhat frequently even when I'm in the UK. I particularly like to speak with my Peruvian ex-girlfriend since we usually have deeper intellectual conversations. This method of language practice obviously depends on my friends' availability. I can't be assed with online language exchange because most people are boring normies.
The above are more conventional methods of language practice but I have some much less conventional ones.
When I'm alone and have no Hispanophone people to talk to, I sometimes lie down on the bed or sofa, enter a light trance state through meditation and then visualize everyday scenarios. For example, walking into a classroom and having a conversation with a teacher. Then I improvise a dialogue in which I alternate between myself and my imaginary interlocutor and verbalize the whole conversation aloud. Thus I practice Spanish by myself without any need for a language partner.
Another unconventional method of language practice that I often use is videogame roleplay. I turn on an open-world game - something like GTA - and either narrate my own actions, emotions, desires and intentions as the protagonist in Spanish as I play through the game or do roleplay with the NPCs. The fictitious environment of the game and its events give me some context in which to speak/narrate. This method is pretty fun. I get to threaten and insult enemy gangsters and law enforcement and hit on female NPCs (those with big knockers) in my target language.
Another thing that I used to do is take things that I've written in English and translate them. Whenever I came across a word or expression that I didn't know how to translate, I'd look it up with an online dictionary (usually wordreference or Reverso). I managed to improve my Spanish vocabulary a lot doing this.
Does anybody else here use any unusual methods for learning or practicing foreign languages?