Simple Swedish Podcast - #252 - Att börja med ett nytt språk

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

Nivå: A2-B1 Jag har börjat lära mig ett nytt språk, och jag berättar vad jag brukar göra precis i början när jag börjar med ett helt nytt språk. ------------------- Stöd podden och få transkript till avsnitten - bli patron för bara 5€ per månad – klicka här! Gå med i vår GRATIS community på Skool. Där kan du skriva med alla andra, ställa frågor, hitta läromaterial och gå med i live-lektioner varje vecka. ------------------- Instagram: swedish.linguist YouTube: Swedish Linguist Website: www.swedishlinguist.com Language Lock-in: https://www.languagelockin.com/ ------------------- Ett smakprov (sample) på transkriptet: Ja, då hälsar jag dig välkommen till Simple Swedish Podcast med mig, Fredrik. Och idag ska vi prata om att börja lära sig ett nytt språk. Så jag har börjat lära mig ett nytt språk. Vad är det för språk? Det ska jag berätta strax. Så det här avsnittet är för dig som..ja, som inte kanske börjar med svenska.  För att om du lyssnar på den här podden så betyder det att du redan har börjat med svenska, och att du redan har kommit lite längre. Så det här avsnittet är för dig om du kanske funderar på att börja lära dig ett nytt språk eller om du kanske känner någon som tänker börja lära sig svenska. Så jag ska berätta lite hur jag gör när jag börjar, precis i början, när jag börjar lära mig ett språk. Och först och främst, några nya patrons, det är Jasmin, Jesus, Aliina, Bertta, Andre, Joanna och Alastair. Tack, tack till er för att ni stödjer den här podden. Den här podden skulle inte existera om det inte fanns patrons som stödjer den. Och därför får ni transkript till alla avsnitt.  För patrons på 10-euronivån så kommer också uttalsövningar varje vecka baserade på det senaste avsnittet. Så väldigt bra om du vill förbättra ditt uttal på svenska. Så, vilket språk är det jag har börjat lära mig? ....för att läsa hela transkriptet till detta och alla andra avsnitt, klicka här!

Welcome to Simple Swedish Podcast with me, Fredrik. Today we are going to talk about starting to learn a little further. Maybe you're thinking of starting to learn a new language Or maybe you know someone who's thinking of starting to learn Swedish So I'm going to tell you a little bit about how I do it when I start, right at the beginning When I start to learning a language. And first and foremost, some new patrons. They are Jasmine, Jesus, Alina, Berta, Andre, Joanna and all of them. Thank you so much for supporting this podcast. This podcast would not exist if there were no patrons supporting it.

Therefore you will get a transcript for all episodes. For patrons on the 10 euro level, there will also be speech exercises every week based on the last episode. So very good if you want to improve your pronunciation of Swedish. So, what language is it that I have started to learn? Yes, it is Arabic. And not any Arabic at all, but Moroccan Arabic, also called Darija. And yes, I don't know exactly how difficult it is difficult because there are not so many resources to learn Darija. So I have found some.

If you know some resources to learnya, you can give me a tip. I have found some YouTube channels, some Instagram channels, a couple of websites. There is only one podcast. And that podcast is only a few episodes. And it does not seem to be updated. Unfortunately there is no simple Darija podcast. But there is always a way to learn. So how do I do it now, right at the beginning?

So what is most right at the beginning? So, what is the most important thing in the beginning? So the most important thing is to learn the most basic words and the most basic grammar. Also, most important, at least equally important, is to learn all the sounds. So it's very, very important in the beginning that you really strive to learn the sounds in the language. And then, the last thing I want to talk about is the basic grammar. It's important in the beginning that you really work hard to learn the sound in the language. And number three, to find a routine.

So that you practice a little every day or most of the days. So you don't sit like four hours a day and then it goes a week before you study again. So you try to find a routine. And maybe 30 minutes every day at least. But of course the more the better. But I will try to sit for about 30 minutes per day. So, how do I do it? So I will talk about how I do it. And I think of course that these are methods that work well for most people.

But I will tell you how I usually do it. First of all, I try to find a resource that I can follow step by step. This resource should focus on dialogues And Just sound So for example a pod I think is perfect to start with So for Darija

There is a pod but It is Not really exactly what I'm looking for Because I want to have dialogues and I found a series on YouTube only 5 videos, but it's good enough to start with so yeah, focus on dialogue

preferably only sound and why dialogue? yes, because I think it is the most useful in the beginning, the most interesting also and it is simple, informal language so it also makes it useful, more interesting and simpler and it's also the most natural to start with because that's exactly what we start with when we learn our mother tongue, our first language

informal conversation so I think that's the best thing to start with. Okay, and now I'm going to tell you something that I don't think many people do. But I think it's very useful and helpful. When I listen to these dialogues and these words, I write down the words and the meanings and I write them down with my own phonetic spelling So I don't care about the real spelling I mean, which letters you use, how you write the words for real, but I use my own spelling my own phonetic spelling

So I write the words that I think they sound And this I think is very, very important And so why do I do that? Do I learn the wrong spelling then? Isn't it better to learn the correct spelling from the beginning? No, it's not. According to me, anyway. Why?

Because when you learn a new language, the sound is foreign to you. The sound is new to you. This is sound that you can't really understand. You might not really understand or you might not be able to pronounce them. They might be a little strange. They are new to you. They are foreign. So the sound is foreign, but probably can't the letters. So the letters, if you don't learn a language with a new alphabet, as I do now with Arabic for example, if you learn a language with the same alphabet, the same letters, then the letters are not foreign to you. So if you learn how to write the word from the beginning,

then your brain will be remembered the letters, but not the sound. Because the letters in your brain are the letters linked to other sounds the letters are linked to sounds in your language for me, for example, Latin letters are linked to Swedish, English and Spanish for me. So these letters already have connections to sound in your brain. And if you start learning a new language by reading, then you will remember these words with letters and these letters are linked to sound on your mother's goal. So you will remember the words with wrong sound.

Okay? So for learning these new sounds and for remembering the words with the new sounds, with the foreign sounds you must first learn the sounds and remember the words correctly with the new sounds. So how do you do that? Well, either you use only sounds and really try to remember the words only with sounds,

but I learn visually, I have to see words to remember them well. So that's why I use my own phonetic writing, my personal phonetic writing to write words in the beginning when I start learning a language. So I can absolutely recommend this way to start with. And I do this until I have gotten used to the new sounds. I recognize the new sounds. I can distinguish between these new sounds. to distinguish between these new sounds then I can start to learn how to write in the new language as well

and then it's also important to think about ok, these letters are connected to the new sounds. So I have to be very, very careful about exactly how these letters sound. Which sounds these letters represent. So I always have to listen very carefully in the beginning, even when I start to learn more and more with text-based resources. After a week, two weeks, three weeks, I may start to learn more with text-based resources as well. But at the same time it is important to continue to listen a lot. So in the beginning it's very very very important to listen a lot, to recognize all the new sounds, and so on.

And if you do this, you have a big chance of sounding much more natural when you talk. Because what often happens is that people start by reading a lot and then they learn wrong. So instead of how are you, people say How are you? Okay Very very big difference How are you? How are you?

Okay So this is why it is very important to start with listening a lot Think about the different sounds And when you start talking, to really try to say the right thing from the beginning to pronounce the right thing from the beginning ok, so I put a lot of energy into understanding the sound and to pronounce the it correctly from the beginning. If I find sounds that are difficult, for example in lot of guttural sounds far down in the throat

And for example a word I learned yesterday is hta, like hta, it's a h and t after it, like hta So it takes a long time to learn to pronounce it correctly. It might take several weeks, several months. But when I find a sound I can't pronounce, I practice, practice, practice until I know it. Okay, because we can, we... This is not something impossible. If 100% of Morocco's population can pronounce all their sounds, that means that I can do that too. So if 100% of Sweden's population can pronounce, for example, the G sound, or say 7, of Sveriges befolkning kan uttala till exempel skär ljudet eller säga sju så betyder det att du

också kan lära det du måste bara öva öva öva så jag jag lägger mycket energi på uttal och så And then... I have some notes here, I don't really know where I was. So, when I start to learn more with text, I also try to look for patterns. And I look for patterns to learn the basic grammar. So I try to learn to understand which words are verbs, which are nouns, which are pronouns, and understand how the language is built up, understand the structure of the language. Because you won't learn all the grammar directly, it takes a long, long time.

But you can try to start learning to understand the structure, like, understand, okay, this is a verb, okay, this is a noun, okay, things like that. And when I, maybe after a few weeks or months, start to understand more and more, I start to include more and more different resources. I try to find resources that have a good level for me, that I find interesting and so on. Because it's good to expand. But right at the beginning it's good to have a resource that you can follow step by step. And then when you start to understand more and more, it can be good to expand and include more different resources and so on. And the goal is to as quickly as possible start understanding more natural material. And more natural material I mean, for example, like this podcast.

So I'm sitting here and only speaking Swedish. I speak easier for you to understand, even though you may not be that advanced. But it's a pretty natural material. It's not like... It's not exercises... It's not like exercises, grammar exercises, it's not like a bunch of... You don't need a list with vocabulary and stuff like that. It's rather natural material.

And that's my goal, that I want to start understanding more natural material as quickly as possible. So. And then the most important points are focus on the most common words, the most useful words and phrases, focus on dialogue or what you think is most interesting. Because that's what will make you keep learning, that you like it, that it's interesting, that it feels meaningful and so on. Focus on listening, learn the sound, imitate the sound, remember the sound.

And that is much, much more important than text and letters in the beginning later it is very important to read a lot to learn many words but in the beginning learn the sound, imitate the sound learn the pronunciation, remember, learn to distinguish between different sounds. It's also very good to use memory techniques to remember new words. I learned... I don't know if I have any examples. I learned with Charfin. If I have an example, I learned metxarfin in Moroccan Arabic, it means like nice to meet. And you have the word met in the word so to meet, I've met you, met, metxarfin.

You see, that is a memory technique, for example. And that can be good in the beginning, because in new languages it's often difficult to remember words. Then, I almost never use any exercises, no vocabulary lists and such, but I write a lot in the beginning. But then I write down meanings, dialogues and explanations on new things. A lot of repetition, very important in the beginning, you have to repeat a lot especially in the beginning. And of course patience Because It takes a long time to learn a language

It will be a lot You won't understand It will be a lot You won't understand for a long time But it's ok I will understand this later It's ok I don't have to understand everything now, I will not understand everything now, it's okay. You have to have fun on the way.

And when should you learn to speak? Because I focus a lot on understanding in the beginning. I think it's better to start talking a little later when I already understand a little more. But at the same time, it can be fun to learn a few things in the beginning. And I try to learn small, usable words that I can use in everyday life, like I'm tired, or are you tired, or I'm hungry. Are you hungry? Oh, how delicious this was. Good food, for example. Or good morning, good night, and things like that. But yes, you can choose yourself. It's best that you choose yourself when you want to start talking.

So, yes, that was it. I wanted to say about learning a new language. So, yes, I hope it was useful for you. And before we end, I just want to mention our free community at Skol. So Skol is a website, skol.com And there we have a community. We have free courses.

We have actually started with free live lessons every week. You can ask questions, talk to each other, give each other tips, practice Swedish. You level up, you go up in level and new things are unlocked. will be unlocked and it is completely free. So far it is free. We can start paying in the future. But right now it is completely free. So go to skol.com slash Swedish skol.com slash Swedish and join our community there.

Good! That was all for today. Take care and we'll see you in a week. Bye bye!