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Tone
Joined: 03 Sep 2006
Posts: 175
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 Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:04 pm Post subject: The most difficult English skill? |
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Among all English skills, I think listenning is the most difficult one. Even though many people said writing is very difficult I still think that if you are not a native English speakers listenning is the most difficult one.
Do you agree with me?
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CP
Joined: 12 Jun 2006
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Location: California
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| Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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Listening is very hard, because speech is continuous, not discrete like writing. When you read, you can concentrate on the different words, and if there is one you don't know, you can look it up in a dictionary, or ask someone, or think about it, etc. When you listen to speech, if you miss something, there is no second chance, and more sounds keep coming, without any way to tell where the spaces are between words. For me, it can be exhausting to listen to German or French for too long. It is much easier to read or speak.
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Tone
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AnKA
Joined: 08 Nov 2006
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Location: RUSSIA
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| Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:25 pm Post subject: Learning English |
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Yes. I think so too.
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Yinglish
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:34 am Post subject: Re: The most difficult English skill? |
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| Tone wrote: |
Among all English skills, I think listenning is the most difficult one. Even though many people said writing is very difficult I still think that if you are not a native English speakers listenning is the most difficult one.
Do you agree with me? |
That's an interesting observation. I always thought a child learns a language by first listening, speaking, reading, and then writing. And the degree of difficulty is also in the same order. Obviously, we see some overlapping of the four processes. Do adults approach learning a language the same way?
To many people, speaking can be very difficult because of lack of confidence and or opportunity to speak. In terms of mastery of a language, I think writing is near the top of the list.
Many advocate using total language immersion as the best way to learn a new language. It encourages people to listen and speak in a group setting. Is there a connection between this learning method and the natural way of acquiring a language? (If there's such a thing.) |
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Tone
Joined: 03 Sep 2006
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mdoinit
Joined: 04 Apr 2006
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:05 am Post subject: Learning native English (in reference to China conditions) |
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If we observe how babes acquire their mother tongue closely, we can safely conclude that it comes in the order of listening and speaking.
Spelling, grammar and pronunciation are non-issues. That's the natural way to acquire any language.
Unfortunately, we usually start learning any foreign language later or through classroom teaching. It would be difficult to go back to the basics.
The lack of cartoon tapes like Barneys which let the kids watch the action and listen to the spoken English, oversize colorful pictorial books and story books make it difficult for younger kids to get initiated.
Adults won't be willing to go for simple stories or articles. They worship vocabulary and observe grammar rules.
Without reading or listening enough of native material, they won't be able to express themselves in English at all, even very simple things. They don' t want to step down a bit to appreciate real native English.
They write in Chinglish. My advice to them is to stop writing before they can really express themselves in proper English. Pick up first their sense for English from overlearning and overlistening of simple native English material.
I don't know how you folks look into this analaysis. |
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Tone
Joined: 03 Sep 2006
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ad-miral
Joined: 01 Sep 2006
Posts: 1488
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| Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:47 am Post subject: |
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| Among all English skills, exams are the most difficult ones for me. In speaking, if someone didn't understand you, you can say it again. In listening, if you don't understand, you can ask your friend to say it again. But if you wrote a bad grade, you can't ask the teacher to let you write again. |
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