Toolbox Stage || Learning Hmong in 30 days series
The Toolbox stage, this is the stage after determining that you want to start learning the language and you've taken the Sunrise stage steps. I call this the Toolbox stage because this is when you should be gathering information (e.g., What is this, How do you say that, I don’t understand, Repeat that please, etc.).
It’s said that 80% of language is not used everyday, so only about 20% is needed in everyday conversations. Efficiency is key, so for week 1 I’ll be focusing on learning the most common words of the language. This way I’m learning vocab that will be relevant and useful for me right now.
Words I trying to learn first:
Action words/Verbs
Basic conversational words and phrases
Flash cards
I was thinking about doing physical flash cards - but knowing myself, I’ve never been good at using them even when I was in school. I’m going to be trying out Anki which is a flashcard app.
The following is what I see would be benefits of using Anki:
After reviewing a card you can note if it was Fail, Hard, Good, or Easy and this determines when it will show you the flashcard next based on what you rated it.
Another neat thing about Anki is that it lets you add images to the cards. Images work as a mneumonic trick or visualization technique to learn and comprehend the word better since it associates the words with something that we can personally connect the word to. It also keeps it fun. How I plan to get images, is to search the word in the target language and pick a picture of what comes up for it. This will help me make a direct connection to really comprehend the word instead of just memorizing the word.
Anki also is digital so you’re not wasting paper or ink. It also doesn’t take up space and is convenient since it’s on your phone - which I don’t know about you but I pretty much always have my phone on me.
I’m going to break it up by creating 100 cards each time, after I get those 100 words down then I’ll move on to the next 100 words, and so on. I hope to have at least the top 1,000 words down by the end of the month.
Learning isn’t just about accumulating knowledge but it’s about comprehending. Memorization is not comprehending. I think this is why I never took anything away from when I took language classes in school - I was just memorizing things to pass the test to get an A, and I never truly comprehended the language. I’m hoping that using the Anki flashcard app in this way helps me comprehend the language rather than just memorizing it.
Goldlist method
Along with digital flashcards, I’m going to use the Goldlist method. It’s somewhat like a spelling test or like a manual way of doing Anki cards. I’m going to make a list of 20 words for 2 weeks - these are the headlists. I’ll read every phrase and its translation out loud slowly - Don’t try to memorize or remember anything at this point just enjoy writing out interesting words.
During these 2 weeks I won’t go back to review any of the older lists. On the start of the 3rd week, I’ll go back to the first headlist and test myself on how well I remember the phrases. I’ll cover up the column that shows the word in my target language, and then write out what I think is the correct translation in my target language on the other side to see how much I remember. If this goes right, I should remember at least 30% of the phrases (6 out of 20). I’ll then make a list of all the words that I didn’t remember and their translations again on the page. You’ll do the same process for the other 13 words in the headlist.
There should always be 2 weeks before going back to the same list so it’s important to date each time you review a list. You’ll repeat the same process with the second version of the list and so on until you’ve got them all down! I’m thinking about doing this on a spreadsheet, but we’ll see how well this works versus using a notebook like you’re suppose to. It’s important to speak and write it at the same time as well.
If performing the Goldlist method on paper, it might look something like the following:
For an example of how I'm planning to use the Goldlist method, see the Google spreadsheet I created: Goldlist method.
Learning pronunciation
To help me understand the words even more, I’m going to record myself reading the entire list. I could listen to this while I exercise or drive - though it may not be the best pronunciation. This should also hopefully reveal where my pronunciation is lacking. The sound of the language is also another thing I’m going to be focusing on right from the start so that I know how to pronounce words properly. When you get the pronunciation and tones right, you’ll comprehend the language better. This is important to learn at the beginning as you’re learning each new word since you don’t want to take on the wrong pronunciation because it’ll be harder to change bad habits of pronunciation later on.
The language I want to learn (Hmong) is a tonal language, so this will be especially important for my language journey. I’ll need to memorize each tone and meaning for different words that sound very much the same but have different tones. When I create lists, I’ll try to put the words that sound the same in the same Anki decks or maybe just have words that sound the same in a list on a spreadsheet. We’ll see what works best for me as I go through it. A good way to practice tones and sounds is to watch the way native speakers speak and copy their face - get the muscles working right so that natives understand you. I’ll also google websites that might explain the basics and pronunciations, hopefully find a good beginner program that focuses on pronunciation at the beginning.
Finding a beginner program
With that being said, I’m also going to focus on finding a good beginner program for the target language, whether it’s an audio program/textbook/course - it just has to be something structured. I’ll do workbooks when I have the most energy which is typically near the very beginning or very end of my day I think. The best type of book to get is one that emphasizes conversation - this way it’s not like the classroom method of learning random things like food and animals.
Listening
A structured course or text book is good to use, but it should not be the only thing you use. You need to also be improving your listening skills at the same time. Babies learn by listening. After they listen a lot, then they start speaking and have parents or older siblings to correct them. Learning this way is almost effortless. Listen to the language as much as you can - you can use the radio, music, videos, etc.. This gives you passive listening practice and exposes your ears to the sound of the language.
From these things that you listen to, you can also listen intentionally and pull out the most used words that you hear so that you can start understanding what you’re hearing.
Reading
Start off getting children stories in the target language. Read the stories aloud to mimic how it sounds. This is also another way to get some commonly used words.
Writing
Writing every day things immerses you in the language and allows you to be surrounded by the language since you’ll see it in written form. This re-enforces using the language and can help you memorize and comprehend it better. It also gives you practice making sentences and putting thoughts together in that language.
Another thing you can do is to stick labels on everything. If you do this, you’ll want to make sure you say the words aloud when you see it or are going to use it in order to better memorise it - this is simialr to changing your phone to the target language if it’s available. I’m not sure how well this will work for me because I have never been that good at being perceptive of my surroundings, so I’m sure to overlook the note but maybe what I can do is make a list of things I see and want to know the translation of, and keep that digitally on my phone or a notebook.
You can also write out things like:
Shopping lists
Diary/Journal
Poems
Short stories
You may sound like a child at first but this is how you learn a language like you did when you were a child. To master the language, you have to make it yours. You have to own the language and do what you enjoy doing. I’m going to start of trying to write lists in my planner and journal daily in my target language.
The following is a summarized version of action items for Week 1:
This is also located in the Google spreadsheet Learning a language in 30 days.
Happy learning!
P.S. It is currently day 7, and I feel like reviewing this on day 1 would have been a good idea. But it's already been too much time into it to restart lol. Cheers to progress!
