Visual learning and foreign language

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I need some advice from all of you here. I know there are some members here who are fluent with foreign langauges, which brings me to ask this. See I have to take foreign langauage for my degree, either that or take many many math classes which I could never do since I can't understand anything above basic algebra.

So anyways, for me, when it comes to thinking and learning, I'm predominatly a visual spatial thinker. When I'm learning something, if I can't form a picture of the concepts being presented, I won't be able to learn them. Classes like history and weather & climate I did good in because I could easily picture what was being taught, where as classes like math I did poor in becasue I couldn't form pictures of mathematical concepts like the quadratic formula.

Which brings me to foreign language, I'm taking spanish since of all the foreign languages, it's the one thats most practical for me to take. Anyways, the course ciriculm was designed for people who think with words, not pictures, and as a result, I'm totally lost in the class. I've managed to come up with some stragedys that have been helping, and have been talking with my professor for advice. But I'm not progressing as fast as I should be, and I HAVE to pass this class, or my chances of getting the degree I want will be out the window.

How does a visual spatial learner learn a foreign language?

Some languages, like Chinese, are more "visual", albeit not in the same way that history and geology are.

I am a visual learner who has learnt a few foreign languages (though since forgot most of them). I am not sure that I can offer any ready-to-use advice, as learning languages was quite easy and natural for me. This may come from the fact that I started doing that at an early age.

Scott, can you describe what is the nature of problems that you encounter? Also, what is your experience with learning foreign languages? Did you learn Spanish before?

As a side note, I am surprised by this statement. While the quadratic formula is just something to learn by rote (or forget, it is not difficult to find or derive when needed), most of mathematical concepts are easy to visualize. Many have geometrical representations, and other can be pictured by means of examples. It is true, though, that most math books do not take the visual approach.

the main problem I'm having is trying to understand verb usage and sentence formation using the verbs. I've noticed that when I have a sentence in spanish, along side a verbatim english translation, I can understand what it means. In essence, I have something concrete that I understand to grab onto mentally to help me understand a foreign.

But the book I have doesn't do that, in fact it has a rather archaic method (at least to me) of describing verb usage.

Hi, I'm new here (will post bio soon) but I think I can give some good advice on this subject. I also think in pictures and am good at learning languages. I took Japanese in HS and am now taking German at University. Here is how I think I am good at it.

When beginning and learning simple sentences: Find and remember a sentence visually that you can use as a "template" in your mind and that will help you remember word order. For example, in German the word order is Subject Verb D.O or Adjective in the simplest sense. So when I think of "Ich bin" (I am), I am rembembering that Ich the subject comes before bin the verb. This is a very simple example but then it is easy to remember how to put together "Wir sind" (We are.) German is really logical so once I've got the rule memorized in my mind, I can apply it to all sentences. I'm not entirely sure how I do this yet since it is really an unconscious process sometimes. Let's see... when I think of dictionary form (which in german always ends in "en" or "n") Various (pictures of) words come into me head: gehen, sehen, laufen. For conjugations, along with the words themselves are various pictures that I associate with the words, like if I think of the conjugation for first-person plural such as "Wir sind" then I also think of myself with a bunch of other people representing the "we" concept. And I attach it to the conjugation.

Well, I'm not sure that made sense! But it can get you thinking about some ways.

Good luck and tell me if you'd like more specific examples.

Meg

hi scoots.

following on from goldengate, would it help to have pictures of verbs and adjectives and stuff as little icons, people, or anything you choose.

what i'm thinking is the verb-person could do what it is in the sentence, and be dressed differently for the adjective, or whatever - you make up your own way of doing it.

how are you with learning by listening? if you could learn sentences by listening, you would than have a "hook" to hang all the grammar etc. on.

by the way, are you any good with music, learning songs (you don't have to be able to sing, just remember the words and tune). if so, listen out for the music of the language - if you are musical, you might get what i mean, if not, just ignore it!

learning grammar - what a nightmare!

good luck.

V.

I compose music in my dreams, and I swear that if I could find a way get it onto tape, I'd be rich. When I listen to music I can pick out all the nuances in the recordings. If I'm listening to mp3's they need to be 160kbit or better if I can find them, since at 128k and below, the rythm track sounds all washed out and watery. I can also hear things like hums and tape-print through also. I can identify a song long before others can. If it's a song that I've heard a few times before, I can usually identify it after the first few notes.

Case in point, one guy worked with is a die-hard fleetwood mac fan. He has every song they ever released, and listens to them almost exclusively. He also gotten into fights with other people to get his point across about fleetwood mac. That's how much he likes them. The in store music service we have plays alot of fleetwood mac, and I can tell if there playing a fleetwood mac song even before he can!

Getting back on topic, that's one of the things I've been doing, That's how I leared all the forms of the verb "ser", by putting them together into a verse that was easier for me to remember.

You compose music in your head. Cool. If you want to get music on tape, There are many instrumental suggestions I could give

#1 start with any instrument you have
#2 Start with a homemaid tamborene and work out the rythmn best
Heres how to make it
Items
1 toilet paper tube
3 little bells
string
scissors

How to make it

#1 Cut 1 ring of the tube
#2 Cut 3 peces of string
#3 tie the bells onto the ring

makes 1 mini tamborene

in my spanish textbook, we have pictures of the object or action to represent the words. i think this is the only reason i do well in that class. maybe you can draw pictures or make flashcards with pictures on them alongside the word so you get a mental image of the word in your head and it becomes easier, how does that sound?

but good luck in spanish!! ! its such a fun language isn't it? yay

me gusta los fotos con espanol . una materia es muy facil

YES. I can entirely associate with this. I'm horrible at processing any verbal aural information, but when it comes to musical things, one could say my hearing was hypersensitive.

But I could particularly associate with your comment about composing music... So many times I'll have a really intricate tune running in my head, but when I try to transcribe it into music-tracking software, it ends up being nowhere *near* as elaborate as the tune I had imagined. It's really frustrating... I wish I could just input the music telepathically.

And on the subject of auditory processing... based on my experience, I have a much easier time understanding written language than I do spoken, both in English and with foreign languages.

aha, but professors typically aren't very good at showing what things look like on graphs or giving practical examples of equations.


they basically try to build a tower without adequate support. thus it collapses and you wind up with a surplus of students (like myself) who have taken college algebra 5 times.

finally i got a professor who was very "visual," in my opinion. or just a good professor. i don't know which.

with languages, i always find that i learn best by pure practice.

i imagine the sentence in my head, the vocabulary, et cetera. i have to integrate the two things before it makes any sense to me.

i'm highly highly visuospatial, but i can do damned near anything if i can figure out a way to make it work along the visuospatial circuit!

Have you ever tried Rosetta Stone? For a fee, you can quiz yourself online or you can buy the product for about $200. You can learn by pictures, or words, or by hearing it... it's a great product. They even give demos. I really like Rosetta Stone's products, and I highly recommend them. Go to http://www.rosettastone.com for more information.

i love rosetta stone so much!

it is perfect for the pattern seeker/system builder. i have rosetta stone explorer for dutch, rosetta stone complete for arabic.


so many language classes (in the united states, at least) are based on this immersive system!

I am currently taking German and am a VERY visual learner (though spatially I cannot do, sorta like NLD a bit in that respect). The only way I find which works for me is to be able to picture the words. I do not know if this would make it easier for you. Thus having vocabularly lists which you can see in your head is always a good tactic. Memorizing general grammatical structures using some choice sample sentences might do you well, too, so that in future you can base all similar ones on the examples in your brain. Best I can suggest which has worked for me is to try to use your visual strength FOR you. I excel at vocab tests and regular tests because I can see it all in my head, and takes maybe only fifteen minutes to memorize (don't worry, I am not eidetic). Although this is not spatial and thus do not know if it would be applicable to your learning style, but it is worth a try. Making your own lists of vocab and grammar rules so that you have those papers visually in your head is an excellent method and would seem your best bet.

This is my best recommendation.

I tried taking French and Spanish and failed badly. I just couldn't retain any of the information. I could'nt translate if my life depended on it. It could be my ADD. I don't know, I just know languages are REALLY hard for me.

I know a bit of French, and find that although I have the same problems as English with word selection, I actually have an easier time saying exactly what I want to say. Regardless of the language I'm using, the initial stages of deciding what to say, how to say it and rehearsing it in my head are the same. The difference is that in English when I stammer my verbal center just keeps on going without clear direction and I end up babbling, whereas when I hit the wall in French I just shut up until I remember what it is I'm trying to say.