Generally good advice, and I mostly agree with you.
I'll add:
Reading books is good because you can choose your medium. You needn't even start with novels- comics, short stories, et cetera will do. Nonetheless, reading is good. I advocate consuming any and all media in the target language. You don't need to understand it 100%. Start with a children's picture book.
Throughout your daily life, try to think of how you would narrate in the target language what you're doing. This is a great opportunity to build some vocabulary- when you encounter that you don't know a word, look it up. I recommend also writing it down. I've kept a pocket-sized notebook where I noted direct translations of words, and when I had a spare minute here and there, I would flip through the notebook and review it. Phil's advice to use a dictionary of the target language is also very good because it forces your brain to use (and add more) target language nodes.
When we learn a second language, it's natural to start by direct translation, one:one mappings of words, but this is only sustainable for so long. We're using heuristics, cheats. However, the more languages you know, the more nodes exist in your mind to map, and this facilitates continued language acquisition.
I also find it helpful, when making notes such as in the aforementioned notebook, to write the translations in my nonnative language, bypassing the native language heuristic, but still using heuristics. This reinforces the neural network of languages. Take for example, "a ball," as in the object, the noun, the round thing that is used in sports and as a toy. When learning target languages, it is more effective to map the new word to the object instead of the translation, the same way as you map the word to the object in your native language. You're then achieving a many:one mapping.
I find it helpful to think back to how I acquired my first language: when I consumed media then, I didn't know every word, but context allowed me to pick up a lot of meaning. If I really didn't know, I inquired. When I learned my 6th language at 17, I struggled a bit at first because I was trying to directly map everything. Once I decided to pretend like I was learning language for the first time and lacked heuristics, things were easier.
For history, I'm pinning gobborg's post that was written in response to this post of mine. It shares a great perspective on learning languages, and I encourage you to read it!
I learned a language (Spanish) by reading and it was a lot of fun actually, but I still had trouble with a lot of accents. Mexico was very tough. I couldn’t easily pick out words from the flow of syllables, though I could read the newspaper.
Generally good advice, and I mostly agree with you.
I'll add:
Reading books is good because you can choose your medium. You needn't even start with novels- comics, short stories, et cetera will do. Nonetheless, reading is good. I advocate consuming any and all media in the target language. You don't need to understand it 100%. Start with a children's picture book.
Throughout your daily life, try to think of how you would narrate in the target language what you're doing. This is a great opportunity to build some vocabulary- when you encounter that you don't know a word, look it up. I recommend also writing it down. I've kept a pocket-sized notebook where I noted direct translations of words, and when I had a spare minute here and there, I would flip through the notebook and review it. Phil's advice to use a dictionary of the target language is also very good because it forces your brain to use (and add more) target language nodes.
When we learn a second language, it's natural to start by direct translation, one:one mappings of words, but this is only sustainable for so long. We're using heuristics, cheats. However, the more languages you know, the more nodes exist in your mind to map, and this facilitates continued language acquisition.
I also find it helpful, when making notes such as in the aforementioned notebook, to write the translations in my nonnative language, bypassing the native language heuristic, but still using heuristics. This reinforces the neural network of languages. Take for example, "a ball," as in the object, the noun, the round thing that is used in sports and as a toy. When learning target languages, it is more effective to map the new word to the object instead of the translation, the same way as you map the word to the object in your native language. You're then achieving a many:one mapping.
I find it helpful to think back to how I acquired my first language: when I consumed media then, I didn't know every word, but context allowed me to pick up a lot of meaning. If I really didn't know, I inquired. When I learned my 6th language at 17, I struggled a bit at first because I was trying to directly map everything. Once I decided to pretend like I was learning language for the first time and lacked heuristics, things were easier.
Lastly: mistakes make memories.
For history, I'm pinning gobborg's post that was written in response to this post of mine. It shares a great perspective on learning languages, and I encourage you to read it!
https://www.archox.net/Real/projects/writing/phillang.html
I learned a language (Spanish) by reading and it was a lot of fun actually, but I still had trouble with a lot of accents. Mexico was very tough. I couldn’t easily pick out words from the flow of syllables, though I could read the newspaper.