Author Topic: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English  (Read 4431 times)

Offline icapd1

  • Dansdeals Bronze Elite
  • *
  • Join Date: Feb 2014
  • Posts: 47
  • Total likes: 6
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
  • Location: nyc
Re: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English
« Reply #20 on: November 19, 2014, 02:21:07 PM »
Read.
Listen to English CDs.
Take lessons.
+1
Reading will improve your writing skills but in order to be able to sound sophisticated you have to listen to others who speak the language well. Just by speaking to someone (without seeing them and stereotyping them based on their appearance) you can usually tell if they listen to the radio or watch TV shows based on their choice of words and pronounciation. Even those who read extensively will either refrain from using high falutin vocaublary/certain foreign terms as they are unsure of their proper pronounciation or worse use them and mispronounce them.

Offline yos9694

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Aug 2012
  • Posts: 1903
  • Total likes: 899
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 6
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English
« Reply #21 on: November 19, 2014, 04:43:49 PM »
-1

Not a very useful response. If the point of this thread is to be helpful then at least try to articulate your thoughts. Honestly I don't know what the point of a thread like this is on DDF anyway, there are plenty of language experts who discuss how to learn new languages, and Google can connect you to their advice. You'll do much better that way. Over here you just get regular folks passing off their opinion which was probably formulated on the spot.

Offline dudi

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Nov 2013
  • Posts: 1621
  • Total likes: 5
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 10
    • View Profile
  • Programs: Star Alliance Gold, Skyteam Elite Plus
Re: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English
« Reply #22 on: November 19, 2014, 07:45:54 PM »
Thanks guys, newspapers are a great idea! So are the Harry Potter series due to their high interest level. I'll recommend that.

I think the biggest difference in this case is that it's not about learning a new language (ex. Hebrew to English) but rather relearning English...
I spoke English at home my whole life but as a Israeli

Offline VacationLover

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Sep 2014
  • Posts: 1669
  • Total likes: 242
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 5
    • View Profile
Re: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English
« Reply #23 on: November 19, 2014, 08:25:30 PM »
Not a very useful response. If the point of this thread is to be helpful then at least try to articulate your thoughts. Honestly I don't know what the point of a thread like this is on DDF anyway, there are plenty of language experts who discuss how to learn new languages, and Google can connect you to their advice. You'll do much better that way. Over here you just get regular folks passing off their opinion which was probably formulated on the spot.
I disagree with what you said, that reading doesn't brush up in the language. I think I brushed up a lot in English should it be talking, writing, reading. (Although I still have a way to go) and my main source was (and is) reading. [Talking itself does not help you read and write]

Offline srap

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Dec 2013
  • Posts: 2819
  • Total likes: 202
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 4
    • View Profile
Re: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English
« Reply #24 on: November 20, 2014, 04:29:11 AM »
I know a guy who speaks primarily Yiddish and a broken, chassidishe English wanting to learn to speak/read/write English properly for business purposes. How would you recommend he go about it?
1.  Speaking: Force himself to speak only English to whomever will listen to him.  He should persevere no matter how broken he sounds.  Grocery stores, restaurants, dry cleaners, gyms, neighborhood children, random people on the street to ask a question or direction, etc. 
 
He will very quickly find that he is able to get the gist of speaking, but is lacking vocabulary.  He can pick up a grammar book for English as a Second Language for verb tenses at a library.
 
2.  Reading: Start by reading childrens' books, underlining each word he does not know and translating that word above the English.  Book after book he will find that there will be less and less underlining.  Toddler and young childrens' books have two-four sentences per page.  Reading will fill in the everyday vocabulary.
 
Next stage would be to read the periodical which he would want to read if he were to know English.   (dictionary in hand)  That is where he would pick up the business/professional vocabulary.
 
3.  Writing:  After he finishes a page of reading a children's book a few times, he can summarize it or just write what he read and then compare.  He will quickly be able to fill in the missing words after he does this just a few times.  Rewriting a story (even if it only a kid's book) will give him the flow of the language.
 

Offline Achas Veachas

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 4399
  • Total likes: 114
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 3
    • View Profile
    • Torah && Tech
Re: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English
« Reply #25 on: November 26, 2014, 11:59:00 AM »
Anyone have any ideas for learning grammar? You can speak and read all you want but that will only give you a general feel for proper grammar, what can I use if I want to learn it properly?

Offline MC

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Aug 2013
  • Posts: 1730
  • Total likes: 49
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 1
    • View Profile
  • Location: NY
Re: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English
« Reply #26 on: November 26, 2014, 12:22:01 PM »
Anyone have any ideas for learning grammar? You can speak and read all you want but that will only give you a general feel for proper grammar, what can I use if I want to learn it properly?
To learn it as a subject? A good place for beginners to start would be ESL books/courses.
(But personally, I've had a hard time finding a book out there that is comprehensive enough to accomodate all the nuances of the English language.)

Offline Achas Veachas

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 4399
  • Total likes: 114
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 3
    • View Profile
    • Torah && Tech
Re: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English
« Reply #27 on: November 26, 2014, 12:24:02 PM »
To learn it as a subject? A good place for beginners to start would be ESL books/courses.
(But personally, I've had a hard time finding a book out there that is comprehensive enough to accomodate all the nuances of the English language.)
Not as an academic subject, rather for practical purposes, to be able to write a letter or essay without giving it to my wife to look over the grammar.

Offline MC

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Aug 2013
  • Posts: 1730
  • Total likes: 49
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 1
    • View Profile
  • Location: NY
Re: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English
« Reply #28 on: November 26, 2014, 12:37:28 PM »
Not as an academic subject, rather for practical purposes, to be able to write a letter or essay without giving it to my wife to look over the grammar.
1. I still think reading well-written articles will help you improve your own grammar.
2. This book was a great find for me. It goes through the top 25 most common mistakes in a ridiculously easy-to-read way.
3. English/Composition CLEP and SAT review books.

Offline Achas Veachas

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 4399
  • Total likes: 114
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 3
    • View Profile
    • Torah && Tech
Re: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English
« Reply #29 on: November 26, 2014, 12:42:47 PM »
1. I still think reading well-written articles will help you improve your own grammar.
2. This book was a great find for me. It goes through the top 25 most common mistakes in a ridiculously easy-to-read way.
3. English/Composition CLEP and SAT review books.
1. I've been reading tons since I was a kid, again I have a general feel for proper grammar I just need to formalize it.
2-3. Thanks I'll look into those.

Offline srap

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Dec 2013
  • Posts: 2819
  • Total likes: 202
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 4
    • View Profile
Re: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English
« Reply #30 on: November 26, 2014, 01:22:08 PM »
Anyone have any ideas for learning grammar? You can speak and read all you want but that will only give you a general feel for proper grammar, what can I use if I want to learn it properly?
Costco often has comprehensive, easy to use grammar teaching/workbooks.  Look through and see if that is what you had in mind.

Offline Achas Veachas

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 4399
  • Total likes: 114
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 3
    • View Profile
    • Torah && Tech
Re: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English
« Reply #31 on: November 30, 2014, 04:36:49 PM »

2. This book was a great find for me. It goes through the top 25 most common mistakes in a ridiculously easy-to-read way.

Awesome! Just got it, didn't start reading yet but it looks like it's exactly what I wanted...

Offline MC

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Aug 2013
  • Posts: 1730
  • Total likes: 49
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 1
    • View Profile
  • Location: NY
Re: Yiddish (Yinglish) Speaker Learning English
« Reply #32 on: November 30, 2014, 04:42:59 PM »
Awesome! Just got it, didn't start reading yet but it looks like it's exactly what I wanted...
Great! Hope it helps! Just finished going through it with my English Comp. students and they loved it.