[Floyd]

Originally Posted by derWolf

This isn't my own experience, but nevertheless I'll tell you a story…
Seven years ago I was teaching English. A rich family hired me to help their 10 y.o. son. They wanted to transfer him to an English school (here in St.Petersburg), but he hadn't studied English before.
So he was declared as a beginner. Imagine my surprise, he could speak and understand English quite well! He was fond of the Beatles, and he used a full collection of their songs with texts as a primer. Perhaps, this case can help somebody.

Here I can completely agree with you I myself also was practicing such a way of studying, mostly based on translating lyrics of Pink Floyd and Nirvana, but again you have to have some basis to cope on this way.
And it's good for another reason...you can hear text which you translated several times(and it happens so, if song is one you like)

[august]

Guys, are you serious about the lyrics? Learning lyrics can help you memorize some words, but how are you going to put the words in a sentence?

Learning any kind of discourse by heart is quite helpful in terms of memorizing words and phrases, but not more.

Basically, studying any foreing language should be based on the development of teh following skills:
1. Listening comprehension
2. Reading comprehension
3. Writing skills
4. Speaking skills

Memorizing the lyrics can help you a bit with speaking skills and listening comprehension, but not much, since the vocabulary of most groups is quite colloquial.

[lightontheshore]

ok.... here's my story.
my first steps of learning english was in kinder garden. there was a young english teacher who taught us some words.
then i went to school where i had to learn the same words and expressions (perhaps a little more) that i had learnt in kinder garden.
when i was 8, i moved to prague with my family. i went to british international school of prague. our classes were in english, everything in english. so i had to learn it anyhow. i did it mostly by communicating. it's kind of interesting way of learning. you don't speak english and then one day you realize that you even think in english. you don't remember how it happened, how did you learn each word and even the letters (yeah, i didn't know the letters too).
when i came back to armenia, i was in a danger of forgetting the language. my mum wanted me to go to school No. 114 but they didn't accept me telling there's not enough space for a new pupil. so i went back to the school where i had started. we had an awful english teacher (she pronounced soup as soap and made many other such mistakes). so i had to read english books for keeping the language. and then i had a private teacher which would come to our house three times a week. she didn't satisfy so i stopped those lessons after some months.
well, i kept reading books, translating lyrics (believe me, it helps a lot for learning new words!) and i began to communicate with english-speakers via internet.
and then i went to university. my first 2 years in the university were the best time for improving my english. especially the second year. i had an amazing teacher who gave me probably as much as it was possible to receive in a year.

[Obelix]

If this goes on I'll be telling about how I came to learn armenian... I come to remember... my first armenian word was "dur" (door).

[Floyd]

Originally Posted by august

Guys, are you serious about the lyrics? Learning lyrics can help you memorize some words, but how are you going to put the words in a sentence?

Learning any kind of discourse by heart is quite helpful in terms of memorizing words and phrases, but not more.

Basically, studying any foreing language should be based on the development of teh following skills:
1. Listening comprehension
2. Reading comprehension
3. Writing skills
4. Speaking skills

Memorizing the lyrics can help you a bit with speaking skills and listening comprehension, but not much, since the vocabulary of most groups is quite colloquial.

I'm too serious about the lyrics! It's not the way to learn English, it's just the way to improve your vocabulary.Why use it? Becаuse it's is more interesting to translate your favourite songs, instead of doing some stupid vocabulary(which usefulness you can hardly understand at that time)

[Obelix]

A friend of mine has a particular obsession with music. He used to come over to me asking me to translate phrases from songs. Was that hell? Trying to understand something a person with no prononciation at all tells you, which is in itself overinvented slang, often not carrying any meaning by itself... Let alone translate it.

[august]

Originally Posted by Floyd

I'm too serious about the lyrics! It's not the way to learn English, it's just the way to improve your vocabulary.Why use it? Becouse it's is more interesting to translate your favourite songs, instead of doing some stupid vocabulary(which usefulness you can hardly understand at that time)

OK, I accept the correction Yeah, it's good for improvement. However, reading good fiction is much more effective...

[Floyd]

Originally Posted by august

OK, I accept the correction Yeah, it's good for improvement. However, reading good fiction is much more effective...

I'm completely agree with you...reading English language literature(also magazines, artcles etc.) is one of the main things which person must pay attention to, but here you must have quite a good basis(It's from my own experience). Often persons stop reading english book after a very short time, because it's too boring to look up each word in a dictionary...
So my advice is :
You don't need to look up every word...there is very few words, which must be translated to get the whole meaning, others should come by intuition...And it not becomes to a boring process...
And again I'd like pay special attention to: You must be minimum on the intermediate level to use this way of practicing

[Floyd]

Originally Posted by Obelix

A friend of mine has a particular obsession with music. He used to come over to me asking me to translate phrases from songs. Was that hell? Trying to understand something a person with no prononciation at all tells you, which is in itself overinvented slang, often not carrying any meaning by itself... Let alone translate it.

Dear(if I can let me such a familiarity )...you ought not to translate Black Metal or Trash bands Lyrics basing on the songs and not the lyrics, sure if I understood you right

[PsilocybeLarvae]

The thing about lyrics is that you know them by heart, so once you learn the meaning it sticks I have heard about Beatles helping to learn English myself.

[Floyd]

Originally Posted by lightontheshore

...and then i went to university. my first 2 years in the university were the best time for improving my english. especially the second year. i had an amazing teacher who gave me probably as much as it was possible to receive in a year.

The story is very similiar to mine...I haven't had any good English teacher neither in Kinder garden(saying truly there were no teachers in garden at all), nor in school...But University...I had a wonderful teacher(lecturer, maybe) who I'm obliged to for my English!

[august]

The Beatles do help But along with a limited number of really nice words and expression, such language as "my baby don't care" sticks, too

[lightontheshore]

my friend hasn't studied english anywhere. the only english words and phrases she knows are from lyrics. at least she'll be able to communicate with a foreigner somehow

[Floyd]

Originally Posted by lightontheshore

my friend hasn't studied english anywhere. the only english words and phrases she knows are from lyrics. at least she'll be able to communicate with a foreigner somehow

This only evidences my sayings...

[Floyd]

Friends,
Lately I read in a book a method of remembering new words. Here it is:
You write words(which you want to learn in a some period of time) on sheet of papers and hang them on the walls around your room...You can write them in different colors and sizes to make them more "visible". After a defined period of time you find that you know most of them!!! Sure it is for ones who spent most of their time in their room...and look sometimes on the walls
I haven't tried it myself...but it seems to be helpful