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Professor Arguelles’s Language Academy | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery |  | |
| Ellsworth Senior Member United States Joined 4942 days ago 345 posts - 528 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Irish | Message 9 of 50 25 March 2012 at 1:51am | IP Logged | ||
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Honestly if it costs much money I will think that pretty terrible. Even if it's nonprofit
it becomes just for the wealthy and loses a lot of credence in my book. Edited by Ellsworth on 25 March 2012 at 1:53am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Zwlth Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 5211 days ago 154 posts - 320 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Arabic (Written), Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese, Latin, French, Persian, Greek | Message 10 of 50 26 March 2012 at 4:54am | IP Logged | ||
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Michael K., you've obviously got a lot more business sense than most of us around here, so could you please explain your point a bit more fully? When all is said and done, this will be a language school. A special one, sure, but category = language school. So, what kind of study would show if a language school is commercially viable or can be supported by a market? Aren't language schools one of those things that human societies generally require?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6279 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 11 of 50 26 March 2012 at 11:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Take walk around the streets near a major train or subway station in a city in Asia. Good chances you will
see a language school. I can't help but think that more than one or two of these are commercially viable. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5714 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto | Message 12 of 50 27 March 2012 at 12:03am | IP Logged | ||
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A bit about my academic background: I have a bachelor degree in business, but finance, accounting, and economics were never my strengths (I mostly got B's in the more advanced courses in those subjects). I enjoyed the psychological and legal issues involved with business when I was a student (I find straight business boring), now I'm going for an associate degree in communications, and I hope to be a grant writer. Except for summer and part time jobs, I've never worked professionally.
I really don't have THAT much business sense. I'm sure there are many language schools in Asia, but most of them probably specialize in English because that's the closest thing to being a universal language right now, plus it's the most studied language in the world. I think French is the second most studied language in the world, so most schools probably also offer French. The concept that Dr. Arguelles has is that he wants to teach people to be polyglots, which is different because, as he said in his video, most language schools only teach one language to students. He wants to teach people languages based on regions in the world, and he wants to award bachelor degrees. I believe he even said in "Babel no More" that there is no commercial advantage to knowing several languages, and if he wanted to really make money, he would do other things. That is the one thing that makes me wonder why he really wants to do this. I think part of it is that other universities he was associated with didn't warm up to his idea, once again, probably because his idea isn't really viable. I think the closest substitute would be to enroll in an Interdisciplinary Studies program and tell the adviser you want to learn a lot of related languages. My alma mater would accomodate the student who wanted to do this, so would a lot of other universities because universities anymore are businesses. I'm not exactly sure what sort of study is necessary to determine what the market will bear or if an idea is commercially viable, just that most businesses will write a business plan before starting a new venture. If it's a new business and they want funding, most banks want a business plan (and a worthy credit rating, of course) before they lend any money. Keep in mind that in the US (I'm assuming the professor will locate his academy in the US) over 90% of businesses don't survive more than 5 years (of course, there are businesses which predate American independence, but most businesses aren't so long-lived). Many of these businesses weren't well-planned, though. I never had to write a business plan during my college days because I didn't take any entrepreneur courses. Another question for our gracious liason: does the good doctor have a business plan? I often wonder if my education was worth it. Thanks for vindicating me, guys :) Edited by Michael K. on 27 March 2012 at 1:37am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Zwlth Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 5211 days ago 154 posts - 320 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Arabic (Written), Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese, Latin, French, Persian, Greek | Message 13 of 50 27 March 2012 at 5:39am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks, Michael, that gives some real food for thought, so I would say that your education was well worth it! I didn't really get what you were getting at before because while you are assuming that what is meant here is the big picture, I am for some reason assuming it is the small picture. To make this clearer, anyone who hasn't looked at the professor's institute page might want to have a look there now. He describes both a study skills institute and an academy for a full-scale program in polyliteracy. The institute would be akin to a language school, while the academy would in essence be a college, or at least a university program. So, as the word "academy" is used in this thread, perhaps you are correct in your assumption that that is what is meant. However, I assumed the former because I recall him saying somewhere that it could form the kernel around which the latter could grow.
BabelSushi, please clarify - what are we talking about!? From where I sit, aiming to establish the academy as such would be a massive undertaking. Perhaps not literally Quixotic, but still requiring finding a Rockefeller to back it. So, if that's what's meant, then I sadly have to agree with Budz that it's merely a nice dream. But wouldn't setting up the study skills institute be much more feasible? It would be a language school with a special twist. And, it would be a great start towards the bigger picture. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5714 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto | Message 14 of 50 27 March 2012 at 12:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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I didn't see that before, but yes, a study skills institute instead of a full-blown academy probably would be more feasible.
Like I said, the closest substitute to his academy would be studying Interdisciplinary Studies at an established university and taking a language and literature track. That's probably what students interested in ployliteracy are taking now. I don't know if the professor would be interested in starting an online institute, sort of like LingQ but with accreditation and the authority to grant degrees. That would probably be much cheaper than a brick and mortar location. I've never been involved in educational administration so I have no idea how much money it would take to get his institute started, but I'm assuming it's a lot. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| jimbo Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6279 days ago 469 posts - 642 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 15 of 50 27 March 2012 at 1:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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Perhaps a partnership with a place like Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages would be a way to get started.
3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5654 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 16 of 50 27 March 2012 at 2:53pm | IP Logged | ||
Of course it will cost money. The real question is who will pay those costs? It sounds like you do not believe it should be the students of the academy. In which case, who else should it be? 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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