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Benny Lewis | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5265 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 41 of 164 07 April 2012 at 4:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Good to see that the sniping is at a minimum on this thread. Congratulations on your accomplishment, Benny! You worked really hard and achieved quite a lot in a short amount of time. I am eagerly anticipating your posts over the next three months as you explore the vastness that is China.
Benny, I think a lot of the animosity comes from folks who are "home-based" learners and feel that your methods, somehow, have little relevance to what they do. You've said in your posts that you were pleasantly surprised with your on-line learning. Probably most of your readers and LHG customers are also home-based. I know you don't ever take suggestions on your missions, but I think if you would go somewhere you really like, say Brazil or Colombia, and undertake a mission to learn say Japanese (easy in São Paulo), Russian or Finnish just for example, outside the TL country. It would show people that your methods are just as effective no matter the location. Most people don't realize that with a little effort, willing native speakers can be found anywhere, if not in person- on-line. I even have people I meet here on my tiny island (pop: 50,000) in the Caribbean for Portuguese practice. Such a trip could be arranged so that you avoid the Northern winter and then go to the TL country in the Spring. Something like this would go a long way towards inspiring home-based learners who aren't connecting the dots that you share. It would also allow you to hang out in a place you like, but have already learned the language. Your blog has inspired many people who thought they could never learn a language. It has also inspired many people to actually start speaking the language. Just knowing that it is possible to reach B-1/2 in 3 months with hard work and dedication is an inspiration. Again, congratulations on your accomplishment. Thank you for sharing via your blog and best of luck in your travels. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5133 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 42 of 164 07 April 2012 at 4:18pm | IP Logged | ||
I think that's precisely what his Colombian mission was about, wasn't it (although not to learn Japanese)? R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| irishpolyglot Nonaglot Senior Member Ireland fluentin3months Joined 5636 days ago 285 posts - 892 votes Speaks: Irish, English*, French, Esperanto, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Sign Language Studies: Mandarin | Message 43 of 164 07 April 2012 at 4:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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That was indeed my Colombian mission. At the moment I only know what I'll be up to until August, but after that I was already seriously considering an intensive learning project that doesn't involve being in the country that it's spoken in.
For the moment I'm only thinking about the next months though, as I don't generally make long term plans. China alone will give me plenty to think about!! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6946 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 44 of 164 07 April 2012 at 5:02pm | IP Logged | ||
Any animosity would likely have more to do with people's perception of unrealistic claims forcefully made than with the methods not being suitable for other learners' circumstances. The LR method, when it first appeared on this forum, was also met with quite a bit of uproar. To take that analogy further, I am not sure to this day what the forum verdict on its effectiveness is and just what it can and cannot do. The best cure for animosity would be, first, to document the method in sufficient detail to leave no doubt as to what it actually involves, and second, to have a clear successful test case that justifies the claims and that has actually been based on the method as described. It would certainly be extra work to document the process and the test case and provide all this information to others, but it would helpful to those interested in this approach. It's possible that something like this is already in the works. Edited by frenkeld on 08 April 2012 at 3:51am 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tmp011007 Diglot Senior Member Congo Joined 6072 days ago 199 posts - 346 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese | Message 45 of 164 07 April 2012 at 7:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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@emk
that's their opinion/interpretation and Benny has another one. a pretty normal situation, nothing wrong here.. now, I think neither every single disagreement is an academic and/or linguistic perfectionism nor personal attacks the way Benny, according to his posts, seems to believe/promote (it would be too easy to quote all those references). of course, there are some academic/linguistic perfectionism and personal attacks but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be "that bad" in "different circumstances" (replies).. at the same time, I think his missions wouldn't be this popular without his famous/infamous replies (it all evens out -in the long run) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zhanglong Senior Member United States Joined 4932 days ago 322 posts - 427 votes Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 46 of 164 09 April 2012 at 11:40am | IP Logged | ||
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After hearing Benny speak to Mike Campbell, I must give him credit for even attempting such a project in only three months.
I give him even more credit for coming to this forum where he must suffer the slings and arrows of outraged linguists. It's not easy to keep putting yourself out there, especially when there are a billion native speakers who are better than you are. I think Benny's approach may not be for everyone, but people always have different goals. If your goal is to be able to speak with others, communicate, and be understood, then Benny's passion for communication is very effective. Kudos to him for his spirit, energy, and enthusiasm. 13 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4718 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 47 of 164 14 April 2012 at 6:28am | IP Logged | ||
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Benny has posted today a new video, for the 3 months and 1 week of Chinese learning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pffLh3all3w&feature=g-u-u&con text=G2b9ff93FUAAAAAAAAAA 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| NewLanguageGuy Groupie France youtube.com/NewLangu Joined 4610 days ago 74 posts - 134 votes Speaks: English* | Message 48 of 164 14 April 2012 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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I enjoy watching Benny's videos, as I enjoy watching the videos of many other language enthusiasts on Youtube.
Having lurked on this forum for a while, I am bemused at some of the pissing contests being played out (not only here, but also with certain video responses), as to "who is best". Is being a linguist supposed to be competitive? :-) Edited by NewLanguageGuy on 14 April 2012 at 2:42pm 6 persons have voted this message useful |
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