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Language Studies in the Past? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5672 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes  Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 25 of 50 28 May 2009 at 7:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am not sure it is even true that there was a golden age when many people were multilingual. Here in the Czech republic, it is possible to meet many older people who can speak Russian and German, but that is mainly because it was forced on them during occupation (in the case of Russian) or because it was the only way to speak with neighbours (in the case of German). Having said that, few seem to be fluent in those languages: most have only enough fluency to get by in simple daily matters.
Overall, though, I am sure you would be hard pressed to find many speakers of Finnish, Mandarin, or Korean. There would have been almost no way for all but the most lucky or wealthy to have any exposure to these languages. Whereas among the younger generation I think you would have better luck. In my opinion, there are more willing linguists now than ever before! The biggest issue now, I think, is not modern distractions, but rather the widespread use of English means that in most places you can now get by without learning other languages. Before, that would have been an impossibility. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TheBiscuit Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 5926 days ago 532 posts - 619 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Italian Studies: German, Croatian | Message 26 of 50 29 May 2009 at 12:39am | IP Logged | ||
It seems that the more resources/distractions there are, the less actual learning takes place. I notice the high school kids I teach are in that state of 'waiting to receive a message from someone by some means of communication and can't think about anything else' and I spend more time confiscating said methods of communication nowadays. Classrooms have got more sophisticated in terms of the technology available but I can't honestly say that students learn more because of it. Edited by TheBiscuit on 29 May 2009 at 12:40am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5841 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 27 of 50 29 May 2009 at 2:16am | IP Logged | ||
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Biscuit, that was interesting.
It must be INCREDIBLY annoying when you are trying to teach and the kids are messing around on their phones. Nobody wants to be confiscate etc but if they can't bring themselves to switch it off... It would be interesting to see a study made comparing the progress of a beginning class of learners for a language in a situation where: a) All the bells & whistles in terms of sophisticated learning technology was available (for example an excellent state or private school in a big city) b) Basic text book, Notepad and pen. (isolated rural school with strict rules against mobile phones, internet..) What would be the pros and cons of both methods and which group would make the most progress! It might revel WHICH techniques help and which are a distraction/ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5841 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 28 of 50 29 May 2009 at 2:23am | IP Logged | ||
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Tombstone; Interesting to hear about the language school that teaches Russian. But with this kind of equipment (bespoke laptop, ipod, Smart blackboard with wireless transfer to the students' laptops) they are adding hundreds if not more to the cost of the course for the student!
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| guesto Groupie Australia Joined 5744 days ago 76 posts - 118 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 29 of 50 29 May 2009 at 2:43am | IP Logged | ||
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I think you are idealising the past somewhat. What people exactly are you referring to? How is the fact that old people in Eastern Europe speak Russian any different to the way so many young people today speak good English? And there are plenty of people these days who study 'hard out' like you mentioned Oswald did. There are probably numerous examples on this site alone. As for distractions, to say people had no distractions in the past would be extremely naive. Apart from a few aristocrats, for the vast majority there would probably have been things to worry about a lot more distracting than Youtube, like the harvest and 15 children... And yes, today there are a lot of resources at the click of a mouse, but how much of it do we actually use? I for one tend to choose a few good resources and stick with them rather tightly...
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| EliteTransLingo Bilingual Diglot Newbie United States elitetranslingo.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5808 days ago 8 posts - 6 votes Speaks: Arabic (Egyptian)*, English* | Message 30 of 50 29 May 2009 at 4:06am | IP Logged | ||
Edited by EliteTransLingo on 30 May 2009 at 8:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| EliteTransLingo Bilingual Diglot Newbie United States elitetranslingo.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5808 days ago 8 posts - 6 votes Speaks: Arabic (Egyptian)*, English* | Message 31 of 50 29 May 2009 at 4:07am | IP Logged | ||
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| EliteTransLingo Bilingual Diglot Newbie United States elitetranslingo.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5808 days ago 8 posts - 6 votes Speaks: Arabic (Egyptian)*, English* | Message 32 of 50 29 May 2009 at 4:11am | IP Logged | ||
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I think people in the past was in no need for special tools or softwares like the ones we do have nowadays, their memory was sharp enough to grasp, I remeber when i visited luxot in Egypt, the security old man who was guarding the temples there knew at least 5 languages, and the astonishing think is he never went to school, I asked him how come you know all those languages and closer to the native speaker? he told me " for 40 years I have been receving tourists from all nations"
So leaning language to me is a matter of sharp memory and practice. Thanks and regards Omar Elite TransLingo Your translation Service Partner www.elitetranslingo.com 1 person has voted this message useful |
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