|
 |
Aspergers have a natural talent | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| apparition Octoglot Senior Member United States Joined 6654 days ago 600 posts - 667 votes  Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), French, Arabic (Iraqi), Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Pashto | Message 17 of 36 04 October 2007 at 3:06pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Sorry, I might not have been clear. What I mean to say is that just because he said that he believes Aspies have an advantage in learning languages, it does not mean that he is necessarily excluding the idea that Aspies also have an advantage in learning other subjects. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7150 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 18 of 36 04 October 2007 at 7:42pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I think I can answer this. Risby wrote, "The OP posits that aspies have a particular ability to learn languages. Nobody yet has provided any information that corroborates or supports this belief." I didn't say that Aspies have a particular ability to learn languages. I said, "I believe people with Aspergers have an advantage in learning languages." This is quite different. What I meant was that the single-mindedness that is common to Aspies is of benefit when studying languages. Above-average intelligence and a superior memory are common with Aspies but not all Aspies have these traits. Those traits are also an advantage to learning. It is well known that people with Aspergers tend to drift into computer programming, mathematics and science because of their traits. I am simply making the suggestion that their attributes should make them good language learners. I have two brothers with a more severe form of Aspergers and one "sane" brother. The two with Aspergers have learnt several languages, but have not been language fanatics like myself. My brother John came to visit us in Germany, borrowed our Assimil course, and was conversing with our neighbours in a week or so. My brother Jim has the most severe form concentrates on one language and spends hours every day reading and listening to it. I met a young teenage girl at a fair for educational products and she was clearly an Aspie. She just wanted to talk about Star Trek and the Klingon language. She was like a walking encyclopedia. People with Asperger Syndrome are likely to know more about their chosen subjects than even the experts (or they are the experts) and really are like walking encyclopedias in their field of interest. Whatever their field of learning, they are likely to excel. So, what I meant was that Aspies have a head start when it comes to learning languages. In fact, they probably have a head start when it comes to learning a lot of subjects. The downside is that they can do very poorly in some areas. Some subjects just don't make sense to some Aspies. An aside, when I was in high school learning trigonometry I used my Aspie traits (I didn't know it then) to memorise formulas. I took the "shapes" of words, or how rough or smooth the words felt, to remember the formulas for right-angled triangles. Some words were round, others jagged; some were smooth, some were rough; some were "nice," some "not nice or friendly." It never occurred to me there was anything strange about this at the time, although I never told anyone. Edited by fanatic on 04 October 2007 at 7:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| shallom777 Groupie United States Joined 6278 days ago 42 posts - 43 votes Studies: Spanish, French | Message 19 of 36 04 October 2007 at 9:21pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
Daniel Tammet is very talented and social. Check out the following clip on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw-Jq-L9YSo 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| apparition Octoglot Senior Member United States Joined 6654 days ago 600 posts - 667 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), French, Arabic (Iraqi), Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Pashto | Message 20 of 36 04 October 2007 at 11:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
I once knew a kid who knew more about history than his teacher. Well, he knew more facts, at least.
The teacher would mention some story of something that happened to, say, Alexander the Great, and after the story, this kid would raise his hand and when called upon, start saying stuff like "And he also did this, and that, and this..." It was extraordinary, because it didn't matter what the subject was, he just seemed to be a walking encyclopedia. Pretty soon, the teacher would just say, "Mark, do you have anything to add?" because he knew the kid would raise his hand anyway. I'm fairly certain he had Asperger's, though I'm not a psychologist, since he was rather socially awkward. There were times when he'd keep going and wouldn't notice that everyone else just wanted to move on. Also, he had trouble writing, because he could never decide what was most important about the subject, what needed to be said to prove his point. This hurt him academically. Really cool kid, though. I could definitely see him poring over a textbook, if he ever decided to learn languages (his passion was clearly history, though). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| risby Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6342 days ago 30 posts - 34 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Italian, Spanish | Message 21 of 36 05 October 2007 at 3:36am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Yes, but it is a very controversial standpoint. Language learning and communication difficulties are defining characteristics of autism and aspergers. People who work with aspies talk about their special requirements http://www.tes.co.uk/section/staffroom/thread.aspx?story_id= 2379703&path=/modern%20languages/&threadPage=1 and communication problems "The child’s speech is often abnormal with an inability to use volume, pitch, stress, rhythm and intonation appropriately." "Where language and speech does develop it is often characterised by errors in structure. The child may be unable to use language in an appropriate social context, or may use their own idiosyncratic structure. “Go on green riding” may mean, “I want to go on the swing”." http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/_doc/6701/mod ern%20foreign%20la nguages.pdf (Hmmm, try as I have I cannot remove that space between la and nguages in the link above. It isn't supposed to be there) Edited by risby on 05 October 2007 at 3:45am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7150 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 22 of 36 05 October 2007 at 6:18am | IP Logged | ||||||||
It is true that it is common for Aspies to have difficulty with their own language - in fact there seem to be great contradictions. My two brothers (twins) who have more advanced Aspergers both failed English at the university entrance level. They had friends from Europe who had only been in the country for a year or two who passed English quite easily. One went straight into university because he was a maths honours student. John has studied several languages and is fluent in two or three; Jim has studied French and Hebrew and is fluent in both. Isaac Asimov is a great writer and had Asperger's syndrome. I always did well in English but still have a better than average ability with English. I have always been intrigued by English grammar. So, while the above symptoms are common, they are not universal with people with Aspergers. My brother Jim has a very loud monotone when he speaks. This is typical for Aspies. I stand by my original statement that people with Aspergers may have an advantage that they are single-minded, have a prodigious memory and above average intelligence. Not all people with Aspergers have above-average intelligence but many do. There are well known actors with Aspergers. Some are excellent public speakers. In other words, they make good use of their language. Why are you fighting the suggestion that Aspergers might have an advantage? Even if the only advantage that we have is that we have a one-track-mind when it comes to some subjects, it is still an advantage. I didn't make the suggestion so that members would fight - it was just a suggestion for members to consider. Reading many of the posts of members of this forum over the years has led me to believe that a good number of us have Asperger Syndrome to some degree. I see it as an advantage. It has helped me to write several best-selling books on mathematics and how it should be taught. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6276 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 23 of 36 05 October 2007 at 6:49am | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
It might help in some ways and hinder in others. Communicating with other people (as opposed to engaging in what is in effect a monologue) and reading social situations are part of learning and speaking a foreign language. I don't think autistics and Aspergers sufferers would shine in such situations, and they might do very badly indeed.
I am personally a little wary of the idea that some syndromes or illnesses are helpful. But you could argue that people with narcissist personality disorder might have advantages in show business, while the superficial charm and ruthlessness of psychopaths might help them in selling real estate or pursuing a political career. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| risby Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6342 days ago 30 posts - 34 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Italian, Spanish | Message 24 of 36 05 October 2007 at 7:11am | IP Logged | ||||||||
When you have a hammer everything looks like a nail. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
