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Japan school: You Can Learn 7 Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Terrapin Fan Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6607 days ago 5 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English, Arabic (Written) Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 15 26 October 2006 at 12:18am | IP Logged | ||
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Anyone familiar with this group (Hippo Family Club/Transnational College of Lex)? I was intrigued by them after I looked through their "What is Quantum Mechanics?" book at Barnes and Noble. There were little side notes in this volume that essentially said, "With the techniques used by this Japanese school you can easily assimilate seven or more languages and tensor analysis with ease." I tried to order the book "You Can Learn Seven Languages" w/o success. Anyway, here's the address and a portion taken from that website:
http://www.lexlrf.org/ LEX has an institute where languages and human beings are analyzed from the viewpoint of natural science. The Transnational College of LEX (TCL, also known as Torakare) was created in Tokyo in 1984 as a place to research and learn about the intriguing relationship between human beings and languages. It is a sort of "LEX college." The unique thing about this college is that there are no grades, teachers, textbooks or tests. People of all ages, from recent high school graduates to grandparents, work on research revolving around the theme of "human beings and language." Like their ages, their research topics vary. The books they have published range from the bestseller The Code of Hitomaro to new research on classics in The Mystery of Makura Kotoba. They are also well known for Who is Fourier? A Mathematical Adventure, and What is Quantum Mechanics? A Physics Adventure, and What is DNA? A Biology Adventure. To students of TCL, physics and mathematics are languages with which to explain natural phenomenon, and classic poems from books such as Kikimanyo are a treasure chest which explain modern-day language structures. Students are supported by Senior Fellows, a group of topnotch, professional scientists and academics who provide advice and lectures which stimulate intellectual curiosity. The creative and broad-ranging research done at TCL is integrated and closely related to the Hippo Family Club (known as LEX Language Project in the U.S.) and the Transnational Exchange Program. Bonjour! My name is Marie Kitamura. I'm an Assistant Senior Fellow at the Transnational College of LEX, a research institute that goes by the nickname of "TCL." I'd like to tell you about TCL. At TCL there are no examinations, no homework, no checking attendance, and no certification, even though we do graduate. There are many students of different ages here - some have just graduated from high school, some are housewives who have children, and some are office workers who have quit their jobs. But, we are all members of Hippo Family Club and enjoy Hippo's multilingual activities very much. We are especially interested in investigating how humans acquire language and in developing a natural learning environment. Therefore, we try to create a relaxed environment in which students freely interact and learn from each other. Utilizing our many points of view, we think and talk about issues that interest us. While people usually speak of "crossing" or "transcending" a border, we at TCL think in "transnational" terms. This means that we try to think of things without borders between them. So, we talk about science and literature together, not separating them into two different disciplines that don't connect. At TCL, there are also no borders between teachers and students or freshmen and seniors - we are all together. Our interest in multilingualism doesn't just involve what are traditionally thought of as languages - French, Russian, Chinese, etc. In our investigations we look at other subjects, such as quantum mechanics, as languages. At TCL we approach understanding science just as we approach foreign languages at our Hippo Club meetings. For example, when we started down the road that ended with the writing of What is Quantum Mechanics? A Physics Adventure, we didn't even like physics or math. We didn't believe that we could ever really understand them. But we approached them in the "Hippo way." We worked at understanding little by little, and we talked about what we knew among us. It was very similar to when we started learning new foreign languages. We found that physics and math were also languages describing natural phenomenon. Therefore, we were able to learn them! We enjoyed this learning process so much that we wrote about it and what we understood of math and quantum mechanics. Many people have had the experience of struggling to learn something, and therefore have been interested in our books, which describe how we learned something difficult. The books are as much about this learning process as they are about mathematics and physics. Our most recent publication is a book about genetics and DNA called What is DNA? A Biology Adventure. Edited by Terrapin Fan on 26 October 2006 at 12:22am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Terrapin Fan Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6607 days ago 5 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English, Arabic (Written) Studies: Russian | Message 2 of 15 26 October 2006 at 12:29am | IP Logged | ||
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Here's info on the book from their website:
Anyone Can Speak 7 Languages! By HIPPO Family Club Publication: 1997 61 pages ISBN 0-9643504-5-9 Paperback Originally published as articles in a major Japanese newspaper, this English translation allows English-speakers to learn about LEX Language Project's (formerly Hippo Family Club) unique approach to language. These clubs were formed in Japan in 1981 as part of LEX: the Institute for Language Experience, Experiment and Exchange, an organization that continues to do groundbreaking research into the process of language acquisition. Anyone who has struggled to learn languages in a classroom, tried in vain to memorize verb conjugations or felt at the mercy of a foreign language dictionary will welcome the revolutionary new approach to language acquisition described in Anyone Can Speak 7 Languages!. In the past, language has served as a barrier, separating people from different lands. LEX views language as a dynamic network that exists so that all human beings can communicate with each other. With the hope of overcoming language obstacles and building bridges between nations, LEX has developed an enjoyable way to acquire several languages. As these authors immerse their families into a sea of language, they describe how their attitudes towards so-called "foreign" languages are transformed. Along this journey, they regain their childlike sense of wonder lost during years of traditional classroom learning, and discover the fundamental similarities shared by all languages and human beings. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| unlocked87 Groupie United States Joined 6619 days ago 42 posts - 44 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 3 of 15 26 October 2006 at 12:47am | IP Logged | ||
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This is awesome. Thanks for posting this.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ichiro Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6208 days ago 111 posts - 152 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese, French Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Korean, Malay | Message 4 of 15 26 November 2007 at 10:06am | IP Logged | ||
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Is anyone still interested in this? I can tell you all about it. I'm a member.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| joan.carles Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6332 days ago 332 posts - 342 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan*, French, EnglishC1, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Hungarian, Russian, Georgian | Message 5 of 15 26 November 2007 at 10:25am | IP Logged | ||
Sure, it would be interesting to know what's the LEX's approach to language learning. I mean, not to save my money by not buying the book but just to know the main features of this system that lets someone learn not two, nor three, ...but 7 languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gon-no-suke Triglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6433 days ago 156 posts - 191 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Japanese, EnglishC2 Studies: Korean, Malay, Swahili | Message 6 of 15 26 November 2007 at 3:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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While waiting for Ichiros insider report, I'll add what I got from reading
some non-verifiable critical sources on the internet. I considered joining but these are the reasons I didn't:
I am sorry Ichiro for dismissing your organisation based on such unreliable information. If you have better first-hand experience of the LEX system, please let us know. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Zhuangzi Nonaglot Language Program Publisher Senior Member Canada lingq.com Joined 7027 days ago 646 posts - 688 votes Speaks: English*, French, Japanese, Swedish, Mandarin, Cantonese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Russian | Message 7 of 15 26 November 2007 at 5:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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To me, language learning is about working towards fluency, the ability to maintain a conversation, to read books, to listen to audio books, to watch movies. I have never found sing-alongs and other "groupie feel good" activities all that useful. For a long time language learning is an intense solitary activity, until you come out of the first silent exposure period ready to get involved with others in the language. I am skeptical of this approach.
On the other hand I would something similar with children in school, young children. I would not teach any languages, certainly not grammar. I would give children exposure to stories in a variety of languages. A different language every year. Audio and text and help with vocab. The teacher need only encourage, the language content and competence can be delivered online. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| joan.carles Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6332 days ago 332 posts - 342 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan*, French, EnglishC1, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Hungarian, Russian, Georgian | Message 8 of 15 27 November 2007 at 10:35am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, if this is what the method is about, I think I'm done with it. I use songs and poems myself to help me when learning languages but like I say, to help, being able to just sing and tell the numbers or some greetings is not speaking a language. It's a way to learn new words and expressions, to get exposed to the sounds and prosody, but end of the story.
Besides, mixing all this with religion... it's ok that Ethnologue is run by a religious organization, it doesn't affect substantially the contents of their information, but religious gatherings and all that stuff, like the French republic, I prefer to keep these kind of things separated. Anyways, it could be interesting to read Ichiro's answer to the last posts. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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