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Video about Irish in 7 languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6702 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes  Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 33 of 52 23 March 2010 at 11:27am | IP Logged |
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For someone as extrovert as Irishpolyglot those total immersion sessions must be exactly the way to go, and his results clearly proves that works for him. I would also say that my travels have been important for me as a language learner (though none of them have lasted three months), but not at the initial stage. I remember better from seeing things than from hearing them, and I prefer being comfortable with my level of thinking in a language before I try it out on other human beings, but for someone with an outgoing personality (and presumably a good memory) like Irishpolyglot my way of studying would obviously not function, and the opposite is probably also true. I wouldn't learn much from sitting in a bar somewhere where I couldn't already to some extent speak the language.
Edited by Iversen on 23 March 2010 at 11:58am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| irishpolyglot Nonaglot Senior Member Ireland fluentin3months Joined 5632 days ago 285 posts - 892 votes Speaks: Irish, English*, French, Esperanto, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Sign Language Studies: Mandarin | Message 34 of 52 23 March 2010 at 1:13pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks Iversen ;)
If you are happy to learn in a comfortable environment then it's clearly working for you based on your extensive language base! However, I would like to point out that active contact with other people even in the early stages should NOT be reserved to extroverts. Something I discuss a lot on my blog is that introverts need to simply get out of their shell and stop reinforcing their view of themselves as introverts. I was very shy before I started travelling and I learned through making mistakes and embarrassing myself how to become more extrovert. I've pushed introverts to try and they have been happy with the results and learned to speak soon even though they wouldn't be the life of the party ;) Different people do learn different ways, so I'm not suggesting that my approach is best for all. Rather than seeing a word written down, I remember it due to it coming up in active conversations and that has a much greater emotional impact. I'm not suggesting that most people think like that, and immersion is certainly way more stressful than using input methods, especially when done inefficiently (I'm sure we can all list plenty of examples) but frankly it gets better results way quicker than any input based method ever could. This pressure is absolutely essential for a lot of people learning a language. If you learn a language out of pure curiosity or for academic purposes there is no actual need to speak it soon and you can invest more time in input methods so that you would feel more "ready" when the time comes. People following their spouse back to their home country, transferred for work purposes etc. simply can't afford to avoid those bars and other uncomfortable situations... immersion isn't a technique to learn a language, it's a lifestyle that brings different requirements to people self-studying in the comfort of their home. So I disagree that using human contact as much as possible, even in the early stages, as an approach to learning a language is exclusive to extroverts ;) Edited by irishpolyglot on 23 March 2010 at 1:15pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| irishpolyglot Nonaglot Senior Member Ireland fluentin3months Joined 5632 days ago 285 posts - 892 votes Speaks: Irish, English*, French, Esperanto, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Sign Language Studies: Mandarin | Message 35 of 52 23 March 2010 at 3:07pm | IP Logged |
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I don't quite remember using the word denial...
So, this undeserved aggro is clearly coming from somewhere. :) I'm good at "shrugging off" pointless comments that don't contribute anything to a discussion and you've given me a perfect example here! [SHRUG] Pity you don't have your name here, I'm sure you would have sent me such worthless comments before somewhere else ;) It's always nice to recognise old "friends" :P 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| irishpolyglot Nonaglot Senior Member Ireland fluentin3months Joined 5632 days ago 285 posts - 892 votes Speaks: Irish, English*, French, Esperanto, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Sign Language Studies: Mandarin | Message 36 of 52 23 March 2010 at 4:34pm | IP Logged |
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[Edit: It seems that the other side of this conversation has been deleted. I was being attacked for something totally irrelevant to this post. It seems to have spilled over from a one-sided debate on Steve Kaufmann's blog. I genuinely don't understand why he was so angry with me, I'm just sharing my thoughts on why immersion is effective]
Aaaah you're one of Steve's minions, that's explains everything :D Edited by irishpolyglot on 24 March 2010 at 9:00am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6141 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 37 of 52 23 March 2010 at 4:58pm | IP Logged |
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Pyx, irishpolyglot, let's not turn this thread into an all-out fight. It's obvious that both of you have your own ways of approaching your studies and that's fine. Let's not kill each other, okay?
Also, is there really anything else in this thread to be discussed that hasn't yet been said? I believe the topic has drifted significantly from the original topic of the video on the Irish language. Edited by ellasevia on 23 March 2010 at 5:10pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| irishpolyglot Nonaglot Senior Member Ireland fluentin3months Joined 5632 days ago 285 posts - 892 votes Speaks: Irish, English*, French, Esperanto, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Sign Language Studies: Mandarin | Message 38 of 52 23 March 2010 at 5:02pm | IP Logged |
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@ellasevia Agreed
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6702 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 39 of 52 24 March 2010 at 1:16am | IP Logged |
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OK, peace has returned. Let me just say that I read IrishPolyglot's answer to me as a vehement defence for language learning by personal contact right from the start. But in the same message he also acknowledged that I apparently had been able to learn a couple of languages using a very different method. So we apparently agree that there are more than one way to Rome, and of course I respect his accomplishments. The big difference between IrishPolyglot and me seems to be that he uses informal personal encounters as an occasion to learn new languages, while I primarily just use them as places where I can check the things I already have learnt. Plus he has chosen to move around from place to plce, while I just travel a couple of months every year and stay at home in between.
It is fairly clear that we don't have the same attitude to informal meetings with other people. I wouldn't characterize myself as shy, but rather as reserved - if I decide that I have something to say, then I say it, and if I can see a valid reason for contacting someone then I do it. In fact, once I have decided that I can speak a language I do my 'monolingual' travels where I refuse to speak anything but the local language, and so far that that strategy has served me well - judged from the reaction of those I speak to. But I hate smalltalk (and telephones), and I don't speak to people just for social reasons. Likewise I don't like pubs (because of the booze, noise and expenses), so instead I speak to people in museums and zoos and librarires and supermarkets, which I actually visit during my holidays. Furthermore I can't subscribe to the idea that I should support learning just from input, - in fact I try to think and write at an early stage in my languages. But I simply don't like speaking to other people in a language in which I don't feel relatively comfortable. Edited by Iversen on 24 March 2010 at 1:36am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| irishpolyglot Nonaglot Senior Member Ireland fluentin3months Joined 5632 days ago 285 posts - 892 votes Speaks: Irish, English*, French, Esperanto, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Sign Language Studies: Mandarin | Message 40 of 52 24 March 2010 at 8:45am | IP Logged |
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Thanks Iversen, glad you saw what I was actually talking about ;)
Don't know why those guys found the need to suddenly attack me here; it was due to threads in other places on the Internet that they seem to still be holding a grudge for. Not quite the kind of open discussion I was hoping from this forum... I have always maintained that there are lots of ways "to Rome" as you said, but some narrow minded people seem to think that the way I like to share shouldn't be included, simply because I talk about it so passionately. To what you've just said, I'll also add that I don't like pubs (I don't drink) and I detest smalltalk. Despite my low level in a language when starting I've found means to have pretty varied conversations. I don't ever really touch on stuff like the weather... ;) Edited by irishpolyglot on 24 March 2010 at 8:56am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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