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What does "activating a language" mean?

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20 messages over 3 pages: 1 2
Serpent
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 Message 17 of 20
06 November 2014 at 11:22am | IP Logged 
Um, we even have a tag for activating a language, which was presumably made when the administrator was still... actitve :)

I think most of the time it's obvious whether "active" (or "intensive") has an additional connotation or not. When someone gets nitpicky, there are also terms like receptive/productive.

Edited by Serpent on 06 November 2014 at 11:23am

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luke
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 Message 18 of 20
06 November 2014 at 5:02pm | IP Logged 
I think the professor very clear what he means by "activation" in the first two minutes of Selecting Self-Study Foreign Language Materials. One can watch entire video to get the wider context.
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Retinend
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 Message 19 of 20
19 November 2014 at 10:48pm | IP Logged 
After the unwelcome implication by Robarb that I was only "attributing" the definition
given in the OP to Arguelles, I'm happy to see that it is in fact what he says.
Specifically he says that the "activation" he has in mind is "at least" in the form of a
sustained study of audio and textual sources, but "ideally" a form of lived engagement
with the "living language."

It seems this thread has gotten up peoples noses, as if it's a kind of trifling nuisance.
Personally I think this question (that comes off the back of Arguelles's usage, not this
apparently unaminous other definition, allied to the notion of "active skills") is
crucial since we all want to reach levels of high achievement, and so it's important to
know how important literally living in the language is if one is to make it a serious
goal. I'm personally planning my life around actually living in several countries to
benefit from lived experience... so to me it's no purely semantic distinction.

Edited by Retinend on 19 November 2014 at 10:50pm

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tarvos
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 Message 20 of 20
19 November 2014 at 11:19pm | IP Logged 
I like travel, and I enjoy the practice I get in my languages from travelling, but
actually that only gets to be really fun when you're good at a language anyway. My most
recent three or four trips have all been to places where I knew the language and could
get around on my own and that's made all the difference in the world to their success.

In Russia and Romania especially it was very helpful that I had some local language
knowledge. But as a means of activation of your language skills - it's a part of it, and
a fun part, but most of it you can do anywhere. I've spent a total of 10 days in Sweden,
yet it's one of my best languages.


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