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Language and Secondary Edu. | ||
Tags: Living abroad | Immersion | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| K2 Groupie Canada Joined 6759 days ago 69 posts - 69 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian | Message 1 of 7 05 December 2006 at 1:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I noticed that some people have a C2 or some sort of letter by a language they can speak and I know it stands for being able to teach the language at a certain level and I was wondering how does one go about obtaining one of those and at the same time I would like to ask.Should one learn languages in secondary education or should you just basically be "dropped" in the midst of the country and learn like that.
Thank you for your time. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7026 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 7 05 December 2006 at 3:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
I thought that it represented the level of fluency reached in that language rather than a teaching certificate of some kind.
I think that the general consensus in the forum is that being taught a language is not as beneficial as learning it on your own (hence the name of the forum!). Rather than being dropped into the country of choice with no knowledge whatsoever, it's probably better to learn some aspects of the language first to speed up your learning in the country. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| iieee Groupie United States dreaminginturkish.bl Joined 6598 days ago 78 posts - 80 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Turkish, German | Message 3 of 7 05 December 2006 at 6:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
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If you are totally motivated, a combination of self-guided work and classroom work I think really could be the best of both worlds.
That being said, obviously being "dropped in", or total immersion has its benefits. But it's not always convenient to just move to another country for a while. Edited by iieee on 05 December 2006 at 11:11pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6901 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 4 of 7 05 December 2006 at 6:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree with Patuco. You're likely to make more of an immersion programme if you have at least a grasp of the bare basics as it's very hard to learn a language by just listening to it. If you have someone willing to help translate and teach you, then it's a different matter as you will be provided with a 'reference' in your own native language. You don't need to be a grammar expert but some understanding of the basics would certainly help. Immersion is what you make of it. Listening to a language all day won't get you very far but combining that with real study (be it in a class or from a self-study book or three) is a step in the right direction. Also, it may be worth noting that immersion in a very different culture to your own can be something of a shock. Most people get over the culture shock fairly quickly (some not at all) but others may begin to detest the culture and, by extension, the local language. It goes without saying that this is not the ideal environment for learning. Being thrown in in the deep end is not always a good idea. You have to be mentally prepared for it and preferably go into things with some basic knowledge of the language, customs and culture you'll be dealing with. On a final note, even immersion doesn't guarantee fluency. As I said above, it's what you make of it. You can live in a foreign country, hear the language spoken all day and read foreign text everywhere but some active learning is still needed. Try reading a Chinese newspaper without learning the meanings of characters and how they 'work'. You might be able to recognise some commonly used ones simply through repetition but taking it a step or two further needs some work. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| justinwilliams Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6700 days ago 321 posts - 327 votes 3 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Italian | Message 5 of 7 05 December 2006 at 9:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
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C2 like I have refers to the level you reached according to fluency tests like toeic (the one I did) and toefl. You have A1-2, B1-B2, C1-C2 on the european language proficiency scale, that's all it is. They make your result correspond to one of this category.
For a thorough description see, http://www.goethe.de/ins/de/ler/kst/enindex.htm which is not the official website of the european council of languages but it does clarify things. Edited by justinwilliams on 05 December 2006 at 9:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6779 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 6 of 7 06 December 2006 at 5:30am | IP Logged | |||||
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Here's a nice chart of what those six graded levels are supposed to mean in regards to one's language proficiency:
CEFR Explanations I suspect that the tests used for assigning these grades have serious flaws, though. I frequently read stuff written by English "C2" speakers that is ungrammatical or even incomprehensible. :/ 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6670 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 7 of 7 06 December 2006 at 11:38am | IP Logged | |||||
As I see it, it depends on the one. Many people who post here have had less than satisfactory experiences in secondary education with languages. However, I have found that for meit helps to have some feedback from someone else and the structure that a class that meets at a certain time on certain days provides some helpful structure. Being dropped in a country can be rough if you have no knowledge or very, very little knowledge of the country and its customs. It might be a helpful thing for intermediate and advanced students. I wouldn't recommend it for most people starting a new language. The best way to learn a language is what is the best way for you. It is probably somewhere between those two situations. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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