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Prof A, learning first language? | ||
Tags: Choosing a Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery |  | |
| divexo Groupie Australia Joined 5224 days ago 70 posts - 74 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 1 of 21 08 September 2010 at 3:00pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Hello there Professor,
I have been watching your videos and i am quite inspired by you especially considering you had a rather late start from what i've read, and how you have such a great interest in language. I am only 17 though and I'm about to start learning Italian and Latin (only reading/understanding) at the same time to get to a (hopefully) basic fluency after numerous months of study (a few hours a day for intensive 2 months to get into it), before picking up in the future across a number of years French, Spanish, Japanese and then Norwegian - a future polyglot! So my question, considering you know so much about language resources, if you were hypothetically going to start your first language via intensive study to get to basic fluency as quick as possible at this date, how would you do it? As in what resources would you use, and when in your study? And How much would you study per day for how long to achieve this? Would you learn two at once? Or just focus intensively on one before the next? I'm really wondering about obtaining a very basic fluency in Italian in the quickest possible time as well, But thanks as knowing what you do will be helpful with finding potential secondary resources to what i'm going to use: At the moment for Italian was thinking Michel Thomas both foundation and advanced over 8-12days, then doing Assimil with quite a few lessons per day, not sure what after though or what books alongside Assimil. Thanks again, Divexo Edited by divexo on 09 September 2010 at 3:58pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| lingoleng Senior Member Germany Joined 5331 days ago 605 posts - 1290 votes | Message 2 of 21 08 September 2010 at 7:00pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Most polyglots pay attention to their language(s); I guess your chances to become more than a polybabbler are small from the very beginning, sorry. (Supplement: divexo is a new account of the user vexx. I could speculate about his reasons, they may be honorable, and in this case I would want to apologize, but if they are not: Isn't the creation of double accounts kind of rude, too?) Edited by lingoleng on 08 September 2010 at 9:28pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Jezrul Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5265 days ago 27 posts - 44 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 21 08 September 2010 at 8:33pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Rude. 15 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5368 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 4 of 21 08 September 2010 at 9:05pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I agree. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7409 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 21 08 September 2010 at 9:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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This user had an account that was banned for repetitive bad spelling, and now he has made only one typo of the type we all can make, so I'm going to allow both the new account and the nasty comment due to the user's past here. Thanks.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| lingoleng Senior Member Germany Joined 5331 days ago 605 posts - 1290 votes | Message 6 of 21 09 September 2010 at 12:37am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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After some more deliberation and having read the admin's explanation I want to apologize. I am really sorry and hope that my rudeness does not prevent you from following your enthusiasm.
Professor Arguelles does not read or post here very often, but if he happens to read your questions I am sure he won't be influenced by whatever I write. So I take the liberty to add some more words, if you still bother to read them.
Professor Arguelles is a very intelligent man with an exceptional ability to work very hard, I admire him and he is in highest regards here not for no reason. But this means that his style may not be your style, or mine. I am sure he would work 8 hours a day, probably assimil ;-), he would shadow, write, watch, listen, many things everybody else does, but he would do them with intensity, highly concentrated. Whatever you are going to do will be influenced by these factors: Your natural ability (some people say such a thing does not exist and that we all have the same mental equipment, but this is so obviously wrong that only strong ideological motivations can keep this myth alive) and the intensity of your work. The time you need for learning will depend on these factors more than on the quality of the methods you choose. If you learn with assimil or with a little grammar and a basic vocabulary book with example sentences and the words on CD: Many ways lead to Rome, and only you can find out what suits you best. So there is really no way to find out the "best" book, because it does not exist. Or better: It will be a different book for Professor Arguelles and a different one for me and maybe the same or another one for you. The best "method" is the one that inspires you most, so that you can use your talent to the best of your possibilities. Nobody else can find this book or method for you. Or if you really want it you can make any method work, because you want it. It is always your brain that does the real work, not the material. Can you study Latin and Italian at the same time, and still be very fast? Well, honestly, probably not, and there is a good chance that you lose interest when you make things more difficult than they have to be. Nice results that can make you happy are easier with Italian, and in three months you can achieve great things, maybe, but why is time such an important factor ? Why not do your best and see where it takes you and how long it takes? Before I found this site I had never met the idea someone could have the goal to become a polyglot. I always thought it is something that just happens, because you learn one language, and then are interested in another one, and so on. Can one invest the necessary time and effort with such an abstract goal in mind and without real interest in the languages themselves? Keep asking questions, but don't expect real answers before you have started your own voyage and can find out what works for you. There is really no way around this. Edited by lingoleng on 09 September 2010 at 8:32pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5295 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 7 of 21 09 September 2010 at 2:14am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Go to your local library, or the internet, or bookstore and ask for "How to Learn Any Language" by Barry Farber. His story about how he became a polyglot started with his failure in Latin in school followed immediately by his success with Italian. Later Spanish, French, Norwegian, Hungarian, Chinese and more. If ever there was an example of the Buddhist tenet- "follow your bliss", this is it, and he did just that! Get inspired! Love what you do and make it happen! Edited by iguanamon on 09 September 2010 at 3:25am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| divexo Groupie Australia Joined 5224 days ago 70 posts - 74 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 8 of 21 09 September 2010 at 3:11pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Wow. Banned for bad spelling?
I was told off once before via message, and since then I have been quite careful, didn't think I was that bad, pretty sure I have wrote everything to a pretty good standard. Also, considering my keyboard spell checks everything, i haven't once submitted anything that wasn't spell-checked. So not sure what is happening, sorry that English has been my worst subject for years and have joined a forum about languages, maybe a science- based student like me is not welcome here. "Most polyglots pay attention to their language(s); I guess your chances to become more than a polybabbler are small from the very beginning, sorry. " Where did that comment even come from? Was there anything even wrong with my initial post? Thanks for your second post though lingoleng, as well as your one iguanamon, shall check that book out! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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