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How many people really teach themselves? | ||
Tags: Self-Study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| starrye Senior Member United States Joined 5029 days ago 172 posts - 280 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 49 of 52 27 July 2011 at 11:53pm | IP Logged |
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Interesting. I haven't had my IQ tested, so I don't know what it is (and I don't really care to be honest). But I have taken the Myers-Briggs several times at different points in my life, and I'm an INTP personality type according to that.
I think perhaps the biggest motivating factor for me, is just a sense of curiosity. I have other "study" hobbies besides this and they are all driven by the same sense of curiosity and desire to know more about things I'm interested in. Maybe it's because of my childhood? My parents liked to read. When I was a kid, we had a lot of books on various subjects hanging around the house on dusty bookshelves (history, psychology, anthropology, astronomy, etc), and I would read them for fun. I would watch a lot of documentaries and educational programs too, because my parents liked that sort of stuff. Neither of my parents had a PhD... My dad came from a poor family. But that didn't stop us from having entertaining discussions about politics (or whatever) around the dinner table. So that's the sort of environment I grew up in. I feel like, if there is something I want to learn how to do, or learn about, I can go out and do it.... and there isn't anything that is going to stop me. Not lack of a degree, or anything else. ;) In choosing to study a language, it was almost like an experiment of sorts. I wanted to see see how far I could get..I wanted to know what it would be like, and I wanted to peer into another culture, etc. I think that's what keeps me going still, even though I don't know how far I will ultimately go. But part of me almost doesn't care if it's unlikely to happen, because I want to see if it's possible, and as long as I'm still interested, I keep going. Since I keep seeing progress, I continue on. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4803 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 50 of 52 02 August 2011 at 10:16am | IP Logged |
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I taught myself and a friend of mine a beginning 1 book of Korean and I seriously think it's the best thing I ever did. It can be problematic if no one corrects your mistakes, especially at later stages of language learning, but if you have good resources, self-study seems so much more efficient than going to a language class. If you're really motivated - and we were - it's possible to learn much faster than the usual pace of a beginners' class. I feel that if I'm really committed to learning a language, at least half the people in my class will be less motivated, slow me down and eventually make me frustrated with the language. In more advanced classes usually only motivated students are left, so it's not a problem anymore. Besides, it then becomes crucial to get more practice speaking, writing and reading things independently instead of strictly follow a textbook and that's where a good language teacher becomes important. Edited by druckfehler on 02 August 2011 at 10:17am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4844 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 51 of 52 15 September 2011 at 1:15pm | IP Logged |
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I am also guilty of having a lot of unused language courses around, but part of the reason is that I have a tendency to buy as much as I can afford. I started with French 3 months ago, and I now have 4 textbooks, a beginner's reader, two fiction books with cd's, 2 music cd's, Earworms, 1 MT disc, FIA videos and another DVD in French. Plus I've downloaded hundreds of podcasts. I realize I'm never going to finish all of them, possibly not even half of them, but maybe it's a kind of addiction. Also, I don't know what's going to work for me until I've tried it out for a couple of chapters.
This time, however, I have a plan. In addition to whatever else I do, I am going to finish the introductory textbook I have (Fast French) because I think it will give a nice overview (even if incomplete). I then plan to use Assimil as the backbone of my study, but will continue dabbling in other tools. And I intend to visit France at least twice a year for the next couple of years, with plans to have conversations on given topics (e.g. ordering food, etc, on my first visit). Even if everything goes to plan, I will still end up with a lot of unused or barely used learning materials. I guess I just have to feed my addiction! Edited by Jeffers on 15 September 2011 at 1:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Dreey Newbie Canada Joined 4758 days ago 17 posts - 21 votes Studies: Spanish, German | Message 52 of 52 15 September 2011 at 2:42pm | IP Logged |
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I learned the biggest part of my English by myself.
I got the base during elementary school in an intensive programm. During my high school, I praticed a lot my English by watching tv programs, speaking a lot with some friends, writing with anglophones, etc. I only got one teacher out of five who taught me something about English. That's it. I am not lying, that's the truth. The only thing I did to learn by myself was observing the way people speak and write. (: 1 person has voted this message useful |
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