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Splog at University | ||
Tags: Czech | College/University | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5660 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes  Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 42 of 72 25 February 2011 at 9:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
She is indeed. The problem, though, is that she works very long hours (she is a political journalist) - and I would estimate (without exaggeration) that we probably see each other for about eight hours per week - and out of that our total "talking time" is probably less than two hours per week. I wish things were different - since it would be a great advantage - alas, it is not. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5660 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 44 of 72 26 February 2011 at 4:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
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This weekend, there is a conference in Prague for teachers of Czech as a foreign
language. I was invited by the organisers, to represent students. So, I found myself upon the podium in front of a large audience. The main theme of the conference is that Czech almost consists of two languages: the written form (also used for formal speech) and the colloquial form (used among friends and in very informal settings). There are quite a few morphological differences between the two, and quite a lot of vocabulary differences too. It is quite common to meet somebody who can only speak one variant and is completely lost upon hearing the other. Now, the majority of students are taught only the written language. This causes some students to become agitated when they are then among friends in the pub, and cannot understand a thing that is being said. The reverse is also the case: I have met quite a few people who are Czech by birth, but moved overseas with their family and at home spoke colloquial Czech their whole lives, and now struggle with the formal variant. The conference, then, is asking "Should we teach students colloquial Czech?" So, up at the podium, I introduced myself, and then had about twenty minutes of questions from the audience. I explained my position up front: "Moje hledisko je, že spisovná čeština je pevná kotva jazyka a obecná čeština je dekorace" (in English) "My perspective is that formal czech is the fixed anchor of the language and colloquial czech is decoration" This received a round of wild applause from most of the teachers, so it soon became clear where the mood lay. Only one professor seemed agitated, and she stood up declaring that (english translation) "Czech needs two anchors because it is a large ship" I replied "Ale jsem jenom malý člun a potřebuju jenom jednu" (translation) "But I am just a little boat and need only one" It got a laugh from the audience, and the organiser said "That will go in the proceedings of the conference!" What I learned from this is professors are not in the mood to teach the informal spoken language, and I agree with them. It is hard enough learning the formal language. Plus, as I also pointed out to them: the informal language changes very rapidly in comparison to the formal. So, by the time you created a syllabus, textbook, and then started teaching, the content would likely to out of fashion. The best place to learn the informal language is in the pub with friends. Edited by Splog on 27 February 2011 at 8:59pm 8 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Thatzright Diglot Senior Member Finland Joined 5663 days ago 202 posts - 311 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English Studies: French, Swedish, German, Russian | Message 45 of 72 27 February 2011 at 4:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
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What an interesting read this has been so far! I've read through all of it today and must say that I am very impressed with your abilities in Czech (even though you've only written a few sentences in the language in this topic - but it must be very high since you're conversing all day in Czech) and how far you've come in this challenging language. This combined with your sometimes quite humorous (although I'm sure they don't seem quite as humorous when they're taking place!) shortcomings and even greater triumphs makes for a very entertaining peek into the world of full immersion in a language. All the best for you as your university studies continue!
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| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5660 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 46 of 72 02 March 2011 at 4:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I had a bizarre discussion with one of the professors today: I used a certain phrase and
she asked how I knew it, to which I replied "from a dictionary". In front of the other students she them announced "Please don't use dictionaries and other materials. If you have questions about anything, then ask me. If you keep looking in dictionaries then I may as well go home." It was astonishing. How can a professor see themselves as threatened by a dictionary? My attitude is that they should be encouraging students to become as self sufficient as possible, and act more as guides and consultants as needed. Needless to say, I shall be completely ignoring her advice. Edited by Splog on 02 March 2011 at 4:12pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Andrew C Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom naturalarabic.com Joined 5181 days ago 205 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written) | Message 47 of 72 02 March 2011 at 4:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree - totally ridiculous. Also I think this also is a crazy comment from your teachers:
I teach English to foreign students and have never met one who "knows all there is" about standard English or even gets close. I don't know the importance of Czech dialects, but I wouldn't dream of teaching students English dialects, except for a bit of fun. Edited by Andrew C on 02 March 2011 at 4:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5372 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 48 of 72 04 March 2011 at 4:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
She's pretty much established that that's where she belongs. After all, what's the future of teachers if students keep improving? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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