|
 |
Tomatis Method Revisited | ||
Tags: Language Program | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Polyglot2005 Senior Member United States Joined 7189 days ago 184 posts - 185 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 15 26 November 2006 at 10:58am | IP Logged |
|
I brought up the Tomatis Method many, many months ago and didn't get the response I was looking for. Some people responded in a stubborn way but not really listening to what I was saying or perhaps I hadn't explained it clearly enough. Anyway I'll try to provide a short description that clearly explains the method and then I would like to pose a question to the forum members. One disclaimer before I begin, the Tomatis Method is a theory, it is one that has been backed up by positive feedback and studies but nevertheless it is still a theory.
The Tomatis Method is a listening procedure that serves a variety of purposes (aiding in "language learning" is one purpose but not the primary one). Tomatis was an ear, nose and throat doctor. He realized early on the importance of the ears and hearing to general brain functioning, expressive skills, language etc. (The idea of Tomatis has been modified in the States and used to help developmentally delayed children with learning and language L1 not L2). Anyway The Tomatis Method is based on the idea that babies hear their first sounds in the womb. I'm not a doctor so the terminology I use may be incorrect, but the baby surrounded by amniotic fluid and being in the womb receives the sounds of the mother's language in a sort of filtered way. Add to this the idea, which many people talk about, when they say that kids from a baby up until puberty can become fluent easily. But the real key is kids can achieve a native accent and perfect pronunciation. And the reason for this is that after a certain age you ear is used to hearing the sound ranges and frequencies of the languages its been exposed to the most. (turning the Spanish radio on next to the crib may not do much). But anyway basically each language has its own sound range of different frequencies. So for many people (unfortunately), there ears can only truly hear the frequencies of their native language. The next step in this theory is that you can't produce a sound that you cannot hear properly. This is where my initial post months ago got lost on some people. Some said "how do you know you need sound therapy?" "Im great at accents and mimmicking." This may be the case and I do not doubt that many people have a natural talent for great accents etc. But the theory says u are not truly hearing it correctly if you werent exposed to the sound frequencies during childhood. On the Tomatis website they briefly talk about the syllable hurdle in second language learning and how many learners say French or Spanish speakers talk so fast which is not really true. I know I said I would keep this short I'm trying to cover all the bases. Ok now onto the meat of the program. The Tomatis Method uses a device called the Electronic Ear which filters any number of sound frequencies and it supposed to simulate listening "in the womb." So this filtering or gated/gating of sound is the key. You have several listening sessions of 30-60 minutes that filters certain sounds and trains your ear to hear frequencies outside the spectrum of your native language. After those sessions they then give the option of listening to your target language with the Electronic Ear for several sessions. I know of one guy who told me he did it in France it was very expensive but that it helped him a lot. He was learning Mandarin. He said that after the Tomatis Method his accent went from lousy to great and that hearing some specific phonemes was easier. I asked him for a further description of how it helped and he said Mandarin just sounded different/easier to him after the Tomatis Method. For those who live in or near France I think it i worth exploring. It probably is expensive. But I'd love to hear a forum members experience with the Method. I've always been very interested in this Method but unfortunately in the States its really not used for language learning but children with learning disabilities. If anyone here has had experience with the Tomatis method I'd love to hear about it. Sorry for my novel, I hope I cleared up Tomatis with my rambling post! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| pentatonic Senior Member United States Joined 7248 days ago 221 posts - 245 votes | Message 2 of 15 26 November 2006 at 12:50pm | IP Logged |
|
My brother-in-law owns and runs a Tomatis Institute clinic in Germany. I don't know that much about it because every time I've been there it's been during a holiday and we've had other things going on.
We've talked some about various treatments that people get but the topic of language and pronunciation never came up. I've seen the equipment and it looks expensive and seems like I remember him talking about filtering out or focusing on certain frequencies. The headphones you wear look typical (can-style) but have the addition of two metal studs that vibrate the sound through your skull. I found it pretty uncomfortable. Sorry, that's about all I know. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6583 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 3 of 15 26 November 2006 at 12:59pm | IP Logged |
|
To me, it sounds hard to believe. If it works, it's really friggin' cool, but so far, I'm sceptic. Do you know of any studies that have been made with it, for purposes of second language instruction? One anecdotal evidence of "I tried it and it's great" isn't much to go on, unfortunately. What does this "electronic ear" look like, by the way? Is it a huge machine thingy that you lie in (like a womb?), or is it smaller? Couldn't it suffice with a pair of high-quality headphones and a sound tape?
Anyway, after hearing about it, my opinion will have to be "wicked cool, but doubtful". 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Polyglot2005 Senior Member United States Joined 7189 days ago 184 posts - 185 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 15 26 November 2006 at 6:50pm | IP Logged |
|
http://www.tomatis.lu/language-coaching/?language=en&page=me thod
http://www.tomatis.com/English/Articles/languages.htm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6583 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 5 of 15 27 November 2006 at 5:02am | IP Logged |
|
Well, those articles gave the whole thing a lot more credibility. I'd love to try it. There seems to be some Tomatis institutes in Sweden, but I can't read anything about foreign language learning on those pages (www.tomatis.se), just help for autistics and such. Maybe it'd be worth it to send them an inquiry. Bet it's pricey, though. Edited by Ari on 27 November 2006 at 5:02am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| FrenchSilkPie Senior Member United States Joined 6618 days ago 125 posts - 130 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 6 of 15 28 November 2006 at 7:56am | IP Logged |
|
I really would like to try it--they have a center near me. But it says nothing about prices.
I would also assume it would be pricey. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7222 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 7 of 15 28 November 2006 at 9:38am | IP Logged |
|
I have been interested in the theory, due to the Chinese tones. I tried to say something to a Chinese Mandarin speaker and he did not have an idea what I was saying. The speaker said the tones were all wrong. There is a place in Toronto I called over five months ago and it indeed is expensive. The price for the program if I can recall was about $3600 cdn. This is probably cheaper than other countries. It would be worth it if the theory is scientifically proven without a doubt. If I remember the program was fifteen days of intensive two hour listening. Ten to fifteen days on your own with take home listening equipment they lend you for an hour a day of listening.Finally, about another two weeks I think of two hours of listening again. It has been a long time, so I have a difficult time remembering the outline. I settled with The Electronic Ear for the Walkman by Patricia Joudry. This is the only alternative I am aware of instead of a Tomatis centre. Four Basic chromium audiotapes with different frequencies. The program outline is to listen to the tapes for three hours a day everyday for three months. Sound Therapy International based in Australia is the name of the Company. The daughter Rafael Joudry is head of the company. http://www.soundtherapyinternational.com/ Unfortunately, I can't give feedback yet, as I only started using them three weeks ago. For all I know the tapes could be the best thing for language acquisition or a let down. I am taking the investment of spending close to $300 Usd. If it turns out to be great I will purchase additional advance tapes and recommend them to others. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6583 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 8 of 15 28 November 2006 at 10:09am | IP Logged |
|
Hey, that's great! Be sure to post a review on this forum when you're done. I'm very curious.
1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
