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Developing Ardaschir’s work capacity | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery |  | |
| braveb Senior Member United States languageprograms.blo Joined 7198 days ago 264 posts - 263 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 9 of 26 11 November 2006 at 1:53pm | IP Logged |
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Maybe time goes faster when deep in thought? Look at how 9 year olds can play Final Fantasy for 10 hours straight. The game certainly isn't the same as learning languages, but still requires deep thought. What if language learning was a job? Would you then have problems working 10-12 hour days? When you are not forced to do something, I think motivation is hard.
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| Nephilim Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 7146 days ago 363 posts - 368 votes Speaks: English*, Polish | Message 10 of 26 11 November 2006 at 2:11pm | IP Logged |
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I think an important consideration is Ardaschir's childhood. In one post he mentions his father being a polyglot and wandering around the house in the early hours mumbling in some strange tongue. It may be that for Ardaschir, growing up in such an environment, that language learning was a perfectly normal thing to do and so no discipline was required. Interestingly, he points out that although his father was a polyglot, he never pressured him at all into learning languages.
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| KSaku39 Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6831 days ago 30 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 11 of 26 11 November 2006 at 2:43pm | IP Logged |
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"I think it's possible to increase this 10 hours with practice. Like an exercise (ex: running), the more you practice, the more you can do. And you need motivation too."
Yes, something like chess masters who have, over years, developed the ability to concentrate for hours while doint incredibly complex calculations (suchs as playing multiple and simultaneous blindfold chess). "Ardashir, by studying the way he did must have learned to retain it also. He probably hadn't started with eight or more hours of study a day, but increased it with time, as his abilities rose." Yes, Ardaschir already had a Phd at this point so had likely learned very intimately how to motivate himself and concentrate for long period of times. "I also have that "rage to master" you mentioned, but it tends to rage inconsistently for everything between heaven and earth. Just yesterday I had serious trouble keeping myself from starting Russian." Maybe you should use Ardaschir's method and start it? You could switch between the three languages and study in half hour blocks. Provided, of course, that you have some free time. "Maybe time goes faster when deep in thought? Look at how 9 year olds can play Final Fantasy for 10 hours straight." I can also play that game for 10 hours straight. "I think an important consideration is Ardaschir's childhood. In one post he mentions his father being a polyglot and wandering around the house in the early hours mumbling in some strange tongue." Yes, and I recall Ardaschir writing about his father's intense discipline as well. Perhaps it's genetic. Here's a quote from the Mezzofanti book: "The celebrated Jesuit theologian, Father Suarez, is said to have spent seventeen hours out of the twenty-four between his studies and his devotions. Castell, the author of the Heptaglot Lexicon, declares, in the feeling address which accompanied its publication, that his thankless and unrequited task had occupied him for sixteen or eighteen hours every day during twenty years. Theophilus Raynaud, during his long life of eighty years, only allowed himself a quarter of an hour daily from his studies for dinner and the Puritan divine, Prynne, seldom would spare time to dine at all. Note 3It may be doubted whether the actual labour of Mezzofanti, broken up and divided over so many almost incompatible occupations, did not equal and perhaps exceed them all in amount, if not in intensity. According to the account of Guido Görres, Note 4 his time for sleep, during this period of his life, was limited to three hours." I wonder what the religious aspect has to do with it. These men treated their studies almost as rituals, and this may be what Ardaschir was talking about when he said "My monastic experience". 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Katie Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6719 days ago 495 posts - 599 votes Speaks: English*, Hungarian Studies: French, German | Message 12 of 26 12 November 2006 at 2:13am | IP Logged |
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Do you think that it is possible to do this while learning a single language? If you, say, switch programs you are using each half an hour, or choose different activities every half hour?
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| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7206 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 13 of 26 12 November 2006 at 5:00am | IP Logged |
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Classes in US Government language schools run 6 hours per day and outside study of 3 hours per night. One student said, "This is the most intensive education I've ever received. It makes the college courses I've taken look ridiculous". Edited by luke on 12 November 2006 at 5:23am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6704 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 14 of 26 12 November 2006 at 8:21am | IP Logged |
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The final paper I had to write at the University to get my French grade was allotted to 6 months, and even though few of my comrades took this limit seriously I did. And I remember that I switched to a 36 hour day for the last couple of months to get more time to work. But of course I switched back to 24 hours as soon as the paper was finished. Only a student with no other obligations has the opportunity to do this, and only a student who feels that time is slipping away would seriously want to do it.
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| seldnar Senior Member United States Joined 7133 days ago 189 posts - 287 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, French, Greek | Message 15 of 26 12 November 2006 at 6:42pm | IP Logged |
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When I was at the Latin/Greek Institute in New York, our classes were 6 hours a day divided between review and drills in the morning and presentation of new grammar in the afternoons. There was an hour and a half for lunch but they also ran small review sessions during lunch. The program ran for 10 weeks.
There was about 4 or more hours of homework a night. The teachers were on call 24 hours a day. It was not uncommon to call one of the professors at 2 am in the morning because you just weren't getting that day's grammar. Our final exam was eight hours long. It was one of the best summers I can recall. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| KSaku39 Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6831 days ago 30 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 16 of 26 12 November 2006 at 10:21pm | IP Logged |
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"Do you think that it is possible to do this while learning a single language? If you, say, switch programs you are using each half an hour, or choose different activities every half hour?"
That would probably work as long as you managed to stay interested. This would be something like having an "immersion day" in the language. In Central America we studied Spanish five hours a day then went back home to study another 2 or 3. A good teacher would change methods every hour or so. "Classes in US Government language schools run 6 hours per day and outside study of 3 hours per night." And students there, I've read, are highly motivated because they know that they're career success is based on their ability to speak the language. Also, most people at the foreign services institute have already learned one or two languages, which proves that they have already learned to motivate themselves. "And I remember that I switched to a 36 hour day for the last couple of months to get more time to work. But of course I switched back to 24 hours as soon as the paper was finished." That is amazing ... what was your schedule like during this period? That kind of intense self discipline and focus explains how you learned five languages. "It was one of the best summers I can recall." Sounds very intense; how did you mantain your focus? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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