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Shimmyo Mitsugu | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Languagelover1 Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6428 days ago 63 posts - 63 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 1 of 5 25 July 2010 at 6:58pm | IP Logged |
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I found a page on the net which mentions two books in Japanese by Shimmyo Mitsugu called 'The Way To Master
40 Languages, I Mastered Them Like This' and 'A Pretty Good Way To Remember Foreign Languages' The page has the ISBN's and titles in Japanese. http://cvnweb.bai.ne.jp/~preston/languages/books/index.html Unfortunately I can't speak or read Japanese. Does anyone know more about this hyperpolyglot and his method? I did a google search and there is an opthalmic surgeon in NYC by the same name. I wonder if he is the same person? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6948 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 2 of 5 26 July 2010 at 2:31am | IP Logged |
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ちょっとした外国語の覚え方―外国語をマス ターする10の秘訣 (A Rather Good Way to Remember Foreign Languages: The 10 Secrets to Mastering a Foreign Language)
Book descriptions: This text is a godsend for those have thought, 'I want to learn a foreign language' but have been continuously frustrated. The author of 'Study Methods for 40 Languages', which turned the conventions of language learning on its head, will reveal the secrets of language learning that are certain to bear fruit! Are there really such tricks for efficient language learning!? There are many people who still dislike English as a result of their experiences in middle school, but would like to be able to speak at least a little. 'If you start to seriously think that you want to learn a foreign language, you're already halfway there,' reads the introduction, written by a master of 40 languages who works as an ophthalmologist in the melting pot of New York. (It continues like this, with the same spiel about how it's simple and super-secret.) Here are the two reviews: 'By the same author as The Laws for Acquiring 40 Foreign Languages: How I Mastered Them.' *** In 'Study Methods for 40 Foreign Languages: How I Mastered Them,' the author explained in detail his learning method and how many days he studied each language. I found it really useful for my language studies, so I gave this book a read. Maybe it's because I read 'Study Methods for 40 Foreign Languages' first, but I felt like the contents of 'A Rather Good Way to Remember Foreign Languages' was almost the same, without anything new. 'I had high expectations, but...' *** It's not like there was anything particularly revolutionary about these study methods. Basically, the method boils down to: 1. Make a little more progress down the same road every day. 2. Read aloud repeatedly. 3. Remember vocabulary in example sentences. When I was reading, I began to feel skeptical about a few points. The author wrote that his aims are: 10 hours -> able to have broken conversation 100 hours -> able to have conversations while shopping, travelling 200 hours -> able to read simple things and newspapers, can understand TV 300-500 hours -> able to write theses and debate about your area of specialty 800+ hours -> able to speak as well as a native speaker ...but can you really be able to speak in such a short amount of time? Even assuming that the author seriously believes this, I can't help but think that this goes against the fundamental workings of the brain... Also, he writes things like, 'It's efficient to study several languages at the same time', 'If you divide each language into its own category and preserve it there, you won't mix them up with other languages'. Isn't it usually 'Mixing up languages is inefficient, so you have to start off with just one'...? Of course it's different for everybody, but I wonder which opinion is actually right... Edited by Lucky Charms on 26 July 2010 at 4:00am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6767 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 3 of 5 26 July 2010 at 3:11am | IP Logged |
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Looks like a book I need to hunt down. :)
Amazon's summary does indeed say he is a doctor practicing in New York. Edited by Captain Haddock on 26 July 2010 at 3:12am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6948 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 4 of 5 26 July 2010 at 3:54am | IP Logged |
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40ヵ国語習得法 (Study Methods for 40 Foreign Languages: How I Mastered Them)
Book description: No matter who you are, you'll reap great rewards if you give it your best! The author, born and raised in Sapporo, started learning English for the first time upon entering middle school. He devised his own self-study methods one after another, centering his studies around a radio course. After entering high school, he took on German and French simultaneously. He ignored the voices of those telling him to focus solely on English, and even went a step further with Spanish, Russian, and Chinese. These days, as a practicing doctor in the melting pot of New York, he deals with patients and employees in a total of 40 languages. The author shares how and why he studied so many languages, what he got from it, and the details of his rich experiences. (There are 10 reviews for this book, so I'll just translate the most telling ones.) 'Study methods?????' * He doesn't write about how he studied at all. It's just stated superficially in Chapters 5-16. There isn't a trace of know-how in here - it's more like 'no how'. Everything had me thinking, 'well, duh'. It's not even clear whether he completely studied by himself or had guidance from native speakers. I also wish he'd have described exactly what texts and dictionaries he used. For those who aim to be a real polyglot, and for those who are seriously tackling the study of languages, this is utterly useless. 'Contents are superficial' ** The title has a lot of impact, but 'A Rather Good Way to Remember Foreign Languages' was at least a little closer to the truth. Half the book was dedicated to describing the languages he had picked up. Because of that, there was extremely little information about study methods, so I think there is little that's of use to the reader. In the end, it was just 'keep trying'. He just restated that, and it was over. I gave it two stars. 'Not just study methods' **** First he lists his foreign language CV , starting with when he was young. He writes when, how, and what kind of languages he studied. He touches upon the subject of study methods, but also covers a surprisingly wide range of topics such as the importance of studying foreign languages, ways to motivate yourself, and the structure of European languages. In the latter half of the book, there's a description for each of the 40 languages the author mastered in his youth. This part details the writing system, greetings, the numbers from 1-10 and their pronunciation for each language. I treasured this section for its role as a dictionary, when I wanted to look up something. There were a few other 4- or 5- star reviews that talked about this book as a motivational book, not just about languages, but for reaching any of your dreams. 'You don't have to be particularly smart or rich, anyone can do it! It's just negative preconceptions that are holding you back!' and things like that. Another review mentions that the author enjoyed a bit of fame at the time of publishing (1994) and was interviewed on TV, 'firing off languages like a machine gun'. MY VERDICT: Despite the snake-oil type of advertising common to these kind of books in Japan, I think this guy is the real deal. There seems to be enough specific information about his history and methods that he wouldn't be making it up. However, it seems like you won't learn very much about his methods in detail by reading these books, as they seem to be primarily focused on promoting the idea that 'learning languages is possible for anyone! Don't give up!' to an audience of Japanese people who are basically clueless about foreign languages and think they're impossible to master. Also, the other caveat is that it's not clear to what level he's 'MASTERED' these languages... I can believe that his English has reached a solid level, but 'MASTERING 40 language' is not a claim to be thrown around lightly. Again, this is typical of the Japanese publishing industry, trying to capitalize on people's confusion about foreign languages and search for easy answers, so I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if the author has never made such a claim himself. Professor Arguelles has dedicated his life to learning languages and can make the claim to about 40 if he counts very closely-related languages. Even then, he describes having to sacrifice or abandon certain languages because they take so much time to maintain. I find it hard to swallow that someone busy working as an ophthalmologist would be able to 'master' 40 languages to a high level of fluency and find the time to maintain all of them (he says he communicates with staff and patients in their native tongues, but even in NYC, how many languages can that really be, and let alone on a regular basis?) Edited by Lucky Charms on 26 July 2010 at 3:59am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Languagelover1 Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6428 days ago 63 posts - 63 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 5 of 5 26 July 2010 at 11:31pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for taking the time to reply so comprehensively.
He certainly does seem to be an interesting character. It's a shame that there is no English translation of his books, especially as he now lives in the US. Regards to all 1 person has voted this message useful |
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