|
 |
Benny’s Book | ||
Tags: Youtube Polyglot | Book | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6238 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch | Message 65 of 91 17 March 2014 at 2:05pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I've long taken issue with some of the things Benny has said about learning languages,
but I can't help but say, good for him - truly. He's pulled off what most of us would love to do. He has taken our shared passion, languages, and has put a book out about it. I've not read it yet (I glanced at it briefly at a bookstore over the weekend), so I can't really comment on the book itself yet, but I can say, if it brings the love of languages to more people, then it's a win, in my eyes. Congrats to him, and by extension, congrats to us, I think. Language learners need to stick together, we're a fairly small group. ;) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4499 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 66 of 91 17 March 2014 at 2:10pm | IP Logged | ||
|
The chapter that really stands out is where he talks about how to develop from
conversational to mastery. That bit is new and something he hasn't really expanded on on his blog. Edited by tarvos on 17 March 2014 at 4:07pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5324 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 67 of 91 17 March 2014 at 2:31pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I read the book the day it came out, and I've been meaning to write a review. In the meantime, a few notes:
- The editing and organization are excellent. - Benny Lewis promotes his favorite methods in detail, including detailed instructions on how to speak very early on, if you're so inclined. I don't think I've seen him write this all down in one place before. - But he also discusses several other polyglots who use different methods. Though he clearly prefers his own methods, he's not dogmatic about them. - There are some reasonable but short sections on advanced levels. Summary: He recommends plenty of academic-style work, including corrected writing—pretty much what you'd expect from a good C1-level exam tutor. Overall, it's a fine book. You could give this to a first-time language learner, and it wouldn't lead them astray. The advice is as good as anything you'd find in the HTLAL advice center, but better organized and more complete. And if a reader doesn't like Benny's advice, he mentions a nice range of other polyglots and techniques. He briefly talks about everything from "islands" to Assimil to Anki to SoundCloud. I'd be quite happy giving this book as a gift to a teenager who was interested in learning a language. But long-time readers of HTLAL and Benny's blog will be familiar with much of the material in the book. Congratulations to Benny Lewis for a fine book. If his publisher can get this into US bookstores, it will make a very nice change from the yellow Rosetta Stone boxes and dubious courses that I usually see. 13 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| irishpolyglot Nonaglot Senior Member Ireland fluentin3months Joined 5425 days ago 285 posts - 892 votes Speaks: Irish, English*, French, Esperanto, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Sign Language Studies: Mandarin | Message 68 of 91 17 March 2014 at 3:41pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Thanks emk! Great thoughts :)
I agree that experienced learners on HTLAL and people who have read my blog for the last 5 years straight won't find a lot that's completely new (although, as pointed out my advanced chapters are not something I discuss on the blog much), although I seriously doubt many people have read the 3/4 million words on my blog (many times of which is not prescriptive, but anecdotal or travel related), and the blog is all over the place and impossible to read as a how-to guide. The book has been passed through dozens of people (editors, PhD/Masters linguists) to make it way better presented and easier to consume. My goal from the start is to inspire new language learners - experienced language learners likely have an approach that already works well for them. Why would I want to change that? :) You'll also notice that I give HTLAL a shout-out, so any newly inspired language learners can definitely go beyond the scope of my particular advice. I also mentioned several polyglots by name, and have special links to expand on what I started in the book. This way I can make a good linked reference to MANY more approaches, and link to many more polyglots directly (still need to update the links website this week), since many many people are checking out those links to expand on the book. This really is a great chance to get language learning to a wider audience, using non-academic terminology and a relatable story (it's easier for some to get encouraged if the author of the book was also monolingual as an adult). It already achieved "international best seller" status by reaching those lists on Amazon in the UK and Canada, and I have a series of big media appearances this week to urge Brits to consider foreign languages. Being backed by Collins is just spectacular as they are so eager to get the message out there, and are one of the few publishers in the world who know this space well. It's amazing, and I hope I won't let you guys down in promoting language learning to the masses! Also, hope to meet as many of you as possible in the UK/Ireland/US/Canada book tour, which I'll be converting into language exchange events (post-it notes with languages you speak, Aligatorejo style) to get attendees more active. And otherwise see many of you in June! Edited by irishpolyglot on 17 March 2014 at 3:45pm 12 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Bjorn Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 4660 days ago 244 posts - 286 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: German, French | Message 69 of 91 17 March 2014 at 3:54pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I agree with emk, this is a fine book.
Edited by Bjorn on 17 March 2014 at 3:55pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4499 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 70 of 91 17 March 2014 at 4:08pm | IP Logged | ||
I was so happy to see the Amsterdam date that I already signed up for that one! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4431 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 71 of 91 17 March 2014 at 4:31pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I also say well done to Benny. Although his approach is very different from the one I've always followed, I have no problem in recognising that it's working for him and probably for many other learners as well. And kudos to him for inspiring people to learn languages.
Since I saw this morning that the book is also available in Kindle format on my local amazon.fr at a reasonable price, I've already "acheté en 1-click". I probably won't change my study methods, but I look forward to reading the book in any case. It will be my "bedtime story" this night. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5054 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 72 of 91 17 March 2014 at 4:34pm | IP Logged | ||
|
As a longtime reader of Fi3M, and member here on HTLAL, there wasn't much new for me. I enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it to someone interested in learning a language. Benny's book is a good update to Barry Farber's How To learn Any Language. His own story is inspiring to the masses who think that adults can't learn a language. Longtime members of HTLAL will recognize most of the advice given but it is much better organized and collected in one place.
He included others' experiences and checked his ego at the door. He recognizes the problem of entropy among language-learner wannabes and encourages them to really commit to learning instead of just "gee, it would be really nice to learn a language". Like emk, I was impressed with the crisp nature of the editing. It's still Benny's voice, but more straight to the point. This book will inspire a new generation of language-learners. To his credit, he gives HTLAL a plug, even though he runs his own forum. I disagree that we are more about the "technical" aspects of language-learning. While we have that to a certain degree, HTLAL is more about people's experience and learning logs these days. Still, I expect that we will have more new members as a result and that means more life for the forum when we old-timers get tired of the nine millionth question about Assimil and move on. All in all, cheers to Benny for writing a book that will probably be cited for many years as a reference and how-to guide for beginning language-learners. If anyone thinks they can do a better job, they should get off their backside and start writing! 9 persons have 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. |
