Why are English speakers so lazy about learning?
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*Another guy of the same forum tried to shadow my language as an almost complete beginner. I think he used a book like Colloquial Somthing, and... naturally, his speech was unintelligible.
I don't want to sound disheartening, but really, the two vids weren't much different from each other, except that I always regard our professor as a unique scholar whose ability is so phenomenal that... I'd regard him one of my most important teachers (in the dept of languages). well, I see locals struggling with everything ranging from mandarin to russian anyway, so... the story of successful polyglots boils down to one rule of thumb: rather than those tricks you think of (tho, yeah, they've been very helpful), the ultimate reason of success is the proper use of motivation, and that often is what only an understanding person can have. But then, when looking back, I find it hard to learn properly without the guidance of good teachers. I would have had to pay a heavy price without that guidance. After digesting it, I find that what the professor teaches is more like common sense, but that level of linguistic knowledge isn't what an average Joe could understand without understanding it at an "undergraduate" level. My teacher (with a very heavy accent) used to tell us to "listen to audios over and over". This "sounded" like FSI, but it didn't help because I was never introduced to useful courses (but to deal with that darn boring monolingual textbook that I couldn't read) and.,... shame on myself, I didn't even read what the professor had been writing (it was in 2006). So, I understand one more source of laziness that I and some Anglophones might share. Here, Orwell would be right: if you don't see the knowledge, it's non-existent, and you can't think in it. My opinion would then converge with those of Americans in another forum... namely that classes suck. There's no real commercialism in (my) class. Some teachers still want you to learn it well, huh? But the problem still remains that... at least in my case, all teachers I've met (German or Chinese) never mentioned anything about a grammar book or a course like Assimil/FSI/Linguaphone. HOW CAN you say "hmm (in a rising tone), yeah, you can combine class and external learning materials (such as above) to become the no.1 star in class/earn GPA/benefit yourself ultimately"? Speaking of my experience in HONG KONG, China (now, it's just as developed as your home, I guess), classes are actually quite helpful for small talks, to be fair, but I always suspect that Assimil would affect their employment, so... no, they never say grammar. The one with a heavy accent above asked me to "listen to audios over and over" but I was never introduced to _any_ useful audios (until I discovered much more from Americans and others in another forum). The native teacher only hinted that I use the wrong (German) words very often, so I might ask her for help (hm...). No, really, my language adventure has only been possible thanks to Americans and some others. Ironically, they are often stereotyped as lazy monolinguals like their British brothers, but these two types of Anglophones had been the most helpful - in the forum (yeah, and here too!), or in wikipedia, or ... Anglophone publishers have generally done a good job too. Despite our professor's complaint (the dumbing-down theory), I can still see that, even tho not every American has much motivation for quite natural reasons, they at least can learn the sharpest skills.... when you can see that you can even BUY university lectures freely in a bookstore. You can't be fluent if you only have motivation. Like what admins say: http://www.antimoon.com/how/mistakes-damage.htm >>Or take a language you don't know (e.g. Latin). Now try to learn Latin by speaking it right now. Come on, speak Latin! Don't be shy. Practice makes perfect! — Obviously, you can't. Why? Because you need to see some example Latin sentences first.<< This is why I think classes (in my city) are quite pointless. "Try to learn German by speaking it right now! Come on, don't be shy!" but if you have nothing except a dozens of words in your brain after 1 year... you can't actually speak it. People have the freedom to say they are fluent after 90 Pimsleur lessons, but you know very well how much they offer... once I wrongly entered a room to listen to some news about certain studying opportunities (to practice German, i.e.). I didn't expect that it would be all in German, and I was with several would-be graduate students. So, of coz, my comprehension was much weaker than theirs. But with enough visual clues (the German business guy showed us a powerpoint presentation) ...and... his oral clues (rather slow speech), I still figured out the meanings anyway. That was before Assimil. I can't really comment, but... their fluency seemed quite limited. I still won't know what it means to become a major student, but certainly, haha, I'll really be combining class and my own home-made input.... but I'm more after GPA and extra time for learning than "real" fluency it "offers". |
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Xie, you must have just finished your studies for this academic year.
You seem to have a lot of time for producing long posts. |