David Allen Martin II's Blog on Language Learning

Kroatin erwacht aus Koma und spricht fließend deutsch

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:11:00 +0000

magazine.web.de/de/themen/gesundheit/krankheiten/10223370-Kroatin-spricht-nach-Koma-fliessend-deutsch.html

(jnw) - Wunder oder medizinische Lücke? Eine 13-jährige Kroatin aus Knin erwachte nach 24 Stunden Koma und spricht seitdem fließend deutsch. Das berichtet die britische Zeitung "Telegraph".

Der Fall einer 13-jährigen Kroatin, beschäftigt die Gehirnforscher. (Symbolbild)
© dpa

Der Teenager hatte erst kurz zuvor angefangen, in der Schule deutsch zu lernen. Um die neue Fremdsprache zu üben, hatte das Mädchen begonnen, deutsche Bücher zu lesen und deutsche TV-Sendungen zu sehen. Ihren Eltern zufolge sei sie jedoch noch weit davon entfernt gewesen, fließend zu sprechen.

Als das Mädchen aus dem Koma erwacht sei, habe es kein Wort kroatisch mehr sprechen können - stattdessen perfektes Deutsch.

Mediziner des Krankenhauses in Split sind bislang ratlos, wie es zu dem plötzlichen Wandel kommen konnte. Krankenhausdirektor Dujomir Marasovic: "Man weiß einfach nie, wie das Gehirn nach solch einem Trauma reagiert. Wir haben zwar einige Theorien, doch im Moment sind wir noch limitiert in dem, was wir sagen können, da wir die Privatsphäre der Patientin respektieren müssen."

Dr. Mijo Milas, Experte für Psychiatrie, ergänzt: "Früher hätte man das Ganze für ein Wunder gehalten. Wir gehen jedoch davon aus, dass es eine logische Erklärung gibt - wir haben sie nur einfach noch nicht gefunden."

Er sagt, es gebe Hinweise auf Fälle, bei denen Menschen, die zuvor krank waren oder im Koma lagen, aufwachten und in der Lage waren, andere Sprachen zu sprechen - manchmal sogar biblische Sprachen aus dem alten Babylon oder Ägypten.

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:57:00 +0000

One of the most useful books I've ever read

http://www.danpink.com/whole-new-mind

"Lawyers. Accountants. Computer programmers. That’s what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of “left brain” dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which “right brain” qualities-inventiveness, empathy, meaning-predominate. That’s the argument at the center of this provocative and original book, which uses the two sides of our brains as a metaphor for understanding the contours of our times.

In this insightful and entertaining book, which has been translated into 20 languages, Daniel H. Pink offers a fresh look at what it takes to excel. A Whole New Mind reveals the six essential aptitudes on which professional success and personal fulfillment now depend, and includes a series of hands-on exercises culled from experts around the world to help readers sharpen the necessary abilities. This book will change not only how we see the world but how we experience it as well."

* New York Times bestseller

* BusinessWeek bestseller

* Wall Street Journal bestseller

* Washington Post bestseller

Useful German and Spanish Bilingual Dictionaries

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:47:00 +0000

http://www.wordmagicsoft.com/dictionary/es-en/m%E1s%20vale%20tarde%20que%20nunca.php

http://woerterbuch.reverso.net/englisch-deutsch/Bewilderment

http://www.linguee.com/PHP/about.php

http://www.linguee.com/search?direction=auto&query=jubeln

How to travel the world and learn languages quickly...

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:45:00 +0000

...according to Benny Lewis, the self-professed 'full-time globe-trotter' from www.irishpolyglot.com

He's got some cool blog posts, both text and video, under the following links

http://www.irishpolyglot.com/travel/how-to-travel-the-world-and-learn-languages-quickly-interview/en/

http://www.irishpolyglot.com/website/how-to-speak-a-language-fluently-in-3-months/en/

http://www.irishpolyglot.com/travel/around-the-world-in-8-languages/en/

http://www.irishpolyglot.com/travel/learning-tango-in-buenos-aires/en/

And here you can read about his background and why he likes travelling and learning languages

http://www.irishpolyglot.com/about/en/

***By the way, the fact that I'm posting about this site does not mean that I subscribe to his 'quick-fix, fluent in 3 months' language-learning method, although I must say that the languages he's learnt he speaks quite well. I simply thought you all would enjoy his stories and content, and hoped that they would serve as a motivating factor for everyone.

Is Your Language Half Full?

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:35:00 +0000

"The pessimist says the glass is half empty. The optimist says it’s half full. The pragmatist says its liquid contents are at 50% capacity. The ironist says it’s half full of air. The practicalist says the glass is twice as big as it should be. The psychoanalyst says the glass is your mother. The punk sitting next to you on the bus also says the glass is your mother. The zen master says, “There is no glass.” And me…, I say, “Waitress! Refill!” "

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2bhYzz/www.fluentin3months.com/is-your-language-half-full/

How to read

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:52:00 +0000

This is a great article from copyblogger, a blog from a writer on better writing:

http://www.copyblogger.com/how-to-read/

Metaphor, simile, and analogy - What's the difference?

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:02:00 +0000

Here are some tips on how to differentiate between these seemingly very similar concepts:

http://www.copyblogger.com/metaphor-simile-and-analogy-what’s-the-difference/

http://thewritersbag.com/writing-rules/metaphor-simile-or-analogy

Both sites are also worth checking out for the tips they give on writing in general.

Fado and the Portuguese concept of 'saudade'

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:56:00 +0000

Portuguese has a concept known as 'saudade' which, so I've been told, cannot be properly translated into English without lengthy explanation. This sentiment is often expressed in a music genre particular to Portugal called Fado (pronounced /'fadu/), which you can read about here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fado

One of the most famous Fado singers is Mariza, one of whose most famous songs, called 'Ó Gente da Minha Terra', can be read and listened to here

http://letras.terra.com.br/mariza/485218/

If you know Spanish, Italian or French you should be able to understand at least some of the song reading. I first heard Mariza's music in a city tour bus when I was in Oporto in spring of 2008, and I was blown away. As the title of the YouTube video suggests, 'Fabuloso e Arrepiante!'

Listening from different 'angles' to raise your awareness

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:17:00 +0000

To maximize your learning when interacting with any given text (referring to both the audio and the script), it's important to listen to and read it a number of times, paying attention to different aspects of it each time.

To this end, when I listen to a dialogue from ChinesePOD, I adhere to the following sequence:

1) I listen to the dialogue without reading to attune my brain to the text aurally first.

2) I listen to the text while reading along in English

3) I listen to the text while reading the pinyin and occasionally looking at the English translation

4) I listen to the text while only looking at the words in the vocabulary list

5) I listen to the text again without reading

6) *I repeat any of the above steps as necessary, time and interest permitting

Because none of the hundreds of dialogues from ChinesePOD are any longer than 2 minutes in length (even at the Upper Intermediate level), I can do all of these steps in relatively little time. When I want to listen for a long time and simply expose myself to a lot of vocab, I just load up my media player with a few hundred dialogues and listen without repeating while reading the English and pinyin script, which show up in the media window in Windows Media Player or iTunes, and on some mp3 players.

By following the above steps, you give your brain the chance to interact with the text from many different 'angles', thus greatly improving the learning experience.

Blogging on Bilingualism podcast

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:40:00 +0000

http://bloggingonbilingualism.com/category/podcast / (http://tinyurl.com/yz2abww)

"Another link to the Australian radio show Lingua Franca, this podcast shares the story of a James Panichi who moved from Australia to Italy with his family at the age of nine. His comments shed light on the way language and culture affect personality. Moving from Australia to Italy introduced him to his father in a new way. His father had always been there, but his full personality was hidden by his immigrant’s (unschooled) English. When James also spoke Italian fluently after living in Italy, his relationship with his father changed for the better. He also discusses his perspective of bilingualism and biculturalism from his personal experiences as an Italian-Australian.

Listen to the podcast “Daddy, I almost never knew you!” here (http://tinyurl.com/ykf4poh) at the Lingua Franca site.

See previous post for a link to a podcast on Lingua Franca (http://tinyurl.com/yhxk3wy) by a German-Australian on his relationship with is bilingual daughter."

Free Mandarin resources with pinyin, word-for-word translations and mp3s

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:21:00 +0000

*Especially useful for beginners in Mandarin*

Though I prefer to use dialogues and not simply sentences for learning, I think this is a great and extensive collection of useful sentences and audio to raise your awareness of the sentence structure of Mandarin, and probably learn quite a few new words of vocabulary as well.

http://www.zhongwenblue.com/
http://www.zhongwengreen.com/
http://www.zhongwenred.com/

You can read about how I started out in Mandarin here

http://davidamartin2sblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-i-learned-to-understand-1000-words.html

My new blog on learning Mandarin from scratch

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:14:00 +0000

Check out my new blog on learning Mandarin from scratch

http://mandarinfromscratch.posterous.com/

How to Learn to Speak (Czech) Fluently

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:27:00 +0000

My thanks go to Jeff Lindqvist at LingQ for turning me onto this site

http://sites.google.com/site/fluentczech/Home

On it, Anthony Lauder defines what he thinks fluency in a language is, describes his struggle with fluency in Czech, and gives great suggestions as to how fluency can be attained, primarily using what he calls 'connectors'.

Learning Languages Like Children

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:42:00 +0000

This is a re-post of one of my recent contributions in this thread http://www.lingq.com/learn/zh/forum/1/5099/ on the LingQ Open Forum

@ asadkhan

You may have been listening passively for 6 years, but HOW INTENSIVELY? (how many hours per day EVERY DAY)? Students in the ALG program, on average, go to class 3 hours per day every day for a year before they start speaking - that is, they listen very intensively over a relatively short period of time.

I've found that after only 60 hours of listening to Mandarin (an hour a day every day for 2 months), words and phrases are starting to just 'pop' into my head without me even thinking about them. I'm certain that this type of 'thinking' is not detrimental, as the words and phrases just 'rise to the surface' and you're not yet trying to say them out loud. The 'thinking' the article refers to is trying to 'come up with' language (whether it's grammar conjugations or vocabulary) instead of just drawing on the vocabulary base (which INCLUDES grammar) you've acquired from listening.

@ Cantotango

I do believe that words and phrases will come naturally if you listen INTENSIVELY and wait long enough to start speaking. Just ask Steve about his experience with Russian, which I've heard native speakers say he speaks very well - check out his video and the comments here

http://tinyurl.com/yzkc6a7

Notice that, although he has to think about what he wants to say, the words and phrases seem to 'flow out' quite readily, an obvious sign that he did lots of natural listening to the language before starting to speak to any great extent. And, although he may make some mistakes with grammar, remember that native speaker children ALSO make grammar mistakes ('I goed' instead of 'I went' etc. - confer Krashen's Principles and Practice in SLA) and yet they still come out speaking fluently.

I think that, once you reach a certain level of understanding (ALG posits about 80%) after CONSISTENT and INTENSIVE listening, you've already established a solid pronunciation and grammar base, at which point it's just a matter of activating your passive vocabulary (which, once again, INCLUDES grammar like conjugations and endings etc.) while continuing to augment it, which is what Steve says he started doing after about two years of learning Russian.

Finally, consider that adult native speakers also make grammar and pronunciation mistakes and yet we still think of them as 'fluent speakers'.

------------------------------------------------

This is A.J. Hoge's text and recording of an excerpt from ALG's Dr. J. Marvin Brown's article entitled 'Learning Languages Like Children'

http://tinyurl.com/yfwef8l

The original and unabridged article can be found here

http://www.algworld.com/archives.php

Lingro (Ling Grow) language learning tool

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:02:00 +0000

Below is a description of the lingro language-learning tool, which I think is a great supplement to LingQ, especially if you're an Anki user. Also check out Ramses' description of the available functionalities here http://www.spanish-only.com/2008/09/lingrocom-dictionary/

Quoted from the lingro website (http://lingro.com/docs/about.html):

lingro was conceived in August 2005, when Artur decided to practice his Spanish by reading Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal. As a competent but non-expert speaker, he found that looking up new vocabulary took much more time than the reading itself. Frustrated with how slow existing online dictionaries were, he wrote a program to help him translate and learn words in their original context.

lingro's mission is to create an on-line environment that allows anyone learning a language to quickly look up and learn the vocabulary most important to them. Whenever we're developing new tools for lingro or planning the next big step, there are two principles we always consider:

• Knowledge and information essential to human communication and interaction should be free and accessible to everyone. This is why we created the most comprehensive set of free dictionaries available under open licenses so that anyone can contribute, download, redistribute, and modify the dictionaries for their own needs. These licenses guarantee that they will always remain free and useful to society.

• To have the best dictionaries, you need to have the best tools. Every tool we create, from games, quizzes, and study tools to in-context word lookup is designed for you, the user. To us, this means that they should be intuitive, fast, easy to use, and hopefully fun. :-)

Why you think you need grammar

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:37:00 +0000

Yet another great post from Ramses at Spanish Only: Learn How to Learn Spanish

http://www.spanish-only.com/2009/12/grammar/

I personally don't spend any of my time learning grammar, as listening, reading and learning vocabulary are more interesting and grammar knowledge comes as a result, not as a precursor.

If it's not top-down, get outta town.

The Simulganeous (Simultaneous) Method

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:41:00 +0000

I just recorded a new item to the LingQ English library entitled 'The Simulganeous Method', which I translated from the original German

http://www.lingq.com/learn/en/workdesk/item/888330/reader/

The original article was written by Matthias Poehm and can be found here

http://www.rhetorik-seminar.ch/simulgan-technik.html

Here's the English text from the article:

Rhetoric Tip: The Simulganeous Technique

(note: 'Simulganeous' is explained below)

An important basic requisite for rhetoric is vocabulary. The more words you have available, the better you can express yourself.

The German language contains about 400,000 words. In the dictionary Duden there are approximately 120,000 words. Your passive vocabulary - these are all words that you understand, but not necessarily use yourself - comprises between 30,000 and 50,000 words. You know and understand the word 'exalt', for example, but would (probably) not use it yourself. And then there’s your active vocabulary - these are all the words that you say at least once over the course of a year. Your active vocabulary contains between 3 and 5 thousand words: Approximately 1/10 (one-tenth) as much as your passive vocabulary. However, there’s a step lower than that. The 'Bild' newspaper gets by with about 1000 words. On the other hand, that means that you can express just about anything with 1000 words. Konrad Adenauer, for example, is said to have gotten by with a vocabulary of 1000 words.

To expand your active vocabulary, you don’t have to learn new and unknown foreign words, no, it’s enough to 'lift' words from your passive vocabulary into your active vocabulary. So, words that you know anyway but simply do not use. For example, most of you understand the sentence "Since his appearance on 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire', the teacher has been exalted by his students as being an Einstein of general knowledge".

Although you understand the word 'exalted', you probably wouldn’t use it in this context (you’d be more likely to use the word 'glorified').

I have created a technique that allows you to expand your vocabulary without wasting time. You have a skill you didn’t know about and which you can just switch on.

You are capable of mimicking any speaker, whether on the radio, on television or directly from a CD, with a short delay.

Do it right now simply for fun. Switch on the radio or TV and speak simultaneously along with the speaker. You will succeed right away.

The great benefit of the Simulganeous Technique

I have called this technique the Simulganeous Technique. Simulganeous means: simultaneous, that is, simultaneously listening and mimicking. The GAN in 'GANeous' means: G for the same time (Gleichzeitig), A for actively listening (Aufnehmen), N for mimicking (Nachsprechen).

Wherein lies the great benefit of the Simulganeous Technique?

You expand your vocabulary without any extra time investment. You listen to the radio and television anyway, and I hope you also listen to other audio programs. So go ahead and use this opportunity. Whenever you hear a speaker, just repeat after them. If you also repeat rather than merely listen, your brain recognizes these words as already having been used. You are actively participating. And, for example, if you have already said the word 'exalted' itself 3 times out loud, then the chance that you will do so again will have increased dramatically. Your passive vocabulary is 'activated' bit by bit.

The next advantage: You’re pronunciation will be cleaner. You will automatically mimic the speaker - and they are mostly professionals. After a while you’ll pick up the speech behavior of professional speakers.

You will be able to speak faster. If you use speakers who talk at machine-gun pace as a model, then you will be able to do just the same after a certain period of time.

You will think more quickly. The response time between hearing and speaking will get shorter and shorter. In this way you’ll also shorten your 'rate of access' to the words.

You’ll retain more of that which you mimic 'simulganeously', and you’ll remember it longer.

The Simulganeous Technique and learning foreign languages

And one more thing on top of that: With the Simulganeous Technique you can even considerably improve your foreign language skills. If you have ever listened to a language tutorial on CD-ROM, you know what I mean. From the first syllable you can join in and mimic the whole CD 'simulganeously'. The learning effect is many times higher than if you were to only listen. In this way you learn the language much faster.

What you can also do: Mimic any message in French, English or Italian simulganeously. You do not even have to understand everything. Even if you only understand 50%, you’re already making great progress. The chance that you’ll actually use the words that your parroting is three times higher than if you just listen passively. You not only consume, but you also produce. This engrains itself much better in your memory, dramatically increases your speech flow and enhances your foreign language vocabulary.

Make speaking simulganeously your new hobby. I do it permanently. I have many audio books in English. Sometimes during a three-hour drive I talk simulganeously in English the whole time. Eventually it becomes so automatic that I do it quite unconsciously - it’s a lot of fun - and then I’m so fluent in English that it sounds like I’ve been in America for two weeks.

(Copyright Matthias Pöhm. This article is a permitted copy of the website www.rhetorik-seminar.ch and may only be used with the permission of the author.

The biggest verbal attack collection on the internet: 4’500 verbal attacks, insults and offences with its corresponding clever comeback linesVerbal-Attacks-Library)

Screw grammar

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:42:00 +0000

This is the name of a great post on my newly-discovered blog of interest

Spanish Only: Learn How to Learn Spanish

http://www.spanish-only.com/2009/01/screw-grammar/

How long does it take to become fluent in a language?

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:57:00 +0000

This is a re-post of one of my posts on a recent thread on the LingQ forum (http://tinyurl.com/y8b4ogz):

In language learning, 'hard' is a relative term. It all depends on what linguistic and cultural background you come from. If you're language and/or culture is more similar to that of the language you're learning (http://tinyurl.com/ydlcg7c), you'll learn faster than others, all things being equal. In the same way, if a language you're learning is similar to another language you've already learned, all things beings equal, you'll learn faster. This is simply because your brain 'puts the pieces of the puzzle together' faster than it otherwise would.

***Instead of thinking about Spanish/French/German (FSI Level 1/2 languages) etc. as being 'easy' and Japanese/Chinese/Thai (FSI Level 4 languages) etc. as being 'difficult', think about Japanese/Chinese/Thai etc. as being 'normal' and Spanish/French/German etc. as being 'easier than normal'.***

That's because when you're learning Japanese/Chinese/Thai etc. as an English speaker, you're essentially 'starting from scratch' in terms of having a related grammar and vocabulary base. Almost nothing in your language shares anything in common with these languages, so you're learning as a child would - from nothing.

But in fact, you've STILL got an advantage over a child (and you will consequently learn faster than a child would), because you ALREADY speak another language and know about the world (you already have 'schemata' http://tinyurl.com/ycewufa), which means you have a greater imagination for what someone COULD be saying, and language learning is all about guessing and discovering.

When you're learning Spanish/French/German etc., however, you've already got a headstart/advantage, because grammar and vocabulary in those languages is similar to that of English. So you're able to learn AT A FASTER THAN NORMAL RATE than someone whose native language doesn't share those similarities, and much faster than a child would.

In these threads Steve gives a lot of great advice on the subject:

http://tinyurl.com/ych94ta
http://tinyurl.com/ycb5dfp

Definitely check out the first link 'Language Learning Difficulty for English Speakers' (http://tinyurl.com/5w8k32) in the first thread, but remember that these figures are based on FSI CLASSROOM COURSES, and that with LingQ learning independently you can learn much more efficiently (you spend all your time with interesting input, instead of potentially boring teachers, grammar, and people), and therefore faster.

http://web.archive.org/web/20071014005901/http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/learningExpectations.html

Shout out to red, you know who you are! :)

Khazumoto's Wisdom: Desires and Decisions - If you want to succeed, be persistent

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:15:00 +0000

Thanks to Khazumoto of AJATT for the following wisdom:

"You see, everyone has desire. Everyone wants to be good at something. Everyone wants to know a cool language, everyone wants mad kung-fu skills, computer-hacking skills…you name it. Everyone wants to be able to play a piano concerto with their eyes closed using only their big toe. So, the difference between those who do know a language, do have kung-fu/computer hacking skills — et cetera — and those who don’t must, in fact, be very small, and it is this: Those who have the skills didn’t just want to be good, they decided to be good. Want or decide — one is a wish, the other is a choice. One can get crushed, forgotten and swept away by the hectic business of everyday life; the other is inevitable — it sweeps everything out of its path, it crushes, avoids or otherwise overcomes obstacles. Like commercial breaks or uninvited missionaries, it’s always all up in your face.

So, if you want to be good, then good luck with that. If you’ve decided to be good, then gosh help anyone or anything that gets in your way!

How about you? Do you just want to be fluent in Japanese, or have you decided to be?"

and for turning me on to this related Calvin Coolidge quote:

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/desires-and-decisions (http://tinyurl.com/b8ckoy)

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/you-can-have-do-or-be-anything-but-you-cannot-have-do-or-be-everything (http://tinyurl.com/q7rub3)

Free Chinese/Japanese/Korean TV series and movie streaming w/English subtitles

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:20:00 +0000

I happened on this site by way of jjmountain's fantastic Korean blog (http://koreanasitis.wordpress.com/)

http://www.mysoju.com/browse/

It's an amazing collection of free Chinese/Japanese/Korean TV series and movie streaming w/English subtitles.

Why I Prefer the LingQ Method / The Importance of Vocabulary

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:53:00 +0000

This is a slightly modified re-post from the LingQ forum (http://tinyurl.com/yhywy68)

Watching Steve's video entitled 'In Praise of Passive Vocabulary' (http://tinyurl.com/yb9qtmx) was one of the defining moments in my transition to the LingQ method from the more 'traditional' standpoint taken by Cambridge and the people I teacher- trained with. I had always sensed that this 'spoonfeeding' of students was somehow wrong, but it wasn't until I watched that video and the one on Krashen, which led me to then read Krashen's book which we happened to have on-site, did I say 'This is what I've been looking for!'

This is an interesting excerpt from 'Vocabulary Instruction for Academic Success' by Ahley Bishop, Ruth Helen Yopp and Hallie Kay Yopp:

"*Providing Extensive Experiences with Language

Language learning cannot occur without exposure to language. Research shows that most vocabulary is not directly taught; huge numbers of words are learned incidentally—through experiences with language. Thus, it is crucial that teachers establish language-rich environments.

This means that teachers must offer myriad opportunities for students to hear and engage with spoken language and to read, write, and engage with written language in multiple contexts. Indeed, Johnson (2001, 19) stated that “the best way to help schoolchildren expand their vocabularies … is to provide plentiful, interactive oral language experiences throughout the elementary and middle grades.” Nagy agreed that “experiences with rich oral language are critical for vocabulary growth” and noted that wide reading “is the primary engine that drives vocabulary growth” (2005,29). Thus, one essential aspect of vocabulary instruction is exposure to plentiful language in the classroom."

Obviously we know that teachers are not necessary to 'establish language-rich environments' or 'provide plentiful, interactive oral language experiences' - all you need to do is consistently surround yourself with the language with a system like LingQ and an mp3 player, and regularly use the opportunity to speak with native speakers and use new words and phrases via the LingQ tutor system to promote your active vocabulary.

Hugosite.com – Learn English in 365 Lessons

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:08:00 +0000

Someone posted this on the LingQ forum a few days ago and I think it's a great resource for English learners:

http://hugosite.com/?paged=62

It's a collection of 365 videos teaching English through situations.

Khazumoto shows off his Nihongo skills

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:44:00 +0000

Khazumoto from AJATT speaking mad fluent Japanese:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejRkuX1RGf4&feature=player_embedded# (http://tinyurl.com/yk56oy9)

Ya, I'd like to achieve that level of fluency in Nihongo...

http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/all-japanese-all-the-time-ajatt-how-to-learn-japanese-on-your-own-having-fun-and-to-fluency

Making your passive vocabulary active

noreply@blogger.com (dolmetscher777) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:24:00 +0000

This is a re-post from a recent thread of mine on the LingQ forum (http://tinyurl.com/yhrebo4):

Many upper intermediate/advanced students have recently expressed their concern to me that they don't feel like they've been making much progress recently, especially as it concerns vocabulary.

In our group discussion 'Language Learning Experience and Methods' from last Thursday we talked about possible methods for breaking through these plateaus, and we came up with some different ideas.

One of my suggestions was for students to keep an 'active vocabulary wishlist' that is, a notebook with words and phrases they've recently learned in their reading and listening that they would like to be able to actively use. Learners can start out with just one new word or phrase per conversation/writing, and gradually increade the number of new ones they try to actively use.

When you use the new word or phrase, you can (a) immediately ask your tutor if you've used the expression correctly, or (b) hope that the tutor will have been paying attention and will correct you in the conversation report if you used the word/phrase incorrectly. Personally, I prefer (a).

The great thing about keeping all these words and phrases in one notebook is that every time you have a conversation you can look back and see all the expressions you've already used, which is a nice indication of your progress, and it's also a good review.

Although I know everyone does not agree with me, I also think Spaced Repetition Listening is a great way for advanced learners to improve, as they don't need as much extensive input as they need to specifically target new words and phrases they would like to make active, and increase the rate at which these words and phrases go from being passive to active, as the 'activeness' of a word or expression depends to a great extent on how frequently you've heard/read it (hearing the words and phrases in meaningful contexts is, of course, much more important to the beginner), just as how often you hear/read a language determines how active it is in your brain, as we found out in our discussion about active versus passive languages you've learned/grown up with.

For more on this subject, confer http://tinyurl.com/yhfj8v7

I look forward to your feedback and new ideas on the subject:)