I had a phone call from the Welfare Officer at James' school. I had been expecting it. After all, it was only a matter of time.
"We are very concerned about James' odd behaviour," she said.
"Oh really?" I answered innocently. "What's he been doing?"
"The Headteacher found him in the playgroup yesterday walking round a dustbin," she said. "Just walking round and round. He was making himself really dizzy. A whole crowd of boys had gathered to watch him. The Head was concerned that a fight might break out, so she went out to ask him what he was doing. He answered that he was trying to set a new world record for walking around a dustbin. She took him into her office and had Stern Words with him. It contravenes Health and Safety you know."
That Health and Safety legislation must be really comprehensive. It was hard to think of a suitable answer. I did my best however.
I explained that James was a benign schizotype, which means that he has a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia. I explained that, when his brain is overloaded with tiredness, stress, noise or excitement he loses "situational awareness" and enters a sort of dream state. If he has lost the plot enough to be trying to lose consciousness then he is presumably very worried about something. The Head then giving him a telling off could make him hallucinate, forget where he is or imagine that she is a demon or a bowl of tulips. Far better, in my opinion, to sit him down somewhere quiet, give him a glass of water and then calmly and quietly ask him what is the matter.
I regretted not having mentioned James' weird tendencies before to the school, but explained that I am fed up of teachers, support staff and even doctors thinking that I have delusional tendencies. It tends to work out better if people realise that James is odd, and then come to me for help puzzling him out.
His last teacher at Primary School understood him very well. She used to send him on imaginary errands around the school at about 2pm, which woke him up a bit. She realised that otherwise he started seeing fairies and ghosts at around 2:30. Even so she didn't get it right every time. She didn't realise that, once his brain overloaded, he lost the power of speech and so couldn't tell her he was losing his grip on reality. When he was compelled to go to a school disco he ended up crouched in the boys' toilets with his eyes screwed shut and his fingers in his ears. His teacher had no idea that anything was wrong at the time and afterwards he felt too ashamed to tell her.
Despite my lack of faith (we schizotypes are mildly paranoid) the Welfare Officer at Big School showed a great deal of concern. She would like to get James recognised as requiring extra support (I think it means extra funding for the Welfare Office) and so suggested that they refer him to a psychologist. I answered that if they could find a psychologist that was up to speed with schizotypy I would eat James' shorts, but I would be very happy to be proved wrong. Even if he can't get on the Officially Odd list, it would help him a lot if his teachers could be educated in ways to deal with an overloading schizotype. They don't get training in dealing with hallucinating students.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Monday, 23 November 2009
Project time is here again!
James seems to have settled into Big School very well, to my immense relief. Being now twelve years old and in Year 7, he has started in the local Secondary School. This is now called "The Dusty Mouldings Science and Technology Business Enterprise Centre", which is a fancy way of saying it has got industry sponsorship. The upside is that the school has been given a lot of money to spend on science equipment and trips to industrial processing plants. The downside is that the teachers all use business jargon and act like junior management.
Still, they are very well organised. James has brought home a booklet detailing all the homework he should be doing this year. I don't really understand much of it. He has to learn about brainstorming, project planning, milestone setting and quality assurance. For someone who struggles to remember to eat his sandwiches each day they may be expecting too much in the way of task management from him.
Some of the assignments I can understand. By the end of the school year he must:
research his family tree;
observe the growth of a seed;
use the internet to communicate with someone who does not live in our town;
research the life of a famous historical person;
demonstrate that he can use a library;
study some theoretical aspect of reproduction;
observe and record the play of young children;
consider and resolve an ethical dilemma;
learn 250 words in a new language;
draw pictures of himself as an baby, an adult and an old man;
describe a place far from his home town;
design and make a set of clothes;
write a play with a non-linear plot;
design and build a device that can move about by itself and make simple decisions;
demonstrate that he can manage a complex project.
"That'll keep you busy for the rest of the year!" I remarked.
"Not necessarily!" answered James smugly, his eyes never leaving the TV screen.
"But you're supposed to spend at least 20 hours on each project," I reminded him. "15 projects means 300 hours work. That's about an hour a day."
"Not if I make one project do for all subjects," answered James.
"I'm not having you cutting corners on your homework!" I scowled. "Promise me you'll really make an effort. I want to to make a real impression on your new teachers."
"I think you can count on that!" muttered James. "They won't have seen anything like this, I promise you!"
I'm afraid he may be right. It might be simpler if I lose the homework leaflet and forget I ever saw it.
Still, they are very well organised. James has brought home a booklet detailing all the homework he should be doing this year. I don't really understand much of it. He has to learn about brainstorming, project planning, milestone setting and quality assurance. For someone who struggles to remember to eat his sandwiches each day they may be expecting too much in the way of task management from him.
Some of the assignments I can understand. By the end of the school year he must:
research his family tree;
observe the growth of a seed;
use the internet to communicate with someone who does not live in our town;
research the life of a famous historical person;
demonstrate that he can use a library;
study some theoretical aspect of reproduction;
observe and record the play of young children;
consider and resolve an ethical dilemma;
learn 250 words in a new language;
draw pictures of himself as an baby, an adult and an old man;
describe a place far from his home town;
design and make a set of clothes;
write a play with a non-linear plot;
design and build a device that can move about by itself and make simple decisions;
demonstrate that he can manage a complex project.
"That'll keep you busy for the rest of the year!" I remarked.
"Not necessarily!" answered James smugly, his eyes never leaving the TV screen.
"But you're supposed to spend at least 20 hours on each project," I reminded him. "15 projects means 300 hours work. That's about an hour a day."
"Not if I make one project do for all subjects," answered James.
"I'm not having you cutting corners on your homework!" I scowled. "Promise me you'll really make an effort. I want to to make a real impression on your new teachers."
"I think you can count on that!" muttered James. "They won't have seen anything like this, I promise you!"
I'm afraid he may be right. It might be simpler if I lose the homework leaflet and forget I ever saw it.
Sunday, 22 November 2009
The Littlest Doctor
Minnie played her guitar for Charlie. The piece she is learning appears to consist only of the note E played several times over. Charlie was unimpressed.
"It's teaching her to read music," I told him.
This impressed him even less. To Charlie, music is something that flows from your fingers, through your ears, into the depths of your very soul. Ink and paper have nothing to do with it.
He disappeared up into the loft. I hoped he might be having a tidy-up, or getting a head-start on finding the Christmas decorations, but no. He came back down holding his old guitar, a black and silver electric Cumulonimbus with customised pick-ups.
Charlie used to play lead guitar in a band in his youth. He called himself The Doctor. All the members of the band called themselves The Doctor, with the result that the name of the band varied from "The Three Doctors", "The Five Doctors" and even "The Ten Doctors" as members came and went. I never heard them, but apparently they were very loud. Simon Cowell went to one of their earliest gigs, and had to be taken home and put to bed in a dark room.
Charlie spent the afternoon teaching Minnie to go ChungaChungaCunga ChungaChungaChunga ChungaChungaChunga ChungaChungaChunga to Led Zeppelin with the pickups turned up to eleven. I had one of my headaches and had to lie in a dark room until tea-time.
It seems to have fired Minnie's enthusiasm for the guitar. And although it's hard on my nerves, I must admit it's the LingQ way. Minnie will have a lot of fun playing the guitar badly while she learns, almost unconsciously, to play well. I just can't imagine what Mrs. Sponge will have to say at Minnie's next lesson, when instead of "Fairy Footsteps on the E-string" Minnie is going ChungaChungaChunga along with Led Zep.
With any luck Mrs Sponge won't notice the writing on the back of the Cumulonimbus either. It seems that Charlie got every musician he ever met to sign his guitar, and some of the language they used are way beyond Key Stage 2 vocabulary. Some of them were even people I've heard of. If those Sex Pistols autographs are genuine, it could be worth a fortune. Charlie would be furious if his old guitar got confiscated and put up for sale on eBay.
"It's teaching her to read music," I told him.
This impressed him even less. To Charlie, music is something that flows from your fingers, through your ears, into the depths of your very soul. Ink and paper have nothing to do with it.
He disappeared up into the loft. I hoped he might be having a tidy-up, or getting a head-start on finding the Christmas decorations, but no. He came back down holding his old guitar, a black and silver electric Cumulonimbus with customised pick-ups.
Charlie used to play lead guitar in a band in his youth. He called himself The Doctor. All the members of the band called themselves The Doctor, with the result that the name of the band varied from "The Three Doctors", "The Five Doctors" and even "The Ten Doctors" as members came and went. I never heard them, but apparently they were very loud. Simon Cowell went to one of their earliest gigs, and had to be taken home and put to bed in a dark room.
Charlie spent the afternoon teaching Minnie to go ChungaChungaCunga ChungaChungaChunga ChungaChungaChunga ChungaChungaChunga to Led Zeppelin with the pickups turned up to eleven. I had one of my headaches and had to lie in a dark room until tea-time.
It seems to have fired Minnie's enthusiasm for the guitar. And although it's hard on my nerves, I must admit it's the LingQ way. Minnie will have a lot of fun playing the guitar badly while she learns, almost unconsciously, to play well. I just can't imagine what Mrs. Sponge will have to say at Minnie's next lesson, when instead of "Fairy Footsteps on the E-string" Minnie is going ChungaChungaChunga along with Led Zep.
With any luck Mrs Sponge won't notice the writing on the back of the Cumulonimbus either. It seems that Charlie got every musician he ever met to sign his guitar, and some of the language they used are way beyond Key Stage 2 vocabulary. Some of them were even people I've heard of. If those Sex Pistols autographs are genuine, it could be worth a fortune. Charlie would be furious if his old guitar got confiscated and put up for sale on eBay.
Friday, 20 November 2009
Give me the moonlight, give me the monster....
I'm a great fan of H. P. Lovecraft. Libraries don't stock his books these days, either because they are out of fashion or because they give the librarians the willies. Fortunately I now have an ebook reader, so I can read creepy horror stories anywhere, anytime, in any language. As long as I can find the ebooks, that is. Thank the Old Ones for the internet!
As Lovecraft died in the thirties his works are in the public domain, so I can download his ebooks freely and legally onto my ebook reader. The original English versions at least. In other languages it is more tricky. The French translator was longer-lived than the luckless Lovecraft himself, so the French versions are still in copyright. Unless you find a public-domain fan translation.
As to the German translations, who knows when the translator died? And what of? German public-domain ebooks seem to be hard to find in general, I suspect the spelling reforms are to blame. Any book more than about thirty years old is difficult to read because a lot of words are now spelled wrong. It's easier to read something modern.
And then there is the problem of finding audio books. These are copyrighted and so shouldn't be in the public domain. Unless they are read by volunteers in a public-domain project, like Librivox (www.librivox.org). You can find any number of free audio books in French and English, if you know where to look.
You can also find any number of Russian ebooks and audio books on the internet. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to buy them. Direct download websites are usually region restricted. If you don't have a Russian IP then you can't buy a file download from a Russian website. You have to stick to free downloads, which are not restricted, although I doubt if most of them are legal.
The Russians just don't seem to differentiate between legal and illegal uses of the internet. When I search for free reading I keep ending up on torrent sites, which show me adverts for services I don't want and would rather my kids don't see. The last time I looked for Anna Karenina in PDF I nearly ordered a 23-year old medical student from Moscow State University by mistake. She turned out to be surprisingly cheap. I wonder if I could hire her to read me Russian literature?
As Lovecraft died in the thirties his works are in the public domain, so I can download his ebooks freely and legally onto my ebook reader. The original English versions at least. In other languages it is more tricky. The French translator was longer-lived than the luckless Lovecraft himself, so the French versions are still in copyright. Unless you find a public-domain fan translation.
As to the German translations, who knows when the translator died? And what of? German public-domain ebooks seem to be hard to find in general, I suspect the spelling reforms are to blame. Any book more than about thirty years old is difficult to read because a lot of words are now spelled wrong. It's easier to read something modern.
And then there is the problem of finding audio books. These are copyrighted and so shouldn't be in the public domain. Unless they are read by volunteers in a public-domain project, like Librivox (www.librivox.org). You can find any number of free audio books in French and English, if you know where to look.
You can also find any number of Russian ebooks and audio books on the internet. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to buy them. Direct download websites are usually region restricted. If you don't have a Russian IP then you can't buy a file download from a Russian website. You have to stick to free downloads, which are not restricted, although I doubt if most of them are legal.
The Russians just don't seem to differentiate between legal and illegal uses of the internet. When I search for free reading I keep ending up on torrent sites, which show me adverts for services I don't want and would rather my kids don't see. The last time I looked for Anna Karenina in PDF I nearly ordered a 23-year old medical student from Moscow State University by mistake. She turned out to be surprisingly cheap. I wonder if I could hire her to read me Russian literature?
I take an interest in my children's education
Minnie has started learning the guitar. I don't quite know how it happened. Apparently she passed an audition or something. The first I knew or it was when she came home with a form for me to sign and a demand for £30. Then she mentioned that she would need a guitar.
I have lent her my old Spanish guitar. As I never got very far learning to play it myself, it would be lovely to see my daughter playing it. She has a book, "Simple Tunes for Tiny Fingers". I will watch her progress with interest.
I have reached a negotiated settlement with James about French. French is acceptable, apparently, as long as it is about science fiction. A quick search on YouTube came up with several clips of his favourite TV show, "Doctor Who", dubbed into French. I also found a French "Doctor Who" fan site. James spent half an hour watching all the clips. Result!
I was peeved, however, to hear him reading out the French subtitles. He had been taught that French is a written language rather than a spoken one, so he only thinks he is learning it if he reads it out loud. As he has not grasped the principles of pronunciation yet, he reads it as though it were badly-misspelled English. I will have words with his French teacher when I see her. And I won't mispronounce them either.
I have lent her my old Spanish guitar. As I never got very far learning to play it myself, it would be lovely to see my daughter playing it. She has a book, "Simple Tunes for Tiny Fingers". I will watch her progress with interest.
I have reached a negotiated settlement with James about French. French is acceptable, apparently, as long as it is about science fiction. A quick search on YouTube came up with several clips of his favourite TV show, "Doctor Who", dubbed into French. I also found a French "Doctor Who" fan site. James spent half an hour watching all the clips. Result!
I was peeved, however, to hear him reading out the French subtitles. He had been taught that French is a written language rather than a spoken one, so he only thinks he is learning it if he reads it out loud. As he has not grasped the principles of pronunciation yet, he reads it as though it were badly-misspelled English. I will have words with his French teacher when I see her. And I won't mispronounce them either.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
I am shocked by my son's bad language learning
I heard the most unpleasant piece of French I've heard in a long time the other day. What was worse, it came out of James' mouth. He has been learning French for an indeterminate amount of time (they just played at in in junior school, as far as I can tell) and he is two years behind where the government say he should be. Along with the rest of his class, I presume.
His French teacher is clearly of the old school. She started in lesson 1 on the gender of nouns. Then they progressed to topic-based learning, with written exercises and written homework.
The sentence that offended me so strongly was "Jay unn hamsteuh ett derks pwassonz."
"French doesn't sound anything like that!" I howled in protest.
"Whatever!" shrugged James.
I'm not standing for this. I stood over him until he logged onto LingQ and downloaded the first part of "Who is She?"
"Listen to it!" I commanded. "You don't have to understand it, you don't have to repeat it. Just listen to it. Over and over until you can hear the patterns. You wouldn't try and learn a piece of music from reading the notes and humming, would you?"
James protested about this cruel and unusual punishment (listening to French is soooo gay!) but he did it, at least while I was watching. Whether he'll do anything when I'm not there with that "I'm on a mission to stamp out bad language learning" look on my face is doubtful. I'm swimming against the tide of centuries of bad French teaching here.
His French teacher is clearly of the old school. She started in lesson 1 on the gender of nouns. Then they progressed to topic-based learning, with written exercises and written homework.
The sentence that offended me so strongly was "Jay unn hamsteuh ett derks pwassonz."
"French doesn't sound anything like that!" I howled in protest.
"Whatever!" shrugged James.
I'm not standing for this. I stood over him until he logged onto LingQ and downloaded the first part of "Who is She?"
"Listen to it!" I commanded. "You don't have to understand it, you don't have to repeat it. Just listen to it. Over and over until you can hear the patterns. You wouldn't try and learn a piece of music from reading the notes and humming, would you?"
James protested about this cruel and unusual punishment (listening to French is soooo gay!) but he did it, at least while I was watching. Whether he'll do anything when I'm not there with that "I'm on a mission to stamp out bad language learning" look on my face is doubtful. I'm swimming against the tide of centuries of bad French teaching here.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Being cheeky to Sir
A new school year, a new set of teachers to break in.
Minnie is now in Mr Custardcream's class. Mr Custardcream is my age and is surprisingly cool. He went on Tiswas as a kid (ask a middle-aged person what this was) and used to know Ozzy Osbourne (ask an old person who this is).
Minnie is very taken with Mr Custardcream. She has started answering the register in Japanese, which he takes with good humour. She cheeks him in French, and has also tried a bit of German out on him.
Minnie seems to have more aptitude for foreign languages than James, even though I can't altogether approve of her motivation. Still, it's the LingQ way and I don't want to discourage her. This could be the start of a life-long love affair - hopefully with language learning rather than with Mr Custardcream.
Does anyone know where I can find a source of beginner-level sassiness in French, German and Japanese suitable for an eight-year old?
Minnie is now in Mr Custardcream's class. Mr Custardcream is my age and is surprisingly cool. He went on Tiswas as a kid (ask a middle-aged person what this was) and used to know Ozzy Osbourne (ask an old person who this is).
Minnie is very taken with Mr Custardcream. She has started answering the register in Japanese, which he takes with good humour. She cheeks him in French, and has also tried a bit of German out on him.
Minnie seems to have more aptitude for foreign languages than James, even though I can't altogether approve of her motivation. Still, it's the LingQ way and I don't want to discourage her. This could be the start of a life-long love affair - hopefully with language learning rather than with Mr Custardcream.
Does anyone know where I can find a source of beginner-level sassiness in French, German and Japanese suitable for an eight-year old?
LingQ inspires the young
The other night I watched James working at his computer with a very determined look on his face.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"It's for keyboard club," he answered. "I've found the sheet music for the Doctor Who theme music and I'm going to learn to play it."
"I didn't know you could read music!" I said, impressed.
"That's what we learn at keyboard club," he answered. "They want us to play really dull, easy stuff. I'm not having that. I want to learn to play the Doctor Who music, so that's what I'm going to do. It looks a bit hard, but if I keep at it, I'll keep getting better."
"Wow!" I said. "That's showing real motivation. Well done!"
"It's the LingQ way!" he answered, blushing with pride.
If only I could get him to show the same interest in learning languages. Still, it's a start. He has internalised the notion that if he learns what he wants to learn, as hard as he can, then he will excel in school and impress his teachers without having made any effort to do so.
Since he started in Big School he has had a detention every week (for disorganisation, failing to hand in his homework and generally not doing what the teachers expect him to do) and is performing in his favourite subjects at a level several years ahead of his class.
His teachers don't know what to make of him. I do. He is learning the LingQ way.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"It's for keyboard club," he answered. "I've found the sheet music for the Doctor Who theme music and I'm going to learn to play it."
"I didn't know you could read music!" I said, impressed.
"That's what we learn at keyboard club," he answered. "They want us to play really dull, easy stuff. I'm not having that. I want to learn to play the Doctor Who music, so that's what I'm going to do. It looks a bit hard, but if I keep at it, I'll keep getting better."
"Wow!" I said. "That's showing real motivation. Well done!"
"It's the LingQ way!" he answered, blushing with pride.
If only I could get him to show the same interest in learning languages. Still, it's a start. He has internalised the notion that if he learns what he wants to learn, as hard as he can, then he will excel in school and impress his teachers without having made any effort to do so.
Since he started in Big School he has had a detention every week (for disorganisation, failing to hand in his homework and generally not doing what the teachers expect him to do) and is performing in his favourite subjects at a level several years ahead of his class.
His teachers don't know what to make of him. I do. He is learning the LingQ way.
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Some LingQ tag lines
In the time it took me to fall asleep last night my brain went a bit crazy and came up with a load more LingQ tag lines. Maybe we could organise a marketing campaign with billboard hoardings and T-shirts?
LingQ: Because the French are even sexier when you understand what they're saying.
LingQ: Because Germans DO have a sense of humour.
LingQ: Because the British AREN'T living in the past.
LingQ: Because Americans DO understand irony.
LingQ: Because the Canadians ARE smart.
LingQ: Because the Russians AREN'T always gloomy.
LingQ: Because you might want to watch TV abroad.
LingQ: Because politics is more interesting when you understand what the other guys say about you.
LingQ: Because Manga is cooler in the original.
LingQ: Because you've got to be hooked on something.
LingQ: Because it's not illegal, immoral or fattening.
LingQ: Because your high school teachers were WRONG about you!
LingQ: Because it impresses your kids' teachers.
LingQ: Because your parents don't understand you.
LingQ: Because it makes your neighbours think you're a spy.
LingQ: Because if a baby can do it, then so can you!
LingQ: Because it increases your chances of asking a millionaire to marry you.
LingQ: Because your DVD user manual is in Chinese.
LingQ: Because foreign TV commercials are really stupid!
LingQ: Because your Granny speaks more languages than you.
LingQ: Because THEY don't want you to know THE TRUTH!
LingQ: Because the French are even sexier when you understand what they're saying.
LingQ: Because Germans DO have a sense of humour.
LingQ: Because the British AREN'T living in the past.
LingQ: Because Americans DO understand irony.
LingQ: Because the Canadians ARE smart.
LingQ: Because the Russians AREN'T always gloomy.
LingQ: Because you might want to watch TV abroad.
LingQ: Because politics is more interesting when you understand what the other guys say about you.
LingQ: Because Manga is cooler in the original.
LingQ: Because you've got to be hooked on something.
LingQ: Because it's not illegal, immoral or fattening.
LingQ: Because your high school teachers were WRONG about you!
LingQ: Because it impresses your kids' teachers.
LingQ: Because your parents don't understand you.
LingQ: Because it makes your neighbours think you're a spy.
LingQ: Because if a baby can do it, then so can you!
LingQ: Because it increases your chances of asking a millionaire to marry you.
LingQ: Because your DVD user manual is in Chinese.
LingQ: Because foreign TV commercials are really stupid!
LingQ: Because your Granny speaks more languages than you.
LingQ: Because THEY don't want you to know THE TRUTH!
Saturday, 14 November 2009
Learning Chinese with LingQ: No knowledge
Well....ok. I haven't actually started on Chinese yet. In LingQ terminology I'm a "no-knowledger". I'm thinking about it. I bookmarked some web sites recommended by Chinese learners, I've had a look at the LingQ Chinese library and listened to a couple of lessons. I've been lurking in the LingQ Chinese forum, listening to what the other students have to say. One day I will be sitting at my computer, feeling a little bit bored, and I'll think "Hey! I'm going to learn Chinese!" And I'll know where to start, and what to do.
I'm confident that, when I do start, it will look like "squigglesquigglesquiggle" and sound like "blurblurblurblur" for (pick a number from 1 to 10) weeks, and then it will, gradually, start to make sense. I imagine that Chinese grammar will seem utterly insane to me, but I won't spend time trying to work it out, and after a while, the sentence patterns will work their way into my brain the way the patterns in a piece of music do. And if I have any questions, I know a bunch of very sensible people who can help me out. Some speak Chinese. Some are Chinese. I'm in good hands.
LingQ: Because Eurovision is better when you understand the words.
I'm confident that, when I do start, it will look like "squigglesquigglesquiggle" and sound like "blurblurblurblur" for (pick a number from 1 to 10) weeks, and then it will, gradually, start to make sense. I imagine that Chinese grammar will seem utterly insane to me, but I won't spend time trying to work it out, and after a while, the sentence patterns will work their way into my brain the way the patterns in a piece of music do. And if I have any questions, I know a bunch of very sensible people who can help me out. Some speak Chinese. Some are Chinese. I'm in good hands.
LingQ: Because Eurovision is better when you understand the words.
Learning multiple languages on LingQ
People sometimes ask me how I manage to learn several languages at once on LingQ. The questions puzzle me. I don't do anything special. It's more about what I don't do.
I don't spend time learning to conjugate verbs or decline nouns. If you hear enough of a language, you get the hang of how it goes. The common patterns anyway. If a pattern isn't common enough for you to encounter regularly, it isn't important enough to spend time learning.
I don't spend time learning the keyboard layout for each language. It's too confusing. I use the extended UK keyboard, which gives me my usual QWERTY layout, plus French and German special characters if you press several keys at once. For Russian I have a ЯШЕРТЫ phonetic mapping, which means if I type a word how it sounds it comes out near enough. The spell checker will pick up the odd typo as well as all my spelling mistakes! For typing Japanese in Windows you can type romaji with your usual Latin keyboard layout, then it does some sort of computer magic and turns it into hiragana or kanji. For typing Chinese.....well, I'll worry about that later.
I don't spend time working on my pronunciation. I just try and copy what I have heard and the result is usually close enough. I really don't care if I speak Japanese with a southern English accent. In fact, I might do it on purpose just for fun!
I don't spend time learning vocabulary. I must have ten thousand unlearned LingQs, and I'll never have time to flashcard them all. I just flick through my vocabulary lists, upping the status of the words which I can remember from all my listening.
I don't spend time searching for the meanings of words. Too many words: too little time. The most common words I already know. The next most common words are known by other LingQ students, which means I can just select one of the hints which show up on a mouse-over. Slightly uncommon words I have to look up on the connected online dictionaries. And if Babylon or Google Dictionary don't have the translation, then the word is too obscure and I lose interest.
I don't spend time writing assignments. Maybe I should but I'm kind of lazy and definitely pressed for time. I know my speaking is improving because my various tutors tell me so. If my spelling is poor, well I can worry about that further down the line. I at least know how to use a spell-checker.
I don't have regular tutorial sessions. I did try but it made my life too complicated, what with all the tutors I talk to. Now I book up a whole month at a time, one-on-one sessions with tutors I fancy talking to, or joining interesting looking conversations. Often I run out of points and can't talk to anyone for a fortnight. Taking a break doesn't seem to harm the learning process.
I don't worry about the fact that I'm not perfect. I haven't time. Let's face it, there are always going to be a billion people who speak Chinese better than me. Better to accept that I speak bad Chinese and listen to a lesson instead.
I don't worry about what level I am at. I used to, I admit. I have spent hours studying the different levels and tests and vocabulary lists. If I had spent that time listening to Russian.....well, you get the idea. Unless you need to pass a certain exam to get a job, you might just as well call yourself an intermediate and stop bothering your head about it. Your tutor will be able to tell how good you are after 5 minutes of talking to you, and for everyone else, it doesn't really matter.
So there you are. Embrace your natural laziness, use it constructively and you will find yourself going further than you ever thought possible.
LingQ: because film subtitles mistranslate all the best bits!
I don't spend time learning to conjugate verbs or decline nouns. If you hear enough of a language, you get the hang of how it goes. The common patterns anyway. If a pattern isn't common enough for you to encounter regularly, it isn't important enough to spend time learning.
I don't spend time learning the keyboard layout for each language. It's too confusing. I use the extended UK keyboard, which gives me my usual QWERTY layout, plus French and German special characters if you press several keys at once. For Russian I have a ЯШЕРТЫ phonetic mapping, which means if I type a word how it sounds it comes out near enough. The spell checker will pick up the odd typo as well as all my spelling mistakes! For typing Japanese in Windows you can type romaji with your usual Latin keyboard layout, then it does some sort of computer magic and turns it into hiragana or kanji. For typing Chinese.....well, I'll worry about that later.
I don't spend time working on my pronunciation. I just try and copy what I have heard and the result is usually close enough. I really don't care if I speak Japanese with a southern English accent. In fact, I might do it on purpose just for fun!
I don't spend time learning vocabulary. I must have ten thousand unlearned LingQs, and I'll never have time to flashcard them all. I just flick through my vocabulary lists, upping the status of the words which I can remember from all my listening.
I don't spend time searching for the meanings of words. Too many words: too little time. The most common words I already know. The next most common words are known by other LingQ students, which means I can just select one of the hints which show up on a mouse-over. Slightly uncommon words I have to look up on the connected online dictionaries. And if Babylon or Google Dictionary don't have the translation, then the word is too obscure and I lose interest.
I don't spend time writing assignments. Maybe I should but I'm kind of lazy and definitely pressed for time. I know my speaking is improving because my various tutors tell me so. If my spelling is poor, well I can worry about that further down the line. I at least know how to use a spell-checker.
I don't have regular tutorial sessions. I did try but it made my life too complicated, what with all the tutors I talk to. Now I book up a whole month at a time, one-on-one sessions with tutors I fancy talking to, or joining interesting looking conversations. Often I run out of points and can't talk to anyone for a fortnight. Taking a break doesn't seem to harm the learning process.
I don't worry about the fact that I'm not perfect. I haven't time. Let's face it, there are always going to be a billion people who speak Chinese better than me. Better to accept that I speak bad Chinese and listen to a lesson instead.
I don't worry about what level I am at. I used to, I admit. I have spent hours studying the different levels and tests and vocabulary lists. If I had spent that time listening to Russian.....well, you get the idea. Unless you need to pass a certain exam to get a job, you might just as well call yourself an intermediate and stop bothering your head about it. Your tutor will be able to tell how good you are after 5 minutes of talking to you, and for everyone else, it doesn't really matter.
So there you are. Embrace your natural laziness, use it constructively and you will find yourself going further than you ever thought possible.
LingQ: because film subtitles mistranslate all the best bits!
Learning Japanese with LingQ: Beginner level
I started learning Japanese with LingQ this year, mainly to see if it could be done. It's supposed to be awfully hard, what with all those Chinese characters. I just couldn't believe that the "relax and have fun!" methodology of LingQ was sufficiently rigourous to enable you to learn Japanese with no initial knowledge.
The first few weeks were a bit baffling. I couldn't read a word of it. I had to save words that looked like "squiggle" to me. In the definition box I had to write how to pronounce it as well as what it meant. Which meant that, when reviewing the words I was learning, I largely ignored the "word" box and just read the "meaning" box. I kept telling myself I should sit down and learn the hiragana and katakana writing systems, but in the end I never got round to it.
Meanwhile I was listening to audio clips which, being spoken at more-or-less normal speaking speed, sounded like "blurblurblurblurblur" to me. I couldn't see what I was supposed to get out of the exercise.
I was making progress though. I could tell by my LingQ activity score. I gained points for every word I saved, along with its meaning, even though the word was just an unreadable squiggle to me. I kept reviewing the "squiggles", and found that every time, I remembered a couple of them. I put their status up every time I recognised them, and my activity score kept climbing.
Six months later, I can read most Japanese words in hiragana. I can read a few of the simpler kanji too, though I can't always remember how to say them. I know a few hundred words, can recognise them when spoken (it doesn't sound like "blurblurblurblur" anymore) and some of them I can even spell. In hiragana.
In fact, after six months of what seems like just messing about, I can understand Japanese as well as I could understand Russian when I joined LingQ. Without attempting to learn the writing system. Without learning how to conjugate the verbs. Without studying flashcards. I spent two years with Russian trying to understand how the language "worked", and now it turns out, you don't need to!
LingQ: spelled wrong on purpose.
The first few weeks were a bit baffling. I couldn't read a word of it. I had to save words that looked like "squiggle" to me. In the definition box I had to write how to pronounce it as well as what it meant. Which meant that, when reviewing the words I was learning, I largely ignored the "word" box and just read the "meaning" box. I kept telling myself I should sit down and learn the hiragana and katakana writing systems, but in the end I never got round to it.
Meanwhile I was listening to audio clips which, being spoken at more-or-less normal speaking speed, sounded like "blurblurblurblurblur" to me. I couldn't see what I was supposed to get out of the exercise.
I was making progress though. I could tell by my LingQ activity score. I gained points for every word I saved, along with its meaning, even though the word was just an unreadable squiggle to me. I kept reviewing the "squiggles", and found that every time, I remembered a couple of them. I put their status up every time I recognised them, and my activity score kept climbing.
Six months later, I can read most Japanese words in hiragana. I can read a few of the simpler kanji too, though I can't always remember how to say them. I know a few hundred words, can recognise them when spoken (it doesn't sound like "blurblurblurblur" anymore) and some of them I can even spell. In hiragana.
In fact, after six months of what seems like just messing about, I can understand Japanese as well as I could understand Russian when I joined LingQ. Without attempting to learn the writing system. Without learning how to conjugate the verbs. Without studying flashcards. I spent two years with Russian trying to understand how the language "worked", and now it turns out, you don't need to!
LingQ: spelled wrong on purpose.
Learning Russian with LingQ: Lower Intermediate
I joined LingQ last year in order to learn Russian. I had spent two years trying to teach myself, using a textbook and whatever lessons I could find on the internet. I learned about grammar, and could read (but not pronounce)a few hundred words. I couldn't understand any spoken Russian, and struggled to read it.
The lessons in the LingQ library have been brilliant. I've worked my way through about 100 of them so far, created thousands of LingQs, and learned about a third of them. I've worked hard on it. Now I can get the general idea of what a lesson or a podcast is about on the first hearing, although I need to chew my way through it with a dictionary to understand it properly. I still read Russian only slowly, although I can pronounce it quite well.
I do have conversations with the Russian tutors from time to time. The time I spent learning grammar rules have had very little impact on my ability to speak. If I had spent that time on listening to LingQ lessons instead, I would probably be fluent by now. As it is, I keep having to drop back into English to say "how do I say....?"
I hope that, in another six months and 50 more LingQ lessons, I'll be able to listen to audio books. Then I will create my own lessons from the ebook versions and work through them. Until then, there's plenty in the LingQ library to choose from. And strangely enough, I find that you pick up grammar rules without really trying if you hear enough examples.
LingQ: because foreigners DON'T understand you if you shout!
The lessons in the LingQ library have been brilliant. I've worked my way through about 100 of them so far, created thousands of LingQs, and learned about a third of them. I've worked hard on it. Now I can get the general idea of what a lesson or a podcast is about on the first hearing, although I need to chew my way through it with a dictionary to understand it properly. I still read Russian only slowly, although I can pronounce it quite well.
I do have conversations with the Russian tutors from time to time. The time I spent learning grammar rules have had very little impact on my ability to speak. If I had spent that time on listening to LingQ lessons instead, I would probably be fluent by now. As it is, I keep having to drop back into English to say "how do I say....?"
I hope that, in another six months and 50 more LingQ lessons, I'll be able to listen to audio books. Then I will create my own lessons from the ebook versions and work through them. Until then, there's plenty in the LingQ library to choose from. And strangely enough, I find that you pick up grammar rules without really trying if you hear enough examples.
LingQ: because foreigners DON'T understand you if you shout!
Friday, 13 November 2009
Learning French with LingQ: Upper Intermediate level
I'll be the first to admit my French isn't brilliant. I did five years in high school, in the days when it was compulsory in the UK, and it was neither taught nor learned with any great enthusiasm. Since then I haven't used it in twenty-five years. I did once try a French evening class, but nearly died of boredom while conjugating a type 2 verb.
So I don't do French classes. I do read thrillers, and listen to simple podcasts. When I read a book I import it into LingQ and use it to create my own lessons. I go through the story carefully, looking up all the words I don't know, and adding them to my vocabulary list. Every week or so I read through my the list of words and find that, without conscious effort, I now know some of them.
I like to have discussions with the friendly and charming French tutors, and it amazes me to find I can actually speak quite fluently. I get muddled up with verb tenses, and sometimes I have to have three tries at a word before I pronounce it right.
In the last year I have improved from understanding only simple, slowly spoken French to understanding real French in podcasts and audio books. I can read Verne or Dumas, although I have to read some sentences over and over. In another year I hope to be able to listen to most French in "real time" (like the radio, where you can't pause and rewind) and understand most of it. I hope to improve my pronunciation. I might even get the hang of the subjunctive.
I really never thought I would be able to improve my French to the level where I could actually use it, and to do it without having to conjugate any more type 2 verbs is fantastic!
LingQ: because talking to foreigners is fun!
So I don't do French classes. I do read thrillers, and listen to simple podcasts. When I read a book I import it into LingQ and use it to create my own lessons. I go through the story carefully, looking up all the words I don't know, and adding them to my vocabulary list. Every week or so I read through my the list of words and find that, without conscious effort, I now know some of them.
I like to have discussions with the friendly and charming French tutors, and it amazes me to find I can actually speak quite fluently. I get muddled up with verb tenses, and sometimes I have to have three tries at a word before I pronounce it right.
In the last year I have improved from understanding only simple, slowly spoken French to understanding real French in podcasts and audio books. I can read Verne or Dumas, although I have to read some sentences over and over. In another year I hope to be able to listen to most French in "real time" (like the radio, where you can't pause and rewind) and understand most of it. I hope to improve my pronunciation. I might even get the hang of the subjunctive.
I really never thought I would be able to improve my French to the level where I could actually use it, and to do it without having to conjugate any more type 2 verbs is fantastic!
LingQ: because talking to foreigners is fun!
Learning German with LingQ: Advanced level
My German's already pretty good. I've been working on it for years. I can usually understand what natives are saying to me and each other, only needing to ask them to explain the odd phrase. I speak with an English accent and may get the word order wrong, but as I'm not a diplomat, teacher or spy I can live with that.
So I'm not going to take German lessons. My pride wouldn't stand it. Instead I listen to German podcasts, read stories in German, follow German blogs. Now and then I take a few web articles or a few chapters of a book and create my own LingQ articles from them. I skim through them using an on-line dictionary. LingQ tells me which words are new (in this case it is words which are new to me on LingQ, the chances are I have met them elsewhere). Some words and phrases I decide to learn, because they really are new, or I have only a rough idea of their meaning, or it's a good phrase that I want to remember (Ein Ring, sie zu knechten! Ahem.) All the other words I mark as known, so my LingQ Known words score goes up pretty rapidly, with little effort from me.
Now and then I look through my list of created LingQs. I don't put much effort into learning new words. On the contrary, I usually keep the word "on the back burner" until I have met it two ot three times, in different situations. By then it will usually have worked its way into my memory all by itself, and I just have to mark it as known.
When I feel like it, I spend 1000 points on a chat with a German tutor. We talk about anything we feel like, books we're read, films we like. Sometimes we talk in German about another language we are both studying, say French. And I get a conversation report at the end, which I may (or may not, I'm pretty lazy) study to learn some new words and phrases.
You really can't call it work. It's just bookkeeping, keeping track of words I have learned, and the words that are, without me trying, working their way into my brain. It also means hanging out with some very nice German-speaking people.
And the results? A year ago I could only understand spoken German pieces if they were read clearly and carefully. Now I can listen to the radio, watch TV, listen to podcasts on history and science, even get the jokes on comedy podcasts. And I now speak, still with an English accent and the odd bit of dodgy word order, on a much wider range of subjects. It's like having taken a year's university course without actually having the bother of attending any lessons or doing any homework.
LingQ helps bad language users to speak it better.
So I'm not going to take German lessons. My pride wouldn't stand it. Instead I listen to German podcasts, read stories in German, follow German blogs. Now and then I take a few web articles or a few chapters of a book and create my own LingQ articles from them. I skim through them using an on-line dictionary. LingQ tells me which words are new (in this case it is words which are new to me on LingQ, the chances are I have met them elsewhere). Some words and phrases I decide to learn, because they really are new, or I have only a rough idea of their meaning, or it's a good phrase that I want to remember (Ein Ring, sie zu knechten! Ahem.) All the other words I mark as known, so my LingQ Known words score goes up pretty rapidly, with little effort from me.
Now and then I look through my list of created LingQs. I don't put much effort into learning new words. On the contrary, I usually keep the word "on the back burner" until I have met it two ot three times, in different situations. By then it will usually have worked its way into my memory all by itself, and I just have to mark it as known.
When I feel like it, I spend 1000 points on a chat with a German tutor. We talk about anything we feel like, books we're read, films we like. Sometimes we talk in German about another language we are both studying, say French. And I get a conversation report at the end, which I may (or may not, I'm pretty lazy) study to learn some new words and phrases.
You really can't call it work. It's just bookkeeping, keeping track of words I have learned, and the words that are, without me trying, working their way into my brain. It also means hanging out with some very nice German-speaking people.
And the results? A year ago I could only understand spoken German pieces if they were read clearly and carefully. Now I can listen to the radio, watch TV, listen to podcasts on history and science, even get the jokes on comedy podcasts. And I now speak, still with an English accent and the odd bit of dodgy word order, on a much wider range of subjects. It's like having taken a year's university course without actually having the bother of attending any lessons or doing any homework.
LingQ helps bad language users to speak it better.
Thursday, 12 November 2009
LingQ: setting goals, meeting targets
When I first joined LingQ my goal was simple but vague: I just wanted to be able to speak Russian. I wasn't sure if I could, so setting that goal was a big deal for me. I wasn't sure whether I was smart enough, how long it would take, how much it would cost, how hard it would be, whether my somewhat chaotic lifestyle could accommodate a long-term learning plan.
A year later, I know better.
Sure I'm smart enough! If you can switch on a computer then you have the brains to learn a language. My little boy can do both and he's still in nappies.
It needn't cost anything. LingQ is about people helping each other to learn. You don't even have to buy Steve Kaufmann's book.
It takes (give or take) 1 000 hours to become fluent in a language.
It's actually pretty easy, unless you try and make it hard. You just listen to stuff and read stuff and then you realise you have learned some new words.
As for my freeform lifestyle, I have a computer in my living room, an MP3 player in my pocket and an eBook reader in my handbag. Whenever I have a spare 10 minutes when my ears, eyeballs or fingers aren't being used for something else, I can do some reading or some listening or some vocabulary reviewing. Although I have very little quality time to spare, I have two or three hours a day of spare odd minutes, on the bus, at the school gate, eating breakfast or having a bath. It doesn't matter whether you do more listening than reading, or more reading than reviewing vocabulary. It all goes into your brain, and your brain joins it all together while you are thinking about something quite different. (I've started dreaming in Kanji, now that's weird!)
If you cast your eyeballs to the column on the right you will see that I'm now working on 5 languages at once. My goal is to become proficient enough at each that I can read a newspaper, listen to a radio show, watch a TV documentary. I figure that's about 40 000 known words and 1 000 hours study per language, and as you can see I'm getting there. It might take a couple of years, it might take a bit longer (I quite fancy Arabic and Spanish too). But I know I can do it, I can afford to do it, and it's fun. I also know a lot of people who have done it before me.
LingQ: because we can't ALL be crazy!
A year later, I know better.
Sure I'm smart enough! If you can switch on a computer then you have the brains to learn a language. My little boy can do both and he's still in nappies.
It needn't cost anything. LingQ is about people helping each other to learn. You don't even have to buy Steve Kaufmann's book.
It takes (give or take) 1 000 hours to become fluent in a language.
It's actually pretty easy, unless you try and make it hard. You just listen to stuff and read stuff and then you realise you have learned some new words.
As for my freeform lifestyle, I have a computer in my living room, an MP3 player in my pocket and an eBook reader in my handbag. Whenever I have a spare 10 minutes when my ears, eyeballs or fingers aren't being used for something else, I can do some reading or some listening or some vocabulary reviewing. Although I have very little quality time to spare, I have two or three hours a day of spare odd minutes, on the bus, at the school gate, eating breakfast or having a bath. It doesn't matter whether you do more listening than reading, or more reading than reviewing vocabulary. It all goes into your brain, and your brain joins it all together while you are thinking about something quite different. (I've started dreaming in Kanji, now that's weird!)
If you cast your eyeballs to the column on the right you will see that I'm now working on 5 languages at once. My goal is to become proficient enough at each that I can read a newspaper, listen to a radio show, watch a TV documentary. I figure that's about 40 000 known words and 1 000 hours study per language, and as you can see I'm getting there. It might take a couple of years, it might take a bit longer (I quite fancy Arabic and Spanish too). But I know I can do it, I can afford to do it, and it's fun. I also know a lot of people who have done it before me.
LingQ: because we can't ALL be crazy!
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Why I use LingQ to learn languages
Steve suggests we create some videos for LingQ's YouTube group LingQ Plaza http://www.youtube.com/group/lingqplaza. I have never done a video before, so I'll write some words here and use the best ones for a script.
I joined LingQ in July 2008. I had been trying to learn Russian and was getting frustrated. I had spent a lot of time reading books, but none of it helped me to actually understand a piece of Russian! I found I was spending more and more time trawling the internet, looking for sites which could help me.
But I'm a tricky customer to please. I don't want to pay any money, for anything. I want well-thought out guidance from people who really understand about language learning. I don't want to be bored, at all, ever. So I don't like sites which tell me to read dull news articles or the classics. I don't do poetry. I do vampire stories, rock music (DDT rule!) and articles about the paranormal. I don't like sites that try to sell me sex in any form (I really can't use any more Russian mail-order brides) and I don't want to be encouraged to download illegal files.
I happened upon LingQ. It was exactly what I was looking for, audio files with transcripts, a lot of them, with on-line dictionaries so you can look up the words you don't understand and save them in your own on-line vocabulary list. I also really liked the fact that the system kept track of how many words you had learned and how many words you knew, so for the first time I had some indicator of my progress. Best of all, I liked that I could use my own material (Dracula!) to create my own LingQ lessons.
I like the people too. I was impressed right from the start that a lot of LingQ members are linguists. These are people who seriously love language learning, and have put a lot of thought into how best to do it. I have learned more about the learning process from hanging out in the forum than I ever learned in a class.
I hate spending money. But I do have a paying account on LingQ now, it's worth it because I get feedback on my progess from a lot of friendly and helpful tutors. It's a lot of fun. And I haven't been bored, not ever. And I haven't read any poetry either.
LingQ: because it keeps you off the streets and out in the big wide world.
I joined LingQ in July 2008. I had been trying to learn Russian and was getting frustrated. I had spent a lot of time reading books, but none of it helped me to actually understand a piece of Russian! I found I was spending more and more time trawling the internet, looking for sites which could help me.
But I'm a tricky customer to please. I don't want to pay any money, for anything. I want well-thought out guidance from people who really understand about language learning. I don't want to be bored, at all, ever. So I don't like sites which tell me to read dull news articles or the classics. I don't do poetry. I do vampire stories, rock music (DDT rule!) and articles about the paranormal. I don't like sites that try to sell me sex in any form (I really can't use any more Russian mail-order brides) and I don't want to be encouraged to download illegal files.
I happened upon LingQ. It was exactly what I was looking for, audio files with transcripts, a lot of them, with on-line dictionaries so you can look up the words you don't understand and save them in your own on-line vocabulary list. I also really liked the fact that the system kept track of how many words you had learned and how many words you knew, so for the first time I had some indicator of my progress. Best of all, I liked that I could use my own material (Dracula!) to create my own LingQ lessons.
I like the people too. I was impressed right from the start that a lot of LingQ members are linguists. These are people who seriously love language learning, and have put a lot of thought into how best to do it. I have learned more about the learning process from hanging out in the forum than I ever learned in a class.
I hate spending money. But I do have a paying account on LingQ now, it's worth it because I get feedback on my progess from a lot of friendly and helpful tutors. It's a lot of fun. And I haven't been bored, not ever. And I haven't read any poetry either.
LingQ: because it keeps you off the streets and out in the big wide world.
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