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Language Learning, Part 2

Part 2

Certainly. And it may actually be more of the case now. Now that I`m back in Vancouver, I want to retain my Japanese, so I do find myself seeking out Japanese speakers, whether it`s a sushi shop, or I use my Japanese when I`m talking to myself. And I certainly listen to my Japanese music CDs, as you say, as a... creating my own world... that it`s familiar and reinforcement.

That`s an interesting comment, Kate, because you listen to your Japanese music CDs, and I`m sure you find yourself singing some of the songs that you listen to, which is again, reinforcing this language content that you have created for yourself. Now, we`ve stated here some general principles about the attitude that is necessary to be a successful language learner, and I think we both agree that "attitude" might be 70% of what it takes to be successful in language learning. But there still are very specific skills that one has to learn, and I think it`s useful to go over... to have a discussion on how one acquires these skills, and the order in which one acquires these skills. And so we`ll talk about 6 steps to language acquisition, and we`ll begin with listening

Listening is the most "living" way to acquire a new language. And listening means repeating... repetitively listening. Listening over and over again to content that you can more or less understand, and this method of listening to material that is of interest to you, that you want to understand, and which is not too difficult, and listening to it over and over again, is surprisingly effective in introducing the new language into a person`s brain. And they have found that just this one activity of listening, passively listening, over and over and over again to the language, is very effective in stimulating the brain to start to be able to absorb the language. So listening is where we start.

The second skill is reading, because reading is a wonderful way to increase vocabulary. Now, unfortunately, in a language like Japanese or Chinese, it becomes very, very difficult to read, because of the problem of learning the "Kanji". Now, in your case, did you learn Kanji?

I learned "survival" Kanji. I learned enough to live my life and I learned the Kanji that interested me.

The advantage of people... the advantage for people, who are learning English, is that, by and large, an alphabet-based writing system is easier to learn and most foreign learners are already familiar with the "A-B-C" alphabet, so that reading a range of material is the best way to acquire new vocabulary. Once we mention the word vocabulary, we move to the third step, which is acquiring vocabulary. Everybody wants to increase their vocabulary. All learners tell me they are frustrated when they are missing certain key words in a conversation, or listening to a radio program. Acquiring vocabulary is extremely important, but words cannot be learned in isolation from a context, and new words that are embodied in phrases are easier to learn, so that in the system, we place great emphasis on learning phrases and learning words in phrases, and relating these back to content. We have even devised a special system whereby the computer helps us to learn, and re-learn, words and phrases at a rate of frequency that the learner decides. And information on this is available at our web site.

Next to vocabulary acquisition, the next item that many learners are interested in, is improving their pronunciation. Now, I`m very interested in your case, Kate, because as a unilingual Canadian, you went to Japan and came back with an absolutely perfect Osaka, Japanese accent. Now, how did you achieve such a good pronunciation in your Japanese?

Well, I learned my Japanese from Osaka people around me and from Osaka TV shows, the famous comedians of Osaka, and my other pronunciation aid, I think, would be music, as... of course Karaoke. Karaoke is so popular in Japan and I love to sing, so you must have proper speed and pronunciation to be able to follow the music. But, as you say, to pick up phrases that I heard every day, whether it was from a popular TV show, or commercial, or the people around me, I would pick up their normally-repeated phrases and I had no idea whether they were standard Japanese or Osaka Japanese. I just heard them and heard them until I said them.

I think pronunciation is something that all language learners need to concentrate on, and in our program we emphasize learning phrases, and listening repetitively to phrases, and pronouncing them at home, and recording your voice, and... but above all, I think it is important for the learner to have high ambitions when it comes to pronunciation, and not accept or assume that it`s "too difficult" to pronounce the language. Moving on from pronunciation to the next skill, which is the ability to speak to people, conversation. And this obviously takes time, and it`s a coming together of a number of skills, but I have always felt that it is important, in conversation, for people not to worry about how correctly they speak, but to focus on communicating and also to keep their sentences simple and straightforward. What was your experience as you were learning Japanese and as you were talking with more and more Japanese people?

I agree with you. Simple is best, and if you want to communicate you must try, and no one is perfect. If I was ever embarrassed about my Japanese, I could console myself that at least they could understand me enough, and at least we were speaking Japanese and not English, so we were having some communication.

And I think that`s a very important point there, Kate, that whenever you communicate in a new language, you should be happy. You should give yourself credit for doing something, rather than saying, "Oh, I said this wrong" or "I said that wrong" or "I didn`t understand this". You should always focus on the fact that you successfully communicated in a new language. And if you are able to be encouraged by successfully communicating, you will gradually see your ability improve.

And the final skill, of course, is writing. And it`s possible to learn to speak very well and not write. However, for many professional situations, it is necessary to write - and to write well. It is also easier to correct people in the written form than in conversation. It is slightly annoying and discouraging to have your spoken language corrected, but it`s not the same if you have your written language corrected. So we do encourage the learner to write once a week, once a month and to send their compositions in for us to correct, because it is a very good way to improve your control of the structure of the language, and this will eventually also help you in your spoken language.

Kate, we`ve had a very interesting discussion on some of the principles of language learning. For the learners to really take advantage of this natural way of learning, they should come and visit us at our web site and we look forward to seeing the learners at our web site. Thank you very much, Kate.

Thank you, Steve.

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Part 2

Certainly. And it may actually be more of the case now. Now that I`m back in Vancouver, I want to retain my Japanese, so I do find myself seeking out Japanese speakers, whether it`s a sushi shop, or I use my Japanese when I`m talking to myself. And I certainly listen to my Japanese music CDs, as you say, as a... creating my own world... that it`s familiar and reinforcement.

That`s an interesting comment, Kate, because you listen to your Japanese music CDs, and I`m sure you find yourself singing some of the songs that you listen to, which is again, reinforcing this language content that you have created for yourself. Now, we`ve stated here some general principles about the attitude that is necessary to be a successful language learner, and I think we both agree that "attitude" might be 70% of what it takes to be successful in language learning. But there still are very specific skills that one has to learn, and I think it`s useful to go over... to have a discussion on how one acquires these skills, and the order in which one acquires these skills. And so we`ll talk about 6 steps to language acquisition, and we`ll begin with listening

Listening is the most "living" way to acquire a new language. And listening means repeating... repetitively listening. Listening over and over again to content that you can more or less understand, and this method of listening to material that is of interest to you, that you want to understand, and which is not too difficult, and listening to it over and over again, is surprisingly effective in introducing the new language into a person`s brain. And they have found that just this one activity of listening, passively listening, over and over and over again to the language, is very effective in stimulating the brain to start to be able to absorb the language. So listening is where we start.

The second skill is reading, because reading is a wonderful way to increase vocabulary. Now, unfortunately, in a language like Japanese or Chinese, it becomes very, very difficult to read, because of the problem of learning the "Kanji". Now, in your case, did you learn Kanji?

I learned "survival" Kanji. I learned enough to live my life and I learned the Kanji that interested me.

The advantage of people... the advantage for people, who are learning English, is that, by and large, an alphabet-based writing system is easier to learn and most foreign learners are already familiar with the "A-B-C" alphabet, so that reading a range of material is the best way to acquire new vocabulary. Once we mention the word vocabulary, we move to the third step, which is acquiring vocabulary. Everybody wants to increase their vocabulary. All learners tell me they are frustrated when they are missing certain key words in a conversation, or listening to a radio program. Acquiring vocabulary is extremely important, but words cannot be learned in isolation from a context, and new words that are embodied in phrases are easier to learn, so that in the system, we place great emphasis on learning phrases and learning words in phrases, and relating these back to content. We have even devised a special system whereby the computer helps us to learn, and re-learn, words and phrases at a rate of frequency that the learner decides. And information on this is available at our web site.

Next to vocabulary acquisition, the next item that many learners are interested in, is improving their pronunciation. Now, I`m very interested in your case, Kate, because as a unilingual Canadian, you went to Japan and came back with an absolutely perfect Osaka, Japanese accent. Now, how did you achieve such a good pronunciation in your Japanese?

Well, I learned my Japanese from Osaka people around me and from Osaka TV shows, the famous comedians of Osaka, and my other pronunciation aid, I think, would be music, as... of course Karaoke. Karaoke is so popular in Japan and I love to sing, so you must have proper speed and pronunciation to be able to follow the music. But, as you say, to pick up phrases that I heard every day, whether it was from a popular TV show, or commercial, or the people around me, I would pick up their normally-repeated phrases and I had no idea whether they were standard Japanese or Osaka Japanese. I just heard them and heard them until I said them.

I think pronunciation is something that all language learners need to concentrate on, and in our program we emphasize learning phrases, and listening repetitively to phrases, and pronouncing them at home, and recording your voice, and... but above all, I think it is important for the learner to have high ambitions when it comes to pronunciation, and not accept or assume that it`s "too difficult" to pronounce the language. Moving on from pronunciation to the next skill, which is the ability to speak to people, conversation. And this obviously takes time, and it`s a coming together of a number of skills, but I have always felt that it is important, in conversation, for people not to worry about how correctly they speak, but to focus on communicating and also to keep their sentences simple and straightforward. What was your experience as you were learning Japanese and as you were talking with more and more Japanese people?

I agree with you. Simple is best, and if you want to communicate you must try, and no one is perfect. If I was ever embarrassed about my Japanese, I could console myself that at least they could understand me enough, and at least we were speaking Japanese and not English, so we were having some communication.

And I think that`s a very important point there, Kate, that whenever you communicate in a new language, you should be happy. You should give yourself credit for doing something, rather than saying, "Oh, I said this wrong" or "I said that wrong" or "I didn`t understand this". You should always focus on the fact that you successfully communicated in a new language. And if you are able to be encouraged by successfully communicating, you will gradually see your ability improve.

And the final skill, of course, is writing. And it`s possible to learn to speak very well and not write. However, for many professional situations, it is necessary to write - and to write well. It is also easier to correct people in the written form than in conversation. It is slightly annoying and discouraging to have your spoken language corrected, but it`s not the same if you have your written language corrected. So we do encourage the learner to write once a week, once a month and to send their compositions in for us to correct, because it is a very good way to improve your control of the structure of the language, and this will eventually also help you in your spoken language.

Kate, we`ve had a very interesting discussion on some of the principles of language learning. For the learners to really take advantage of this natural way of learning, they should come and visit us at our web site and we look forward to seeing the learners at our web site. Thank you very much, Kate.

Thank you, Steve.