44

I’m revising my plan of a day or two ago. I changed my mind. I won’t go on to the second Harry Potter just yet.

For Dutch I’ll simply continue reading Blyton’s Famous Five, and also Mary Higgins Clark (translated). The first book in my Calibre library is by her: ‘…Heeft een Meisje Weggehaald’ (‘Has kidnapped a girl’). It’s a compelling read—a good thing according to Stephen Krashen.

For Japanese I’m not quite sure yet what I will do. I’ve done what I felt like doing earlier: collect sentences with kanji. I’ll tell you tomorrow what I have decided.

43

I’m not a fan of multi-tasking bar one exception. It involves language acquisition.

When you listen and read (ListenRead) this is a form of multi-tasking. But I want to describe something a little different.

Recently I scanned my (HP) book for sample sentences. At the same time I listened. However, since I scanned much more quickly than the narrator spoke, the text did not match. I discovered myself working on different chapters.

This helped me! My attention could drift between reading and listening; I felt no pressure to keep up or concentrate. I had an excuse to relax. I learned.

42

I like to be spontaneous, but I also enjoy being methodical. Today I feel that it’s time to give some attention to my overall plan.

Language by language, then, this is what I’ll do.

• Japanese: ListenRead to HP2 which exists on YouTube as an audiobook.
• Dutch: Read HP2 to support my Japanese.
• German: ListenRead my way through HP1, 10 pages at a time.
• Spanish: Go through all 19 stories on BookBox. (I received an email back from them asking if they could use my feedback as a testimonial on their FaceBook page.)
• English: Read ebooks e.g. John Dunning’s Bookman series. 

41

Another measure, using sentences instead of words, gives my current standing at 47%. 

It is a little quicker to calculate. Basically, I score individual sentences. The maximum is 5, and the minimum zero.

Playing around with these two measures itself provides language exposure. And it also adds to my motivation, since I enjoy throwing numerical concepts about.

A friend recently told me that in her opinion all ways and methods for learning a language is okay, and that it comes down to a question of personal choice. The important thing is that you enjoy doing it.

Yes, I certainly agree.

40

Two weeks of Spanish, and I'm already at a 60% level! Well, sort of.

I've been thinking—how can progress be measured if your approach is to work on everything at once, and so improve incrementally across a wide front? Yesterday I tried devising a way.

I’ll take a passage of Spanish, say. I assign scores to every word. Those I know reasonably well score 2, those I know slightly score 1, and unknown words score zero.

Compared to the maximum possible score, I express the total as a percentage. This gives me a figure to compare myself with later.

39

BookBox has many suitable stories of an ideal length. They have been translated in sentence by sentences into many languages. I ‘shuffle’ those sentences. Then I listen and read.

At the start it feels like trying to churn water into cheese. Nothing seems to be happening. But after a while you find that a whole lot of things are beginning to stick. The trick is not to force it to happen how you want.

I know why it should work. I believe that it will. I’m happy not to ‘study’ the language. I am patient, and I love to experiment.

38

I can listen to or read Dutch separately or together. I can listen to or read German Harry Potter in the same way. With Japanese I’ve been collecting sample sentences for every kanji used in HP1. As I scan the lines in search of kanji, I listen to Harry Potter playing in the background from any part of the book.

I expose myself to the language in stereo!

With a new language like Spanish, however, I find that I’m a little impatient. So what I think I’ll do is to resurrect my technique of interweaving sentences. I love to experiment.

37

But 30% or more of my language time ought to be devoted to the current language: Spanish. 

Getting back to the BookBox site, I see that it has 40 languages to choose from, about half of them Indian. Some, such as Japanese, only have one. But others have more. Spanish has 19.

Since each is 400-500 words long, they are ideal for repeating.

I feel that one can use authentic text at any level to gain exposure, but there’s less risk of frustration with simpler material meant for children. And I have always enjoyed children’s stories. Who needs the news?

36

For Spanish, I’ve done something different. I’ve started using the site BookBox. It has short animated stories with what amounts to a choice of subtitles in different languages. You can the script in English while reading the script in the foreign language while listening too. 

I’ll do a story at a time. I’ll stick with it for as many repeats as feels right. Small 6 or 7-minute texts such as these are invaluable for beginners. They will make it possible to move up to Harry Potter more easily. 

Here’s something else that is different: I’m thinking of taking up Thai!

35

I’m going through boxes of books, prior to the big move. And I came across an old hardback in Dutch—a 1960s account of a sailing voyage around the world.

Yes, I’ll read it. I’m interested in that sort of thing. Interested enough to absorb what I can and skip difficult sections. 

But do I keep it to go over?

I don’t think so. I’ve too much stuff tagged ‘sentimental value’ as it is. 

And there’s no need to study, learn and revise. I’ll put it aside and go on to other books. I’ve thousands of ebooks at my disposal.

34

French is my next choice, since for me it’s the mirror image of German. 

I had a little bit of French at high school, and I had a similar amount of German instruction when I started university a few years later. We had records for French (that I refused to listen to). We had a series of 20-min films to view for German.

The difference lay in my attitude. I was disinclined to learn French, but happy to learn German.

My attitude about French has changed. So I’d like to see if my French improves as quickly as my German.

33

To tell the truth, today I played catch-up. What I wrote yesterday as having done the day before, I did today (and on an earlier occasion). But we’re all shipshape and tucked away now.

The German works; the Spanish is taking hold; the Dutch takes care of itself; and my Japanese is coming along nicely too.

Nothing to see here, folks. Please move along. Indeed, I’m starting to crave for something new already!

What I have in mind next month is French. And a language that uses Cyrillic letters for the month thereafter. I have specific reasons for those choices.

32

What am I able to do in German these days? I’ll tell you.

Take any chapter from any Harry Potter book with which I’m familiar, but which I have never yet looked at in German. I’ll be able to read and understand it. And I go about it in an interesting way.

I set up the German script on the left of the screen. I set the English script up on the right (just to glance at now and then). And then I listen to the audiobook, letting it play without pause.

This works beautifully, and it’s absolutely no strain.

31

Musashi Miyamoto once said, 

“Perceive that which cannot be seen by the eye.” 

So focus your attention on no particular thing if you want to become aware of everything—the difference between extensive and intensive learning.

Humans tend to emphasize the latter. It’s natural to want to pay close attention to what you want to learn. But that doesn’t work well for languages.

Yesterday I skimmed over the first few pages of Harry Potter in Spanish. I simply highlighted sentences that I could roughly ‘recognize’. This amounts to between a third and a half of the text. 

Exten-cellent, no? Si! 

30

Which ‘brings’ me to commuting.

It takes me 75 minutes to cycle to work. Yesterday, I could listen to Harry Potter in German. I discovered that—

My Kindle uses up most of its charge,You need secure ear attachments,You must contend with noise from wind and traffic,You’d better not concentrate 100%!

Other than that, it was a useful way to occupy otherwise largely wasted time. And once at work I looked at some Spanish, dipped into some Dutch (the story has become exciting!), and of course I used plenty of Japanese to explain English to my Japanese students.

29

Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books are so British. Yet when they are translated into Dutch, they are, I find, so Dutch! It’s a wonder.

Yesterday I spent a couple of minutes here and there—even during class—reading De Vijf en de Geheime Doorgang. Instantly I was transported to Holland.

I have several FF books on my Kindle, and more than a thousand other Dutch books on my computer. I’m set for Dutch (and so is my mother).

In Japanese I have at least 10 other Enid Blyton books on paper. How many can I bring back to New Zealand?

28

This week with a full time job I discovered how difficult it is to do language work. I couldn’t squeeze in anything!

I must: organize a fully charged device to listen to while commuting, print a few pages to unfold in a train or on a tram—if I find a seat!

But I did use a lot of Japanese, teaching English.

If you are required to study another language from 9 am until 5 pm then it had better involve interesting material! It’s awful to spend an entire day teaching ‘using the telephone’, and the next day ‘giving directions’.

27

Sprouts are shooting up! And so has the urge to pin them down. 

Yesterday I began to highlight every Spanish word that I already mostly recognize, and to list the grammar rules that I’m starting to sense.

I believe that this urge underlies Steve Kaufmann’s site Lingq. Steve has been a great inspiration to me. I like his insistence on noticing, spending the time, and to use authentic material.

But no, I’ll resist the urge to tally words and to push them along. I feel that it’s much better just to let the material wash over me as a whole.

26

Yesterday I started Spanish (and practiced German, Dutch and Japanese). So do I know it yet? Actually, yes.

I spoke yesterday of letting Spanish wash over me, and of being activated. A better analogy is of rain falling in the desert (‘the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain’). By listening to Spanish it’s like turning on the sprinkler. Thereby every aspect of the language begins to grow.

On the other hand, conventional language instruction drenches a small area of selected vocabulary and grammar-point-of-the-day with a bucket of water—which then runs off and evaporates ‘mainly’ without lasting effect. 

25

For the first time I let a little Spanish wash over me.

I love its sounds—those rolled R’s. The music of Mexican bandidos in Westerns! A lot of its structures seem familiar.

I took a 5-min chunk of text (the start of Harry Potter). I looked. I listened. I looked while listening. And then I compared the text with English. The same number of words. But Spanish words are a little longer.

My audiobook seemed speedy, so on YouTube I found a slower narrator—4 minutes versus 3.5 minutes.

I feel that I have ‘activated’ Spanish in my brain.

24

Yesterday for the first time I opened my Dutch Harry Potter ebook. I used it to follow along while I listened to its German counterpart. This is what I discovered: compared to the Dutch material I had up until then been using, Harry Potter isn’t an easy read.

And I understand that they only get more difficult as the series progresses. This is not to dissuade or discourage anyone; it’s merely an observation. I’m not that great a fan of JK Rowling, but her books are useful because they have been translated into many languages and are easy to find.

23

I recycled some books yesterday, including a paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I replaced it with a pristine hardback. Cost me 108 yen. New, the book had cost 1900 yen. It’s that 5% thing again!

The book is my first real tool for the Voyage of Languages that I’ve embarked on. It’s symbolic. Magic content, magic method!

And last night I dreamed about showing off in the languages I know. I dreamed about starting off with Spanish too.

I also decided to sign up for Visionary Business School. I’m storing my bicycles. I’m storming the castle!

22

This is day 22. 

Over a period of three weeks, what have I achieved?

Well, I have some habits going: I write 100 words every morning, listen regularly (albeit on a Kindle with a ‘leaky’ battery), actively enjoy a couple of languages that were sitting on the fence, and I’m using resources that were sitting on the shelf.

I’ve literally spent hours that flew by like minutes. I listened to Jack London’s Before Adam in Dutch in its entirety.

I’ve dared to experiment. I’ve developed greater tolerance to ambiguity. 

Most of all, I’ve grown to trust in what I’m doing.

21

All I aim to do every day is expose myself a little to my different languages. I do that at the speed of listening. If I just read (unless I’m really ‘up to speed’ in a language e.g. Dutch) it is just too slow and stressful e.g. Secret Seven books translated into Japanese.

That is why the experts (Paul Nation?) advise you not to read books with more than 5% unknown words.

Listening, I cover a lot of ground in a relaxed state. I can skim over even 99% unknown! However, it has taken me this month to learn how.

20

Be patient. Learning a language isn’t a trip; it’s a voyage. My cruise still has 4 days before we reach November.

And so I while away the hours. Yesterday I played Spider Solitaire (4 suits). As I played I listened to Harry Potter in German. It was effortless, enjoyable, and effective. I’d listen for a bit, drift off, and then pick up the thread again.

In a little less than an hour I heard 7000 words of text. That’s a lot more than you’d catch in an average 1-hour class. Not just isolated words and rules, but everything in context.

19

The coming month will be a busy one for various reasons. Nevertheless, I want to start a new language. I’ve chosen Spanish because it is completely new for me (though its alphabet is familiar).

More people speak it than English. It has been ‘around’ for longer (think exploration and religion). It sounds street smart but noble, aggressive but cultured.

I like Manolito’s Spanish accent, and how Stephen Stills sings it. 

And I’m all set. I have Spanish pdf versions of all of the Harry Potter books, and the audio of book number 1. How will my method work from scratch?

18

I do Japanese for a number of reasons.

It occupies my present, and it will remain a part of my future (in terms of family and vocation). Love it or loathe it, I’m stuck with it! 

It’s a sizeable challenge—a good thing. If I manage Japanese, I’ll manage any language!

Also, it’s fun. One might say that I’m addicted to it.

I plan to spend a third of my time on Japanese, another third to build up previous languages, and the final third for starting others. My next language-of-the-month is coming up. I do believe that I’ll start Spanish.

17

Kanji aren’t the nightmare people that imagine. True, there are lots. But then every language has a lot of words. So think of kanji as words. 

And when you are familiar with them, you can instantly grasp the essence of a block of text. 

I like the approach of James Heisig. Additionally, I developed my own kanji dictionary. I created a 5-digit code for each kanji. The first 3 digits refer to the direction of the first few strokes, and the final 2 give the total number of strokes.

I believe that the benefits of kanji may outnumber their disadvantages. 

16

The kanji that I collect come from the Harry Potter books. I was never a huge fan of Harry, but the books are translated into many languages and are easily available. 

I’m working with book 1. I have it as a hardback. I’ve electronic versions of all 7. I have both of the Japanese audiobooks.

I copy sentences featuring the various kanji onto an Excel sheet. There are about 2000 commonly used kanji in everyday Japanese, the majority of which are used in HP1.

Then, I listen to a chapter in Japanese while reading the English, German or Dutch text.

15

In my book, I show Japanese readers how to make mistakes freely—how to accept and make use of them. So why not apply that advice in my own case?

And so I made some adjustments. Based on the results, I continued adjusting. 

For instance, I shifted my focus from single words to phrases to sentences. I moved from short-term to long-term memorization. I adopted a spaced repetition system, discarded it for another, and then finally just collected kanji in context. 

Basically, I avoided everything that I disliked in favor of doing what I enjoyed (or knew I must do).

14

For speakers of English, Japanese is supposed to be the hardest language to learn according to this authoritative source.

I can well believe it!

For 20 years I toyed with learning Japanese. I took a class briefly. I worked through some correspondence lessons. I tried to memorize kanji, phrases, and grammar rules. But it was all very painful. I just couldn’t apply myself.

Strangely, living in Japan wasn’t helpful; it became a hindrance. I picked up on the vibes there and became super-sensitive about making mistakes myself! And so I tried even less.

Then I moved to the Other Side.