472

As usual, my latest book, The Winner by David Baldacci, has the odd reference to language learning. One of them was especially relevant for me. It’s when someone is described: 

He craved information, absorbed it like a three-year-old learning a foreign language. He only needed to hear it once and he never forgot it.

I read this passage whilst walk/jogging laps at the Caledonian running track. I do 12 laps in lane 3, thus 5000 metres. I run for part of the lap (100 metres at this stage) and walk the rest, reading. I dog-ear multiple pages to keep track.

Today: J2       

Total: J293 D144 G50 P37 F26 Sp21 A6 Da1 R1

471

When I’m on the boil, I’m on the boil. So what prevents me from always ‘running hot’? Childhood conditioning? Regardless, getting organized and turning things into a game is part of the antidote.

I flitted from one Arabic video to another. A wide range, of course. One or two were useful; others were awful. Yet I managed to spend a useful half hour on them, and about an hour on Japanese too. As long as you can turn work into something nerdish, and forget yourself, you can lose yourself in any activity.

Today’s plan is for more of the same.

Today: J4 A2       

Total: J291 D144 G50 P37 F26 Sp21 A6 Da1 R1

470

Arabic. Why Arabic? I mean, hadn’t I decided on Polish, and Spanish before that? Where’s my system? What’s my resolve?

Well, that’s what 20 tongues consists of. I go with the flow. I do as I please.

So I have this little Arabic primer. It’s written for Indonesian students. The first part’s about single letters. Then there’s a chart showing pronunciation of the entire alphabet. And indonesian uses English letters—yay!

Then it carries on to show how letters join. It’s that cursive thing. It’s kind of cool, but confusing. Do they use real words? Google translate may tell me. 

Today: J4 A1       

Total: J287 D144 G50 P37 F26 Sp21 A4 Da1 R1

469

In HP1 there are a couple less than 1600 unique kanji. I want to be able to recognize them on sight, initially. And so I am locating snippets of text containing them that I instantly know. 

That’s not in random order. On, or in, an Excel document I go through them in order according to frequency. There are several hundred instances each of 2 or 3 dozen. But over 400 kanji appear just once or twice. I’m down to the ‘sevens’.

As an aside, today as I type I have a baby blackbird sitting on the back of my neck.

Today: J2       

Total: J283 D144 G50 P37 F26 Sp21 Da1 A3 R1

468

We were talking the other day (Magneto and Titanium Man). The other party, or parties, spoke of how they thought in English, in words, or sometimes in Japanese when the situation warranted. 

I considered that, then said that I didn’t. Oh, so you think in images, they responded. No, not that way either. I kind of grok whole gestalts of meaning. Then I usually struggle to put them in words, even though they are are clear as crystal to me.

So in a sense working with language(s) is for me a frustrating business. It doesn’t come very naturally to me.

Today: J3 A1       

Total: J281 D144 G50 P37 F26 Sp21 Da1 A3 R1

467

Reading my 2^nd novel written by David Baldacci: The Escape. One character is 'Macri'. A typo says ‘Maori’. Another character claims to think better in cursive. For him, just as it did Roald Dahl, apparently, joined-up writing seems to spur connected thinking.

And so I’m going to play around a little with Arabic. I’ll use that Arabic keyboard that pops up with Google translate, and I’ll experiment to see how the letters join up. With Arabic, letters have different forms at the beginnings, middle or ends of words.

But it beats me how they write right to left without smudging.

Today: J3       

Total: J278 D144 G50 P37 F26 Sp21 Da1 A2 R1

466

I might need another language—a non-human one, this time. Because on Christmas whilst taking an early morning walk I came across a fledgeling sat smack in the middle of the path, it beady eyes looking at me. I checked it out. Picked it up and took it home. I worked out how to feed it, and once it cottoned on to the idea, it went for it. I took it to my daughter Albany’s place where the rest of the original family spent the rest of the day from noon until evening. 

So that’s my Xmas story about Eks. 

Today: J3       

Total: J275 D144 G50 P37 F26 Sp21 Da1 A2 R1

465

In David Baldacci’s novel, The Hit, the lead character, Will Robie, knows Arabic. Oh, and so does his female counterpart. Just like that. Without any mention of how or why. Without any reference to their using and refining it in real life. Well, it just doesn’t work like that. You don’t simply pick up a language like some isolated skill. It’s not like learning to ride a bicycle and never forgetting.

So I guess what I’m saying is that authors don’t know. People haven’t got a clue.

In other news, I’m still tweaking the introduction of Any Language I Like. 

Today: J5 G1      

Total: J272 D144 G50 P37 F26 Sp21 Da1 A2 R1

464

To drive, or to be driven—that is the question. How would I engage in languages if it was purely for myself, and not to prove some method to others?

Well, I’d dabble. I wouldn’t rush nor be pressured. I wouldn’t stretch myself out of duty.

I’d spend maybe an hour daily. A quarter reading (Dutch, German) a quarter on Japanese, a quarter familiarizing myself with French, Spanish etcetera, and a quarter on a new one like Polish or Arabic. 

That’s what I ought to do. That’s what I’m going to do from now on. I’m going to please myself!

Today: J2      

Total: J267 D144 G49 P37 F26 Sp21 Da1 A2 R1

463

At R’s bookshop, I spent an hour happily browsing. He has the Dunedin’s most extensive range of reasonably priced books in foreign languages. And you can’t go wrong spending a dollar. That’s what I paid for The Art of Offence Around the World. With it you may insult people in English, German, Spanish, French, Russian and Italian.

On another topic, I find that David Baldacci uses simpler and shorter sentences than even Lee Child does, so I’ve gone on the hunt for some of his books (about 35 of them) translated. I have some now in English, Dutch and Italian.

Today: J1 F1     

Total: J265 D144 G49 P37 F26 Sp21 Da1 A2 R1

462

Why would I get myself another book in French, when I’ve just worked out that I have 24 already?

Only if it’s better or cheaper. 

Well, I’m not sure if the paperback that I got yesterday is better. But Peter Mayle’s Une Annee en Provence is a book that I recognize. I may even have owned it in English. It’s readily obtainable. And it’s a nice compact paperback easy to carry around.

But was sold me on it was that it wasn’t for sale. It was free, from the box outside the animal welfare op shop near the Botanical Gardens.

Today: J1 F1     

Total: J264 D144 G49 P37 F25 Sp21 Da1 A2 R1

461

I hadn’t done any language activity yet, and it was late afternoon. I was Internet surfing, on Youtube. As you do. I was clicking on suggested videos. I was intrigued by the sprinting sensation, Daphne Schippers. I watched her run once or twice, and then happened to catch a race broadcast in another language. 

So I continued to watch.

And that’s where today’s time in Dutch originates.

One thing led to another, and I got into the mood to have some kanji fun. I followed up by locating a dozen or so of them. All in all, a fruitful day.

Today: J2 D1     

Total: J263 D144 G49 P37 F24 Sp21 Da1 A2 R1

460

I caught some of the students at it. They were at my computer keyboard typing. In Arabic. So I made them show me how.

What you do is use Google translate. Then you choose the language in which you want to write. If you choose Arabic, then you can select from two ways to enter input.

You may speak out aloud, or you may use a virtual keyboard that pops up. I’ve now tried both of them.

I like how the letters are arranged. I like how they come out ‘uniform’. And I like how the computer links them together.

Today: D5 J2 A1    

Total: J261 D143 G49 P37 F24 Sp21 Da1 A2 R1

459

Compulsive reading. That’s where I’m at with Post uit de oorlog. In a couple of days I’ve read 100 pages (out of 150). So that’s two days in a row that Dutch has outstripped Japanese!

The Japanese work is progressing well. I’m able to copy and paste into Google translate, and find the pronunciation of kanji there. That’s a work-around that does the job.

My Syrian students can become a handful. Today I’ll sort them into teams. Assign points to them as a group. They are respectful, but some of the lads can play up in front of each another.

Today: D5 J2     

Total: J259 D138 G49 P37 F24 Sp21 Da1 A1 R1

458

This weekend I sorted books. In just a year I’ve collected several hundred. So I got out the cartons and arranged them in piles.

Most are in English, of course. Roughly 250. Then German (60), Dutch (30), Japanese (30) and fifthly French (24). I have a total of 17 Scandinavian books, 6 in Spanish and Portuguese, and 7 that are either Mandarin or Taiwanese. I have 4 books each of Vietnamese, Russian, Italian Korean and Maori. And finally I have one or two in Polish, Latin, Esperanto, Pitman shorthand, Swahili, Romanian, Indonesian, Finnish, Hungarian, Hindi, Bulgarian, Thai, Welsh, Arabic and Farsi.

Today: D4 J2     

Total: J257 D133 G49 P37 F24 Sp21 Da1 A1 R1

457

Two work-arounds. 

Firstly, there are sometimes hiccoughs when I do word-processing in Japanese. The cursor sometimes jumps from the text search box into the main body of the text. This means that I cannot copy-and-paste. So instead I need to recall the kanji’s pronunciation so as to enter it that way. I’m surprised to discover how much I know.

The second thing is an overweight issue. It’s a pain to have to drag around two fat Maeve Binchy tomes (the books, not the author!) That’s 5kg of paper! Should I rip out individual pages? So far, I’ve found it impossible.

Today: J2 G2      

Total: J255 D129 G49 P37 F24 Sp21 Da1 A1 R1

456

Weird dream: I’m at a language school where a bomb goes off. They lose vocabulary and even some letters of the alphabet. But I show staunchly remain enrolled while the school rebuilds.

Other news: I break my rule of avoiding textbooks and buy Teach Yourself Russian at the Orphans Aid Op Shop. It was printed in 1943—Russian must’ve seemed a good idea then.

The Russian alphabet of 32 letters can be divided into 4 groups: letters alike with English, letters like English but with different sounds, letters unlike, and a final weird group of 4. 

No bomb explosions but. 

Today: J2 D2 G1 F1 R1      

Total: J253 D129 G47 P37 F24 Sp21 Da1 A1 R1

455

The idea of copying down 10,000 sentences to pick up a language. I suggested it to my class. I thought about doing it myself. I’m sure that I’ve mentioned it previously, but I haven’t gone through with it. Why not? 

There are habits that I’ve managed to start. There are others I’ve considered, and that’s as far as it’s gone. Well, I guess that that’s normal.

The ten thousand would work for German, Japanese, French and Spanish. It could work for a Scandinavian language, Italian, Portuguese and the like. It’s not necessary for Dutch. Polish isn’t yet at that point.

Today: J2 G1      

Total: J251 D127 G46 P37 F23 Sp21 Da1 A1

454

I unexpectedly did some French today when I stumbled across famous French humor or, as the French would say l’humour. I happened to see Remi Gaillard on Youtube. He is one of the original pranksters, famous for crashing football matches, tennis open finals and Mr Universe contests. He also likes to dress up as an animal.

Language needs to be kept playful too. In class today I’ll demonstrate various tricks to keep language learning light. The trick with teenagers, however, is not to let it get too much out of hand!

Today’s lesson: how not to be intimidated by books.

Today: J2 F1      

Total: J249 D127 G45 P37 F23 Sp21 Da1 A1

453

There’s a junky second-hand place in Kaikorai Valley. I went there yesterday and filled a shopping bag with books for $5. Altogether 53 of them—young adults’ ones mainly. I’ll use them for my class.

Almost weighing in at the same amount are a couple of hardcover books: Cathys Traum, and Scarlet Feather. They are both by Maeve Binchy; they are both the same book.

I’ll use for for my class too, but for myself mainly. I’ll read them, not sentence by sentence, but paragraph by paragraph. English then German. A modified Heinrich’s manoeuvre, therefore. They’re just not very portable.

Today: J2 G1 D1      

Total: J247 D127 G45 P37 F22 Sp21 Da1 A1

452

My creative energy is all going into my class. I don’t have much left for me. Figuring out how to get across my ideas on acquisition, and on how to apply and present these in practical ways to rowdy adolescent males is a challenge. 

Nevertheless, it’s all to the good. The better I can clarify the principles to a less-than-perfect audience, the better I’ll be able to do that generally. Also, I’ll be in a better position to help myself too.

I’m in the second week of 3 before a fortnight’s break. And then another 4 weeks. Easy. Good fun.

Today: J2 G1 D1      

Total: J245 D126 G44 P37 F22 Sp21 Da1 A1 

451

As always it was an interesting day—

I visited a couple of second-hand bookshops. Got a number of juicy foreign language texts. One is a phrasebook for Dutch people learning French. Two birds with one stone, in other words. I got The Never-ending Story in its original German. And there were three Mary Scott paperbacks, also translated into German. I got one, and may go back for the others if she writes well.

I also happened to listen to Krautrock in German. That’s a resource that I hadn’t previously considered. The bands were Pinguin and Electric Mud. An eclectic sampling?

Today: J2 G2 F1 D1      

Total: J243 D125 G43 P37 F22 Sp21 Da1 A1

450

How about?—

Whenever I turn on the Kindle, I first spend 15 minutes in another language. That ‘earns’ me 15 minutes escapist reading. If I want more, then I earn more.

This resembles my system of situational exercise. This I’ll label ‘situational exposure’.

It means, of course that I’d need to make sure that I have the Kindle loaded up beforehand.

I can set up something similar with my mp3 player. With my laptop. With physical books too. Whenever I wish to read, write, walk or listen to music. It could become a way of life. The sky’s the limit!

Today: J3 F1 G1      

Total: J243 D125 G43 P37 F22 Sp21 Da1 A1

449

I bought myself a small mp3 player yesterday. It seems not to be new; on the box it says that it was returned. So we’ll see how that goes.

I completed my second Harry Bosch novel. He’s a detective based in Hollywood. As many books as there are in the Jack Reacher series. There was stuff in there about using Spanish. There was also a reference to undue acronymization. Which occurred at the last English conference that I attended.

And I’m puzzling over how to run a multi-level class. 

In these and other ways, language learning sometimes resembles real life!

Today: J2      

Total: J240 D125 G42 P37 Sp21 F21 Da1 A1

448

I’m at different levels with 8 languages. How do I divide the time? I need a strategy. I need to keep thing simple and fun.

First, they all need to be addictive. Appropriate activities. So that needs setting up. Organization. I’ve thought about ‘tagging’ languages to different times of the day. That could be part of it.

I’m maintaining a tally. The better I know each language, the more time that I devote. Rather, though, I need to spend more time on those languages that require getting up to speed.

I need gears. I need an odometer. A tachometer too? 

Today: J2 F1      

Total: J238 D125 G42 P37 Sp21 F21 Da1 A1

447

Twenty languages, 2 years, 100 words, and 60 years. The first three I boundaries I can set; the last one lies outside of my control.

Here’s my reason for looking at 20 languages: I could, and I wanted to. I felt—and still feel—that by tackling languages another way you may enjoy them without stress or hardship. So I decided to show people. I decided to show off.

But it is probably more efficient, if one wishes to reach the above ‘goal’ to do them one at a time.

I’ll ponder how to organize my time toward that end.  

Today: D3 J2      

Total: J236 D125 G42 P37 Sp21 F20 Da1 A1

446

Yesterday I asked my class questions. On a sheet of paper I got them to write me their answers. They each wrote 11 lines of information for me.

I learned their names, ages, facts about their families etcetera. And I could see how well (or how poorly) they could form letters, write neatly, spell, and use correct grammar. I looked at 15 features of their writing.

Finally I asked what they needed to improve the most—reading, writing, speaking or listening. Ten people chose speaking, Three chose listening. Two chose reading. Zero people chose writing. And one person didn’t say.

Today: J2 G1 D1      

Total: J234 D122 G42 P37 Sp21 F20 Da1 A1

445

Started with a new bunch of students—16 so far. All between 16 and 22 years. All from refugee families. They’ll be with me for 7 weeks over the summer.

They have a wide range of English ability, although at the low end. A year ago 3 of them were in my class. They have made a little progress but not a great deal. I’m going to concentrate on their basic writing. Maybe it’s the effect of the Arabic script, but their orthography is all over the place.

They are in Gore today, giving me time to analyze their needs.

Today: J3      

Total: J232 D121 G41 P37 Sp21 F20 Da1 A1

444

The morning is my most productive time of day. What a pity, then, that I ‘waste’ it getting ready to teach me class. All that creativity squandered! But not today.

As son as I’m done here, I’ll set up an Excel for Polish. I’m going to start listing ‘the 625’ in English alongside their Polish versions. Then I’ll search for a short phrase containing each vocabulary item. I’ll grab instances of their occurrence from One Shot, if they exist there. Or from further afield.

Not flash cards, however. I’ve tried them before. I dislike their aura of obligation and compulsion. 

Today: J4      

Total: J229 D121 G41 P37 Sp21 F20 Da1 A1

443

I attended a conference in Christchurch in the weekend. Some good aspects, some bad aspects. Perhaps the less said about it, the better.

Instead—a question. If I spend 15 minutes listening to German while following along on the page (well, Kindle) in Polish, what language do I credit? I’ll credit both of them.

I managed to skim read the whole of Fluent Forever. It relies too heavily on flash cars for my taste. Wyner uses them imaginatively, and my interest is peaked, yet I’m not going to bite.

I will, however, adopt his idea of targeting 625 key words.

Today: 0      

Total: J225 D121 G41 P37 Sp21 F20 Da1 A1

442

On the way to the airport, a funny thing happened. I came across a book—Gabriel Wyner’s Fluent Forever. It’s about ‘how to learn any language fast (sic) and never forget it’.

Well, I like the concept. It’s good that it gives universal language training advice. It contains a number of interesting ideas. However, there’s a lot that I disagree with.

It falls into the trap of breaking language down into words and single sound bytes. There’s an emphasis on memorization. It treats a language as something artificial. And it approaches acquisition as deliberate learning. 

Nevertheless, it’s a worthwhile read.

Today: P1 G1      

Total: J225 D121 G41 P37 Sp21 F20 Da1 A1