Опыт полиглотов
Stuart Jay Raj - обожаю этого чела. Вместе с Эдгар Лейтаном это наверно самые уважаемые мной полиглоты. Тут как раз пост marenzhi напомнил мне о Стюарте и я еще раз посмотрел скачанные видео с его рассказами.
Но самое интересное под катом. Как Стюарт учит языки. Иногда, перечитываю для мотивации. У Эдгара тоже есть замечательный пост про изучение языков.
How many days do I spend learning? In my classes I talk about creating an environment that teaches you around the clock rather than thinking you have to put aside so many hours a day to learn a language. It’s a bit easier for expats over here in Thailand to do it as the language that they’re learning (Thai) is spoken all around them. When I’m learning a language that isn’t spoken in my immediate environment, I create that environment as best I can around me. Buy as many books as I can, internet radio (used to use Short Wave radio a lot more before the internet), MSN / Skype with people who speak the language I’m learning and then ohh yes.. the bathroom! Mine is a library! To give you an idea of what I’ve read so far since this morning -
woke up at 5:30 AM - read a few blogs and internet articles on Vedic Sanskrit and Pali
7:00’ish - reviewing my old sanskrit books - got frustrated ’cause the pages were all falling out
09:00 - tried to develop a system that would make it easy for Thais to learn the Sanskrit case system easily (teaching sanskrit to some yoga instructors here in BKK at the moment)
13:00 went for lunch - took books with me on Pwo and Pali to read at stop lights on the way to the restaurant
14:30 - went into bookstore in town to find a new version of my Sanskrit book that was falling to pieces - was out of stock, but bought 3 more books - Pali Grammar, Advanced Italian grammar and Cambodian
16:00 spent about 2 hours reading through the 3 books
19:00 - went to dinner - took the pali with me and read over dinner
21:00 - now writing this blog comment - about to logoff and read my new cambodian book for about an hour
In the meantime, I’ve had telephone conversations with clients and friends in Hong Kong, China, Indonesia and a Swedish group that are hiring me to run a workshop on cross-cultural communication. With all of these people, used the various relevant languages. …
So - how much time do I spend a day? It’s my life. I’ve built my life up around things that allow me to use the languages - people now pay me to do it!
As for remembering vocab, I use mnemonics, pegging and other ‘standard’ tools, but also link meanings into sounds, colours, shapes, emotions, experiences and other words and extralinguistic things that I already have from other languages. When I meet a new word, in most cases I can relate it to another word(s) that I know - I can probably figure the etymology - and understand the sound / meaning shifts that have occured, and will then look for other related meanings.
Example - this is one story i used to remember the Indonesian days of the week when i was a kid-
On Sunday, people mingle (Minggu) at church,
On Monday, people are back to sinnin’ (Senin)
On Tuesday like Mario the Italian from Mario Bros shaking his hands in the air, they say ‘At lasta (Selasa)- Monday’s over)
On Wednesday, to cleanse the sins from Monday, the Rabi (Rabu) Comes (Kamis) and performs a strange sin cleansing ceremony by jumping up and down vigorously on a mat (Jumat)- just in time for the Sabbath (Sabtu) and going to church to mingle (Minggu) again on Sunday -
Sunday - Minggu
Monday - Senin
Tuesday - Selasa
Wednesday - Rabu
Thursday - Kamis
Friday - Jumat
Saturday - Sabtu
Sunday - Minggu
I t only takes a few seconds to put these kinds of stories together - and they stick! (try to go over all the stories i make up each day as I’m dozing off to sleep each night … and when I wake up in the middle of the night)… actually, sometimes they keep me from sleeping!
When I’m in my element, I can remember a lot of stuff… but at the same time, I might forget where I placed my car keys.
Hope this helps
Stu.
Но самое интересное под катом. Как Стюарт учит языки. Иногда, перечитываю для мотивации. У Эдгара тоже есть замечательный пост про изучение языков.
How many days do I spend learning? In my classes I talk about creating an environment that teaches you around the clock rather than thinking you have to put aside so many hours a day to learn a language. It’s a bit easier for expats over here in Thailand to do it as the language that they’re learning (Thai) is spoken all around them. When I’m learning a language that isn’t spoken in my immediate environment, I create that environment as best I can around me. Buy as many books as I can, internet radio (used to use Short Wave radio a lot more before the internet), MSN / Skype with people who speak the language I’m learning and then ohh yes.. the bathroom! Mine is a library! To give you an idea of what I’ve read so far since this morning -
woke up at 5:30 AM - read a few blogs and internet articles on Vedic Sanskrit and Pali
7:00’ish - reviewing my old sanskrit books - got frustrated ’cause the pages were all falling out
09:00 - tried to develop a system that would make it easy for Thais to learn the Sanskrit case system easily (teaching sanskrit to some yoga instructors here in BKK at the moment)
13:00 went for lunch - took books with me on Pwo and Pali to read at stop lights on the way to the restaurant
14:30 - went into bookstore in town to find a new version of my Sanskrit book that was falling to pieces - was out of stock, but bought 3 more books - Pali Grammar, Advanced Italian grammar and Cambodian
16:00 spent about 2 hours reading through the 3 books
19:00 - went to dinner - took the pali with me and read over dinner
21:00 - now writing this blog comment - about to logoff and read my new cambodian book for about an hour
In the meantime, I’ve had telephone conversations with clients and friends in Hong Kong, China, Indonesia and a Swedish group that are hiring me to run a workshop on cross-cultural communication. With all of these people, used the various relevant languages. …
So - how much time do I spend a day? It’s my life. I’ve built my life up around things that allow me to use the languages - people now pay me to do it!
As for remembering vocab, I use mnemonics, pegging and other ‘standard’ tools, but also link meanings into sounds, colours, shapes, emotions, experiences and other words and extralinguistic things that I already have from other languages. When I meet a new word, in most cases I can relate it to another word(s) that I know - I can probably figure the etymology - and understand the sound / meaning shifts that have occured, and will then look for other related meanings.
Example - this is one story i used to remember the Indonesian days of the week when i was a kid-
On Sunday, people mingle (Minggu) at church,
On Monday, people are back to sinnin’ (Senin)
On Tuesday like Mario the Italian from Mario Bros shaking his hands in the air, they say ‘At lasta (Selasa)- Monday’s over)
On Wednesday, to cleanse the sins from Monday, the Rabi (Rabu) Comes (Kamis) and performs a strange sin cleansing ceremony by jumping up and down vigorously on a mat (Jumat)- just in time for the Sabbath (Sabtu) and going to church to mingle (Minggu) again on Sunday -
Sunday - Minggu
Monday - Senin
Tuesday - Selasa
Wednesday - Rabu
Thursday - Kamis
Friday - Jumat
Saturday - Sabtu
Sunday - Minggu
I t only takes a few seconds to put these kinds of stories together - and they stick! (try to go over all the stories i make up each day as I’m dozing off to sleep each night … and when I wake up in the middle of the night)… actually, sometimes they keep me from sleeping!
When I’m in my element, I can remember a lot of stuff… but at the same time, I might forget where I placed my car keys.
Hope this helps
Stu.