Language Trainers Blog

I watched an old episode of the sitcom Frasier the other day. In it, Frasier wants to give a speech to his son in Hebrew, but doesn’t know how to because he isn’t Jewish. He enlists a coworker to translate and help him with pronunciation. Later on, the coworker feels slighted, so instead of Hebrew, he translates the speech into Klingon (a fictional alien language from the Star Trek TV show, in case you somehow didn’t know). It all worked out well in the end, but it made me think about similar language tricks.

I’ve met plenty of people who have, as part of their kind language guidance to friends, tried to convince those friends that swear words and insults are merely everyday greetings or useful sentences (”No really, if you say this to that hot girl, they will totally go out with you!”). I’ve never been a fan of this behaviour, but perhaps I’m too sensitive? I don’t think people should be discouraged from learning languages by embarrassing experiences.

What do you think? Have you ever been in one of these situations, either as the trickster or the duped? Is it just a bit of harmless fun, or should people be wholeheartedly supported in their language efforts?

I have been in situations before where two speakers have a reasonable knowledge of each other’s languages, but perhaps are not confident enough to speak them. In some of these cases, both speakers carry out their half of the dialogue in their own language, with a fair amount of success. Sometimes I find it too difficult to explain something in another language, but I know the listener will be able to understand me if I speak English.

While this can be considered a form of listening practice, and successful communication is fantastic, it obviously lacks the speaking element. Conversely, if you may find yourself in the opposite situation, where both speakers are speaking the other’s language.

The latter situation seems to be more beneficial, but it may also restrict understanding, depending on the language skill levels of the speakers.

So, is it better to carry out the dialogue in one language only? Or to speak opposite languages? I guess it all depends on the speakers, but I tend to like the situation where people are speaking each other’s languages. That way they might be as likely to mess up as I am!

The cast of reality TV show Jersey Shore doesn’t really have a reputation for being particularly scholarly, but some of the cast members are ensuring that they will be able to speak some Italian for the upcoming season. The fourth season will be filmed in Florence, where apparently officials aren’t exactly welcoming them with open arms (too much chaos in the first three seasons).

Some of the cast members have Italian backgrounds, but none of them speak the language. In order to be able to “know how to order grilled chicken”, cast members have requested that they be furnished with copies of popular computer course Rosetta Stone for Italian.

No matter what the reason, I do admire these people for really wanting to start learning. It makes them rise in my esteem just a little bit. Now, if any of you are Jersey Shore viewers, you’ll have to let me know how their language skills seem in the next season!

Full article: NY Daily News.

Sometimes it’s difficult to write posts about learning from e-book readers or mobile devices because there are so many different devices, formats, and applications out there to use. What I find useful might not be what you find useful, and in many cases, may not be available to you on the gadgets you prefer. I also want to steer away from promoting any one application or service.

In spite of all of this, I wanted to talk about how my e-reader (a Kindle 3 wifi version, if anyone’s interested) has really helped me with making my learning more portable (along with my MP3 player, of course). Initially, I didn’t think I would use it that much, since I like to scribble notes all over the place, but there are definitely some advantages to the electronic format.

I can send my language texts to the device and make notes on them if I want to. I can carry a whole library of books with me without having to choose before I leave the house, and without having to worry that I’m straining my back to carry it all. I can change the font size to make things more readable (especially handy when reading Chinese!). As long as I am not distracted by all of the other books I want to read, my e-reader is a great way to revise documents, books, pictures, and PDFs.

The only thing I’m really waiting for is a way to install dictionaries besides the native English ones.

What’s your favourite way to revise on the run?

I’ve just done this quiz on Sporcle.com, and gotten a fairly sad 12/20.  Granted, I didn’t know that it included dialects (so now you know), although I don’t think that would have helped me much.

A couple of these languages I hadn’t even heard of prior to doing this quiz, so perhaps that should be my impetus to get out and learn a bit more about the world.  I was pretty glad to see that Language Trainers covers most of the widely-known ones, though!

How did you do?

Image from Flickr Creative Commons.

I think most language learners have been in the situation where they realise that the textbook or dialogue they are learning from is not at all relevant to anything they would need to use in real life.  Of course, there are some fantastically-written learning materials out there, but there are also the ones that try to teach obscure terms that most people would never need to know.  I remember a lesson where my teacher taught us the translation for double income no kids families, as well as a term which means a mistress whose rich boss boyfriend pays to raise her bastard baby.  I guess that says something about the culture, though!

So, what can we do about it?  If you’re lucky enough to have a private tutor, you do have some control over what you learn.  Tell your teacher you are interested in learning to say certain things, or have particular conversations.  If you are in a class situation, you can do some study on your own.

One way to work out what’s relevant to you is to think about the interactions you have within a day or a week.  Could you navigate the supermarket, hairdresser, library, subway in your target language?  If not, great!  You’ve just found some new learning material.  Think about what conversations actually take place during your day, and try to translate them.  Note down (or look up) any vocabulary and sentence patterns you still need and bring them up with your teacher in your next class.  Once you’ve got a good translation of the conversation, you can take turns at playing each role.

Next time you’re at the hairdresser (or supermarket, etc), go through the conversations in your head to solidify the language knowledge.  Or, go ahead and try it out loud (if you are in a position to, of course).

Good luck!

Image: eye2eye.

Germany is not generally associated with comedy, but the BBC has teamed up with a German stand-up comedian to produce a series of short language videos called What’s so funny about German?.  Henning Wehn, “the German comedy ambassador to the United Kingdom”, takes learners of German through some basic points about his native language, with more than a few comedic examples and observations.  I learned that a Bodybag is not for cadavers, but is a backpack with one strap.  Check out the videos for more interesting German language points!

I stumbled across a learning resource for deaf students and learners of sign language, and an interesting section is the NZSL (New Zealand Sign Language) Signed Songs.  The page lists some traditional Maori and older pop songs, as well as a couple of Christmas ones.  Each song is presented in a  Flash format and has audio as well as video of a signer.

Just in time for Christmas, here’s James Townshend signing Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  Enjoy!

October is National Poetry Month in the United Kingdom, and it’s a great opportunity to celebrate the beauty that language can create, whether it be in your native tongue or a foreign language.

This month is the perfect time to discover something new in poetry, whether you are an existing enthusiast or not.  These days poetry doesn’t have to be classical, or in rhyming couplets.  It can take the form of non-rhyming prose, haiku, performance art, or poetry jam.  It can be dramatic or serene.

For language learners, poetry can be a great inspiration, and it’s very fulfilling to be able to understand a poet’s original intention.  Try a couple of poems in your target language, and compare them to their translations.  Can you see any difference?  It’s always useful to bear in mind that translations of art need to be somewhat artistic themselves, and fail as poetic translations if they are word-for-word.

What are your favourite foreign language poems?

This is not the best way to start the week, but I’ve just read a tragic story of miscommunication in Pennsylvania, USA, and it made me wonder what I would do in a similar situation.

Mamadou Makadji, 22, a student from Mali, was shot and killed after a robbery at gunpoint escalated when the victim and his friends did not understand what the gunman was saying.

Makadji and two friends were sitting on a park bench when a gunman approached and tried to rob them. Makadji did not understand what the man was saying, and he was struck with the pistol and then shot, Clark said. His two friends, also students from West Africa, were not harmed.

Makadji’s uncle stated that cultural differences in the way people regard guns may have had some influence.

“In Mali, no one thinks about a gun for the people. You think about guns for the army. … You carry the gun for the animal,” he said. “If you fight someone, you never think about the gun.”

Mahamadou Sissoko, president of the Malian Association in Philadelphia, said Makadji eventually did understand that he was being robbed.

“He was digging in his pocket for the money when (the gunman) hit him,” Sissoko said. “The guy probably felt ignored.”

The apparently quiet student was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

What would you do if approached by an agitated, gun-wielding person speaking a language you didn’t understand?  Not all hand gestures are international, and it’s unlikely that the robber would have stopped to consider that perhaps the victim’s hesitation was because of confusion, not bravado.  In English-speaking countries, a lot of native speakers assume everyone else also speaks English.  Sadly, this assumption can be the decider between armed robbery and murder.

Source: AP/Google News.