A new journey

Hello.... :)
So this is the first post in about a year of being silent. What has been happening? Well, life really. Just been so busy with work and other things that I have put a lot of my own learning on hold for a while. But I'm back and feeling excited :)

The new journey:

My fiancee and I are motivating each other to learn languages, so I'll be helping her with Spanish and she'll be pushing me to continue with my Spanish too. I think a good bookmark to have would be 3 months of learning and then have a review of everything that has happened in this time.
I would like to take the B2 common European Framework test at this time. I think my fiancee would like to just be more informed and conversational at that point. However, I am a little more excited about her learning than about mine. Why? Here's why.....

The new and improved formula:
Thanks to modern research into languages, we know that most language depends on frequency. This means that popular language is more useful than little known/ seldom used vocabulary. Basically we must pay attention to what the speakers use in the target language. The good thing about this is that there is a good target here.
According to the research, a person learning English would only have to study 2000 words to have the ability to understand 80% of the conversation or text. Please note that this is the 2000 most common words in the language and the combinations of them.
For Russian, it's a little more, approximately 3000 words, but the principal is the same really.

As a result, we are looking at the most common words in Spanish and making sure we know them and the translations, the combinations too. But that's not all. Accelerated learning guru Tim Ferriss recommends translating 6 key sentences to be able to see how the language functions with different grammatical rules. Using these sentences, the corpus data (frequency lists), a home-brewed memory technique and some personal preference; we will attempt to memorise and practise highly frequent sentences which utilise the most common words in the most common ways. The aim is to accelerate and minimise the learning process.

but what about grammar?
While I think grammar is over-taught in most schools and universities, I also think that an overview of the systems helps incredibly! As a result of this need, we have a few conjugation charts up on the wall and a free website explaining some fundamental grammar (which is read at a speed of 1 page per week).
and that's it pretty much.

Oh! wait!
2 more things
1st - we will also be looking at speaking functions/ a.k.a. functional language. This will help increase communication. Check out the image for a better idea

2nd - we will also be using a muscle training approach to pronunciation and speaking. Basically, we speak aloud when practising our expressions. Speaking aloud helps get the mouth used to sounding the language and as well as helping you feel stupid, which helps reduce this feeling when actually speaking (well, it's a theory waiting to be tested at least). The routine is repeating the phrase aloud 7 times slowly and well-pronounced and then 3 times fast (to simulate normal conversation and test the muscles). Repeat this process 4 times per day. Sounds complex? It's not really.

So that's it!

Will write more soon. Feel free to comment or ask questions.

Ciao

Thai Time

Where have you been?!?

so its been a while since i have posted anything. there is a reason for this...seriously...it'll come to me.....uhhhh.......global warming?
i had decided to put this on the backburner for a few months whilst getting resettled and sorting out my life in London :) See, i have an excuse!

So now what?
Nonetheless, I had the opportunity to go to Thailand and visit a very beautiful and special soul (no names :) ) and saw it as an opportunity to test the system in another environment.
I had two weeks to prepare and knew nothing about the Thai language. So i got hold of some tourist language and went from there.
Programming 10 expressions in my head each week, i went to Thailand with 21 expressions ready to use!
I focussed on expressions used in introductions and general 'hello's.
successful. apart from the memory, i felt that a little more opportunity to practice the expressions would have meant much more fluency with these twenty.

How did it go?
What actually happened was that I taught my lovely "fian-Shay" (fiancee Shay) the technique, and together we put in 10 expressions connected with directing taxi drivers (directions). It was a typical situation we kept finding ourselves in.
Again, success. Constantly understood with no need to repeat ourselves, we built up confidence with each passing opportunity. Shay took to the method so much that she started using it putting other expressions into her memory that her friends would help her with
(ordering drinks in a restaurant)

So no issues then?
although, i must add that Thai is a tonal language, therefore contextually whilst you can predict meaning and others can predict yours, you do need the knowledge of how to produce the different tones to some degree.
i dont feel this is something special, just a small facet of a language's phonological individuality.
simple to overcome....awareness and practice.
having left Thailand with renewed faith in language learning, i have decided it is time to pick up the Spanish again and take it to the second reference bank, whilst at the same time starting Manderin.
will let you know how it goes

Twenty-sixth week, The end? – thirty-fifth post

The theory after 6 months/ 26 weeks of learning

• Language acquisition could be organised into 3 stages
  1) Establishing a reference base (data base of general/common items)
  2) Solidifying the reference base (gaining familiarity and proficiency with general language and everyday items)
  3)Expanding the reference base (gaining proficiency and fluency with very specific/uncommon language items)
• Mnemonics and memory techniques can be used to cut learning time significantly
• The learner must develop the ability to filter language (or rather choose) to study and language to leave for the time being
• The learner should develop methods for exercising the various parts of the brain involved in language (comprehension [listening & reading] and production [speaking & writing])
• The learner should take a context-based approach (meaning the situation in which the language is used is more important than the language itself, but it is by no means the only important element to notice)

The Brain has abilities which should be honed

• Identifying patterns
• Predicting meaning of unknown items from context
• Reducing specific items to a general meaning
• Filtering items to be studied from all language input
• Collocations. Identifying them and using them.
• Noticing target language in new contexts and situations
• Memorising selected items

What did I do?

Well, in short, here is a basic summary of the most important steps stumbled upon over the last 6 months, included small things I thought to be important.

Post 1 – prediction to become an advanced learner in 6 months

Post 2 – basic memory technique to memorize 100 words per week

Post 4 – theory of how the brain functions (IIT/connectionism)

Post 5 – breakdown of collocation construction

Post 6 – state the aim of the method (prove adults are better, current methods are inaccurate)

Post 8 – active versus passive study

Post 11 – started making videos every 4 weeks to document improvement

Post 12 – embracing error correction

Post 13 – cultural relativity and how language cannot exist without it

Post 14 – reached 1000 words and importance of authentic input

Post 16 – nature of translation, context first

Post 17 – tenth week, started changing memory techniques

Post 18 – realise that, like physical exercise, the brain needs rest periods

Post 19 – twelfth week, 3 tier mnemonic technique established

Post 20 – schema, learning model, 'whys' aren't necessary but rather 'wheres'

Post 23 – setting of more realistic goals

Post 25 – context rich scenarios help with prediction of language

Post 26 – two types of bilingualism proposed

Post 27 – study cycle, 3 week rotation

Post 28 – 100 collocation mark

Post 30 – article of research to support the theories

Post 32 - 23^rd week, true vocabulary explosion

Post 34 – Filtration hypothesis

Post 35 – Reflection, revise and future goals

What would I do differently if I could go back in time?

Well, first I'd start on a time table of 10 collocations per week using the 3-tier memory technique. Apart from this, identifying the contexts which the collocations are used (past/present/ future/ etc.) and speaking out loud. Reading out loud and watching more movies with the audio in the language.

I think if I did these things, I could have cut my time and learning by at least a month.

What's next?

Well, although I might enter a post here from time to time, the weekly entries wave us goodbye. I will start to study Spanish as part of my degree. First year is beginner and Intermediate Spanish. Second year is Upper Intermediate and the final year is Advanced. So I have another three years ahead of me, but I will use this as an opportunity to see the differences between the methodology/ language approaches.

Also, I would like to continue using this technique to push my second level of learning (I believe I am at the 'solidifying' stage).

And then, I will dedicate myself to doing some Chinese using this method as well. I will not be memorising items as frequently (degree studies take priority) but I think its good enough to make significant improvements in a short space of time.

Perhaps dedicate one 'memory house' to a different language?

Thanks very much to all who helped, in whatever capacity, it was a hell of an experience and I hope to make it even better and take it even further :)

watch this space.

Here is my final video for Argentina

As a last post thing, I have compiled all my videos into one clip to be able to see the progression.

Thanks again.

The Tao of Yun

(J)

Twenty-fifth week, the filtration principal – thirty- fourth post

weeks results?

Another 10 in the head. Some nice ones this week.

The filtration principal

comments on the previous post have prompted more in depth discussion on how to filter language input. Consider that for each level of learning (or reference base being worked on) there is a different method. Different things are valuable to the different levels.

Establishing reference base: very selective! Only basic/ general words and phrases as well as the most common.

Solidifying reference base: remain fairly selective with words and phrases, but expand on the manipulations of the words and focus heavily on the sentence structures.

Expanding reference base: focus on rare and uncommon words/ expressions/ sentence structures but paying attention to those most useful to you.

Your reference bases (passive knowledge/ vocabulary) is always going to be greater than your speaking level/ ability to produce language. Always. This is the same with our native language and whichever language we try to learn.

Ready for an example?

OK, don't laugh. I read a comic called “Hellboy” (I'm sure you all know the movie?) anyway, the context (pictures and story prior to this example) is that an artificial humanoid (much like Frankenstein's monster) is describing how his creator threw him into a dark pit to hide him from the world and, well, just be rid of him. So the picture is of the monster lying there on the floor and he says, “pero algo curioso ocurrio en la oscuridad. Decidi vivir. Me tomo anos pero infundi vida nuevamente en mis frios miembros”

Right. Not so difficult for someone solidifying their reference base.

“but something curious happened (occurred) in the darkness. I decided to live. It took me years but ********* new life/ life again in my cold limps.”

I have never encountered this word “infundi” however knowing other words and expressions, I know its a verb, its past tense (reaffirmed as often first person past tense ends with “i”) and know that its connected with life and his body. Easy. The general meaning is “put”

However, the specific meaning could be “will”, “infuse”, “instil”, “charge” or numerous other things.

The real question is, how often will I need to talk about putting life into something? much less a body.

The answer? Unless I use a metaphor, this word is useless to me personally.

Especially as I am trying to solidify my reference base, there are other expressions here more valuable.

Even though I could produce these by translation, I want to program my brain with linguistic 'chunks' like “decidi + infinitive verb”, “me tomo anos pero + past 1^st person verb”.

If I put these in my mind with the memory techniques, when I speak, they will flow off the tongue and I wont need much thought to say them. Also, these are native constructions and not translated which means my production will be accurate and high quality as well as 'arming' me with expressions that I am likely to hear on TV or from a native.

Whatever level/ reference base you are working on, the limits of your process must be very personal. Things which should influence your filter are:

• Context (relative to the speaker) if it is a topic you like or need, its a context for you!
• Frequency (subject to preference) if you hear/see it all the time, or want to use it all the time, its for you!

Remember that, as I said in one of the first posts on this blog, that the brain must develop many abilities such as identifying collocations, predicting/ inferring meaning and also to distinguish between general/ common use vs. specific/rare.

Your language filter should have these characteristics.

Just because you understand something, it doesn't mean that you would produce it accurately nor in the same manner. Reception is always easier than production. Therefore we must train authentic chunks so as to produce native expressions.

Next week

Another 10. more speaking. More listening. Blah blah blah.

I hope this post defines things better.

Have a good week.

Twenty-fourth week – thirty-third post

weeks results?

Well, thanks to a very busy week regarding training and work, I had a very lazy week with regards to language and collocations. So, in other words, no 10 new collocations. I'm lazy. Deal with it.

So what then?

Well, I more Spanish interaction than ever. My CPE ladies, the German and I all drove to Uruguay for a visa run (my visa, road trip for them) and hence we set out from their place. As a result, I met some family and friends. It was a linguistic eye-opener...

really? How come?

Well, my theory is based on the principal slightly in conflict with what is known as the “communicative approach” which is currently the popular teaching methodology. Basically one need not speak with others to train the brain. But that's a bold and generalised statement, so I'll back up and say that I haven't had much speaking practice at all. General functional things like asking for food or whatever, but not exchanges of opinions and stories. Being in that situation was eye-opening because I saw that I understood a very large amount of what was said and that I know the words to communicate myself.

The parts which were on the flip side were that I didn't communicate fluently and that I still had understanding gaps with unknown words. Speakers used the language faster than I could compute (recognition of collocations meant I needed fractions of seconds more, but I still needed more time) I needed support.

Remedy?

Well, I felt that if I pushed myself into more of these situations, I would fall into the trap of fossilised errors (linguistic errors that you repeat continuously until the become almost impossible to change). This would be because I have a need to communicate but don't yet know a native way to express it. This is what I need to see. Now that I have a good reference base, the solidifying of this base should come in the form of a more natural and native production of the language. In training myself for this state I must expose myself to more spoken word and therefore my listening speed will increase too.

• increase comprehension speed through more common collocations and practice
• increase speaking fluency through the same.

the collocations to be learnt must mainly be comprised of know words.

To say “a pie” is by foot (both words are know, but the combination of them is unfamiliar)

as contrasted by the know which is “de pie” which is to stand (literally 'of foot')

This is what I consider to be make the reference base much more sturdy, that is the reference base becomes more comfortable and natural. Perhaps functioning in only a handful of common situations, but fluent enough for you to feel relaxed and fast enough to keep pace in a conversation.

Next week?

Another 10 collocations. Starting the series “kdabra” which is Spanish, and watching some Argentine films in order to fish out some unknown combinations

Twenty-third week: The vocab explosion – thirty-second post

The weeks results?

Well, most interesting indeed. Another ten in the head. But more importantly, there have been significant insights into the language!

The insights?

In one of my earlier posts I quoted a researcher who believed children learn day by day until they experience a vocabulary explosion. I said that this is a matter of time but more importantly it could be accelerated by study. Although I estimated a much shorter time, I believe that I have experienced the beginnings of this explosion. According to the theory of the three reference banks, this would mean the explosion comes in the second stage/ second reference bank development.

How can you tell?

Well, defining a vocab explosion, it suggests that a learner gets to the point where they are able to predict unknown vocab very easily and produce unknown forms of words based on current knowledge of how the language is typically constructed. It takes all the 'monkey see, monkey do' information, connects it all together and the learner can now produce language never before encountered, now its 'monkey hasn't seen, monkey do'.

This doesn't mean the learner should stop the process, just that they now can acquire at an accelerated rate and should have more confidence with the language.

This is what I feel has happened to me.

Video

As promised, its video time. I tried using a variety of grammatical forms and some new expressions.

Enjoy.

Next week?

Another 10 collocations. But specifically working on natives speaking and speeding up my listening translation time.

Chau

Twenty-second week – thirty-first post

the weeks results?

Very good results, indeed. Apart from the next ten collocations in memory, I had many opportunities to converse and listen to conversations. I was very happy with how much I understood :)

and also happy with how much I recognised the collocations in their speaking.

Expanding on original language acquisition

Babies initial steps to learning a language are sounds. Sounds linking to other sounds (collocations) and then sounds linked to contexts. Consider a baby learning the sounds “ahh” and then learns to put their lips together, producing an 'm' sound before. Putting them together, the child produces the sound “Ma”. Then the baby needs to join two together to produce the word “Mama”. Then child then sees the reaction from people around it and it learns that 'mama' refers to a person,thereby linking sounds to context.

Now, within an adult or Second Language Acquisition (SLA), they already know most, if not all, contexts connected with languages. The fruits of the first language acquisition. The adult mind learns words first, able to see and identify them before being able to produce the sounds required.

It seems that the process of initial language acquisition is opposite to that of SLA.

This has been my experience at least. And now I seem to be at a point where I need to focus more on connecting sounds (producing or receiving) to known collocations. Basically I just need to listen to more native speakers.

Next week?

Another ten collocations, more native Spanish films. Only another four weeks before this blog comes to a end. I hope you have been enjoying it :)

enjoy this vid :)