The Get-it-done Guy Features Foreign Language Mastery
Posted by John Fotheringham on Jun 8, 2010 in Experts & Thinkers, Featured Articles, Language Learning Tips | 4 comments
Stever Robbins, The Get-it-done Guy, has just released an episode on learning foreign languages quickly, featuring tips provided by yours truly!
He has done a great job of distilling down the most important factors in learning a foreign language quickly and effectively, adding lots of humor and wit in typical Stever style. His programs are especially good for you English learners out there as they are interesting, short, and include transcripts of the shows.
I am honored to be featured in the show; I hope you enjoy it.
Listen to the episode on The Get-it-done Guy site or download it in iTunes.
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Copyright © 2010 by John Fotheringham. For more tips, tools, and tech for Mastering ANY Language, go to LanguageMastery.com
I can't put my finger on it, but there was something incredibly weak about that article. You have so many good suggestions on your site, but the Get-It-Done Guy seemed to only pick the fluffiest strategies for his article.
It starts out promising, talking about how our "existing vocabulary and advanced thinking abilities give us a head start," but it peters out after that. Listen to your iPod and read a book? Those aren't "advanced thinking abilities," those are non-thinking abilities. If it were as easy as that then we'd all be speaking 10 languages.
Hi J. From what I can tell, the good folks at Quick and Dirty Tips try to keep things around 6 to 7 minutes, and it's hard to pare down a topic so large (and so often misunderstood) into this time frame. I did of course send Stever more tips than those that made it on the air, but I think he did a good job of including the fundamentals:
1) Focusing on input (listening and reading)
2) Spending time on the task (especially in short, frequent, intense sessions)
3) Using spaced repetition to maximize retention.
And while he did touch on it briefly, I would have liked to hear a little more about the all-important aspects of attitude and emotion in language learning. This can sound extraneous to some, but these psychological factors often make the difference between success and failure in the long run. It is imperative to enjoy the language learning process and truly believe that one can actually reach fluency in the language. But hey, this just leaves room for another episode…
Lastly, I would again like to thank Stever for sharing these tips with his audience. The language learning establishment all but ignores these basic tenets of language acquisition (due to either ignorance or arrogance), and as a consequence, almost every last language student fails to reach fluency despite years of effort. I hope this episode reaches lots of language teachers and learners, gets them to question the language learning status-quo, and helps swing the learning philosophy pendulum (however slightly) in the right direction.
Loved the site! Great to see a language learning blog from a professional linguist.
Glad you like Foreign Language Mastery, Corcaighist! There are some exciting new additions coming soon. Stay tuned…