Woman determined to learn 13 languages in three years
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| | | Just wondering | Oct 14, 2010 |
Will she also offer translation services for all these languages after 3 years?
I admire her for working so hard and for being so organized, but I am sure that after few months of not practicing anymore, she will probably forget everything she had learned. If she is lucky, she will be able to say "hello" in all these languages after few years
... See more Will she also offer translation services for all these languages after 3 years?
I admire her for working so hard and for being so organized, but I am sure that after few months of not practicing anymore, she will probably forget everything she had learned. If she is lucky, she will be able to say "hello" in all these languages after few years
Also, I suppose she is using those kind of courses "Learn XXX language in 3 months". I have got one for Dutch as well and, as a linguist and - I would say - as a polyglot, I can affirm that these books are not teaching you anything. One can only obtain basic (A1-A2) skills of a certain language if learning only from this kind of books.
Tapes with spoken language... they are good for achieving a good accent and that specific "melody" of a language, but they DON'T teach, unless you have already high proficiency level in that language. At a 3 months learning stage, one can only learn by heart some expressions from those tapes, but the expressions themselves can be used in specific context only. So what's the point of sleeping and listening to 2 (new) lessons? ▲ Collapse
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...she has already accomplished something: her name and company enjoy a fair deal of publicity. Maybe I should do the same!
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The first question that springs to mind, for a woman at the helm of a (seemingly) professional languages company is "Why?" Depending on her aim of learning 13 languages, she is either making a good business investment, or shooting herself in the foot...
| | | | PaulinaK
США
Local time: 23:08
русский => английский
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| What's the deal with the number? | Oct 15, 2010 |
I'm wondering why she decided on specifically 13 languages, versus 10 or 15 (for example)?
She must have some sort of deadline...
I wonder if she'll set a world record
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Samuel Murray 
Нидерланды
Local time: 08:08
Член ProZ.com c 2006
английский => африкаанс
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PaulinaK wrote:
I'm wondering why she decided on specifically 13 languages, versus 10 or 15 (for example)?
Or it could be a case of an overzealous editor who forgot to do the math. 3 months per language, in 3 years, equals 12 language. This woman wants to be able to speak 13 languages after 3 years. That's 12, plus her existing language. But 13 sounds better in a news report -- it sounds almost meaninful.
| | | | | Admirable attempts | Oct 15, 2010 |
Thirteen languages in 3 years is nothing among us the translators. But why not admire her strong intention to learn a foreign language?
Soonthon Lupkitaro
| | | | | She's doing one thing right | Oct 15, 2010 |
Not sure if she'll succeed but she's doing one thing right: a lot of listening! This is how I started learning English by myself, from an old coursebook, and with a shortwave radio in a Polish backwater. Formal education in English followed later.
| | | | nimahahu
Local time: 23:08
английский => шведский
| You cannot learn 13 languages in three years | Oct 15, 2010 |
It's impossible to learn the amount of languages in the time she said.
I speak 8 and it's taken me 40 years to master them.
So if anything let's say she learned 2 a year that would amount to 6 languages.
Anyhow the quality of learning can't be that high or correct.
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Jean-Pierre Artigau (X)
Канада
Local time: 02:08
английский => французский
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| Learning in a few months | Oct 16, 2010 |
I can testify I've seen a woman learn to speak Spanish quite correctly after four months, after starting from zero, although she lived in Chile and took regular private classes.
| | | | | Very difficult, but not impossible | Oct 18, 2010 |
Immersing oneself in the language environment, even if it's a kitchen of the local ethnic deli, will already do a lot; for the very best results, one should also get a boyfriend/girlfriend speaking the language natively and not speaking any English - one can get to a near-native fluency within a year or so of this (I've seen it myself), and 3-4 months will probably give a very decent result, too. Languages are definitely transmitted sexually ... See more Immersing oneself in the language environment, even if it's a kitchen of the local ethnic deli, will already do a lot; for the very best results, one should also get a boyfriend/girlfriend speaking the language natively and not speaking any English - one can get to a near-native fluency within a year or so of this (I've seen it myself), and 3-4 months will probably give a very decent result, too. Languages are definitely transmitted sexually
Furthermore, after 4-5 languages, one can learn other languages from the same family much easier: for example, if you know German, Danish, English and French, you will already be able to read Dutch without a dictionary - all you need is some conversational practice; the knowledge of Spanish and French will give you decent reading skills in Catalan, etc. Thus, she may take half a year per language in the beginning and get by with two months by the end of the project. ▲ Collapse
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