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| Is local language knowledge a NECESSARY prerequisite before newbies go abroad? |
| Yes |
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9% |
[ 3 ] |
| No |
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90% |
[ 28 ] |
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| Total Votes : 31 |
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| Author |
Message |
blackmagicABC
Joined: 03 Mar 2008
Posts: 68
Location: Taipei
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 Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 6:32 pm Post subject: Re: No to Chinese |
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| merc_wilson wrote: |
| I came to Taiwan with no Chinese... thought about having to learn it, but then realised I dislike the language so much I wouldn't enjoy learning it, and probably would skip classes as a result! I cope completely fine with pointing! |
Please don't see this as criticism.
You have no idea what you are going to miss out on by not learning Chinese obviously depending on how long you are going to stay. |
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canoes19
Joined: 26 Feb 2008
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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| denise wrote: |
This could lead to a spin-off thread: How much of a language do you need to know to say that you know the language? For me, simply knowing yes/no or a dozen or so words doesn't count. I can count to ten in Irish--does that mean I speak Irish? I don't think so.
d |
Absolutely agree. I think you need to be able to communicate with everyone you would meet on day-to-day tasks in order to "know the language". I was simply taking the original question literally; I would say it's necessary to know at least one little morsel of the language as a pre-requisite. |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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I posted the original original post and poll as a response to a regular poster on the Spain forum who insists no one should go abroad without functional fluency in the local language, which, to him, translates into at least 6 months of prior study. Without this, he says, newbies will 'crash and burn.'
I think this is entirely untrue.
HOWEVER, I do think that language teachers should also be language learners - in fact, willingness to learn the local language might well translate into degrees of success or failure in the longer-term (more than one contract period).
I'm just taking exception to the idea that newbies landing wherever (Spain, China, the Czech Rep) without functional local language skills are going to automatically 'crash and burn' as teachers - |
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arioch36
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 3589
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| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 1:33 pm Post subject: |
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Black Magic
| Quote: |
| Quote: |
merc_wilson wrote:
I came to Taiwan with no Chinese... thought about having to learn it, but then realised I dislike the language so much I wouldn't enjoy learning it, and probably would skip classes as a result! I cope completely fine with pointing! |
Please don't see this as criticism.
You have no idea what you are going to miss out on by not learning Chinese obviously depending on how long you are going to stay. |
Couldn't agree more!
| Quote: |
Spiral
I'm just taking exception to the idea that newbies landing wherever (Spain, China, the Czech Rep) without functional local language skills are going to automatically 'crash and burn' as teachers - |
Couldn't agree more.! Been in CHina seven years. The laowai, foreign teachers with limited or no Chinese miss so much. But, you can definitely be a good teacher here with no english. The vast majority of teachers here don't speak Chinese. The job doesn't require Chinese, doesn't require understanding the culture. But the more you know the language and culture the more it will benefit every aspect of your life,
I do believe it is impossible to know the culture without knowing the language
I probably went overboard a bit. On the China forum you constantly hear that the source of all world problems is America. The best is that when it comes to testing for students to go over seas ( or the old TESOL cert argument) is that it has to be British. So I just figured you were rehashing that tired old theme! Totally misunderstood and thus overreacted. Dole for President! |
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Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 1:19 am Post subject: |
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| danielita wrote: |
| Think of it this way. People immigrate to the US and they are expected to learn English. Why shouldn't the same be expected of us when we are living abroad? |
But since the process for becoming an American citizen requires being a permanent resident for five years (continuously residing in the United States; it's only three years if you're married to an American citizen and are living with that spouse), that's certainly enough time to meet the English requirement. One might not be as fluent as a native speaker (whether all native speakers are fluent may be subject to debate), but one would certainly know enough to be able to function reasonably well in most situations.
While I don't think learning the language before arriving is a necessity, it is at least helpful to make the effort to learn the language while you're there and even to learn a few basic survival phrases beforehand.
Now, if only they didn't talk so fast.  |
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MELEE
Joined: 22 Jan 2003
Posts: 2583
Location: The Mexican Hinterland
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:48 pm Post subject: |
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| jpvanderwerf2001 wrote: |
| In my experience, those who say you must have the local language are those who are in the country to learn the language and the culture and can't fathom why someone would move to another country and not be interested in those things. However, the fact of the matter is that some people go simply to teach English (as it's their job/career), and are less inclined to study up on language/culture. |
My question is how can you make a career out of second language teaching, not just hold a job, but make it your career if you have not been through the acquisition (at least to a pre-int level) of some second language yourself? I know that my beliefs about second language acquisition are not just from my reading on the subject, but from my living the subject. The reason I love language teaching, is because I love language in general. |
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Justin Trullinger
Joined: 28 Jan 2005
Posts: 3110
Location: Seoul, South Korea and Myanmar for a bit
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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| I know that my beliefs about second language acquisition are not just from my reading on the subject, but from my living the subject. The reason I love language teaching, is because I love language in general. |
Hear Hear! Your attitudes on this mirror my own so closely that I won't go into mine.
I can't imagine what it would take to be a successful language teacher without the experience of being a language learner. And I mean a LEARNER at all levels. (I've been elementary learner of more second languages than I can count, past intermediate in a couple, and fluent in one)
And yet, some people do. I've known extremely successful language teachers who were nightmares as learners. I can't imagine how this works, and don't think it would for me. But for some, it does.
Best,
Justin |
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