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ls650
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
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 Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2004 11:49 am Post subject: |
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I think it is important to learn a few basics wherever you end up.
Numbers, how much does it cost?, yes/no/maybe/sometimes/already/not yet, about a couple dozen common verbs like sleep, eat, drink, study, etc. and the same number of adjectives (hungry, thirsty, tired, lazy, happy, sad, etc.)
One thing I've found very useful is to know how to say left, right, and stop when taking a taxi! |
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lostinparis
Joined: 04 Feb 2004
Posts: 77
Location: within range of a flying baguette
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| Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2004 12:03 pm Post subject: |
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| One thing I've found very useful is to know how to say left, right, and stop when taking a taxi! |
Absolutely!! I was in Mongolia for three months and learned the basics, as ls650 describes. My pronunciation was pretty bad (Mongolian is really difficult, as all the sounds are made way down deep in the throat), but I was so thrilled when one day.... after getting lost in Ulaanbaatar... I found a taxi and actually told him the way back to my apartment (which was a good half an hour away)... all in Mongolian! (The taxi driver thought I was from Mars!)
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| I had studied Japanese for 2 years at college and I had lived in Japan as an exchange student for one year. So, I was already fluent before I started my teaching gig. |
Lynn - is it really possible to be fluent in Japanese after only two years of study and one year of living in the country??? I would love to learn but get overwhelmed at the idea of spending forever trying to learn all the kanji. What helped or worked for you? |
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shmooj
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
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| Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2004 1:37 pm Post subject: |
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Either Lynn is a natural or she has a different definition of "fluency" than you do 
Personally, my tuppence worth is that if you live any length of time in the country and make no effort to learn the language and use it in daily relationships, you are missing out on a truly enriching experience. I learned the lingo in both India and Japan and it transformed my experiences of the countries. Already here in Korea, even only after a month or so, it is beginning to reveal more to me than I would otherwise have seen/heard here.
Sure, you needn't bother and many don't. Your loss if you don't IMO. |
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Lynn
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 696
Location: in between
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 6:14 am Post subject: |
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[quote="lostinparis"]
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| I had studied Japanese for 2 years at college and I had lived in Japan as an exchange student for one year. So, I was already fluent before I started my teaching gig. |
Lynn - is it really possible to be fluent in Japanese after only two years of study and one year of living in the country??? I would love to learn but get overwhelmed at the idea of spending forever trying to learn all the kanji. What helped or worked for you? |
(I didn't even notice there was a second page to this thread, sorry)
Fluent means speaking with fluency, so you don't have to know kanji to speak Japanese. Reading is another issue completely.
What helped for me? For starters, I lived in a Japanese girls dormitory. No one could speak English, so I was forced to learn fast. I was the only exchange student at my university, so again, I was forced to speak Japanese. There was another American at the university, but he was the English teacher. We were both at the same level of Japanese, and both us of wanted to learn as much as possible. You might even say we were competitive. We would get a few hours a week with a Japanese tutor, but even then, we'd pretty much stick to Japanese.
To sum it up, it was either sink or swim for me. Not many English speakers can experience total immersion, so I feel very, very lucky that I had such an opportunity. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 6:38 am Post subject: lingo |
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"I learned the lingo in .... India" (schmooj)
Which lingo ? There are hundreds ! |
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shmooj
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 10:37 am Post subject: |
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We know that clever clogs.
FYI, the lingo where I was living... Hindi... |
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nomadic
Joined: 14 Feb 2004
Posts: 118
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 7:56 pm Post subject: |
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Since I'm not actually there just yet, I'm a little hesitant to suggest such a thing, but by September I expect to be in Tianjin or Beijing - if anybody else is around there and wants to study/practice together, why don't we figure something out?
In a more general sense, DO people from here meet up with each other to share ideas on lesson plans, practice their language, etc.? |
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