More Than Once

More Than Once

I always find it interesting when hear someone respond when asked if they have worked on mastering the language involved in discussing a holiday like Thanksgiving for example that, “I have already studied that.”

It is as though one pass through the chapter in the text book or one session with a language helper has somehow given them all the information they will ever need about a certain topic.

It could be any topic really, but it is as though they could plug their mind into a language and culture database and instantly download all the relevant information – words, phrases, beliefs, nuances and history of a particular topic.

Oh that it were so. Our lives would be so much easier.

But language – like life – does not work that way. And so my encouragement with this short post is to go ahead and pass over the material one more time.

Do not shy away from talking with one more person about a particular topic and certainly do not assume that there is but one way, one word or phrase or belief that is used to convey a certain meaning, that is called upon to express an idea.

Languages are too deep and broad and nuanced to not visit each area more than once.

Certainly, as we learn new languages we need to continually be pushing out into new territory and exploring new topics and the words and phrases used to discuss them. But we also need to keep going back so that we can go deeper.

So don’t be afraid to pass over old material more than once.

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"Aaron consistenly pumps out top quality language learning advice and motivational posts,
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Steal My Blog

I have a problem.

My blog is an exclusive club where members only are allowed in. The secret password is the English language. If you don't have it, you don't get in. This is a problem because I believe that information about independent language learning should be available to those who need it most.

There are people all over the world who are desperate to learn English.

Desperate because mastering the English language will open up new doors of opportunity for them, for their families. But they don't know enough English yet to access my blog and learn how to be independent language learners. So they are stuck. Stuck in the systemic ineptitude of outdated and broken national education systems. Thy are held hostage by expensive language school that have stepped into fill the void. They stand looking down two roads: one an ineffective system; the other an expensive system. But there is a third way. They can harness the power of the Internet and an increasingly shrinking world. They can do this if they know how. Independence from the system is possible, but a revolution in language education needs to take place.

Will you join me?

Will you join the revolution?

Step 1: Steal my blog. Create your own blog. Take the ideas from this blog, translate them into your language and share them with your people. Begin to preach the good news of the third way - the independent way. Begin to empower and teach and give tools to those who desire to learn language. Step 2: Steal The Ten Week Journey. This is an email series that I create to walk beginning language learners into the life of an independent, self-directed language learner. I'll walk you into how to set this up with a free email subscription company. It's pretty easy. Step 3: Steal my books. They aren't the greatest books ever written but they were created to break down the old paradigms of teacher directed learning and introduce and explain self-directed learning. I'll give you the books if you can gather a group of friends around you who will work to translate them and then spread them like a wild fire through Facebook and Twitter and Myspace and email and whatever the people of your nation are using to communicate. Use them to direct people back to your blog. Use them to introduce the people of your nation to these ideas. Use them to break the chains of a broken system and set language learner's free to learn on their own. Interested? Send me an email and let's talk. aarongmyers @ gmail.com

Credit and Payment

I'm not asking for either credit or payment. While I think it would be great if you would let people know that what you are sharing with them was originally written by me, I'm not going to tell you that you have to. I also don't want any payment from you. Now, if you want to add an affiliate link on your site to my books (English versions) that I do sell, you can sure do that and then you would get 50% of the profit as well. So in that sense, I'll be paying you. I am mostly concerned with a world that continues to use a broken and outdated system that is effectively locking millions of people out of the advantages of learning another language.

Why Am I Doing This

I want to do something big with my life. I want to make a ruckus and be a part of tearing down broken systems. I don't wear a cape though and I have no super powers. So I need to assemble an army of other like minded people to wage the battle with me. I'm not the first to give away my content. Leo Babauta has been doing it for a while and he has one of the most widely read blogs in the world. I think we can start a grass roots movement of free information that a new system for language building can be built upon. But the important word here is WE. We can do it together. Let's get started.

Ketutar

November 24, 2011 | 11:52 am

So true.

“It could be any topic really, but it is as though they could plug their mind into a language and culture database and instantly download all the relevant information – words, phrases, beliefs, nuances and history of a particular topic.” Well… perhaps they can. Human mind works in mysterious ways

aarongmyers
November 25, 2011 | 8:46 pm

@Ketutar I’d love to at least plug into a vocabulary database! The hard work is part of the journey though.

- Ketutar
  November 25, 2011 | 11:15 pm
  
  @aarongmyers So it is… and knowing a dictionary by heart doesn’t mean you know the language, or even the correct use of the words It would be so much easier if languages were like maths…

Justin | Mazzastick

November 24, 2011 | 4:57 pm

Hi Aaron

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well, Take care.

aarongmyers
November 25, 2011 | 8:45 pm

@Justin | Personal Growth Thanks much Justin!

hrhenry

November 25, 2011 | 7:30 pm

I tend to hoard all my language-learning material. So I’m usually reusing all of it at some point. I recently “rediscovered” my Pimsleur Turkish course and went through it again, listening to it in the background throughout the day(s).

There’s always something that I’ve either forgotten, or glossed over for whatever reason. It’s actually refreshing to be able to go back to old material and discover new things, discover that what was once difficult is no longer so – it’s those “Oh, right, of course!” moments that makes it worth keeping all that old material around.

aarongmyers
November 25, 2011 | 8:45 pm

@hrhenry Going back over old material can be a big boost to confidence even as you pick out new things that you didn’t catch before.