Focus Language School: Chicago & Phoenix» Language Schools Chicago

Learning a Language with Passion

jpfocus — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:20:12 +0000

Passion, in any area of our life, improves our performance and insures that our motivation remains high. Learning a language is not an instantaneous process. Many advertisers tell you you can learn Chinese or French in a month, 10 days or even 3 days. This is of course unrealistic (I mean absurd). It takes time and application to develop fluency in any language: ask any baby. It is possible to learn smatterings of shopping language or travel language in a few hours. And it is fun to do so. But it is a very limited kind of knowledge. Most of us want more: to be able to communicate on a deeper level.

So what sustains us in the months it actually takes to learn a language? Passion and enjoyment. Learning a language is like a relationship. You spend as much time with it as you can. You listen to it talk to you. You talk “to it”. You make plans for it. You work to understand how it operates. As we all know, passion is definitely one of the elements that sustains a relationship. It really makes it much easier.

So! Make sure you are passionate about some aspect of the language you are learning. You can be passionate about your goal. You really want to know this language; and this sustains you through the weeks. You can be passionate about the culture and want to understand it better. Nothing allows you to connect with a culture as learning its language will. You can be in love with this language itself: its sounds, its grammar, its script. This makes it easiest to keep going. You can be passionate about an individual whose native tongue is the language you are learning. That also makes it very easy. You can have a great need to know this language for career reasons. That need will make you passionate too.

So rev up your passion. Keep reminding yourself of the payoff, write down your goals and post them even. Imagine what it will be like when you are fluent, when people compliment you, when you make new friendships. Talk to people who have learned it and find out how they did, what advice they have.

Whatever the type of motivation you experience, you also want to do two other things.

1. Make sure you understand how to learn a language, and this one specifically. Get”maps” for your journey. Be realistic about what has to happen. Explore learning materials and learning options.

2. Make sure you use a learning path which you deeply enjoy, which suits your personality and learning style, and which rewards you for learning. Boredom is never a plus.

Success is an internal experience, measured only by you. The more you know what you are doing, the more you enjoy yourself and the more passionate you are about the language, the easier it will be for you to sustain yourself on the path of learning.

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Learn a New Language with Focus Language: in Person or Online

jpfocus — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:42:27 +0000

Would you like to learn a Foreign Language? Focus Language makes it feasible and enjoyable.

Easy to learn:

Many people believe that learning a new language is a difficult and boring task. We make it doable and fun. We provide you with the right teachers, the right materials and the right programs. We have thirty years experience helping people learn.

Fast:

We understand how to structure our programs so you can learn efficiently and fast. All you need to do is apply and enjoy yourself.

Cost-effective

We want to make it feasible for anyone to learn: students, business people, travelers, children. Our rates are always reasonable.

Customized programs:

We realize that everyone has different needs. We provide the right program, the right approach and the right schedule for you.

Excellence:

We constantly strive to find the best methods and the best resources to provide the best language programs possible. We also provide you with great support materials.

To set up a course:

Email us at jps@focuslanguage.com

*or Call anytime*

in Chicago: (630) 338 1144

in Phoenix: (602) 954 0465

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Learning Mandarin Chinese Part 7: Characters

jpfocus — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:51:43 +0000

Do you want to learn Mandarin? Beyond ordering food and buying souvenirs? So you can actually communicate?

Learn the Characters. It may seem a daunting tasks to learn several thousand characters.( Why don’t they use an alphabet like us? )

But, if you want to progress in the language, you need to be able to read. End of story. Pinyin is a great tool to get you started and to teach you the pronunciation of new words. But the characters contain the essence of the Chinese language. How else can you go on the internet to read Chinese websites or books?

Many systems teach you a few dozen characters. Useless. What if you only knew 8 letters of the Roman alphabet? Useless, right?

So how do we do it? We roll up our sleeves and we get professor James Heisig’s book “Remembering the Hanzi”. We simply follow the wonderful method he outlines and in a few months we have our first 1,500 characters down. Heisig has a fantastically simple and effective way of leading you through the characters. Then you can take a breath. You will be able to read over 95% of Chinese texts you encounter. By then, you will have developed the ability to memorize and remember characters really efficiently. You will want to keep learning the most common characters until you reach 3,000. Heisig’s second volume with the second 1,500 characters is due for publication any time. Meanwhile there are other good books you can use, because you know how to absorb characters efficiently. After that point it is just a matter of beginning to read regularly. You will keep learning new ones automatically.

Chinese children know 2,000 when they graduate from grade school, and 6,000 by the end of High School. Japan (uses Chinese characters) Taiwan and China have incredibly high literacy rates: far higher than ours in the West.

So, we get motivated, and we get through it. After a few months we are literate. Our knowledge of Chinese will now expand exponentially because we can read and write. We have access to the entire culture without any restrictions.

I hope I have inspired you to take the plunge. A few months of solid – and fun – work will establish you in the language forever.

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Learning Mandarin Chinese Part 6: Tones

jpfocus — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:24:06 +0000

Tones are what gives mandarin its character. Each syllable is actually spoken on a different note. It is at first a challenge for Westerners when learning to speak, simply because we are not used to them. The best thing you can do is to listen to Mandarin being spoken. What do you hear? Can you imitate it?

Mandarin has four tones and a neutral tone. My best advice to anyone wanting to speak this language is to learn how to say the tones comfortably. You need to hear them first without preconceived idea. Once you are able to hear – ”Oh yes, this sound rises. This one falls” – practice reproducing what you have heard. Although it may seem strange, it is essential.

Tones are not an optional luxury. Without them you will not be understood. At all! There are many words which sound exactly the same in Mandarin except for one thing: their tones.

You can practice making them mechanically, but the best way is to imitate. Listen – hear – imitate! Do your best. You will not be perfect. But it will make a world of difference when it comes to being understood.

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Learning Mandarin Chinese: Getting started Part 2

jpfocus — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:05:29 +0000

So how do you proceed from here? You have a general idea what you need to learn. What is the best approach to learn effectively? the most effortless and fruitful? So many programs! So many promises!

Whatever system you choose, there are two fundamental ways to approach the language. Output and input based.

1. Output

This is the traditional approach. We are immediately asked to memorize and use an increasing amount of vocabulary and grammar. We are also asked to produce spoken and written language almost right away. This is the output-based method. It works well for people who do well at learning systems and rules. It can be more frustrating for intuitive or kinesthetic learners. The great challenge of this approach is always integration. Can you really use what you have learned? Do you understand native speakers? When you succeed learning through this approach, you will have a solid knowledge of your new language. Later articles will show you how to shine if you take this path. It is very effective if it shored up and facilitated by the massive input method.

2. Input

These days, there is a language learning movement – largely internet-based – which advocates learning through massive input first. Listen, listen, listen! Watch, absorb, fill yourself with your new language! Don’t worry about speaking until you can hear and understand. It works very well and eliminates the frustration of trying to speak before you are ready. This is naturally the input-based approach. This is what happens naturally in early childhood or when you move to a foreign country. Nowadays, it is easily possible to follow this approach while staying in your home country. How? Incredible internet resources – many of them absolutely free. We will cover some of the greatest ones in future posts. We will also advise you on how to use the input approach efficiently.

Input and Output

You don’t need to choose one or the other of these two paths. Choose both, of course! Initially focus on input. Let the language become familiar. Let it automatically ring in your head. Enjoy the impact of the new culture. Simultaneously, find your way around the grammar and vocabulary. Be curious and inquisitive. Find out how the language works. See if you can express yourself. Learn some simple expressions.

Next article will get you started practically on your Mandarin journey.

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Grammar Practice in the Internet Age

jpfocus — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:38:04 +0000

Intelligent grammar practice is still vitally important in language learning. It is still one of the most powerful tools at a student’s disposal. These days, there is a lot of material on language learning online. Many people are emphasizing the importance of intensive listening work. Numerous sites make great learning videos available. There are delightful podcasts, filled with humor, vocabulary and cultural knowledge. Some writers are actually saying that 90 percent of the work can be done simply by listening to a lot of recordings of natural language. They say that the need to learn grammar formally comes later. Vocabulary, they say, is King. Your level of knowledge of a language is defined by how many words of vocabulary you know.

I agree with them to a certain degree. Lack of vocabulary knowledge is a crippling blow to communication and understanding of a new language. However, I have found in my own learning, that a clear and precise understanding of grammar allows for a much deeper and active kmnowledge of a new language. I found that understanding native speakers, catching the gyst of what I was hearing did improve my capabilities. It definitely improved my pronunciation and allowed me to form my own sentences much more naturally. It also taught me high-frequency expressions and language mannerisms. All this is quite useful. However my capacity to speak and form intelligible sentences seemed limited – on the level of syntax – by how much of that syntax I had absorbed unconsciously and intuitively. I somehow knew how to say something: unconscious competence. The problem with this approach is that is can be random and passive.

I have found that good practical grammar practice goes a long way towards developing my fluency systematically. The three steps I like to use are the following. 1. Study and understand a specific pattern. 2. Learn how to use the pattern reliably. 3. Do a lot of “English to the New language” translation. Translation is frowned upon as a learning tool by many. Yet the ability to translate compentently demonstrates a deep and real knowledge of a language. When you are bilingual, translation can be almost instantaneous and flawless. It can also be a great learning tool.

My favorite structure for practicing involves using a good recording with numerous examples of the new pattern being learned. The best format is “English – pause – new language – pause – new language – pause.” This allows me to look for the translation in my own memory and set of tools, to compare it to a native version; and finally to repeat it twice if I am incorrect or not sure. It instantly lets me know what my capacity is. If I try to say”I have been working here for two years” in Chinese or in French, I can either do it or not.

So although it may not be in style, I find grammar drill practice to be vital and extremely powerful as a learning tool. Done intelligently, it is akin to practicing a basic sport technique until it becomes automatic. The trick is to do it in an interesting way.

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New Tools for the Language Student

jpfocus — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 20:13:11 +0000

(A post about how to use the Google Translate Tool to practice a language.) I recently decided to brush up on my Chinese. I always roll with laughter when I see “Learn Chinese in 7 days” programs being advertised.

Whenever you learn a language, the great limitation is vocabulary – in speaking and also in understanding. Trying to increase my own fluency, I just created the following technique for practice.

I was listening to a guided meditation in English and was trying my best to translate what I was hearing into Chinese. I was vitally hampered by my lack of vocabulary. I played with my English-Chinese dictionary and then my Chinese English one for a while. (The great danger in using a dictionary – paper or electronic – is that it may give you a completely different or inappropriate translation. That’s why you should always translate in both directions.)

Led by my curiosity, I went on my computer and started using the Google Translate Tool to test my own knowledge and learn new words. I usually find the tool’s results are remarkable, especially when translating European languages – close linguistic relatives. With Chinese, the accuracy is more limited but still useful. I started typing sentences in English and reading the Chinese translation. I would then take the Chinese translation and plug it back into the tool to retranslate into English. (This catches many gross mistakes.)

This taught me a lot of useful expressions and vocabulary. The next step will be to run them by a native, to see if I found the right words and how natives would use them. Fortunately I love being laughed at.

The important thing to remember – if you decide to play with this technique – is to use very short and non-ambiguous sentences. ”The woman laughed at the dog” is much safer than “Although he feared the elevator had begun to malfunction, he rushed out to the street in search of a new diagram.” The more complex the grammar, the more likely an incorrect, hilarious translation.

If you use this system with care and a big grain of salt, you can test your capacity to generate sentences while learning new vocabulary. It is a fast and fun way to develop your capacity to express yourself. It is definitely not 100% or even 80% accurate but it is still amazing. The next step is to check with a native of course.

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Back on the Road

jpfocus — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:41:41 +0000

How do you get back into language study after stopping for a while? Life can get in the way, and before you know it, months have elapsed without your doing any study. Shame, guilt, and grief set in. Discouragement: the great enemy! These emotions are obstacles to be dealt with.

So how do we resume study seamlessly?

The first part is mental. Remind yourself it is normal to take breaks. Even after years of not using a language, we can relearn what we had learned ten or twenty times faster than when we started out. Vocabulary fades really fast if we don’t use it – even in our mother tongue. But we can easily relearn words we used to know. I always found that grammar stayed in place dormant and was pretty easy to reactivate. It’s the same thing with pronunciation. Your mouth and your ears remember.

The best way to reawaken a language is to reconnect with the familiar. Find your old recordings and podcasts and just start listening. Be passive. You are recreating an echo. It is useful to have the written texts as well. Refresh your eyes as well as your ears.

The other best way is to find brand new fun materials that attract you. The internet language tools available keep multiplying: movies, videos, tubes, games… There is an endless wealth of language resources.

The third best way is to connect or reconnect with the culture of the language you want to learn. Find meetup groups on the internet and go play with natives and other people who want to learn. There is no substitute for being involved with other people.

So in with the old and in with the new. Within a week or two you will be amazed how much you have recovered of your previous knowledge.

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The Magic of Comprehension.

jpfocus — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:40:53 +0000

I often hear this complaint from students learning a language: “I can’t understand anything”! Yes, it can be frustrating when you have been studying hard. It can be discouraging and embarrassing. But do not worry: comprehension will come. Sometimes you need to hear something 12 times to hear and remember it!

I have a student from China who is learning English. She studied English for 10 years but initially could not understand much. She had just arrived from Sichuan and was quite frustrated. After 6 weeks of daily practice, she is able to understand and we can now enjoy interesting and humorous conversations together. It is not that she has learned that many more words or that much more grammar; it is simply that her body is actually beginning to hear and compute the English language.

I also remember coming to the US as a 13 year old. I had studied English in France – for 4 years – but my initial experience was of an incomprehensible wall of sound. Aaargh! So you who are learning may occasionally feel discouraged: “I really can’t understand anything! What’s wrong with me?” Nothing! Your body and your psyche have just not yet begun to take over the comprehension of the language. Remember that it is not the conscious mind which actually creates and comprehends language. It is a subconscious function out of your actual control. All you can do is expose yourself to that wall of sound and hang in there. Keep studying grammar, learning words, etc! It can be very uncomfortable, but know that when the click takes place, you will begin to track and know what is being said to you. Forever!

This is a very exciting place to be. It is much easier to accomplish this process if you are having real interactions with natives. Fortunately, these days, natives can be found everywhere with online video calls. The internet can instantly transport you to the country of your choice. In my days, we had to practice speaking uphill and in the snow.

So hang tough in that incomprehensible wall of sound; and know that understanding will come.

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Meditation and Language Learning

jpfocus — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:40:05 +0000

We think of meditation as a spiritual practice or as a tool for reducing stress. But what do they have to do with learning a new language? Actually, meditation is the ability to be fully focused on whatever activity we are engaged in in the present moment. An artist captivated by his work, or an athlete fully associated in the body and its every movement and nuance are meditating.

The antithesis of meditation is multi-tasking. I am riding my motorcycle while texting my friend, eating lunch and planning my afternoon meeting. The problem with that is lack of depth. The biggest challenge through time in learning a language is remembering thousands of words and their proper context. It is virtually impossible to do this efficiently without creating deep associations. Without associations memory melts like snow in the sun.

What are the principal elements of meditation? Focus. Relaxation. Comfort. Effortless patience. Pleasure.

We have already mentioned focus: the one-pointed concentration on a piece of information and the use of multi-sensory associations. This really is the great key. Which do you think you would remember faster: your neighbor’s social security number or the number to a Swiss Bank account in your name containing $500,000? The difference would be the focus applied to memorizing.

Relaxation and comfort are also vital. Stress is really a form of pain. Can you dance if there is a nail poking through the sole of your shoe? So get comfortable. Study in a place you enjoy, a place which relaxes you and makes you feel comfortable.

Effortless patience is an interesting one. Meditation gives you the ability to be fully present in your body, to enjoy the physicality of the moment you are living, to let your thoughts move through as clouds in a Summer sky. Every physical, mental or emotional experience that surfaces becomes the source of your meditation. Applying this to memorization is very fruitful. You are fully associated as you process, code and imprint the new words. Someone who enjoys reading poetry would automatically do this.

Pleasure is the direct result of all the other aspects, whether you are sitting in meditation, painting a portrait or learning new vocabulary words.

So there you are! Meditation is another powerful tool to be applied to learning a language.

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