Focus Language School: Chicago & Phoenix» Language schools Phoenix

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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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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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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The Importance of Love, Beauty and Nature in the Learning Process

jpfocus — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:45:43 +0000

We normally think of efficiency, brain enhancing substances, extraordinary software and stream-lined cutting edge methods when we think of improving our learning capabilities. There is an entirely different aspect of learning which I have encountered in my long career as a student and a language learner: Love, Beauty and Nature. We are so efficient, having become multi-tasking masters and super-focused planners. We may be doing more, but are we actually becoming more accomplished? Are we more fulfilled and happy? I believe the answer is we are not. Being an artist, musician, meditator and lover of nature, I have followed a very different path: I require the presence of beauty, fulfillment and pleasure in all the tasks I undertake. Cast me into hell and I will paint on the walls of my dungeon, I will write poems about the beauty of the rising flames, and I will breathe my awareness of the present moment.

Yet, in spite of following paths considered less desirable or dead-ends by many in our efficient, goal-oriented society, I have succeeded in becoming fluent in eight or nine languages. I do study hard – sometimes almost fanatically – but I am able to maintain my focus and happiness through time. Looking back on how I became accomplished in multiple language, I notice some common elements and patterns. They are perhaps obvious and easy to apply but they are at the core of my success in learning languages.

Love, Beauty and Nature

Learning a language is a subconscious activity. You may work like a slave in Roman salt mines but you cannot impose the absorption or integration of a language onto your brain/mind. The more you experience the beauty of your new language, of its sounds of its grammar, of its culture, of its world view, the easier it is to keep a powerful,spontaneous and unending desire to improve your skills. I have had highly intelligent language students who became very frustrated in spite of their urgent need and high motivation to learn a new language. They lacked one thing: the actual desire to learn and a genuine attraction for their new language. They were in purgatory or jail, waiting to be released with a new skill at their command. Painters love color, creative programmers love the elegance of their code, lovers love their beloved. Language learners must also be in love with the object of their pursuit.

Language is music, mathematics, theater, history, culture and art rolled into one. Ignore this, and even if you learn a new language, you will miss much of its depth and the pleasure of knowing it.

What do nature and breathing have to do with the intelligent pursuit of learning a language? Everything in my case. Separate me from access to nature and I feel restricted and incomplete, while the breathing techniques I use daily (from yoga and qi gong) improve my brain functions, relaxation and general health. They allow me to concentrate powerfully on the object of my study without normal fatigue. Without nature and breathing meditations I would be a pale insubstantial shadow of who I am today.

At a later date, I will write in more detail about this accessing of the right cerebral hemisphere. One of its consequences is the experience of bliss in ordinary circumstances. Poets and artists routinely experience this phenomenon. It can only enhance whatever experience you are engaged in.

You must naturally discover your own path of beauty and bliss as you apply it to your language learning. Yet, the more powerfully you access it, the easier and the more effortless your progress will be.

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Appreciating your own work

jpfocus — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:30:59 +0000

Learning a language is a time-consuming project. It can seem that there is always a new verb form to learn, a new vocabulary word we need to know. It is therefore important to appreciate what you have already done, the parts of the language you have already acquired. Our subconscious learning machine builds on its own success. It is important to let it know it is accomplishing its task satisfactorily. Self-criticism can often lead to discouragement. When you are learning, you know that it will take you at least a few months to get comfortable. So take that into stride and often review what you have already accomplished.

When you set – flexible – goals for yourself, remember you are working on several things at once: pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, comprehension and speaking ability. You might excel in one and feel quite mediocre in another. Acknowledge what is working well and evaluate what you will need to do to learn better in certain areas. You can approach it analytically or intuitively: it doesn’t matter. Simply make sure that you give yourself enough recognition to stay on track as you explore your new language.

Focus Language Chicago and Phoenix offers classes in French, English, Spanish, Italian, Hindi and Mandarin Chinese.

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Working with native Speakers

jpfocus — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:24:27 +0000

If you can begin to practice your new language with native speakers, you will be able to progress faster – and have fun. The process can also be unnerving or frustrating. So what are the ways to make this practice time fruitful, while keeping your morale up.?
Understand that there are two kinds of natives: good natives and bad ones. Joking aside, only ever work with people who are helpful, patient and benevolent towards you. You must feel inspired and hopeful at the end of the session. Some people want to help, but they are not a good match for us. Do not work with them, as they will sap your confidence. Always try out one short session with a new person, with no expectations of ever organizing another one. Keep your freedom.
If you do find someone who is a good match, organize clearly delineated sessions. A half-hour is a great length of time. If there is a natural flow and you both want to keep going, that’s great, but do not force it.
If you are teaching this person English, keep the two languages separate. Decide ahead of time which language you are practicing. Avoid “language competition”.
Let them talk freely and listen attentively. Prepare some interesting topics ahead of time – traveling, culture, money, dating etc – and let them speak. Let the native know you will just be listening. Perhaps have them give you a quick overview in English before they begin. This will really help your comprehension. Record.
Always record if you can. Let the speakers know ahead of time. Make sure they don’t mind.
Listen to the recordings four or five times (or much more). You will be amazed how much more you pick up each time.
Prepare some short talks and deliver them uninterrupted. Ask for critiques and corrections to be given at the end. Also record those.
These are many possible activities you can engage in to practice with natives without being overwhelmed. Let your imagination create them. Always make sure everyone is comfortable and having fun. Of course, if you are comfortable being spontaneous, let the conversations go where they may.
copyright 2009 Jean-Paul Setlak

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Developing Comprehension: the Bouncing Ball

jpfocus — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:32:31 +0000

What is the secret of developing your comprehension in a new language? Follow the bouncing ball! Yes the old musical movies and the Karaoke parlors revealed this secret decades ago.
First, let us make some preparations. You need to get the code first. If you do not understand the basic vocabulary, you will not be able to break through into understanding. So select several 10-20 minute-long recordings or podcasts of well-recorded natural native conversations. You must have a transcript of the text for best results, as well as a translation. (The Google translation tool is state of the art and free to boot.) If the language in the recording is simple, a vocabulary list may suffice. The basic idea is that you must be able to recognize all or at least most of the important words in the “story” before you start listening!
Once you have studied the text – and this can be time-consuming – read through it a few times, making sure you can follow the story fairly well. You don’t need to understand every word and phrase perfectly, just approximately. I suggest you make a list of the words you didn’t know in a separate notebook. You will review with it and use it in certain exercises.
Next, listen to the text while reading the transcription. You should be able to follow reasonably well. Do this once or as many times as you feel you need to. Alternate with reading the English translation while listening to the recording. Do either or both of these steps until you really catch the gist of the recording.
You can also follow the recording while looking a the vocab. list you wrote earlier. This is a great way of deeply learning the new words.
Finally, begin to listen to the recording by itself. Listen to it several times in a row for several days in a row. You will notice your initial comprehension level radically increasing as you keep listening.
If you feel you are missing too much of the “story”, you need to go back to the previous steps. It simply means you are missing too many words. Also review the vocabulary notebook you have been compiling. Reinforce and test your recognition of the new words there. Then go back to listening to your recording.
When you feel that you understand the recording nicely, you can repeat the process with a new recording. But keep listening to the one or the ones you have already conquered. They will keep reinforcing your comprehension skills.
Supremely important instructions for the listening part:
Here is how you should listen to the recordings to get the most out of them. Do you remember the bouncing ball in old musical movies or in karaoke parlors? Doesn’t the ball let you see which word you need to sing at that precise moment? This is exactly how you need to listen! Only pay attention to the word which is being spoken. Do not think, backtrack, translate, analyze, or process any thoughts and feelings. You are strictly to function as a language input mechanism! Only do three things. 1. Keep your body relaxed. 2. Breathe comfortably. 3. Follow the bouncing ball, i.e. pay attention only to the word that is being spoken right at that moment. This process actually sound like Zen meditation. It is focused sound concentration and it works. You will be delighted by how well your comprehension of the text increases and multiplies over a relatively short period of time. In addition – and this is much more profound – you will also notice your global comprehension of the new language increasing as well. You somehow begin to “hear” the new language.
How much should you do this?
A lot! All the time! As much as you can take! Isn’t this what would happen if you lived in the country where this language is spoken? You would hear it spoken around you constantly and try to figure out what is going on. Isn’t this how you learned English in your playpen? Plan on doing this daily for two to three months. It is the best and quickest way to “break into” a language. You can also practice with subtitled movies, but it is harder to study the vocab. with those. The trick is to keep it fun and interesting for yourself. So go on the Internet and find wonderful, fun, amazing, incredibly thrilling material to play with; and get the comprehension part done once and for all!

THE LANGUAGE LEARNING JOURNEY

jpfocus — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:07:59 +0000

Learning a language is a journey. It reveals landscapes you have not yet seen. It teaches you how to think in new ways. It enriches your self-knowledge and helps to free you from the unreasoned assumptions of your own culture. It is exciting and fun. It requires preparation, endurance and humor. It makes you face your beliefs about learning and reveals your own emotional undertones.
Learning a language most resembles learning how to dance, play a sport or practicing martial arts. It is fundamentally a physical activity. It involves discipline, training and perseverance. It requires establishing good fundamental habits. Understanding is not enough: body knowledge is the key. Much like an athletic pursuit it requires that you face your own fears and anxieties.
Learning a language is also facilitated by organization and intellectual application. On the mental side, it is a set of rules and patterns. If you are willing to be curious, receptive and disciplined, learning a language is like understanding how to use blueprints or maps. In this realm it is precise and abstract. But unlike engineering this matrix is gradually absorbed and it is very forgiving. A 3 year-old can express ideas as clearly as a physicist.
There are patterns and techniques, approaches and tricks, shortcuts and organizational tools. A great language teacher must be a brilliant coach. He understands the potential talent and the personality make-up of a student. He knows clearly what approach and what tools will work best for this individual or this group. He is the guide who helps you climb the mountain.

OBSTACLES TO LEARNING A LANGUAGE

jpfocus — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:04:20 +0000

I would like you to to think of language learning as a sport for a moment. We could have used war, dance or even the playing of a musical instrument as our example. All require coordinated knowledge and practice.

There is a mental aspect to a sport. The captain of a sport team must know the rules of the game and he must know the various plays his team will use. Without that knowledge, he cannot function properly. This is the learning aspect. He and his teammates must then learn to put these rules and plays dynamically into practice. They must learn to do so automatically and effortlessly. Without that capacity the team will fall apart on the field of play. This is the training aspect.
I will teach you how to learn the rules of the game, and how to practice efficiently to play the language game game brilliantly.
Many people are convinced that foreign language learning ability comes from a mysterious gene - like red hair and green eyes. This might be partly true… but practically speaking…. this ability develops from circumstances, need and motivation. People born in countries where multiple languages are spoken learn them effortlessly. (In Scandinavia and India for example). Human children and adults do what they think is normal and expected of them: ride horses, create art or learn multiple tongues.
The magical human machine has the innate capacity to learn any language and to learn as many as it chooses to. (Sir Richard Burton the famous adventurer and writer in the 19th century stopped at 38)
Note: The word choice is important and I will come back to it. I may indeed want to be physically fit, but unless I choose to be so and act accordingly, my fitness will remain theoretical.
So what has to be learned? What are the obstacles to acquiring this knowledge?
I started teaching foreign languages in my early twenties, almost forty years ago; and I believe I have seen most of what happens to humans when they learn alien tongues. Here are the various obstacles I have seen appear. I want to help you understand and conquer them.

1. Emotional obstacles

2. Mental obstacles

3. Time-based obstacles

4. Organizational obstacles

5. Motivational obstacles

6. Lack of mental flexibility

7. Unrealistic expectations

8. Self-concept: I should be able learn this!

9. Negative self-hypnosis

Emotional obstacles: feeling depressed, defeated, worried, fearful, angry. I am referring here to dis-empowering emotional states someone feels when trying to learn a language. Of course, general emotional distress will also block easy learning.

1. Mental obstacles: holding arbitrary thoughts about learning in general and learning for themselves specifically as immovable truths. These arbitrary thoughts we also call beliefs: they can completely paralyze a student and prevent fast systematic learning. But because they seem to be reality, we accept them unthinkingly and they are very difficult to change. They will surface as self-evident statement: I can’t learn, I can’t memorize, I’m stupid, I am wasting my time, I’m too old. These beliefs are accompanied by the strong emotions referred to in part 1. I am unable to learn, I feel sad and angry at myself.

2. Time-based obstacles: Extremely busy schedules seem to get in the way of some, though many of my students who experienced this obstacle somehow seemed to find the time to watch TV several hours a day.

3. Organizational obstacles: not having a good program or good materials. Not knowing how or what to study.

4. Motivational obstacles: not truly wanting to know, enjoy and love this language. The motivation is external: job, foreign in-laws, school requirements.

5. Lack of mental flexibility: Trying to dig a hole with a lawn-mower. What if the old dog is deeply motivated to learn new tricks and has a competent coach?

6. Unrealistic expectations: in either directions. Learn Chinese in 3 days or 7 days. These are actual programs I have seen in bookstores. Or this will take me years and years of intense and constant suffering – probably all in vain.

7. Self-concept: I should be able learn this. This is often a conflict between an adult belief: “I am an intelligent and respected attorney, I should be able learn this!” and a deep and pervasive childhood emotional conviction: “I’m stupid and they will find out.” The result is paralysis or at best slow unpleasant progress.

8. Negative self-hypnosis: you (or someone in your past) have created and unconsciously repeat negative commands to yourself.

So before you start, you need to get clear: mentally, emotionally, on a belief level, physically, time-wise.
Another metaphor for learning a new language is a journey. You need maps, a compass, socks, train schedules and protein bars. You don’t walk out of your house in Colorado and say: hmmm! It looks like a nice day. I think I’ll walk to Beijing today! I want to help you get clear and prepare for your journey so you can enjoy it maximally.
Many commercial methods primarily market their products to sell them – how surprising! They often create delightfully unrealistic expectations so that you give them $50, $500 or $5000. And it is always presented as most scientific and based on the latest research. “Learn Turkish while brushing you teeth. No memorization, books or CD’s needed!” When you fail to meet the goal (by not learning) you blame yourself, your IQ, your life, and your gene pool. And you are too embarrassed to ask for your money back.
In my own learning I have found that all methods will work - some more elegantly than others – and all teachers are useful – unless they are abusive and ignorant. But before you choose a method or a style, you should understand how to conquer existing and future obstacles. You should also know what you are doing. Obstacles will slow you down or even paralyze you. Ignorance will also slow you down and make you waste time.
This analysis can easily be done in one short session. No need to go into therapy for years. But understanding what will potentially stop you or slow you down will make the learning process infinitely easier. When you are challenged, you know why and you automatically take the next step.