Re:How to Learn Any Language in 3 Months
by MikeMacMan on Monday October 19, 2009 @09:58AM
(#890049)
A more apt title might be 'How to Learn Enough Japanese to get the Basic Gist of a Martial Arts Book in 90 Days'
This article is all kinds of wrong. You don't learn language by making lists of words. Think of a word like 'but'. In Japanese, there could be 5 different words that 'translate' into 'but'. But you can also use tone of voice or draw out the end of a sentence to convey the meaning of 'but'. In other contexts, you might not want to say 'but' at all.
This all boils down to the author's definition of 'learn' and indeed 'knowing'. If after 90 days, the author is able to say that he 'knows' Japanese, then his bar for 'knowing' is a lot lower than mine.
This article is all kinds of wrong. You don't learn language by making lists of words. Think of a word like 'but'. In Japanese, there could be 5 different words that 'translate' into 'but'. But you can also use tone of voice or draw out the end of a sentence to convey the meaning of 'but'. In other contexts, you might not want to say 'but' at all.
This all boils down to the author's definition of 'learn' and indeed 'knowing'. If after 90 days, the author is able to say that he 'knows' Japanese, then his bar for 'knowing' is a lot lower than mine.