It makes no sense to me at all that when I've learnt a language here at UNSW (so far only Japanese & Korean) that one of the first things they teach you is that languages written characters, often quickly discarding romanisations altogether in favour of that languages writing system.
The reason this doesn't make sense to me is that it seems to me that the best way to learn any new language was the same way you learnt the one you originally spoke - vocabulary & grammar first, then reading & writing as a distant second.
When you try to learn the written characters first, it becomes difficult because your mind doesn't have a concept to relate the "strange symbol" to, making them easier to forget.
If you learn the spoken words first, and thereby the sounds, by the time you've acquired a large enough vocabulary, and started to learn to write the characters, your mind will be like "Ah, so that's what the written form of XYZ looks like," giving your mind something concrete to which it can attach the abstract concept of the written word (and thereby solidifying the learning process of that language's written characters).
Good luck with all of your learning!
- Ian (The guy in the Mario cap) I'll keep you posted. :-)
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Teacher's Strike!? LOLz!!!
After the past few weeks, people have been standing at the various entrance ways to UNSW handing out leaflets fore telling of the upcoming teachers strike (Today - Thursday, March 18, 2010).
The leaflet had brief sentences on it stating the reasons for the strike (something about fairer conditions and more money).
A few days ago, I, and the entire student population of UNSW received an email stating the University's fear of the upcoming strike and the confidence that it would not go ahead.
Given the severely large number of people that are here, I dare say the few teacher's that did strike - if any - are feeling rather foolish for themselves right now.
The leaflet had brief sentences on it stating the reasons for the strike (something about fairer conditions and more money).
A few days ago, I, and the entire student population of UNSW received an email stating the University's fear of the upcoming strike and the confidence that it would not go ahead.
Given the severely large number of people that are here, I dare say the few teacher's that did strike - if any - are feeling rather foolish for themselves right now.
My Grandmother's Funeral (and thank God for facebook).
A part of a students life, as well as studying, is the unexpected events that life can bring such as the death of a loved one; last year it was my sisters beloved cat, Basil. This year it was my 92 year old Grandmother, who, by the way, was in a state of perfect health, and on the night of Thursday the 11th of March, slipped away quietly in her sleep.
Her funeral was the following Wednesday (Yesterday, as of my typing this), and I had to fly back to my home to town to attend which included the missing of some classes, but as they were all lectures, it hardly really matters all that much.
At the funeral were family members, who, if not for my telling them through facebook would have perhaps never have known, which made me all that much happier that I found them on facebook when I did a few months ago.
One Aunt was considering not showing up for fear that her ex (my biological uncle) would be there and cause havoc, however, that particular uncle's last words to his mother were something along the lines of "I don't have a mother any more."
Thankfully, the aunt and her five children showed up, with the sorry excuse of an uncle nowhere to be seen.
After all was said I done I took the afternoon flight back here to Sydney.
Her funeral was the following Wednesday (Yesterday, as of my typing this), and I had to fly back to my home to town to attend which included the missing of some classes, but as they were all lectures, it hardly really matters all that much.
At the funeral were family members, who, if not for my telling them through facebook would have perhaps never have known, which made me all that much happier that I found them on facebook when I did a few months ago.
One Aunt was considering not showing up for fear that her ex (my biological uncle) would be there and cause havoc, however, that particular uncle's last words to his mother were something along the lines of "I don't have a mother any more."
Thankfully, the aunt and her five children showed up, with the sorry excuse of an uncle nowhere to be seen.
After all was said I done I took the afternoon flight back here to Sydney.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
My Four Subjects.
Okay, just to clarify, these are the subjects that I am definitely studying this year:
Korean A
Concepts of Asia
Psychology
Linguistics
At this point I'm very glad that I enrolled in Korean A - I think I was "supposed to" (that is, in the grand scheme of things). Why do I think that? I think that because of the Korean lecturer mentioning linguistics. Therefore, if not for having enrolled in Korean, and having instead enrolled in something else, I would perhaps still be without a fourth subject.
So thank you to that man whose name I currently forget ... sorry!
Thank you. ^_^
Korean A
Concepts of Asia
Psychology
Linguistics
At this point I'm very glad that I enrolled in Korean A - I think I was "supposed to" (that is, in the grand scheme of things). Why do I think that? I think that because of the Korean lecturer mentioning linguistics. Therefore, if not for having enrolled in Korean, and having instead enrolled in something else, I would perhaps still be without a fourth subject.
So thank you to that man whose name I currently forget ... sorry!
Thank you. ^_^
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Applying for Austudy.
Well, today I applied for Austudy, and after printing, filling out, and returning the three final forms* , my application will be complete.
*One for Proof of Identity; one to say how much rent I'll be paying; and one to give another person permission to do dealings with Centrelink on my behalf.
It's a bit of a pain, as I don't currently have any accommodation lined up in Sydney, so filling out that form will be impossible, and I have to have the forms lodged by the February 18.
What am I going to do?
I'll keep you posted.
*One for Proof of Identity; one to say how much rent I'll be paying; and one to give another person permission to do dealings with Centrelink on my behalf.
It's a bit of a pain, as I don't currently have any accommodation lined up in Sydney, so filling out that form will be impossible, and I have to have the forms lodged by the February 18.
What am I going to do?
I'll keep you posted.
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