11.17.06
Parlez-vous… whatever you please
I have been having an idiotic amount of fun, lately, playing with the free “lite” version of Transparent Language’s Before You Know It language learning software. They offer the software as a free download, and then you can go nuts downloading content files in as many different languages as your little heart desires.
The language learning content files are limited for any given language, in the free download version. I think most of the packages I’ve downloaded so far have 17 files, which translates into 17 “units” of instruction, essentially. But if you go through the limited materials and want to buy the full version, you can upgrade to the full version (75+ files, lots of additional interactivity, etc.) for a really reasonable $40.
What’s weirdly wonderful about BYKI, as opposed to other language learning softwares I’ve encountered in the past, is that it manages — somehow — to make the interminable drilling of basic vocabulary acquisition enjoyable. Last night I spent about two hours drilling two sets of introductory vocabulary in the three languages I’m currently working with and was having a ball. It feels like a game.
I am currently working with Czech, Italian, and Mandarin Chinese. I’ve studied Italian in the past, and read it pretty well (speaking/writing are less good but passable), so working through the Italian is just review and reinforcement of remembering gendered pronouns correctly, which has always been a pitfall for me. I’ve never studied Czech before, but have sufficient background in variegated Slavic languages that a lot of it is familiar enough that I can trust the backbrain to grab cognates correctly.
Mandarin? Whole different kettle of fish! But like any language, it has its patterns and internal logic. Particularly when I work with the Mandarin files, I can see how BYKI is a successful teaching tool: the combination of rote drilling and repeated exposure to the written and spoken language (the Mandarin files use both written ideographic Chinese and a transliterated/Romanized version to help you deal with the gap between phonetics and written language) helps the pattern recognition kick in.
I think that I would like it if I had someone on hand to explain ideographs to me a bit, because having to figure them out as I go is kind of hard and I’m not sure if I’m doing it right. I know some of them are right — the one for “wine” is pretty distinctive, for instance — but then again, the “wine” ideograph is also part of the way you write the word for “beer,” so I suspect that the ideograph may in fact be more related to alcohol, or fermentation. This is something I will be able to deduce, of course, if I keep noticing the ideograph in places where that interpretation would make sense (say if it were part of the word for “vinegar” and other fermenty things, which it might be, but I don’t know that yet). But I would find it satisfying to be able to find out now. Because I am impatient like that.
Anyhow, I’m having a good time refreshing my Italian, getting a bit of Czech, and wrestling with Chinese. I’m pondering adding modern Hebrew and Spanish to the list, just for fun. If you like playing with languages, you should try it out. Also, if you think you’re crap at languages, you should try it out — my strong suspicion is that it would work well and be fun for people who don’t have a knack for them, too. It’s geek-friendly language learning, and there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.