Since you're a language enthusiast and educator, I'm wondering if you are familiar with the Fluent in 3 Months blog and Benny's approach to learning. In short, he advocates less of a focus on the basics of a language and more of an emphasis on creating a reason to use the target language in your daily life, which forces the learner into situations where being proficient in the language has actual consequences. (An oversimplification, of course, but I'm trying to stay brief!)
I'm curious also if you have thoughts on Rosetta Stone or other software for learning languages; the author of that blog reviewed it and says he cannot recommend it. Since you've written a book on Arabic, I imagine you're a bit more sympathetic to the use of books and software as language-learning tools!
Finally -- do you have any thoughts on teaching English as a foreign language? I'm considering getting TEFL/TESL/TESOL certification and finding work teaching English as a way to get abroad and increase my own exposure to other languages; do you have any experience with these certifications?
Thanks so much for this AMA, I've enjoyed your responses and appreciate you sharing your perspective of current events.
Kalareth2 karma
Since you're a language enthusiast and educator, I'm wondering if you are familiar with the Fluent in 3 Months blog and Benny's approach to learning. In short, he advocates less of a focus on the basics of a language and more of an emphasis on creating a reason to use the target language in your daily life, which forces the learner into situations where being proficient in the language has actual consequences. (An oversimplification, of course, but I'm trying to stay brief!)
I'm curious also if you have thoughts on Rosetta Stone or other software for learning languages; the author of that blog reviewed it and says he cannot recommend it. Since you've written a book on Arabic, I imagine you're a bit more sympathetic to the use of books and software as language-learning tools!
Finally -- do you have any thoughts on teaching English as a foreign language? I'm considering getting TEFL/TESL/TESOL certification and finding work teaching English as a way to get abroad and increase my own exposure to other languages; do you have any experience with these certifications?
Thanks so much for this AMA, I've enjoyed your responses and appreciate you sharing your perspective of current events.
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