I have met many East Asians who do not have this problem. It is not so different from English-Canadians who are reluctant to speak French, or any other person in a foreign language environment. It is a cultural mindset that can be overcome if we are interested, motivated and turned on to the language. I will tell you more after my meeting with the group of Chinese immigrants on the 24th.
Hi, Steve! Regarding the learning of Russian, I hit a barrier when I reached the instrumental case. And it took me quite some time to get back on track. Earlier while covering the other five cases I had done quite well. If I had only allowed my self to imitate native speech and understand its meaning, I could have saved a lot of time and grief. Therefore, we should treat expressions and sentences from natural speech, as we would any lists of vocabulary.
I lived in Japan for nine years, and when I was in a meeting with Japanese people I just felt that I was one of them. I would have stood out just as much as you, but I did not notice. I could not see myself.
I agree, I think attitude is a large portion in getting over many of those blocks we come to. I liked the idea of pretending to be someone from the respective language speaking group. I guess for some, they are a little bit embarrassed, for instance, I'm a 6' 3 American trying to learn Cantonese, so of course assimilating myself into that role can be perceived as goofy to others.
Wonderful, I just finished reading your book: the Linguist on Language, it was very interesting, even slightly disagree with few arguments that you presented. Thanks a lot.
Good points but I'm not sure Chinese people have an especially strong cultural ego. Really the language and the culture goes together. It's very easy for for a Ukrainian to assimilate into a different culture that isn't so different to their own (and nor is the language as you say). Take someone from Beijing who can't speak Cantonese. If they move to Hong Kong then they will quickly assimilate into the different culture of the South. I meet few foreigners (Westerners/Anglophones/Europeans) who move to China who can speak good Mandarin yet they live there for years. These same people have learned Spanish by just living abroad. It's easy to become Spanish if you're from say the UK because the culture just really (relatively speaking) very different and neither is the language, as such the success reinforces their assimilation. The problem is structural! The majority of the world colonised by the the West speaks an Indo-European language. From a Sino-centric perspective these are basically just dialects of one another dressed up as something completely alien.
in fact Mandarin speakers who live in Hong Kong or here locally in Vancouver and don’t want to learn Cantonese don’t. It’s purely an attitude problem since the vocabulary is extremely similar. generally the younger people do fit in and learn Cantonese.
I suspect it might be an early map of North East North America, showing Greenland in the upper right corner and the Great Lakes in middle bottom. It's a map of what later became Canada.
I have met many East Asians who do not have this problem. It is not so different from English-Canadians who are reluctant to speak French, or any other person in a foreign language environment. It is a cultural mindset that can be overcome if we are interested, motivated and turned on to the language. I will tell you more after my meeting with the group of Chinese immigrants on the 24th.
Hi, Steve! Regarding the learning of Russian, I hit a barrier when I reached the instrumental case. And it took me quite some time to get back on track. Earlier while covering the other five cases I had done quite well. If I had only allowed my self to imitate native speech and understand its meaning, I could have saved a lot of time and grief. Therefore, we should treat expressions and sentences from natural speech, as we would any lists of vocabulary.
I would agree.
I lived in Japan for nine years, and when I was in a meeting with Japanese people I just felt that I was one of them. I would have stood out just as much as you, but I did not notice. I could not see myself.
You have the right attitude.
I agree, I think attitude is a large portion in getting over many of those blocks we come to. I liked the idea of pretending to be someone from the respective language speaking group. I guess for some, they are a little bit embarrassed, for instance, I'm a 6' 3 American trying to learn Cantonese, so of course assimilating myself into that role can be perceived as goofy to others.
Steve you are correct. My attitude could be a lot better towards my first foreign language study. Thank you for reminding me how important it is.
In summary: Don't ask why, just apply. I love it...lol Very good points Mr. Kaufmann. :-)
You've got me thinking. A good idea.
You've got me thinking.
Wonderful, I just finished reading your book: the Linguist on Language, it was very interesting, even slightly disagree with few arguments that you presented. Thanks a lot.
This is very interesting! I agree attitude is important, i guess if the attitude is correct, all other things will fall into place. ビデオはよかったです！
thank you very much for this video Steve !
Merci pour la vidéo. J'ai déjà hâte de voir la prochaine! :)
Good points but I'm not sure Chinese people have an especially strong cultural ego. Really the language and the culture goes together. It's very easy for for a Ukrainian to assimilate into a different culture that isn't so different to their own (and nor is the language as you say). Take someone from Beijing who can't speak Cantonese. If they move to Hong Kong then they will quickly assimilate into the different culture of the South.
I meet few foreigners (Westerners/Anglophones/Europeans) who move to China who can speak good Mandarin yet they live there for years. These same people have learned Spanish by just living abroad. It's easy to become Spanish if you're from say the UK because the culture just really (relatively speaking) very different and neither is the language, as such the success reinforces their assimilation.
The problem is structural! The majority of the world colonised by the the West speaks an Indo-European language. From a Sino-centric perspective these are basically just dialects of one another dressed up as something completely alien.
in fact Mandarin speakers who live in Hong Kong or here locally in Vancouver and don’t want to learn Cantonese don’t. It’s purely an attitude problem since the vocabulary is extremely similar. generally the younger people do fit in and learn Cantonese.
What's that map in the background? Just wondering.
I suspect it might be an early map of North East North America, showing Greenland in the upper right corner and the Great Lakes in middle bottom. It's a map of what later became Canada.