Lost in Immersion: Speaking French on the Web
By KATHERINE BOEHRET
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204044204574358620977621170.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Rosetta Stone
The home page of Totale shows your learning progress and options for playing language games by yourself or with other students.
If you've ever learned a foreign language, you know the vast difference between completing workbook activities and speaking with others. The latter experience can involve sounding out unfamiliar accents or guttural pronunciations and, though intimidating, is ultimately more rewarding. By immersing yourself in a language and navigating through situations, you learn how to speak and eventually think in that language.
Rosetta Stone has long used visual learning without translations by pairing words with images —one of the ways a baby learns to speak. For the past week, I've been testing its newest offering: Rosetta Stone Totale (pronounced toe-tall-A), which is the company's first fully Web-based language-learning program. It aims to immerse you in a language using three parts: online coursework that can take up to 150 hours; live sessions in which you can converse over the Web with a native-speaking coach and other students; and access to Rosetta World, a Web-based community where you can play language games by yourself or with other students to improve your skills.
Learning a Language Online
Rosetta Stone has launched a new online program for learning languages. The program works well, if you can afford it, Katie Boehret says.
Totale costs a whopping $999, so if you aren't serious about learning a language it's a tough sell. Rosetta Stone says this program is comparable to an in-country language-immersion school. The company's most expensive offering before Totale was a set of CDs (lessons one, two and three) that cost $549, included about 120 hours of course work and had no online components.
Since Totale is Web-based it doesn't come loaded onto several disks in a yellow box like the company's previous products. But despite this digital transition, buyers of Totale will still receive Rosetta's familiar yellow box, now filled with a USB headset and supplemental audio discs for practicing away from the PC—mostly while in the car.
I've spent over eight hours learning French in Totale throughout the past week, and I have to say that I'm surprised by how much I feel I've already learned. I realized this when I spent a 30-minute car ride listening to one of the supplemental audio CDs. I mentally identified and translated practically every vocabulary word and phrase, and I repeated the words aloud with what I thought sounded like a pretty decent French accent. This was after just four hours of work online.
Rosetta Stone
Totale users can speak with a coach and three others in studio sessions.
The core of Totale is the time-intensive online coursework. But even though this takes a lot of effort, its layout is attractive and each screen has only a few things on it so it doesn't feel overwhelming. Lessons include identifying photos of objects or situations as they are described aloud, writing phrases (my least favorite part), and using deductive reasoning to construct and dictate your own sentences about a photo. Totale's headset comes in handy during exercises that require you to repeat words or sounds out loud into the microphone.
Activities in Rosetta World—including solo, two-person and group games—were addictively fun. One game plays like Bingo: I listened to someone speaking French and marked words on the board as I heard them, racing to get five words horizontally, vertically or diagonally before my opponent beat me to it. I waded into these games cautiously at first, playing alone before I got familiar enough to challenge another Totale user.
Helpful indicators show how many people are available at any given time for each type of game in Rosetta World—meaning that person is logged into Totale and studying the same language as you. I never saw more than five people in the community, and it gets a little old playing (or worse, losing) to the same person after a while. Since Totale was only recently released, this community should grow over time.
A chat window at the bottom left of the browser window reminded me of Facebook's built-in instant-messaging program, listing users against whom I competed in online games. But unlike when I'm on Facebook, I didn't feel comfortable instant messaging with these people.
No Flashcards
Rosetta Stone's methods, while natural and easy to pick up, aren't what my brain expects when learning a different language. I minored in Spanish in college, learning in traditional classroom style by studying verb conjugations on flashcards and vocabulary definitions in English. So at certain times throughout Totale's French-only lessons, a part of me wanted to know the exact definition of a phrase or the reasoning behind why something was the way it was.
The moment of truth came when I attended a real-time, 50-minute studio session online with one of the live coaches—all of whom are native speakers—and two other students (four students is the maximum allowed per class).
Rosetta Stone recommends that students complete an entire unit before joining one of these studio sessions, and the only language you are permitted to speak during the studio is the one being studied. I proudly remembered all of my new vocabulary words as our coach pointed the cursor to animals, colors and clothing, asking us questions and prompting us to ask one another questions. The coach kindly corrected us when we made mistakes, made jokes about words and used an on-screen tool to type out a few of the harder phrases.
But I fumbled around trying to remember the correct phrases and grammar to go along with my vocabulary.
I frustratingly realized that I didn't even know how to ask my coach in French, "Why is that blanc and not blanche?" Our coach eventually answered that question and some others without anyone's prompting because it was obvhous that none of us knew what forms of some words were right or why; Totale's coursework doesn't include explanations. A few of the phrases our coach explained still puzzled me and I was starting to miss my flashcards from Spanish class.
Team Effort
Rosetta Stone is determined to make sure you don't feel like you're alone as you work through the Totale program. A "Customer Success Team" representative calls you within a day of your product purchase to answer any questions or concerns about how everything works. And this team keeps calling or emailing (you tell them which contact method you prefer) whenever you have passed a milestone in the program—or to encourage you to pick it up again if you haven't logged on in a while.
Even for $999, you can go back in and re-use every feature in Totale, but only for one year. You can reset your scores and completely start over, attending online studios again and playing games in Rosetta World as many times as you like. But once a year is up, you're finished with the program.
Rosetta Stone Totale works on all major Mac and Windows PC browsers, though participating in a studio session while using some browsers requires you turn off their pop-up blockers.
I still have work to do in Totale, but I'm looking forward to it—even though I find some aspects to be a bit vague. This program does a terrific job of immersing you in a language and may be the next best thing to living in a country, surrounded by native speakers. Best of all, unlike my semester abroad in Spain where college friends gave me my daily fix of the English language, Totale never lets you slip out of using the language you're studying.
—Edited by Walter S. Mossberg. Email Katherine Boehret at
mossbergsolution@wsj.com.
Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.
Smartphones Drive Language Learning Innovation
Smartphones Drive Language Learning Innovation
By Guy Newey (AFP)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iOEPaRbHPHlDzMdLN6v4ksy8IhvA
HONG KONG — The boom in "smartphones", led by Apple's iPhone, has inspired language learning tools that would have been inconceivable just months ago -- and a Hong Kong firm is leading the charge.
Tens of thousands of "apps" -- individual programmes that can be downloaded to the phone and do everything from recognising music playing in a bar to guiding tourists around a city -- have been developed for the iPhone since it was launched in early 2007.
The ability to combine audio, video, text and data files with an Internet connection to a central website has helped create a much-improved language learning device, says entrepreneur Chris Lonsdale(pictured).
"The technology allows you to have all the elements in one place and gives you new insights (into how you can learn languages)," said Lonsdale, whose app is a six-month course for Chinese people to learn English.
Lonsdale describes himself as "expert in human performance" rather than a teacher and has given advice to clients ranging from golfers to investment bankers trying to make the best use of their abilities.
In recent years, Lonsdale -- a fluent Mandarin and Cantonese speaker -- has begun tackling how people learn languages, and developed new techniques to counter the grammar-obsessed method that puts so many people off learning.
His work resulted in a course that he says could get you to a reasonable standard of Chinese in just two weeks, and a book, The Third Ear, which combines anecdotes and philosophy with unconventional language-learning techniques.
He also developed a range of CDs that combined language learning with music, based on the idea that words can stick in the brain with little effort if they are associated with a catchy tune.
But it was when Lonsdale and his team of 12, based mainly in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, realised the potential of the new iPhone that he was able to put his methods into a single "learning machine" app, called Third Ear Kungfu English.
Lonsdale hopes it will help people shatter the preconception that language learning is about innate talent.
"Learning languages is not about talent, it is about method," said the 50-year-old.
"If you spend two years investing in learning a language and you are still at a low level there is something wrong with the way you are doing it," added Lonsdale, who learned mandarin in six months.
The new product, which his team have been working on for eight months, will target the estimated 20 million middle-managers in China, in particular those working for multinational companies.
"You have this big group of people aged between 25 and 50 who really would like to have English, who need English, but think it is too difficult," he said.
The firm will sell the iPhone or an iPod Touch (the same product but without a phone) to the firms for 5,800 yuan (850 US dollars) with the app included, which will provide a six-month course of lessons, exercises and memory tricks.
One of the features that would have been impossible on previous systems is a video of a westerner pronouncing various words in English.
Just the speaker's mouth is visible, which allows the learner to copy the way the mouth looks when it is making a particular sound -- a technique that is natural to children as they are copying from their parents, said Lonsdale.
The connected nature of the iPhone also allows managers who have paid for the device to monitor how much it is being used and how much progress the student is making. It also allows for feedback.
And every file has been encrypted so that it can only be accessed through a password particular to the user, a key factor when dealing with a Chinese market notorious for piracy.
Estimates about how many apps have been created for the iPhone vary from 15,000 to 65,000. Creators usually either give them away for free or charge a small fee to download them.
A search of Apple's online store comes up with around 1,000 options for "language learning" ranging from dictionaries and flash cards to a language suite teaching Klingon, a language used in the sci-fi TV series Star Trek.
Ken Carroll, of Praxis Language whose ChinesePod brand of online and audio learning tools has more than 250,000 followers, said the new technology offered huge possibilities, but added new products had to be carefully tailored.
"You can't just take stuff from a book and cram it into the mobile space," said Carroll, whose products teach mandarin to English speakers.
"Learning content has to be designed for the medium. It also has to be designed for the environment in which it will be consumed."
Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.
U.S. Marines to put foreign language learning to use
Marines to put foreign language learning to use
By: Julie Fertig
http://news14.com/content/local_news/coastal/613252/marines-to-put-foreign-language-learning-to-use/
CAMP LEJEUNE – Some Camp Lejeune Marines are learning to master foreign languages that they could eventually use in Afghanistan and other places overseas.
The pilot program enables U.S. Marine Corps Special Operators to double as translators.
17 Marines are enrolled in the program. They're learning to speak one of five languages fluently, including Urdu (Pakistan), Poshtu (Pakistan), Dari (Afghanistan), French and Indonesian.
Linguistics program manager Todd Amis said Marine Special Operators will no longer have to rely on a third-party to communicate while deployed.
"I'm not saying that when you utilize a translator that things get out of place, but unfortunately it is better that we are the person being represented and our goals and ideas are being accomplished," Amis said.
Marines are selected for the program by performing well on a language efficiency test.
Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.
How Blogging Can Make You a Better Teacher
Lindsay Clanfield wrote: "Sn, my question is... could you tell me if blogging has improved your professional life and indeed made you a better teacher? What do you get out of it?"
My blog emerged from questions I received from some EFL teachers abroad. After giving detailed responses to several, I noticed that questions began to repeat, hence I came up with posting my responses to a blog for the benefit of multiple respondents. Becoming a Better EFL Teacher was then born back in October of 2005.
The blog provides both online and offline resources for teachers and often includes press releases, links to other blogs and websites and guest posts from EFL professionals worldwide. It’s main purpose still continues to be responses to questions from in excess of 3700 EFL teachers and readers each month from more than 136 countries around the globe. My ELT blog was ranked in the top 100 language-related blogs worldwide last year.
Preparing and writing posts for this blog has caused me to write and publish three language-learning-related books. One of them entitled, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, I give away free on request to any teacher or prospective teacher who e-mails me and asks for it. At this time I’ve sent out hundreds of copies of the free e-book and it still continues to be popular.
The blog also improves me professionally since I need to keep abreast of new techniques and trends in ELT and foreign language learning such as “Pecha Kucha” which almost no one’s heard of here in Colombia. I get countless e-mails, comments, questions and ideas from EFL professionals from around the globe, a few of whom even came to visit Colombia as a result of my blog post information. I post readings for my Santiago de Cali University EFL learners and my EFL Teacher Training post-graduate studies students too. This blog also resulted in several ELT-related speaking engagements and conference invitations along with an on-going article writing post at an authority website online.
Blogging about EFL and some of its many aspects has helped me in more ways than I could list. I encourage more EFL teachers to try it for themselves and their foreign language learners if they truly want to see growth in their professionalism and foreign language teaching and learning skills.
Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.
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