language facility
[email protected]
In a message dated 3/22/05 7:37:32 AM, kbcdlovejo@... writes:
<< So I think it's a Howard Gardner thang. Some are good,
some are not, and some have to work at it. But I really don't
think we are "programmed" to learn the languages of our origins! >>
I agree. I have a friend who EASILY learned Spanish, Navajo and Mandarin
Chinese all within the same few years. Those languages are EXTREMELY and
entirely unrelated to the others. He went to China to teach English. It didn't go
well. He has a natural ability to understand grammar and to pick up and
remember vocabulary, but one of Gardner's abilities is not his best thing.
Interpersonal. He wasn't even interested in learning what offended other people,
and China's a bad place to live for one who feels that way. He liked to think
that his words should just be taken literally and the social stuff was optional.
OOps.
Sandra
<< So I think it's a Howard Gardner thang. Some are good,
some are not, and some have to work at it. But I really don't
think we are "programmed" to learn the languages of our origins! >>
I agree. I have a friend who EASILY learned Spanish, Navajo and Mandarin
Chinese all within the same few years. Those languages are EXTREMELY and
entirely unrelated to the others. He went to China to teach English. It didn't go
well. He has a natural ability to understand grammar and to pick up and
remember vocabulary, but one of Gardner's abilities is not his best thing.
Interpersonal. He wasn't even interested in learning what offended other people,
and China's a bad place to live for one who feels that way. He liked to think
that his words should just be taken literally and the social stuff was optional.
OOps.
Sandra
[email protected]
In a message dated 3/22/2005 10:51:29 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:
<< So I think it's a Howard Gardner thang. Some are good,
some are not, and some have to work at it. But I really don't
think we are "programmed" to learn the languages of our origins! >>
This makes sense to me. I struggle with languages. I grew up in a Navajo
community but had difficulty even learning that language as a young child.
(tough language anyway and wasn't even written down when I was young) In
college, I took two Spanish courses and one German course and ended up dropping
both because of my frustration.
However, I learned sign language and become very fluent quite easily.
While I am strong in linguistic intelligence, it is all visually related. I
have difficulty processing auditory information unless I have something
written to go along with it. I can follow the written foreign language
information but when it comes to understanding and speaking it, I'm just lost. I
really understood this for the first time just recently and can now see all the
ways I've learned to compensate for this.
I like to have the subtitles on when I watch a movie or TV. The kids know
not to read an e-mail or newspaper article to me because I just have so much
trouble understanding it unless I can see it. In school I learned to take
very specific notes because I just couldn't depend on
just listening to understand the material.
My daughter seems to be similar to me. Brenna loves to read books and will
usually read in the room with us rather than watch a movie. She told me this
morning of being at an Odyssey of the Mind meeting last night where a friend
was reading an explanation of a problem clarification and she just couldn't
understand it until she read it herself. Logan on the other hand, will stop
in mid step if he sees and hears a TV show or video game on a screen and
completely can tune out anything else in the room. He seems to be able to process
both visual and auditory information easily but is stronger
logically/mathematically than he is linguistically.
I find it all fascinating. I wish I'd understood this in my college years
and even a few years ago when I tried to learn some Spanish with the kids. It
might have saved me a lot of frustration and possibly I could have found
another method of learning. Because of all the negative experiences, I'm
hesitant to try again. I am fairly fluent in English....>G<
Gail
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
SandraDodd@... writes:
<< So I think it's a Howard Gardner thang. Some are good,
some are not, and some have to work at it. But I really don't
think we are "programmed" to learn the languages of our origins! >>
This makes sense to me. I struggle with languages. I grew up in a Navajo
community but had difficulty even learning that language as a young child.
(tough language anyway and wasn't even written down when I was young) In
college, I took two Spanish courses and one German course and ended up dropping
both because of my frustration.
However, I learned sign language and become very fluent quite easily.
While I am strong in linguistic intelligence, it is all visually related. I
have difficulty processing auditory information unless I have something
written to go along with it. I can follow the written foreign language
information but when it comes to understanding and speaking it, I'm just lost. I
really understood this for the first time just recently and can now see all the
ways I've learned to compensate for this.
I like to have the subtitles on when I watch a movie or TV. The kids know
not to read an e-mail or newspaper article to me because I just have so much
trouble understanding it unless I can see it. In school I learned to take
very specific notes because I just couldn't depend on
just listening to understand the material.
My daughter seems to be similar to me. Brenna loves to read books and will
usually read in the room with us rather than watch a movie. She told me this
morning of being at an Odyssey of the Mind meeting last night where a friend
was reading an explanation of a problem clarification and she just couldn't
understand it until she read it herself. Logan on the other hand, will stop
in mid step if he sees and hears a TV show or video game on a screen and
completely can tune out anything else in the room. He seems to be able to process
both visual and auditory information easily but is stronger
logically/mathematically than he is linguistically.
I find it all fascinating. I wish I'd understood this in my college years
and even a few years ago when I tried to learn some Spanish with the kids. It
might have saved me a lot of frustration and possibly I could have found
another method of learning. Because of all the negative experiences, I'm
hesitant to try again. I am fairly fluent in English....>G<
Gail
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 3/22/2005 10:13:27 AM Mountain Standard Time,
gailbrocop@... writes:
I can follow the written foreign language
information but when it comes to understanding and speaking it, I'm just
lost.
Me too!
I can generally read along in Spanish or French and speak the words in
English (like translating directions or whatever, or a webpage if it comes up in
French or Spanish), but I wouldn't be able to read it aloud without botching it
in those languages.
-=-
I like to have the subtitles on when I watch a movie or TV. The kids know
not to read an e-mail or newspaper article to me because I just have so
much
trouble understanding it unless I can see it. -=-
Me too.
Especially if they're Brit or Australian, I can miss a phrase entirely.
And if the subtitles are on I'm so multi-processing that if someone says
somethign to me I can understand them and keep up with the movie. I don't carry
on whole conversations, I can pause. But if I'm listening with subtitles
and I hear ANYthing that outranks the movie, I have to rewind to that part and
hear it again. If the subtitles were on, I'm okay.
-=In school I learned to take
very specific notes because I just couldn't depend on
just listening to understand the material. -=-
Me too, but my kids aren't that way and I suspect it MIGHT be from being
later readers and learning to remember things they heard. Maybe it's more of an
indwelling thing, but I feel crippled sometimes by needing things in writing,
and I live amidst piles of paper with notes and dates and times. That's no
good way to live.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
gailbrocop@... writes:
I can follow the written foreign language
information but when it comes to understanding and speaking it, I'm just
lost.
Me too!
I can generally read along in Spanish or French and speak the words in
English (like translating directions or whatever, or a webpage if it comes up in
French or Spanish), but I wouldn't be able to read it aloud without botching it
in those languages.
-=-
I like to have the subtitles on when I watch a movie or TV. The kids know
not to read an e-mail or newspaper article to me because I just have so
much
trouble understanding it unless I can see it. -=-
Me too.
Especially if they're Brit or Australian, I can miss a phrase entirely.
And if the subtitles are on I'm so multi-processing that if someone says
somethign to me I can understand them and keep up with the movie. I don't carry
on whole conversations, I can pause. But if I'm listening with subtitles
and I hear ANYthing that outranks the movie, I have to rewind to that part and
hear it again. If the subtitles were on, I'm okay.
-=In school I learned to take
very specific notes because I just couldn't depend on
just listening to understand the material. -=-
Me too, but my kids aren't that way and I suspect it MIGHT be from being
later readers and learning to remember things they heard. Maybe it's more of an
indwelling thing, but I feel crippled sometimes by needing things in writing,
and I live amidst piles of paper with notes and dates and times. That's no
good way to live.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Vicki A. Dennis
Everyone keep talking!! I'm going to print out the thread to give to
others in my household as a possible explanation to "how things work" for
"me".
Aren't TV captions wonderful?!
vicki
I like to have the subtitles on when I watch a movie or TV. The kids know
not to read an e-mail or newspaper article to me because I just have so
much
trouble understanding it unless I can see it. -=-
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
others in my household as a possible explanation to "how things work" for
"me".
Aren't TV captions wonderful?!
vicki
I like to have the subtitles on when I watch a movie or TV. The kids know
not to read an e-mail or newspaper article to me because I just have so
much
trouble understanding it unless I can see it. -=-
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
AlysonRR
=-=-=-=While I am strong in linguistic intelligence, it is all visually
related. I
have difficulty processing auditory information unless I have something
written to go along with it. I can follow the written foreign language
information but when it comes to understanding and speaking it, I'm
just lost. I
really understood this for the first time just recently and can now see
all the
ways I've learned to compensate for this.
I like to have the subtitles on when I watch a movie or TV. The kids
know
not to read an e-mail or newspaper article to me because I just have so
much
trouble understanding it unless I can see it. In school I learned to
take
very specific notes because I just couldn't depend on
just listening to understand the material.=-=-=-=
I have the same thing, and I didn't realize it til college, either. My
freshman year I got my first C ever in a large lecture class - I
couldn't see the instructor's lips to get visual clues for the lectures.
My second C was from an instructor who lectured with her back to the
class, while writing on the board. But her chalkboard writings were
only part of the lecture - what she was saying sometimes changed the
meaning of what she wrote, so I didn't get it. After those two
experiences I read a book called "Smart but Feeling Dumb" which talked
about "auditory dyslexia" (I'm sure it's not called that any more -
maybe it's part of auditory processing disorder?) and I put it all
together. Just like you, I use subtitles on tv shows. I can't
understand when someone reads aloud. I feel asocial at parties because
I can't understand what people are saying in the midst of crowded rooms.
It's not a hearing problem - it's an understanding problem. In grad
school I had to re-take the classes I got Cs in (they were central to my
area of study and my advisors wanted to be certain I had a good
grounding in them). In the 10 person round-table type of course at that
university, I aced both. I think it's fascinating that our brains work
so differently! Why does a school system think they can effectively
teach everyone the same material when all our brains learn in such
different ways???
Alyson
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
related. I
have difficulty processing auditory information unless I have something
written to go along with it. I can follow the written foreign language
information but when it comes to understanding and speaking it, I'm
just lost. I
really understood this for the first time just recently and can now see
all the
ways I've learned to compensate for this.
I like to have the subtitles on when I watch a movie or TV. The kids
know
not to read an e-mail or newspaper article to me because I just have so
much
trouble understanding it unless I can see it. In school I learned to
take
very specific notes because I just couldn't depend on
just listening to understand the material.=-=-=-=
I have the same thing, and I didn't realize it til college, either. My
freshman year I got my first C ever in a large lecture class - I
couldn't see the instructor's lips to get visual clues for the lectures.
My second C was from an instructor who lectured with her back to the
class, while writing on the board. But her chalkboard writings were
only part of the lecture - what she was saying sometimes changed the
meaning of what she wrote, so I didn't get it. After those two
experiences I read a book called "Smart but Feeling Dumb" which talked
about "auditory dyslexia" (I'm sure it's not called that any more -
maybe it's part of auditory processing disorder?) and I put it all
together. Just like you, I use subtitles on tv shows. I can't
understand when someone reads aloud. I feel asocial at parties because
I can't understand what people are saying in the midst of crowded rooms.
It's not a hearing problem - it's an understanding problem. In grad
school I had to re-take the classes I got Cs in (they were central to my
area of study and my advisors wanted to be certain I had a good
grounding in them). In the 10 person round-table type of course at that
university, I aced both. I think it's fascinating that our brains work
so differently! Why does a school system think they can effectively
teach everyone the same material when all our brains learn in such
different ways???
Alyson
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
mamaaj2000
--- In [email protected], SandraDodd@a... wrote:
something on the calendar, I'm much more likely to remember it than
if not--even if I don't go back and read the calendar. Same thing
with taking notes in college. Reading them back before an exam didn't
do much to help, but having written them--and maybe re-writing them--
did matter. I can pull up the mental image of what I wrote better
than I can read the words, I think.
So maybe...if I write out the musical notes of a song, I'll be more
likely to sing it in tune?? Hey, maybe...at least I'd be more likely
to head the right direction up or down the scale, which is hit or
miss usually.
--aj
> -=In school I learned to takebeing
> very specific notes because I just couldn't depend on
> just listening to understand the material. -=-
>
> Me too, but my kids aren't that way and I suspect it MIGHT be from
> later readers and learning to remember things they heard. Maybeit's more of an
> indwelling thing, but I feel crippled sometimes by needing thingsin writing,
> and I live amidst piles of paper with notes and dates and times.For me, it's the act of writing that cements the memory. If I write
something on the calendar, I'm much more likely to remember it than
if not--even if I don't go back and read the calendar. Same thing
with taking notes in college. Reading them back before an exam didn't
do much to help, but having written them--and maybe re-writing them--
did matter. I can pull up the mental image of what I wrote better
than I can read the words, I think.
So maybe...if I write out the musical notes of a song, I'll be more
likely to sing it in tune?? Hey, maybe...at least I'd be more likely
to head the right direction up or down the scale, which is hit or
miss usually.
--aj