Salut,
The power of my awesome toy, the iPod Touch, has recently introduced me to the world of podcasting, or more specifically, listening to podcasts. Obviously podcasts can be about anything - educational, comedy, hobbies, sports, news and talkback. But it was the educational podcasts that I was looking for.
It just so happens that a friend of mine had subscribed to a podcast channel teaching listeners how to speak Cantonese. He would listen to these sound bites while he travelled to work, or on his coffee break. So I thought, instead of listening to music on my iPod while on the bus or walking to lunch, maybe I could do the same thing and use my idle time to learn a new language.
Let me share a story on why I've decided to learn a language via a podcast channel. When I was holidaying in France over New Years, I expected nearly everyone to speak some English. Instead I got a big shock when the shopkeeper spoke to me in French as I was paying for my groceries. If it wasn't for the tourist behind me in the queue, who happened to know French and translate what the shopkeeper said, then I would have looked like a complete moron. The shopkeeper asked if I had smaller change, as I handed her a large Euro note.
So I immediately realised from that episode that it was important, if not necessary, to know some of the local lingo. Not a major problem - I could say phrases like Hello and Thank You in French, plus a few more. But I immediately got schooled by a bunch of 3-year olds on the slopes. As we were waiting in line to use the chairlift, the kids let me through first. As you do, I said merci, which was Thank You in French. Immediately they started giggling amongst themselves. They said a few words in French, and I immediately heard them say merci but in a different way than I said it earlier. And immediately I knew I made a faux pas. I pronounced merci as if I said mercy in English, but it was totally the wrong pronounciation. They roll the mer sound of merci, as if mer rhymes with near in English. Of course I didn't understand what they said in French, but when they laughed and said merci among other French words, I knew what they were getting at. They were trying to correct my French! Or maybe laughing at my lame French. But those kids were so cute I didn't mind them laughing at me. At least I made an effort to converse with those kids in their lingo.
Those two episodes reminded me that it was important to learn some common phrases, and actually knowing how to say them properly. And since I'll be travelling around Europe, and since Europe has many different languages, it was important that I learned these languages at a basic level, or just enough to get around without having to speak pidgeon-English to those poor locals who don't understand English.
The big question is: what languages do I learn? Well just for starters, since I travelled to France, I should learn French. And since Tina, my housemate, is German I thought learning German would be a good idea too. Incidently I've also registered for the Berlin Marathon in September (more on that later), so I hope to have some German under my belt by race day. By the way, I haven't told Tina about my new-found interest in European languages. I hope to surprise her with my newly-learned German! Sehr gut!
So using iTunes, I managed to find free podcast channels that teach French and German and I have downloaded all the podcasts to date onto my iPod. So far I have been listening to the French podcasts whenever I get a spare moment, e.g. travelling to work on the bus, during my lunchtimes and work breaks. And after a few day of listening to 3 podcasts repeatedly, I now know a handful of useful French phrases, such as what is your name, where are you from, I come from New Zealand, and see you later.
This list of languages will obviously grow as I visit more countries. Spanish, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Dutch - the list goes on and obviously I'll have a useful toolbox of words and phrases as I continue learning. I've also found that some words share similarities to other languages, and even English, which will hopefully make learning these languages easier.
I'm not multi-linugal by any means, but hopefully this is a first step towards being multi-lingual. Being Chinese, it's ironic that I can't speak Chinese to save my life. A lot of Chinese people I know, that weren't born in a Chinese-speaking country, can still speak Chinese fluently, which is quite sobering for me because they have obviously put in the effort to learn their mother language, whereas I did not. I learned Japanese at school for 5 years, but when I left school I didn't use it. And when I didn't use it, I gradually forgot most of it, which is regrettable.
The good thing is that I have a keen interest in languages and cultures, which puts me in good stead to learn new languages. Back in high school I did very well in Japanese, mostly because I was interested in it. I even tried to learn Chinese by myself a few years ago, and even though I learnt some Chinese, unfortunately I couldn't continue because of other commitments. Perhaps I can subscribe to a podcast that teaches listeners how to speak Chinese, but since I'm in Europe now I think learning a European language is probably a bit more important.
The podcast encourages the listener to repeat the French phrase that is being taught. This is a bit problematic when there are other people around you; it would look strange when they see a Chinese guy uttering French phrases to himself for no reason. So I basically murmer the phrase quitely in case I get a few weird stares from other people. I'm quite happy with my progress in learning French, and hopefully this progress will encourage me to keep on learning..... until the podcast channel stops podcasting.
But hopefully the people behind the podcast will continue the good work.
À la prochaine! (that's until next time in French)
The power of my awesome toy, the iPod Touch, has recently introduced me to the world of podcasting, or more specifically, listening to podcasts. Obviously podcasts can be about anything - educational, comedy, hobbies, sports, news and talkback. But it was the educational podcasts that I was looking for.
It just so happens that a friend of mine had subscribed to a podcast channel teaching listeners how to speak Cantonese. He would listen to these sound bites while he travelled to work, or on his coffee break. So I thought, instead of listening to music on my iPod while on the bus or walking to lunch, maybe I could do the same thing and use my idle time to learn a new language.
Let me share a story on why I've decided to learn a language via a podcast channel. When I was holidaying in France over New Years, I expected nearly everyone to speak some English. Instead I got a big shock when the shopkeeper spoke to me in French as I was paying for my groceries. If it wasn't for the tourist behind me in the queue, who happened to know French and translate what the shopkeeper said, then I would have looked like a complete moron. The shopkeeper asked if I had smaller change, as I handed her a large Euro note.
So I immediately realised from that episode that it was important, if not necessary, to know some of the local lingo. Not a major problem - I could say phrases like Hello and Thank You in French, plus a few more. But I immediately got schooled by a bunch of 3-year olds on the slopes. As we were waiting in line to use the chairlift, the kids let me through first. As you do, I said merci, which was Thank You in French. Immediately they started giggling amongst themselves. They said a few words in French, and I immediately heard them say merci but in a different way than I said it earlier. And immediately I knew I made a faux pas. I pronounced merci as if I said mercy in English, but it was totally the wrong pronounciation. They roll the mer sound of merci, as if mer rhymes with near in English. Of course I didn't understand what they said in French, but when they laughed and said merci among other French words, I knew what they were getting at. They were trying to correct my French! Or maybe laughing at my lame French. But those kids were so cute I didn't mind them laughing at me. At least I made an effort to converse with those kids in their lingo.
Those two episodes reminded me that it was important to learn some common phrases, and actually knowing how to say them properly. And since I'll be travelling around Europe, and since Europe has many different languages, it was important that I learned these languages at a basic level, or just enough to get around without having to speak pidgeon-English to those poor locals who don't understand English.
The big question is: what languages do I learn? Well just for starters, since I travelled to France, I should learn French. And since Tina, my housemate, is German I thought learning German would be a good idea too. Incidently I've also registered for the Berlin Marathon in September (more on that later), so I hope to have some German under my belt by race day. By the way, I haven't told Tina about my new-found interest in European languages. I hope to surprise her with my newly-learned German! Sehr gut!
So using iTunes, I managed to find free podcast channels that teach French and German and I have downloaded all the podcasts to date onto my iPod. So far I have been listening to the French podcasts whenever I get a spare moment, e.g. travelling to work on the bus, during my lunchtimes and work breaks. And after a few day of listening to 3 podcasts repeatedly, I now know a handful of useful French phrases, such as what is your name, where are you from, I come from New Zealand, and see you later.
This list of languages will obviously grow as I visit more countries. Spanish, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Dutch - the list goes on and obviously I'll have a useful toolbox of words and phrases as I continue learning. I've also found that some words share similarities to other languages, and even English, which will hopefully make learning these languages easier.
I'm not multi-linugal by any means, but hopefully this is a first step towards being multi-lingual. Being Chinese, it's ironic that I can't speak Chinese to save my life. A lot of Chinese people I know, that weren't born in a Chinese-speaking country, can still speak Chinese fluently, which is quite sobering for me because they have obviously put in the effort to learn their mother language, whereas I did not. I learned Japanese at school for 5 years, but when I left school I didn't use it. And when I didn't use it, I gradually forgot most of it, which is regrettable.
The good thing is that I have a keen interest in languages and cultures, which puts me in good stead to learn new languages. Back in high school I did very well in Japanese, mostly because I was interested in it. I even tried to learn Chinese by myself a few years ago, and even though I learnt some Chinese, unfortunately I couldn't continue because of other commitments. Perhaps I can subscribe to a podcast that teaches listeners how to speak Chinese, but since I'm in Europe now I think learning a European language is probably a bit more important.
The podcast encourages the listener to repeat the French phrase that is being taught. This is a bit problematic when there are other people around you; it would look strange when they see a Chinese guy uttering French phrases to himself for no reason. So I basically murmer the phrase quitely in case I get a few weird stares from other people. I'm quite happy with my progress in learning French, and hopefully this progress will encourage me to keep on learning..... until the podcast channel stops podcasting.
But hopefully the people behind the podcast will continue the good work.
À la prochaine! (that's until next time in French)
4 comments:
We'll see if my new years resolution to learn French can come true...
You just concentrate on breaking the sound barrier first!
multi tasking dude!
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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