Quote of the Week...from Steve Kaufmann

I study on my own when I feel like it.  When I'm tired of whatever I'm doing, I move on to something else.                                   ---Steve Kaufmann

In his latest podcast, polyglot Steve Kaufmann, who has at different times in his 77-year-old existence mastered some 20 different languages, describes himself as a "lazy language learner".  He is the creator of LingQ (pronounced "link"), a language-learning website app, as well as a weekly podcaster I regularly listen to.  On one of Steve's latest shows, he gave the above quote after claiming that he is a lazy language learner.  That may be true now, but I happen to know that in his early adult years he underwent intensive language training in Chinese and Japanese while he served there in his country's (Canada) foreign service.  So, Steve Kaufmann knows on a deep level how to successfully tackle languages, and that can partially be attributed to life experiences that wouldn't be applicable to most of us, me included.  But I understand the gist of his argument, which is that repeated exposure to the target language, both listening and reading, can activate the mind's natural language learning abilities without subjecting oneself to graded classes with exams or memorizing long word lists and intricate grammar rules.  Yet in my own past I did memorize and repeatedly reviewed long word lists...including 1,700 Chinese characters...and this I feel has greatly helped me to understand what I am hearing and reading today.  I think each of us has our own special set of experiences, proclivities and skills that we bring to the table of language learning and that it's okay to use them to our advantage...no one formula fits everyone.  What I call "lazy" language learning greatly overlaps Steve's version while differing in some respects.  I just need to get easier access to instant translation of unknown words I come across in order to make my learning more meaningful...