Peacecorp language learning manual

I found the Peacecorp manual for language learning* on the internet the other day. I downloaded it and gave it a read. The manual is filled with good language learning tips, and it is clear that it has been put together by people who have been through the process. It’s not too text heavy, and is pretty practical— there's very little in the way of linguistic theory which was a relief for me.

Developing a learning plan

The manual advises identifying areas of your life where you need to use your target language and developing a language learning plan for these topics. Basically, you should identify something like “sending parcels at the post office” or, like the example they use in the manual, “chatting with other teachers during your lunch break” and prepare for this situation by preping vocab, and developing a possible dialogue that you might have in that situation. You should go over this with a native speaker, the book advises, and practice the pronunciation, register, etc. before going into the situation itself and trying out what you have learnt.

This seems like a pretty sensible way to go about things, so I thought I’d give it a go. Recently, I decided to improve my apartment with a few plants, so I needed to go to a florists to but some flowers. I prepared some vocabulary and a dialogue, (I uploaded the dialogue to lang-8 and got some feedback through that site), then I visited the florists and it seemed to go pretty well. I got to use a few new words and managed to buy myself a nice Chinese Bellflower for my veranda.

Chinese Bellflower:the fruits of language learning

Anyway, I think this is a good tactic. What other areas should you prepare for when you are learning a foreign language? Here’s a list of 5 topics that I think should be top of any language learner’s list:

1. Getting a haircut
A personal one this. I’m not a big fan of getting my haircut, in any language, and I put off going to a proper barber for years in Japan because of this and wrote about it here. But worth the effort, and barbers / hairdressers are great for language practice!

2. Asking for directions
When you’re living abroad, you’re going to get lost sooner or later. (The first time I went to China it took me about 20 minutes. It only took me another 5 minutes or so to find out that your average shopkeeper in Beijing speaks no English whatsoever!) Essential!

3. Asking where stuff is in a supermarket.
This one is another personal one. I’ve a tendency not to ask for help until I’ve exhausted every possible aisle and nook and cranny of the supermarket. Would probably have saved myself a lot of time if I’d just worked out how to ask in the first place. Took me much longer than it should have.

4. Ordering in a restaurant
Pretty obvious and always a favourite of beginner textbooks. But we’ve all gotta eat. This one will get a lot of use. It’s very easy to pick up food ordering language when you live where your target language is spoken, but I think it’s a good idea to cover it anyway, just to make sure you’re getting it right and the waiter isn’t just nodding politely at your dodgy language skills.

5. Telling your favorite story / joke
I’m not a big fan of people who bring prepared stories to the dinner table to be honest, but I don’t think it can hurt to think about a couple of stories that you’ve told in the past and think about how you might go about telling those in a foreign language— you could look up the vocabulary at least I guess.


So to sum up, I think this manual is pretty interesting. The only problem for me is is that it's clearly written for people who have a lot more time to devote to their studies than me. It is time consuming to put these learning plans into action, and is not something I can see myself doing on a regular basis (unless I can get into the habit I suppose).

How about you? When or Where do you think you need to set up a learning plan for? Have you done this kind of thing before?

*I've lost the link for this unfortunately, but I can email the pdf to anyone who's interested in getting it. Just leave a comment below. Or send a direct message to my twitter account.

Getting more opportunities to speak: a trip to the barbers

I've been bemoaning of late my lack of opportunities to use Japanese in daily life. This might sound kind of strange seeing as I live in Tokyo, but I don't actually have a circle of Japanese friends that I can meet with regularly and chat away in Japanese with. I do have Japanese friends, but I tend to hang out with them one at a time, and this means we often use English, a) because I get tired of trying to speak Japanese quickly, and b) because more often than not, my friend's English is usually better than my Japanese.

I think it's important to find a group of friends to hang out with because then the conversation naturally tends to be Japanese, and it also means you don't have to be supplying 50% of the input.

Anyway, that's besides the point of today's post. My lack of opportunities for natural conversation emphasised the importance to me of the more manufactured experiences that you can make for yourself like the one that I had yesterday and I want to mention here.

Since coming to Japan I've tended to shy away from using the old style barbers you see dotted around town. I think this may have something to with the fact that when I first arrived here I remember naively walking into one of these barbers expecting at least some basic English ability from the proprietor and suddenly realising that I had to put my measly two-to-three weeks of beginner level Japanese study into immediate effect. This wasn't overly successful if I remember correctly, and may have left a bit of a mental scar.

Anyway, since then I've mainly been using the 1000yen - 10 minute - barbers you find in most train stations around Tokyo. It's quick and simple and doesn't require a lot of communication. Yesterday however I went to an old-style barber close to where I teach in Tokyo for a change, (my last 10 minute haircut was a bit of a disaster prompting me to take the plunge) and I realised I've been missing out on a great opportunity for some Japanese conversational workout these past few years.

The barber was a very friendly older lady— in her 60s I'd say. I asked for a short-back-and-sides, we negotiated over the length of the clippers, and she got down to work. After a few minutes of silence I dived in and asked her how long that particular barber shop had been open. That was all I had to do: we didn't stop talking for the next 40-odd minutes (Well, if I'm honest she did most of the talking, but I got a few questions in, and offered a few opinions on this and that—the Royal Wedding for example). The haircut cost 3000 yen and it took 50 minutes longer than at the station shop, but as far as getting a language workout it was time and money well spent—the haircut wasn't bad either.

Barbers are a bit like taxi drivers I think, wherever you go in the world, they like to chat. So I think I'll be avoiding the 10-minute "fast-cut" barbers from now on, and take advantage of these barbers who despite costing a bit more have time for a good old-fashioned chinwag.