Monday, August 17, 2020

realizable proficiency

"We have not yet got away from education designed for the sons of gentlemen. Educational Platonism sacrifices realizable proficiency by encouraging the pursuit of unattainable perfection."
- The Loom of Language

So, you see, all this anger and hatred towards people who say one can learn a language in a week, 10 days, 3 months or any other shortish time period, is mostly misplaced.
Maybe people are jealous for a "charlatan" getting the attention, fame and even money and opportunities they think should go for "real" people, who have spend hours, days, weeks, months, years studying a language and have reached an almost native proficiency in it.
Maybe people feel cheated thinking they have been spending a lot of time doing things while others just whiz by doing nothing much.
Maybe we have the Lutheran attitude of "only a thing one has to work hard for is worth something".
All this is, of course, total BS. 

I'm still doing Duolingo for Polish. Other than that... nah. I fear my language time has passed for this year. :-( Did not learn enough Polish to read the Witcher in original language. But I am learning Polish. :-)


Some links :-D





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