Tim Ferris is a successful author and blogger. Here Steve, of www.lingq.com, provides his views of Ferriss' approach to language learning. Learn a language at: www.lingq.com Visit my blog: blog.thelinguis...
I got curious and wanted to see what the first videos were like on this channel. Saw the title and knew it was going to be a classic Steve rant made of gold and it truly was.
Tim Ferris did the ""The Tim Ferris Experiment" in which he tried to speak Tagalog to a level where he would be able to have an interview live on Filipino television in Tagalog by studying the language for a few days. Needless to say in the end he didn't speak a great deal, however he went on to try and convince people it was great success and that he can speak Tagalog.
There is a certain way of manipulating situations to give a positive impression. Tim Ferris likely has learned certain aspects of psychology and public speaking. He just does not expect to be called out and be tested on the spot. Benny Lewis, although has great advice, his level is not that high either, when you see videos, where he barely speaks or other people that go on an immersion trip, and the videos are all in English, instead of the target language.
i know portuguese, spanish and english, i am just learning japanese right now, and from my experience in living in another country with another culture that his method can work, however its just like he says in the book, people have diferent definicions about what it means to learn a language, to me its about comunicate your ideas and understand another person talking to you, and of course a little read and writing in that language, that is important to, but for example in order to do that you
I don't agree that learning grammar construction is ineffective. I enjoy learning how the language works because I find it interesting how languages express ideas and concepts (and sometimes cultural mindsets) in different ways, and with that am more incentivised to learn the language and recognise these concepts when i'm learning texts and dialogues and can express things differently. But I agree that "learning" a language in an hour is ridiculous!!
I think it also helps me to get quicker in learning words because I understand the meaning of the words and the context they are in rather than just the same word in my own language said differently
I believe that anyone can learn a language, meaning to read, understand and speak; that "deconstructing" a language in an hour does not do much, too many patterns and words; that it takes a lot of listening, reading and speaking to get there. You believe that I am American, wrong; that you are more sophisticated than Americans, wrong; that you can learn a language in an hour; wrong. BTW you are Australian, where a majority believe in God, miracles, ESP, angels.. Check the 2009 Neilsen poll.
Oh bullshit, most Aussies are only religious in name, it's disingenuous to say otherwise. Like most English people say they're they're Christian, but actually they just call themselves that when a poll asks them because they think they're good people and that means that they're christian. A very small percentage actually believe in miracle etc. The same is true of Australia. It's not like America, though you may enjoy telling yourself that.
I’ve only been able to find one example of him speaking a foreign language, Tagalog, and he seemed A2. I’ve known countless people who speak 3, 4 or more languages and they just speak them naturally. That he is a lifestyle coach makes me question the value of his advice. Too many people are making money by confidently pushing a miracle method. Some self help books are exceptional, but I suspect they are the tiny minority. I find languages very hard, and it’s taken several years to get to a level where I understand French quite well, there’s a long way to go. German will take longer. Am I dumb, or just a normal person? I reckon the latter.
Wow thanks for this video- I discovered it a little late I must say. I'm currently following Tim Ferriss's tips on getting fit/loosing weight- I sure hope it is better than his advice in language learning but he does seem fit. Also, I'll now be doing "something" for my fitness as opposed to nothing so at least there's that.
I think, in German the sentence structure is Subject-->Verb-->Object rather than Subject-->Object-->Verb. Verbs should ALWAYS be found in the second place in a sentence in German.
must live in that country, i think that what people forget about tim that he lives 3 moths in another country talking only with people in the language that he wants to learn, and necesity is the mother of all learning process, i think that the same logic forhaps should not work in you live in usa and want to learn japanese, for us people who travel a lot we need language to being able to survive in another place, its not the same that learning just to read a book or watch a movie.
and i want to ask you something, do you think that to learn japanese should i follow the method hiragana+katagana+kanji writing, or just go trying to talk and read, i talked with a friend that is japanese and he said to me that i dont need to learn to write kanji, understanding people and reading and understand its already good enough, not everybody should be a specialist in japanese, but do tell me what you think about this afirmation. thank you for your time.
wow, what unbelievable power of words, what might of philosophical thoughts, such well used highly sophisticated words and such poetry in the sentence...actually that statement says a lot about you, i am wondering if you even mastered your mothertongue
It is sad that the book is based on a lie, from the very start, but it is also typical for a contemporary author... And it is sad how some people always think that they can find some secret path of doing something the easy way and tricking all those fools who have been doing it "wrong" all this time. The author has manipulated that terrible human trait to earn money... Anyway, in my opinion, you've said the right things, and I find your posts very helpful... So thank you, and keep it up :)
Steve, I'd be interested in the Mandarin Cds that you use to warm up your language. Did I understand correctly 先生 Cds? Could you please provide a link? Thanks!
One could argue it is. Yes, "he eats an apple" is definitely SVO in German, "er isst einen Apfel". However, while the English infinitive is still SVO, "to eat an apple", in German it is "einen Apfel essen" - SOV.
So all I have to do is believe, and I'll be able to do anything? And all this time I've been fooled into believeing I couldn't fly! It's easy to half-assedly deconstruct a language. Learning it is another thing altogether. If you really were rational, you'd see this in less time than it takes for Tim Ferriss to 'learn' a language.
tim language method work for everybody, i think not however i will not say that all that he says is bullshit, but aproach language in a mental process and try to understand what works for you, in portuguese there is a saying... discover what everybody is doing and then do the contrary, there is always shortcuts to everything you dont need to take the long road, sometimes the shortcut its just a better road.
do people believe this guy? to me it sounds like very obvious crap for everyone who ever had contact witha foreign language. basicly if a language is from the same language family as your own, learning it will be easier as vocabulary and grammar will be similiar as is mentality of the people to some degree which helps connecting to the soul of the language + most likely you wont have to learn a new scripture just a few new letters.
Pimsleur Advertisments on Steroids! From ten Days to just one Hour! But be careful, that one Hour takes three whole Weeks to refresh lal I agree with this Video, it doesnt take long to refresh, a few Hours help tremendously.
