Tips and Tricks on Learning a New Language

I was fortunate to have spent time in both the United States and Taiwan while growing up. Although there were difficult transitional periods, bilingualism still came easier with cultural immersion. I am not fluent in any other languages but Chinese and English, but I know from my experience with Japanese how difficult it is to learn a language from scratch. This got me to think about how language learners who cannot go abroad and spend time in the language can learn faster. Here are some of my ideas. I’d love to hear your tips and tricks as well!

1. Take a class. The most basic and widely used language-learning method. The benefit of a large class is that you have a larger resource base; although the downside is that each student receives less individual attention from the teacher.
2. One-on-One Tutoring. Personal tutoring sessions will help you focus on topics and areas that are important to you, be it conversational skills, vocabulary building, or grammar. You can also set your own schedule (depending on the availability of your tutor) and devote a whole session to use and practice the language.
3. Find Movies or TV Shows in the Foreign Language. Watching shows with subtitles will enhance your listening skills and you can match what you hear with the text you see. The visuals and story lines make it easy for you to understand the context, so you’ll still be able to follow the story even when you slowly stray away from the subtitles. When you’re entertained, you  learn faster. I watched a lot of Korean dramas and Japanese dramas during my college years. Through the hours of me-and-TV time, I not only became familiar with the Japanese and Korean culture, but also picked up vocabulary. Because I watched the dramas with Chinese subtitles, it also helped me keep up with my Chinese skills.
4. Read Short News Articles in the Language You Want to Learn. As you slowly build up vocabulary, you can move on to read more difficult or longer pieces. Studies show that it’s better to read material that’s slightly above your level because a) you’d feel more encouraged by how much you know, b) when there’s less new information to retain, you actually learn better. 
   
5. Translate as a Learning Tool.This doesn’t have to be formal at all. You can translate in your head a line on TV, a short ad on the bus, or even a few sentences that strikes your fancy. Training your brain to think in the foreign language is the key here. And when you find that you can’t translate something off the cuff, write down the words you need to complete the translation, and figure it out when you can access a dictionary. Baby steps, right? A free website called Duolingo, a “translate the web, learn a language” program, actually has brought to the fore conversations about translation as a learning tool. They currently have the site set up for Spanish and French learners, and have plans to launch Portuguese and Chinese sections as well. I’m not sure how I feel about using people’s desire to learn to get free labor for translating the web (and stealing jobs from translators!), I’m also not sure if there are copyright issues here, but maybe this is a program worth exploring. What do you think?
6. Find People to Converse With. It’s not always easy to find people to speak with in the foreign language you want to learn and in a level that could benefit you. Some cultural organizations might offer language sessions or meetings, though, so that’s an avenue to look into. You might also want to try meetup.com, a site that helps organizations and groups facilitate meetings with people of similar interests, and see if there are conversation groups that may suit your needs.
7. Listen to the Radio. Depending on your language skill level, this may or may not work for you. I’ve tried listening to the Korean news station, hoping that with time I’ll be able to pick up more words or learn the grammar, but without a large enough vocabulary base, the news was gibberish to me. One way that could be helpful to new language learners, is listening to podcasts that also have transcripts online. Going through the transcript first, to translate the material, and then listening to it will help you understand the text, build vocabulary, and improve your listening skills.

In the end though, learning a language is all about spending time with it. The more time you spend with the language, the better you’ll get. I hope some of these tips are useful to you!

Thoughts on Translation: Rise of the Planet of the Machines

It doesn’t look like monkeys will take over the world anytime soon, despite what the movie, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, says. However, machines are already taking over the world. We are so reliant on technology now, that without it, very few of us are able to actually function.

I recently started working with an organization on reviewing machine translation of texts. Rather than translating, I see it more as editing or correcting, but that’s not the point. It’s been fun and entertaining, and it has also convinced me that machines still have a long way to go.

We see mistranslated machine translations all over the internet and share the hilarity of some of these incorrect translations with our friends among our social-networking tools. I never thought much about the errors but wondered why people or institutions are fine with putting their reputation at stake, using shoddy translation tools (and not having a human review the translation for accuracy) that they should know fully well is not consistently accurate

True, our programmers are teaching machines vocabulary and grammar, and teaching them to make word choices based on surrounding text, but it is still not enough. Machine translations are often ridiculous because cultural nuances are not built in their system, they don’t know that one word can mean another in different contexts, and sometimes they’re not flexible about moving text around for better syntax.

I enjoy reading 「humorous」 machine-translated text, and I’m glad that we have yet to perfect this technology. Because until we program machines to produce completely accurate translations, I’ll have a job.

Literature in Translation: “Liu Qí-Wei’s Life as an Adventurer” by Liu Níng-Sheng

In 1993, I went to Papua New Guinea with my dad, Liú Qíwěi, who was then 82 years old. On our trip he lamented: “life has a way of messing with me: When I had the energy to travel, no one would sponsor my research; now that I’m old and have sponsors, I’ve lost all my energy.” However, when he was seventy, he was still researching different aboriginal tribes and collecting data on the Borneo culture. My dad was a strong man.

At our last stop in Papua New Guinea, everyone was suffering from mosquitoes bites along the Sepik river. Even with the most potent bug spray, the mosquitoes were unstoppable; and because I was filming and had to keep a steady hand, the mosquitoes were unscrupulous in their attacks. By the time I told my dad, “I’m not sure I can take this any longer,” my hands were utterly swollen. Seeing my condition, my dad finally agreed to go home with me a few days earlier than planned and we never went further up the river.  I was once bitten by fleas when we were in the Tali highlands in China. It was extremely itchy and the swell from the bite was as large as a water glass. To stop the swelling, a shaman grabbed a few bushels of urtica thunbergiana, pulled up my shirt, and repeatedly hit my body with them. The excruciating pain left me covered in cold sweat; however, the ritual also stopped the itching. Throughout the whole trip, my father was pickier than I was about our diet, which consisted of “vegetables,” also known as tree leaves, combined with fish, canned meat, or crackers. With no variety day in and day out, he became tired of the meals and would sometimes skip lunch and just drink water instead. What he enjoyed most was instant coffee, so we brought some of that with us.

From that adventure I learned of my father’s deep respect for foreign cultures–he never treated the people as lower class, the way most travelers would. When I once again traveled through Papua New Guinea, I saw that most tourists didn’t judge foreign cultures fairly. Instead, they would use the cultural perspectives innate in them to criticize a local culture. For example, when purchasing food, they would say, “So dirty!” or “Is this edible?” These attitudes are indeed worth discussing.

When I sat on the floor with a Papua New Guinean to chat, I could tell from the body language of other tourists why cultural exchanges are so difficult. They don’t have the desire to understand, let alone identify [with the locals]. The Papa New Guinean later said to me: “You’re the only one who’s willing to sit with us, to identify with us.” How tedious would life be if the whole world spoke only one language, ate the same food, and dressed the same? Through my dad’s mentoring and influence, I learned the importance of respecting other cultures. When I once passed through Tahiti, I noticed that the aboriginals were working hard to restore their native music and dance after enduring foreign influence over the past hundreds of years.

When Paul Gauguin went to Tahiti, he argued with the local government, which was trying to suppress the local culture after missionaries were offended by the perceived flirtation of the native dances. In fact, promoting reproduction and the longevity of their culture was the essence of their dances. Many aboriginals are fond of war; some are even cannibals and head hunters. Aboriginals partake in cannibalism believing that it allows them to attain the spirit and wisdom of the hunted, whom they see as their respected enemies. [But without understanding], we criticize their cultures and customs, and simply think that their behaviors are amoral and uncivilized. However, we need to first learn about their culture to understand the reasoning behind such ceremonies. These are all lessons I learned from my father.

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Vocabulary:

1. 巴布亞紐幾內亞 (Bā bùyà Niǔ Jī nèi yà)-Papua New Guinea. This usage is most common in Taiwan.  Abbreviated version: 巴紐(Bāniǔ).
2. 感嘆 (gǎn tàn)-To sigh, to lament.
3. 造化 (zào huà)-Nature, the creator.
4. 弄人(nòng rén)-To mess with someone.
5. 部落 (bù luò)- Tribe.
6. 原住民 (yuán zhù mín)-Indigenous peoples / aborigine.
7. 婆羅洲 (pó luó zhōu)-Borneo.
8. 採集 (cǎijí)-To gather,  to collect, to harvest.
9. 熬 (áo)-Endure.
10. 防蚊藥 (fáng wén yào)- Bug (mosquito) spray. 防: to protect , to defend, to prevent. 蚊: mosquito. 藥: drug, medicine.
11. 吃不消 (chī bu xiāo)-To be unable to tolerate or endure / to find sth difficult to manage
12. 肆無忌憚 (sì wú jì dàn)- Unrestrained; unscrupulous. 肆: indulge. 無: without. 忌: fear. 憚: to shrink (from fear).
13. 跳蚤 (tiào zao)-Fleas.
14. 巫師 (wū shī)-Wizard, magician.
15. 咬人貓 (yǎo rén māo)-Urtica thunbergiana.
16. 民族 (mín zú)-Nationality, ethnic group.
17. 商榷(shāng què)-To discuss, to bring up for discussion.
18. 認識 (rèn shi)-To understand, to become acquainted to.
19. 認同(rèn tóng)- To identify with, to recognize, to approve of.
20. 薰陶 (xūn táo)-Influence.
21. 風俗 (fēng sú)-Custom (social).
22. 壓制 (yā zhì)-Suppress.
23. 傳教士 (chuán jiào shì)-Missionary.
24. 西匹河 (xī pī hé)- Sepik river.
25. 大溪地 (dà xī dì)-Tahiti.

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Original commentary, “劉其偉的探險生涯,” by 劉寧生著, from 聯合報副刊. Dated November 14, 2011.