This is Day 28 of the French Revolution, my quest to teach myself about French for 30 days. I'm doing this for the sake of learning more about languages in general and about language learning in general. So far, not only have I learned a lot about French (and in the process learned more about how my native tongue, English, works), I've learned a lot about language acquisition.
During the final stretch of the project, I found myself falling into a predictable pattern of study: flashcard review, flashcard making, rinse and repeat. This was great for learning French, but not so great for learning about language acquisition in general. Plus, it was taking a lot of time every day, and I've decided to spend my time more pleasurably than with the flashcard deck :) So, I'm cutting the flashcard review down to almost nothing. I have a thesis, the "flashcards for busy people" thesis, that with appropriate Spaced Repetition Software, any positive amount of time-per-day will suffice to give full maintenance, in the big picture- although, a small amount of time will make the maintenance take much longer to get going smoothly. By cutting my flashcard time down to very small amounts (like 10 minutes a day), I can test this thesis to its logical extremities. It's an excellent chance to learn about language maintenance.
ANKI UPDATING
In response to my comments about failed flashcards in Anki, which I recorded on Days 24 and 25, the Anki team, ever vigilant, has already incorporated some configurable changes into the latest beta (beta versions of Anki can be downloaded from the Anki Forum).
Speaking of Anki, I've been looking into the possibility of creating and publishing calculus flashcards. They'd be intended mainly for my calculus students, but I'd make them available for the world at large. This is more complicated than it seems, though. To get textbook-quality math formulas, you can't just type them in notepad. Textbook-quality math expressions are actually programmed using a language called LaTeX. Anki has LaTeX support, but it requires you have LaTeX installed on your computer, which most people do not. In order to mass distribute mathematical documents, you have to convert them to another format, typically PDF file. Anki has an option to "Cache LaTeX", so that all the LaTeX images of the formulas you programmed into your cards get saved as PNG files in a temporary folder. But that's as far as I can figure out, for now. I've posted at the Anki forums trying to figure out how best to distribute LaTeX-created flashcard decks, when the general public doesn't have LaTeX installed. If I can get it working (big "if" right now), it will be so awesome!
FRENCH CONVERSATION
Ok, moment of truth time, here.
So far, I've been focusing almost exclusively on comprehending input, and not on creating output at all. There are good reasons for this, since it's how real babies learn French in the real world. While it's not conclusive, there is researching showing that second language acquisition should be entirely about absorbing input, and that output generation will come naturally in time. It's certainly worked for me with Japanese: my Japanese study has always focused entirely on absorbing input.
So, there is good solid reasoning why I've been focusing purely on input during this French Revolution. However, I've been realizing more and more, that readers have no idea of actually judging my progress. There are two problems with this.
The first problem is that I'm not providing much value, at least in the sense of a study in language-learning, if I give readers no way to gauge my progress. I certainly don't want readers to mistakenly have the impression that I'm some great French rake now after only 28 days. Which leads to the second problem...
The second problem is that, in the absence of any way to judge me, people have been getting an idea that I'm really great at French. I'd say I'm good at comprehending written French, but everywhere else, I'm pretty poor, to be honest. However. Since people have been getting the idea that I'm really great at French, it's been going to my ego. Very subtle, but I've started to become aware of this in the past few days.
In fact-- and this is hard to share-- I've started to realize that I'm actually afraid now of really opening myself up to scrutiny. I'm afraid that people will see that I'm really not all that great at producing French output, or even at comprehending spoken input. My logical mind knows that I have nothing to be afraid of here, but my ego blows it so out of proportion, I'm actually finding myself afraid people would see me as a fraud or something.
As a person who has done a lot of daring things in my life, I've come to recognize when fear is a legitimate signal of danger and death, and when it's a signal of something I need to do. The fear I'm feeling toward French conversation is definitely the latter. It's the same kind of fear I felt toward going out to nightclubs for the first time when I joined the Seduction Community after 23 years of sheltered naivety. It's the same kind of fear I felt when I quit my job as a weather forecaster for the U.S. Air Force to go to university. It's the same kind of fear I felt when I stood up for myself in Air Force tech school in an environment where I was treated like less than dirt. It's the same kind of fear when I left my parents' house at age 18 to go to the Air Force in the first place.
There's a special name for this fear I'm talking about: excitement. It's a different excitement than the excitement you get from watching a movie. It's the excitement of adventure and wanderlust. As silly as it seems-- and boy, do I realize it seems silly-- submitting myself to your scrutiny of my conversational French, seems like a path of adventure and even death. The death of the image of myself as being better at French than I really am. I felt the same death-fear-excitement when I was writing the article about my time in the Seduction Community (see the above link). I even felt it when I wrote my article "Some Things I'm Ashamed Of". Incidentally, once I shared those articles, I realized the fear of scrutiny in both cases was completely unfounded. So I'm sure once I publish some French conversation, as crappy as it may be, I'll find my fears unfounded. But that logical, intellectual knowledge, does little to tame the emotional resistance I have.
Right now I don't have a headset with me because I'm at my office, so I can't do any conversation. (Yeah, I know, talk about anticlimactic...) But I resolve that before this Revolution is done, I will record some actual French conversation and publish it for you here.
Previous Day in the French Revolution: Day 27
Next Day in the French Revolution: Day 29
You can also go to the French Revolution Table Of Contents...
...or to the French Revolution Introduction.
Here are some other things I wrote.
Self Responsibility
The Three Scariest Things
Activism Goes Away After Graduation
Never Cover Your Ass
Five Ways To Be Better At Math
During the final stretch of the project, I found myself falling into a predictable pattern of study: flashcard review, flashcard making, rinse and repeat. This was great for learning French, but not so great for learning about language acquisition in general. Plus, it was taking a lot of time every day, and I've decided to spend my time more pleasurably than with the flashcard deck :) So, I'm cutting the flashcard review down to almost nothing. I have a thesis, the "flashcards for busy people" thesis, that with appropriate Spaced Repetition Software, any positive amount of time-per-day will suffice to give full maintenance, in the big picture- although, a small amount of time will make the maintenance take much longer to get going smoothly. By cutting my flashcard time down to very small amounts (like 10 minutes a day), I can test this thesis to its logical extremities. It's an excellent chance to learn about language maintenance.
ANKI UPDATING
In response to my comments about failed flashcards in Anki, which I recorded on Days 24 and 25, the Anki team, ever vigilant, has already incorporated some configurable changes into the latest beta (beta versions of Anki can be downloaded from the Anki Forum).
Speaking of Anki, I've been looking into the possibility of creating and publishing calculus flashcards. They'd be intended mainly for my calculus students, but I'd make them available for the world at large. This is more complicated than it seems, though. To get textbook-quality math formulas, you can't just type them in notepad. Textbook-quality math expressions are actually programmed using a language called LaTeX. Anki has LaTeX support, but it requires you have LaTeX installed on your computer, which most people do not. In order to mass distribute mathematical documents, you have to convert them to another format, typically PDF file. Anki has an option to "Cache LaTeX", so that all the LaTeX images of the formulas you programmed into your cards get saved as PNG files in a temporary folder. But that's as far as I can figure out, for now. I've posted at the Anki forums trying to figure out how best to distribute LaTeX-created flashcard decks, when the general public doesn't have LaTeX installed. If I can get it working (big "if" right now), it will be so awesome!
FRENCH CONVERSATION
Ok, moment of truth time, here.
So far, I've been focusing almost exclusively on comprehending input, and not on creating output at all. There are good reasons for this, since it's how real babies learn French in the real world. While it's not conclusive, there is researching showing that second language acquisition should be entirely about absorbing input, and that output generation will come naturally in time. It's certainly worked for me with Japanese: my Japanese study has always focused entirely on absorbing input.
So, there is good solid reasoning why I've been focusing purely on input during this French Revolution. However, I've been realizing more and more, that readers have no idea of actually judging my progress. There are two problems with this.
The first problem is that I'm not providing much value, at least in the sense of a study in language-learning, if I give readers no way to gauge my progress. I certainly don't want readers to mistakenly have the impression that I'm some great French rake now after only 28 days. Which leads to the second problem...
The second problem is that, in the absence of any way to judge me, people have been getting an idea that I'm really great at French. I'd say I'm good at comprehending written French, but everywhere else, I'm pretty poor, to be honest. However. Since people have been getting the idea that I'm really great at French, it's been going to my ego. Very subtle, but I've started to become aware of this in the past few days.
In fact-- and this is hard to share-- I've started to realize that I'm actually afraid now of really opening myself up to scrutiny. I'm afraid that people will see that I'm really not all that great at producing French output, or even at comprehending spoken input. My logical mind knows that I have nothing to be afraid of here, but my ego blows it so out of proportion, I'm actually finding myself afraid people would see me as a fraud or something.
As a person who has done a lot of daring things in my life, I've come to recognize when fear is a legitimate signal of danger and death, and when it's a signal of something I need to do. The fear I'm feeling toward French conversation is definitely the latter. It's the same kind of fear I felt toward going out to nightclubs for the first time when I joined the Seduction Community after 23 years of sheltered naivety. It's the same kind of fear I felt when I quit my job as a weather forecaster for the U.S. Air Force to go to university. It's the same kind of fear I felt when I stood up for myself in Air Force tech school in an environment where I was treated like less than dirt. It's the same kind of fear when I left my parents' house at age 18 to go to the Air Force in the first place.
There's a special name for this fear I'm talking about: excitement. It's a different excitement than the excitement you get from watching a movie. It's the excitement of adventure and wanderlust. As silly as it seems-- and boy, do I realize it seems silly-- submitting myself to your scrutiny of my conversational French, seems like a path of adventure and even death. The death of the image of myself as being better at French than I really am. I felt the same death-fear-excitement when I was writing the article about my time in the Seduction Community (see the above link). I even felt it when I wrote my article "Some Things I'm Ashamed Of". Incidentally, once I shared those articles, I realized the fear of scrutiny in both cases was completely unfounded. So I'm sure once I publish some French conversation, as crappy as it may be, I'll find my fears unfounded. But that logical, intellectual knowledge, does little to tame the emotional resistance I have.
Right now I don't have a headset with me because I'm at my office, so I can't do any conversation. (Yeah, I know, talk about anticlimactic...) But I resolve that before this Revolution is done, I will record some actual French conversation and publish it for you here.
Previous Day in the French Revolution: Day 27
Next Day in the French Revolution: Day 29
You can also go to the French Revolution Table Of Contents...
...or to the French Revolution Introduction.
Here are some other things I wrote.
Self Responsibility
The Three Scariest Things
Activism Goes Away After Graduation
Never Cover Your Ass
Five Ways To Be Better At Math
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