Re: [Lingo] words with kanji in common

[Bruce Howard <bruce@example.com>]

On 18 Iul. 2007, at 11:51 AM, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:

I think that adults can benefit a lot from child-like mechanisms, at least I did, but the mix must be way different.  Partly due to the mechanism change but also because adults are capable of actually focusing on the language, as opposed to the content.

My ability to speak and understand Japanese has significantly improved since my daughter started speaking.  I'm learning along side her, picking up new vocabulary and patterns as well as supplementing or reorganizing what I've previously learned. 

She's much better at learning through repetition, and applying it by trial and error though I can compensate somewhat with a better (for now anyways :-) understanding of formal grammar.  

What has been really instructive is watching how adult speakers simplify Japanese when speaking with the kids.  You learn a lot about a language by learning what can be left out or simplified and yet, still communicate meaningfully.  The reverse process has been equally helpful, seeing my daughter take relatively simple patterns , combine them in more complicated structures and then getting immediate feedback from adults as to what works or not.

The mix for me is different but where I've been able to borrow her learning mechanisms, it has helped a lot.  When I haven't been able to apply her techniques directly, I find I can still participate vicariously to great benefit.

Cheers,

Bruce