Assimilation was expected, speaking languages other than English at home was throughly discouraged, and students at school studied French and German, but never for practical reasons, only to help develop the cognitive abilities of the students. Arguably the last point may not have changed much. I would say that, the long held insecurities of White Australians, is still the invisible barrier which holds young people back from succeeding in Asian languages.

- We will never know all of the words in our first language either

- It’s easy to ask for clarification

- Often the marginal benefit of learning obscure new words is not worth the effort of maintaining them in out passive vocabulary

Not knowing grammar is a systematic weakness

- The total number of possible grammatical patterns is limited

- They occur everyday in potential conversations

- The pay off of learning the structure once is exponential.

Lesson: Don:t get too sidetracked with random vocab. 

It is clear that academic journals are not there for popular consumption. While I might take an issue of the Australian Review of Applied Linguistics with me to the plane for some casually sophisticated reading, I don’t think many others would. Add to that the added influence that I aspire to be published in the journal myself, the ring of potential readers closes once more. As an undergraduate I only read journal articles that I needed to, although admittedly, many of them have stayed with me and I can summarise the findings of many. It is a rare person who reads them, so who would read them?

• Academics
• PhD candidates
• Masters studnets (I’m not really sure how much Masters students use journals because they are usually working full time and may be just finding one article and then quoting everyone that that article quotes.
• Undergraduates may read the abstract and the conclusion but little inbetween

These are clear. But who else?

• Researchers at not-for-profits (like my mother, who ironically, rarely has access to the articles she needs and needs me to get them for her)
• Policy makers (if they read them, and then make more informed decisions about how the country should run, then it justifies everything)
• Autodidacts (people who work in a related field (or not) but are still pushing for more and more information for their own love of the area)
• Teachers and administrators in the high school system (potentially)
• People who develop textbooks, write histories, publish reports.

When you add to that, that the knowledge that undergraduates take in has the potential to make them more informed and critically thinking adults, then the benefits are truly worthwhile.

From 2005-2008, Dan was the Australian Foobag Champion. Footbag (Hacksack) is an athletic sport involving highly dextrous tricks with a small bean bag. Dan served as the Education Director on the International Footbag Players Association and published the e-book The Vasek Klouda Manual: How to Play Footbag in 2009. He finished 7th place at the World Championships in 2007, then 13th in 2009. He has appeared on Australia’s Got Talent (2007), Saturday Disney (2008) and a Subway Commercial (2009).
The Vasek Klouda Manual: http://www.freedomfootbags.com/shop/misc/the-vasek-klouda-manual-how-to-footbag-2/
Australia’s Got Talent: http://youtu.be/oUQ95aXd6UE/
http://youtu.be/3-8YbNYu2mE/
Saturday Disney: http://youtu.be/6coimbTZl6k/
Subway Commercial: http://youtu.be/bTQQ-jXL_oM/

It’s exactly what I’m trained to do, and the value of the work, the fruits of my labour are satisfying. Learning is living, and to be able to do it as a job is a joy.

For more information on The Asia Institute please have a look at their website: http://www.asiainstitute.unimelb.edu.au/.

Play with my phone – “oh, I’ve got to text this person”

Go to the toilet – “I’ll be right back”

Speak to someone else – “Heeey, I haven’t seen you for ages, hows it going”

Just stay in the conversation until it ends. It is so hard, but its only hard because the speed at which you are learning is exponential. 

If you are asked a question, or someone makes a statement to you, this is a great opportunity. However, in many countries, often it is considered quite unusual to speak to someone you don’t know. However in Australia, because there are much fewer people, it is much more common to comment to people around you about something unusual, or something that you share in common.

For example, after a football game, there are always extra trains to take people home. On the trains, all of the people sitting down have just seen the same game. They don’t know each other, but it is very common for them to talk about the game together

Australians might ask a question like ‘what language are you speaking’, ‘where are you from?’ ‘What are you reading?’, ‘where are you going?’. These are all invitations to have a conversation. If you are speaking on your phone on the train for example, and then someone nearby asks you about which language you are speaking, it isn’t because they don’t like it, but if you explain that it is Chinese, and that you are from China in a kind and open way, then they will have a lot of other questions for you and it can be a really interesting conversation.

If you answer with short sentences, or don’t smile, then Australian people won’t want to bother you anymore, and the conversation will be over. If you aren’t able to ask any questions in return, then eventually the Australian will be tired of being the interviewer. So make sure you offer a mix of statements which show your personality and who you are, and also ask questions back, show interest in what the other person is telling you.

×              Lunch with coworkers or school friends

×              Inviting people to your house for dinner

×              House parties

×              Clubs at universities

×              Sports groups

×              Language Exchanges

Where is your next conversation going to happen?

Eg: for native speakers of English to learn how to write in French may not take as long as it would to learn to write Russian or Chinese.

Knowing your natural strengths and weaknesses is important.

When I started learning Chinese this is what I found out:

Grammar and word order – very easy

Vocabulary – very easy

Writing and reading – difficult but very similar to Japanese

Listening – average difficulty

Speaking to be understood – difficult

Using the tones accurately – infuriating

What I did

I spent most of my time learning the grammar and vocabulary, and I spoke and listened to the language looking for communication. I didn’t worry about the tones.

The result was that I became conversational within three months and developed enough ability to speak about the tones and the writing in Chinese. If I learnt the tones and the writing first, I would have to do it all in English

What some people do

Many people work on the tones and the writing first because they are the hardest. They don’t have conversations because they are worried that the tones are wrong, and they are unable to remember what grammar they have read about because they have never used it in conversation.

The result is that they have spent a lot of time on areas of the language which are difficult to succeed in, and they perceive themselves as failing. Their concern for one area of the language actually blocks acquisition of another area, when learning the skills in a different order would have been more beneficial. Whey they speak to native speakers they have to use English.  Eventually they quit, because not only do they perceive themselves as failing, they actually are failing.

Lesson:

Pick the low hanging fruit.

All over sendai you can see signs saying がんばろう東北、or がんばって仙台。These mean “Keep trying Tohoku” or “keep at it Sendai”.

While it is hard to pick out, the white banner is showing these words, and this is the most central and visible place to put messages to people living in Sendai (pop. roughly 1 million).

These messages are on restaurants, on constructions sites and lots of other places. The message is a call to resilience, and the determination to rebuild. It will take a long time, but the people here are getting on with things, and the beauty of their struggle is extremely moving.

I had the pleasure of volunteering as an English conversation teacher, in Minami-sanriku, where many of the schools buildings were destroyed. There are now pre-fab buildings, and classes are running as per usual. It was the students first chance to have an English speaking teacher since 3/11. They did really well! And I hope that some will travel overseas in the future.