New subforum: Language Lessons & discussion

[Kookie]

Hi there. I noticed there is some interest among members to discuss and trade language skills. The internet can be a fun place to learn new languages, as you find people from all over the world willing and eager to teach.

I was once mod for a language section in another anime-forum, and it was a big hit. People love to make lessons for each other (as seen in the tutorial section), and what better ways to learn than from native speakers?

I know I'm not qualified to be a moderator, but would there be any room for creating a similar section for this in here? I'd be happy to help and make suggestions for the start up.

 

[Shig]

Well, I think it's a good idea, though I don't know how many members have the time to complete such a task, and you alone, I doubt.

 

[Itachi65]

I support your proposal. I volunteered for facebook translation once (random). Awesome idea

 

[Sade]

Actually I kinda agree...In another greek site,again with anime stuff,we were having japanesse dictionaries,we were sharing any knowledge that we may havng with the grammar,vocabulary etc. of Japanesse and stuff!And yes !Its a good idea...Put a Poll to your thread so we can know how many they like this idea,but with numbers this time!

 

[Itachi65]

Actually I kinda agree...In another greek site,again with anime stuff,we were having japanesse dictionaries,we were sharing any knowledge that we may havng with the grammar,vocabulary etc. of Japanesse and stuff!And yes !Its a good idea...Put a Poll to your thread so we can know how many they like this idea,but with numbers this time!

Yeah, I agree. It's cool for members trying to learn a language together

 

[Nikkou Arashi]

This is going to be fun!

 

[Lawliet]

You could create said thread in the general discussion area and if it gets popular enough we'll see what the admins say. ^^

 

[Izuna Uchiha]

You could create said thread in the general discussion area and if it gets popular enough we'll see what the admins say. ^^

I think that's the best solution.

For your system to work, you're going to have to create a solid base for any member who wants to join. It's a lot of work since you can't make "classes" but instead you'll have to create very long post which would be our "notes" to study. The only time we could really practice would be when you're online, and trust me if your proposition gets popular you'll be so fed up with demands that you won't want to log in anymore xd.

In any case I like the idea, many of us want to learn new languages, but actually doing it on a forum is another thing.

If you manage to pull it off, I'll be very impressed.

 

[Damon Salvatore]

Yeah it would be very helpfull not only for translations but also for real life.Users can learn other Languages quick and that could help them in real life.Here are probably members from everywhere and so many languages It would be fun to try and learn them

 

[~Anubis~]

ya i agree.

 

[Kushan]

Hi there. I noticed there is some interest among members to discuss and trade language skills. The internet can be a fun place to learn new languages, as you find people from all over the world willing and eager to teach.

I was once mod for a language section in another anime-forum, and it was a big hit. People love to make lessons for each other (as seen in the tutorial section), and what better ways to learn than from native speakers?

I know I'm not qualified to be a moderator, but would there be any room for creating a similar section for this in here? I'd be happy to help and make suggestions for the start up.

Very nice idea, I like it.....

 

[Kookie]

I think that's the best solution.

For your system to work, you're going to have to create a solid base for any member who wants to join. It's a lot of work since you can't make "classes" but instead you'll have to create very long post which would be our "notes" to study. The only time we could really practice would be when you're online, and trust me if your proposition gets popular you'll be so fed up with demands that you won't want to log in anymore xd.

In any case I like the idea, many of us want to learn new languages, but actually doing it on a forum is another thing.

If you manage to pull it off, I'll be very impressed.

Well, I see your point. But what I experienced before was not 'classes' per se, e.g. one teacher and regular meetings.

What we did in the other forum was putting good, substantial language teaching notes up, regarding a specific subject, grammar, verb conjugation etc.. These would be put up as stickys which the original poster could add to. As a mod I was able to decide who should be made into stickys (the ones that were decent and comprehensible). People could then ask questions and make comments about specific lessons in the regular thread section beneath. The stickys was set to strictly reading mode, except for the person running the lessons.

Ex:

Japanese Beginners Lesson 1:

Hiragana & Katakana (this would be an explanation of the writing system in Japanese, with charts provided, and I also added soundfiles for pronunciation)

The lessons were simple and aimed to explain basic features of a specific language. There is no way to teach someone to speak a language fluently on a randomly posted forum such as this one, but there is no need to go that far. The point is to teach what you know, even if it's just the basics. I'm not fluent in Japanese, but at the time I was the most experienced out of us, and managed to teach some important basics to beginners. It would be fun to add other languages as well, as I'm sure there are a lot of people here with various mother tongues, but I would want to restrict the lesson-making to people who are able to present them properly.

These lessons and discussions are meant to exchange information; not to give someone a qualified diploma (but it might inspire them to enroll for one sometime? )

How does that sound?

Lawliet, I see your point, but I think it would be near to impossible to try this on a single-thread basis, as the lesson-notes would be jumbled in with people's comments (which, as we all know, tend to digress.. lol) I could, however try to create an example-thread for a lesson, so that people can see how it could work (I might have to give it a few days, as I no longer have the old lessons on my comp, and I need some time to create new ones).

Good, idea; I'll put up a poll in this thread.

Thanks for the feedback

Edit: oh, someone already put up a poll. Good thinking

 

[Itachi65]

Voted positively. So is it going to begin as a thread?

 

[Mugiwara]

Well, I see your point. But what I experienced before was not 'classes' per se, e.g. one teacher and regular meetings.

What we did in the other forum was putting good, substantial language teaching notes up, regarding a specific subject, grammar, verb conjugation etc.. These would be put up as stickys which the original poster could add to. As a mod I was able to decide who should be made into stickys (the ones that were decent and comprehensible). People could then ask questions and make comments about specific lessons in the regular thread section beneath. The stickys was set to strictly reading mode, except for the person running the lessons.

Ex:

Japanese Beginners Lesson 1:

Hiragana & Katakana (this would be an explanation of the writing system in Japanese, with charts provided, and I also added soundfiles for pronunciation)

The lessons were simple and aimed to explain basic features of a specific language. There is no way to teach someone to speak a language fluently on a randomly posted forum such as this one, but there is no need to go that far. The point is to teach what you know, even if it's just the basics. I'm not fluent in Japanese, but at the time I was the most experienced out of us, and managed to teach some important basics to beginners. It would be fun to add other languages as well, as I'm sure there are a lot of people here with various mother tongues, but I would want to restrict the lesson-making to people who are able to present them properly.

These lessons and discussions are meant to exchange information; not to give someone a qualified diploma (but it might inspire them to enroll for one sometime? )

How does that sound?

Lawliet, I see your point, but I think it would be near to impossible to try this on a single-thread basis, as the lesson-notes would be jumbled in with people's comments (which, as we all know, tend to digress.. lol) I could, however try to create an example-thread for a lesson, so that people can see how it could work (I might have to give it a few days, as I no longer have the old lessons on my comp, and I need some time to create new ones).

Good, idea; I'll put up a poll in this thread.

Thanks for the feedback

Edit: oh, someone already put up a poll. Good thinking

If you're gonna create a lesson, by posting a huge wall of text, nobody is going to want to read it, or am I just speaking for myself?

Have to make it a little interesting, its up to you to do that

 

[Sade]

My opinion is this:The one that give this opinion should also create the thread that she is talking about in the General Discussion...We should also help to found a Code that will have a word,its meaning,if we can find the tenses,how its spelled and stuff..Maybe like this:

[I][B]Japanesse[/B][/I]:...
[B][U]Translation:[/U][/B]...
[B][U]What is it(adj,noun etc.):[/U][/B]...
[B][U]How it could be used:[/U][/B]...

and others...


for example:

Japanesse:から(Kara)
Translation:Because
What is it(adj,noun etc.):
How it could be used:It is used after to state the reason for something that happened or is it going to happen,for example:私は勉強のため私はいい子だった。(watashi wa ii kodomo da, benkyou o shimashita kara)=I'm a good child,because,I studied.​

 

[Damon Salvatore]

My opinion is this:The one that give this opinion should also create the thread that she is talking about in the General Discussion...We should also help to found a Code that will have a word,its meaning,if we can find the tenses,how its spelled and stuff..Maybe like this:

[B][U]Japanesse:...
Translation:...
What is it(adj,noun etc.):...
How it could be used:...[/U][/B]

and others...

I like how you think

 

[Kookie]

If you're gonna create a lesson, by posting a huge wall of text, nobody is going to want to read it, or am I just speaking for myself?

Have to make it a little interesting, its up to you to do that

Yep, excellent point, and I absolutely had that experience in the past.

I made these long and detailed lessons of chunks and chunks of text and were really pleased with myself, having gone into so much detail, only to discover people didn't want to read chunks of text.

Understandably, on forums, the last thing people want is long-winded explanations. So I will make an effort to keep each lesson brief and fun, perhaps with links to downloadable documents, if I need to go into detail a bit more.

Thanks for the input

 

[Kookie]

My opinion is this:The one that give this opinion should also create the thread that she is talking about in the General Discussion...We should also help to found a Code that will have a word,its meaning,if we can find the tenses,how its spelled and stuff..Maybe like this:

[I][B]Japanesse[/B][/I]:...
[B][U]Translation:[/U][/B]...
[B][U]What is it(adj,noun etc.):[/U][/B]...
[B][U]How it could be used:[/U][/B]...

and others...


for example:

Japanesse:から(Kara)
Translation:Because
What is it(adj,noun etc.):
How it could be used:It is used after to state the reason for something that happened or is it going to happen,for example:私は勉強のため私はいい子だった。(watashi wa ii kodomo da, benkyou o shimashita kara)=I'm a good child,because,I studied.​

Excellent example of brief lesson, exactly the thing I'm talking about Yondaime Mizukage, expect to be considered an ally in the lesson-making (if you want to? I'm guessing your Japanese is Intermediate level at least? pretty decent.)

I'm not sure what you mean by creating a html code for this? Do you mean the structure in general, just as a way of making it seem more organised? I usually colour-code to separate grammar groups etc.. is that what you are talking about?

Also, I promise to create a thread for trial in the general discussion area in the next few days.

 

[Izuna Uchiha]

Well, I see your point. But what I experienced before was not 'classes' per se, e.g. one teacher and regular meetings.

What we did in the other forum was putting good, substantial language teaching notes up, regarding a specific subject, grammar, verb conjugation etc.. These would be put up as stickys which the original poster could add to. As a mod I was able to decide who should be made into stickys (the ones that were decent and comprehensible). People could then ask questions and make comments about specific lessons in the regular thread section beneath. The stickys was set to strictly reading mode, except for the person running the lessons.

Ex:

Japanese Beginners Lesson 1:

Hiragana & Katakana (this would be an explanation of the writing system in Japanese, with charts provided, and I also added soundfiles for pronunciation)

The lessons were simple and aimed to explain basic features of a specific language. There is no way to teach someone to speak a language fluently on a randomly posted forum such as this one, but there is no need to go that far. The point is to teach what you know, even if it's just the basics. I'm not fluent in Japanese, but at the time I was the most experienced out of us, and managed to teach some important basics to beginners. It would be fun to add other languages as well, as I'm sure there are a lot of people here with various mother tongues, but I would want to restrict the lesson-making to people who are able to present them properly.

These lessons and discussions are meant to exchange information; not to give someone a qualified diploma (but it might inspire them to enroll for one sometime? )

How does that sound?

Lawliet, I see your point, but I think it would be near to impossible to try this on a single-thread basis, as the lesson-notes would be jumbled in with people's comments (which, as we all know, tend to digress.. lol) I could, however try to create an example-thread for a lesson, so that people can see how it could work (I might have to give it a few days, as I no longer have the old lessons on my comp, and I need some time to create new ones).

Good, idea; I'll put up a poll in this thread.

Thanks for the feedback

Edit: oh, someone already put up a poll. Good thinking

You seem to have a lot of experience, and it shows. Your approach is good, leaving room for everyone to be free to learn whenever they want.

I will wait for a well structured example before revealing my final verdict but I must say that I'm impress so far. It's so hard to efficiently teach something on the internet, however your technique looks promising.

If you're gonna create a lesson, by posting a huge wall of text, nobody is going to want to read it, or am I just speaking for myself?

Have to make it a little interesting, its up to you to do that

It's true that people tend to get lazy, but for anyone who really want to learn something, a wall of text is nothing.

However I get your point, but it seems that Kookie as already an answer for you.

 

[Kookie]

O, boy. I'm getting excited now. lol. Give me a teeny bit of time to organise, ok? I also need to find decent skilled 'teachers' that can potentially take care of a section each (that is if this goes so far that the admin approves of the new sub-forum).

I speak Norwegian (mother tongue), English (fluent second language) & Japanese (beginner to lower intermediate), and can teach well in these. I need other (very) organised people who are willing to spend some time creating lessons. If you feel up for it, please state your language and level here.

For some languages, like Japanese, we would probably need 4 separate threads for each level. Beginner, Lower-Intermediate, Intermediate, and Native/Fluent. I could do the two first levels, but would need someone with more experience to take care of the two last (Tempted to consider Yondaime Mizukage for at least Intermediate ) .

This is just mind-mapping still, but if you feel like this is something you could do, please put your hand up where I can see it

Oh, and rule number one MUST be: if you cannot express yourself in decent comprehensible English, I'm afraid you won't be considered as a teacher. Even if you are fluent in your own language, there is no point if you cannot explain it well enough so that people understand. I had minor issues of this in the past and will try to avoid a repetition of that.