3 posts tagged “social networking”

I know it's old news that Pownce is closing, but I just went across there to pick up my posts as an export for vox and when I got to the point of importing I noticed that all my posts were being fed there from Twitter anyway. Talk about redundant. Long ago I must have begun feeding Twitter to Pownce, and completely forgotten about it.

One less blog/microblog/social networking service to worry about. I wonder if I can take the knife to any more? Jaiku?

As much as you think YouTube might be a time-sink, there are many things that YouTube is good for. Apart from the obvious things like commenting on current affairs, keeping track of your favourite celebrities or, sharing your latest bloopers you can also use YouTube to learn stuff.

All sorts of lessons are posted on YouTube each day, from art lessons to zoological studies and everything in-between. One thing that many people are starting to realise is that you can also use YouTube to learn a language. There are literally thousands of language lessons on YouTube and more being added each day.

Over the next couple of weeks I plan to outline a way to structure your experience on YouTube to make better use of your time to learn a language.

"Yeah right!" I hear you say, "what does this guy know about languages?", and "how is YouTube different to the CD`s and textbooks I already have?". Before I go into too much detail about how you can use YouTube to learn a language, let me tell you a bit more about myself. I`m an Australian living and working in Japan as an English instructor, and a student of Japanese. I`ve been active on YouTube since November 2006, and I`ve been vlogging regularly in Japanese.

I work for one of Japans largest English conversation schools, I just can`t tell you which one. What I can tell you is that you don`t need expensive lessons, CD`s or even boring textbooks from your local library. What you need is right here, in front of you, your computer and more importantly, this vast resource we call the internet.

Learning another language is about communication and this thing we call the internet is a communication device. Lets look at optimizing our experience here on the internet for learning languages.

Learning a language is about finding someone you want to talk to, and someone who listens carefully to what you say, no matter how much a beginner you are. So lets get started.

Sign up.
If you haven't already done this, signup with YouTube. Choose a user name that suits your purpose for learning a language, you`ll need a dedicated channel to put all of your language learning resources in one place.

Customise your channel.
The most important thing here is your profile, make sure you are sending a clear message that you want to learn to speak another language. If you can, write a personal introduction in the language you want to speak. Get some help from an online translator, like the one at http://translator.google.com.

Find a course.
There many courses offered by professional language schools to those delivered by amateurs who just want to share a bit of their culture. Use the search box, and search in different categories, using a few different search terms. When you find something that looks good, make sure you subscribe. Find someone who is a native speaker of the language you want to speak and someone who speaks clearly.

Take your first video lesson.
When you are starting out use the pause button alot, first when the page loads, wait until the red line in the video has reached about half way, so the video streams smoothly from start to finish. Most language videos have alot of filler, so use the pause button again when you reach a phrase you`d like to learn. A note pad may come in handy to take down the time where a phrase you want to learn turns up. You can even drag the control from left to right, to go back and repeat the stuff you want to practice.

Are you excited? You should be, because you are about to harness the multimedia wonder of the internet, coupled with the power of social networking, in a fun and easy-to-use environment called YouTube.

I`ll be back soon with part two in this series with more on how to use favorites and playlists to structure a course designed to suit your language needs.

Au Revoir!

I am writing this in response to Bart's post on learning languages, Polish and English. When writing my comment on the original post it soon became apparent there was a lot more I wanted to say on languages.

Thanks for the post, Bart. I agree with you in saying that the Internet is cheaper than almost any other method of learning a language. Except, perhaps, if you happen to live and work in a language community that is not your own. If you happen to have both, like me, then you are very lucky indeed.

I am also with Steve in saying that sources of good content are needed, but not necessarily more websites. You can find content in your desired language almost any where you look, in the street, in the library, on TV and of course on the Internet. Perhaps what we need as language learners, is to learn how to get this content working for us.

What do I mean "working for us"? Well, please let me explain. If we decide one day that we want to learn a language, we have a much better chance of doing that if our goal is to understand what people are saying in that language, moreover, to communicate with them in their native tongue. Language is about communication after all.

Now, communication happens between people, and those people share a common bond called community. Moving in with my wife's family in Japan has made me part of their family and the wider community. Most of us don't have the luxury of being able to move to another country, yet we all need community to achieve our language goals.

The people I teach English to do this by joining an expensive conversation school, where we simulate to a large degree natural conversation. In a sense I feel this interaction is artificial. After all, they are paying for a service and they have certain expectations, there are not the same bonds that normally hold communities together. I don't spend any money on language learning apart from the occasional text book or dictionary, I certainly don't pay for conversation. I don't think any should have to pay to find someone to talk to.

What the Internet has made possible for me, is to allow me access to wider communities of Japanese speakers. Within those communities I am exposed to a greater variety of communications styles, and hence vocabularies and expressions, than I would find at home. I naturally gravitate to communities where there is a large degree of activity, which exposes me to a greater number of opportunities to find people to talk to and things to talk about.

There are many tools that have become available recently that enable us to join communities and manage our involvement in them. Social networking has become the new media buzzword, everyone has facebook or myspace account, people are getting connected on a wider scale than ever before. What I am really interested in is how we can use these new tools and technologies to enhance our experience of this world as individuals, and secondly, as language learners how we can adapt them to suit our own language learning needs.

To see examples of where I am active in virtual communities of people who speaking or wanting to speak Japanese, look no further than this list (warning: shameless self promotion) .

• My YouTube Profile - Here I post a vlog in Japanese, my subscribers are mostly Japanese and non-Japanese who speak Japanese. Every time someone comments on my vlog I get constructive feedback on my Japanese, and in Japanese. Just recently we started a smaller community of non-Japanese who speak Japanese on YouTube groups for more support and encouragement.
• My Twitter Profile - I'm just new at this one, but it forces me to be attentive to my language production and comprehension skills during the day. I work in an English speaking environment, so I need to direct my attention towards communicating in Japanese more regularly than in the mornings and evenings at home.
• My 43 Things - Mostly posts in English but my involvement in things such as the goal Learn Japanese gives me access to other learners which can help me find good sources of content.
• My Vox Groups - Vox is of course both a social networking tool and a blogging site, having all of these rich media services also helps when pulling together a community. I still have a lot more connections that I want to build here, and Japanese speaking friends I want to make. It is also very handy to be able to put all your productive output in one place.

Well this post is starting to drag on just a bit, but I thought you might these things interesting. I'd like to know if and how everyone here is using social networking tools to improve their language ability. I'd love to share some more ideas with you all.

Brett F.