On September 11th, I
arrived in Tokyo to start my exchange study. I wanted to come here because
studying Japanese language is kind of my hobby, and I wanted to experience real
environment. In the Lappeenranta University of Technology it is not possible to
study Japanese. Therefore I had to study by myself. Actually after 1½ year of
self-studying, I have taken my first Japanese classes in Japan. In this blog
entry I would like to compare these different approaches to language study.
Basically when
starting learning a language, there are two choices; take classes or study by
yourself from textbooks or the Internet. Of course, these are not mutually
exclusive. Common opinion is that classes are needed if one wants to start
learning a language. That is definitely not the case, but classes have two
things which can help a learner quite a lot. In language classes a learner can
receive feedback and ask questions from an instructor, which can help a learner
a lot. No matter what the topic is, self-studying can be exhausting. In classes,
however an instructor can also motivate learners.
While classes have two
powerful advantages, there are also disadvantages. Often in language classes
pace is fixed, and often it is very slow. One research student in my laboratory
is taking intensive Japanese courses every day and after following his
progress, I think it has been very slow compared to self-studying I did when I
started learning Japanese. Another disadvantage is, especially on language
classes, examples used during classes feel so fake because they are missing
context. That is specially problem with Japanese, because Japanese is very
context based language. I believe, one should use material meant for natives since
the first day because a purpose of learning a language is to understand
material meant for natives.
Advantages and
disadvantages of self-studying are opposites of learning in classes. The
biggest advantage is definitely that a learner can define her or his own pace,
which is much faster than classes for a motivated learner. Also it is not only
pace, but a learner can actually select the methods. In language textbooks
there are almost as many approaches to language learning as there are textbooks.
Self-learner can try many methods and materials and select one most suitable to
him/her. The biggest disadvantage of self-studying is lack of feedback and unableness to ask questions.
I think many of
disadvantages of self-studying can be overcome with usage of internet which is
what I have done so far. Finding native speakers of language that one wants to
learn in Internet can be helpful. Of course, they will not be language teachers
and therefore their explanations might be lacking a bit, but most importantly
they can tell learner, if his language output sounded natural or unnatural.
Still I do not think
that disadvantages of classes can be overcome that easily. Slow pace can be
overcome just by adjusting the pace by self-studying. But on beginner level it
isn’t very efficient because on beginner level language studying is quite
straightforward. In advanced classes combining self-studying and classes can be
useful, because learner can self-study different content than is being taught
in classes. This is what I am actually doing currently. Classes I am taking
focus on Japanese Proficiency Test N2 level material and I am self-studying N1
level material. See more information of the levels https://www.jlpt.jp/e/about/levelsummary.html
I would like to add
one thing I have noticed here in Japan. People actually speak very differently
Japanese than Japanese taught in textbooks or classes. It is not really slang
or dialect, just some grammar structures tend to get modified in casual speech.
Because I have read quite lot of comics and books and watched TV shows for
natives, I was somewhat familiar with it, but still in beginning it was really
hard to understand. What I want to say, real interaction is necessary no matter
what. You won’t learn a language enough by just self-studying or taking
classes.
My exchange can be
followed on http://valtteriysep.wordpress.com/
Text:Valtteri
Meriruoko, a student in Independent Study of English course
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