Hi Alec,

Thanks for your advice. From what you said made me remember how it was
studying French
which I am very familiar with.I even was able to pass a test in the
army and was credited with a proficiency
in french.Thanks again for your pointing me to the right perspective.


Ed Widlund

On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 2:21 AM, <CalecM@...> wrote:
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> Ed
>    Let me give you different perspective.  I've been studying ON for
> something measurable in weeks.  However, it is far from my first foreign
> language.  (French, Italian and Japanese).  You will not learn ON the same
> as you would learn Swedish or Swahili.  You will not become "fluent" in it
> because you will not use it as a communicative system with another human
> being.  Rather, you will most likely sit in the middle of a pile of books
> and laptops, which you will use to decode or decipher the text.  As time
> goes on, you will rely on the reference materials less and less, as you
> remember more and more.  But the ON language in your brain will consist
> mostly of this.  It will not be connected to memories of personal, physical
> experiences you have had.  It will lack the positive reinforcement of
> successfully communicating with another human being.  (If you're familiar
> with Piagetian Constructivist learning theory, this will make more sense.)
> If you have studied other second languages, think back:  some of the
> language you know best is tied to the moment you learned it.  Somebody on a
> bus, a key line in a movie, etc.  You're not likely to get that studying ON
> texts.  Doesn't mean your experience won't be fun, informative, successful,
> satisfying--but it will be different.
>
> One man's opinion--your mileage may vary!
>
>    Alec MacLean
>