Rainbow Hill

My 2c on Rosetta Stone

There are plenty of cost effective alternatives to Rosetta Stone, I’ve honestly never looked into it because the cost is prohibitive. If you’re hungry for learning then as your skills develop you’ll want to attempt a variety of methods. If you switch and change like you need to every few months then you don’t want to be paying hand over fist for every new method.

I wasn’t surprised to hear Gary’s comment that Rosetta Stone is an adaptation of US State Department Language Lessons. You’re in to remix culture right? Role your own!

There are so many ways to get authentic content, and replicate effective methods at next to no cost. Where all of this self paced study begins to shine is in your friendships with people who speak Japanese. Without making these friendships, you’re missing out on the cultural component, not to mention subtle nuances and regional differences.

The LinguaLinks Article - A Few Simple Ideas for New Language Learners http://bit.ly/l1xS3 is essential reading for self directed learners. Some of the articles here go into detail about discovering your learning style and finding the best language resource partner (your exchange partner). It’s a bit dated now and probably needs someone to give it the Web2.0 once over, any takers?

Alternatives to Rosetta Stone Japanese (i.e. Should I buy Rosetta Stone?)

A Little Bit More

viafrank:

Good curation gives new context by grouping together and juxtaposing things in fresh, interesting and relevant ways. It provides substance and builds upon what is already there.

Taking this a little further if I may, this style of curation offers the audience something to respond to. The essence of this kind of artistic dialogue is the ability to hold your assumptions aloft so they may be challenged, and come to new meaning through examining things in a new light.

Commented on "Caught*Red-handed"

And still with the presence of mind to knock a hit post like that? Something tells me that creativity needs an outlet when it’s not being hammered by revision. The tribe imagery is rather fitting for those of you that have never done the test before. When you exit the station or arrive by bus at the testing centre there will be thronging and anxious crowds, there will be nervousness and there will be those that do not finish. Get a good night’s sleep and remember it’s only a test, the real prize comes through your application to learning the language.

Fugu dining

If there were a fish I would rather be staring down moments before death it would have to be the clown-like fugu. In the tank they look boxish and harmless, only when agitated do they puff up and reveal their spines. This New York Times article from the 1980’s describes the moments before dining on the poisonous delicacy.

For the first-time fugu eater, there is a moment or two of apprehension. But that soon fades, if only with a quick survey of the setting: Japanese people, sitting, relaxed, usually engaged in animated conversation, laughing, obviously enjoying themselves and dining on fugu. At worst, a pretty good crowd to die with.

I can just imagine the shoulder pads and coiffed hair, leggings and bow ties.

My experience dining on fugu has been subdued and familiar. The nabe with family, or the sashimi with friends. A little like the following persons account - at least for a short time.

All those familiar face naturally filled the tatami room with a warm and joyful atmosphere. Presently came impressive arrays of thin sliced fugu sashimi on the plates accompanied by hot Japanese sake with a fish fin dipped. After a while, two pans of water for fugu cooking began to boil with steam filling the entire room.A young cook, apparently under apprenticeship, served fish neat and others in the boiling water. Then he picked up some light brown soft stuff from another plate. I asked, “Is that a fugu liver?” He replied yes. “Is that all right?”

All right? I wonder…

Approximately four hours had passed after the fugu meal - I was not the only person who felt numb on finger tips. “Probably we ate poison today,” someone said. “My finger tips won’t hold a piece of mah-jong ,” someone else joined. We all felt something out of ordinary but nobody took the matter seriously.

Once the poison takes hold it lasts for 3 agonising days, and afflicted begins to sense the morbid humour in dying a slow and paralysing death.

I remember joking under all such agonies, “If I should die, take 48 hours before you bury me. You may come to life again when poisoned by fugu.” I learned to my bitter experience that one would hardly relate one’s own sickness to death.

The fugu becomes a source of inspiration for poetry for this protagonist. And in 1985, the premise of political pranks played by the Greens in the German Parliament. Capitalising on the fatigue setting in on the Social Democrats after a night of tough negotiation, the Greens tabled a demand that the “Shanghai Fugu Agreement” be entered into. It wasn’t revealed to be a hoax until years later.