Re: Need help choosing a novel to read

From: necoandjeff (spam_at_schrepfer.com)
Date: 01/14/05 

Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 04:21:03 GMT

Kevin Gowen wrote:
> necoandjeff wrote:
>> Kevin Gowen wrote:
>>
>>> necoandjeff wrote:
>>>
>>>> Kevin Gowen wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Gavin Steyn wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Since teaching myself Japanese
>>>>>
>>>>> No, you aren't.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> As a fellow dokukgakuer, I wonder if you might clarify what you
>>>> mean here Kevin.
>>>
>>> You've never had any guidance whatsoever?
>>
>>
>> From a teacher? No, not until I had already been studying for 4
>> years and was conversational. Even my girlfriend back then didn't
>> really give me guidance so much as act as a sounding board for
>> things I figured out on my own. I learned most of my Japanese early
>> on from dictionaries, trudging through books word for word, and
>> television dramas, as well as listening in on conversations among
>> Japanese. The only real guidance I had was for one year at Nagoya
>> University, but that was after 4 years of studying on my own and
>> getting to the point that I was able to pass the test and get the
>> monbusho scholarship. By then I was already approaching JPL2
>> ability.
>
> By "guidance" I don't necessarily mean an instructor. No one ever
> taught me English.

No one ever taught you English? Well perhaps that is why you are having
trouble with what English speakers commonly mean when they say self-taught.
By your definition, I think it is safe to say the only person in the world
who is self-taught in a language is L.L. Zamenhof, being self-taught in
Esperanto. Do you suppose that is how "self-taught" is commonly understood,
Kevin? If you learned in a classroom under the guidance of a teacher, you
are not self-taught. If you learned by yourself using reference books,
dictionaries, texts, etc., outside of the formal classroom setting you are
self-taught. Does anyone else have trouble with this concept?

Jeff

Jeff

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