7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 67
Shy bookworms, the problem with localization practices, and business etiquette around the world
Hey language lovers,
I hope you all had a lovely week!
Updates
As for me, I spent a wonderful last week in Chiang Mai and now officially entered my final week in Thailand.
I spent the last week working and reading a lot, but also bicycling in Chiang Mai and Sukhothai’s historical park. It was great apart from the sunstroke that followed! ☀️
I’m now set in Bangkok and will need to jungle work, writing, visiting, and studying languages!
After a week mostly off active language study, I’m now back to playing with Toki Pona and Ainu. I’m also getting more intense on another language, reading graded readers so I can naturally learn it and find sentences easy enough to remember and useful to me!
I’ll be going to Vietnam next week so I should learn the language but I can’t seem to retain motivation for that language so I’ll accept my fate and focus on the languages I’m actually thirsty for!
Alright, let’s dive right in!
7 Bullet Points
Each week, I share 7 things that could be useful to your learning odyssey.
I hope they can help you improve your journey, tickle your curiosity, and inspire you to keep exploring.
🎥 One video
10 Signs Your Speaking Is Improving — By Polyglot Progress
Just another great video from Abigail. I always appreciate her capacity to put into words small details we often overlook on our learning journey.
The fact you get less tired after using your target language is one great example of that. I can speak Japanese all I want without getting tired nowadays but that wasn’t always the case. I remember in particular when talking in Japanese with my ex-colleagues stopped being tiring and became a way to recharge. This was a game-changer.
I also loved the last sign she gave, to self-correct or catch your mistakes. When you learn, it’s normal to make mistakes but catching them is a whole other story. I can now catch my Korean mistakes with ease. I still often struggle with correcting them, but it’s getting better!
But, hey, there are 8 other signs she gives! If these two don’t resonate with you, maybe the rest will?
📚 One article I read
Different learning path for shy bookworms? — On “A Language Learners’ Forum”)
Unfortunately, the HTLAL forum is down as I write this newsletter so let’s turn to where its community moved: A Language Learners’ Forum. This discussion is an interesting one I recommend to any shy person or bookworm.
I especially like Cèid Donn’s long reply full of applicable advice along with Kato Lomb’s 3 autos method—reading for one's self (autolexia), writing for one's self (autographia) and speaking for one's self (autologia)—as a way to improve.
Zenmonkey’s story (on page 2) about their friend who wanted to learn German and Hebrew to read religious and philosophical texts is also a great example of the importance of knowing well your goals and adapting them just the right way if the need arises.
For those who prefer a video on the topic, Lindie Botes’ video mentioned in the thread is definitely worth watching!
✍🏽 One article I wrote
I Work in Localization. Companies Aren’t Translating Correctly.
I’ve spent 4 of the past 5 years working in localization. I’ve handled hundreds of projects pass in front of my eyes. It’s an important industry for any company that wants to spread, but it’s also an industry plagued with the spread of Machine Translation.
This piece isn’t about language learning but it’s a topic I felt was important to talk about. After reading it, you’ll know how localization works and why it’s so important.
And if you’ve thought of using machine translation for work, this might make you reconsider.
🎧 One podcast episode
AFP 20 - Sonja Lang: Toki Pona, Conlanging, meaning of life — By The Actual Fluency Podcast
I mentioned the language Toki Pona a few months (weeks?) ago but I felt I had to share this interview of its creator, Sonja Lang, when I found it. I had never heard of her story so this was very enlightening.
I absolutely loved that the language reflects her way of seeing life. Life is already complicated enough so, as she said,
“Sometimes it’s better to just accept things as they are instead of trying to find more ways to make them complicated.”
If you’re just a tiny bit curious about the language, listen to this episode and I can promise you you’ll go study it at least for a little while!
🌎 One cultural aspect to discover
Business Etiquette Around the World
Every country does business but how they do it can vary widely between countries. I could never list every differences for all the countries around the world but here are a few I think are worth mentioning for they could make or break business relationships.
Let’s start with my favorite country and its well-known culture of business cards. In Japan, business cards are a must. Any proper business meeting starts with a business card exchange. How you do it is simple, but crucial. In this video, they forget to mention it, but it’s also crucial to bend slightly as you exchange cards. This business card culture is similar in Thailand or Korea.
Talking about Korea, going for a noraebang (노래방), a karaoke, with your potential partners, is common practice. While in the West it may be something you do between friends, it doesn’t have to be that way there.
In China, gifting is a very common practice in business meetings and not considered a bride in any sense, although it would often be considered so in the West. Make sure you wrap the gifts in the right colors and avoid giving 4 as that’d be bad luck. This can also be the case in countries like Japan or Indonesia, while rejecting the gifts two or three times in Singapore can happen out of politeness!
In France, lunch meetings are common and can last hours. During this time, a lot of the conversations won’t be about the topic of the meeting but that’s just how French people do. On the contrary, it’s important to go straight to the point in Germany.
While it is common to talk on a first-name basis in some countries like the US, this isn’t the case in many countries. This is to avoid at all costs in most countries in Asia. Finally, there are countries, like Finland, where you have to wait for your interlocutor to make the change.
In Finland, you could even be invited to go to a sauna!
If you ever have to work with people from a different country, I highly advise you check their customs. While most people will be understanding of your lack of knowledge, proving you’ve made your research can be appreciated and improve your chances of a good relationship.
📜 One quote to ponder
“He who knows other languages feels even closer to his own language.” ― Kató Lomb, Polyglot: How I Learn Languages
💪 One monthly challenge (April Edition)
Add a 5-10 minute task to your daily routine — Live the language
It’s easy to fall into the habit of considering the language as something you study and nothing more but this is wrong. Languages are alive. You are too.
If you want to keep learning the language, you have to make it a part of your life, outside of your “study time”.
For this month, let’s do just that by adding a short task to your routine. It doesn’t have to be long. Hell, if it’s short, it’s easier to fit in your probably already busy schedule.
Journal, meditate, follow a workout video in your target language. If you’re a reader, read for a few minutes daily.
FYI, if you meditate with an app like Headspace, Calm, or Meditopia, check if they have sessions in your target language. They do for most of the Western European languages and some Asian languages.
✅How the challenge is going for me
The challenge flew out of my head this week so no update on it!
How is the challenge going for you?
As always, thanks for reading!
Mathias Barra