Human Capacity to learn

[Brian Fein]

I heard an interview on the radio this afternoon with some guy who was the director of learning at Rosetta Stone.  He was speaking about their system, how it works, and how anyone can learn another language.

It made me think...

I have always wanted to learn another language, and the testimonials from others who have used the system make me think its a win-win if you make the investment.  I have also always wanted to learn how to play an instrument, like guitar or drums.  But, all of it costs money...

Do you think there's a cap to how much people can actually learn?  Is there a finite space in the human brain for knowledge?  Also, what price tag can you put on ability?  Is it worth it to pay to learn a new skill if you can be guaranteed that you WILL learn it?

[MaineDolFan]

Do you think there's a cap to how much people can actually learn? 

No.  The brain is much like a muscle.  The more it is used, the harder it will work for you. 

[StL FinFan]

I agree with Maine.  I don't know the exact percentage, but I know humans use a very small percent of their total brain capacity.  I believe you should keep learning and educating yourself, because like any muscle, it will get weaker without use.

[MaineDolFan]

Where adults lose their way:  When learning gets hard they can't get over that "I want to quit" wall.

Exercising:  Your mind will quit on you long before your body is really ready to.  You can almost always pound out another few reps but your mind has said "wow...this hurts.  Put it down."  So you listen. 

When I have a class of older students starting at the dojo one of the first things I do is put them in the horse stance and basically don't let them out.  It is easy at first, gets hard after a while.  Each time someone steps up straight I add time to the exercise.  The mind will quit before the body.  They need to know that in order to get through a lot of the required katas, etc.

Same thing with mental aspects.  You come to something you don't get.  It doesn't get any more clear the more research you do.  Your brain says "this isn't your cup of tea, you can't get this" and you build that wall and stop.  When, in reality, had you pushed through the wall you would have grasped it eventually.

[Sunstroke]

There was a time when I was stationed overseas that I was fairly close to fluent in German and Russian, and have since picked up a decent bit of Cantonese, Spanish and a few others. I think that if you enjoy communicating, and have any sort of natural aptitude for vocabulary, sentence structure or other "form" issues with language, that a human mind can learn as many languages as it needs to, as deeply as it needs to. Heck, I got so comfortable in German that I used to dream in German and talk in my sleep in German.

I've never used Rosetta Stone or any other "system." I've always learned best just by memorizing vocabulary and structure from a book and being near people who regularly spoke the other language that I could socialize with.

[Dave Gray]

I don't know the exact percentage, but I know humans use a very small percent of their total brain capacity.

I've heard this, but I don't know if it's true.  Is this a fact or is it just one of those myths that everyone knows because it's passed between us?  Even if it were true, what does "percentage of your brain" really mean?  And how would that be measured?  I'm just skeptical of the claim, is all.  ...wonder if it's supported by any real data.

[Buddhagirl]

There was a time when I was stationed overseas that I was fairly close to fluent in German and Russian, and have since picked up a decent bit of Cantonese, Spanish and a few others. I think that if you enjoy communicating, and have any sort of natural aptitude for vocabulary, sentence structure or other "form" issues with language, that a human mind can learn as many languages as it needs to, as deeply as it needs to. Heck, I got so comfortable in German that I used to dream in German and talk in my sleep in German.

I've never used Rosetta Stone or any other "system." I've always learned best just by memorizing vocabulary and structure from a book and being near people who regularly spoke the other language that I could socialize with.

I suck at languages. Not sure why, but I'm just don't seem to be getting them. I'm in college level 4 spanish and I don't understand a thing. Oddly, when I go to a spanish speaking nation I'm fine though. I guess that's all that matters.

[TonyB0D]

I agree with Maine.  I don't know the exact percentage, but I know humans use a very small percent of their total brain capacity.  I believe you should keep learning and educating yourself, because like any muscle, it will get weaker without use.

this is a fallacy.  we use 100% of our brains, just at different times.  you never have the whole thing running at once, so this is where you get those old wive's fallacies of "we only use 10% of our brain", etc.

[Dave Gray]

I suck at languages. Not sure why, but I'm just don't seem to be getting them. I'm in college level 4 spanish and I don't understand a thing. Oddly, when I go to a spanish speaking nation I'm fine though. I guess that's all that matters.

I've looked a little bit at this Rosetta Stone software and it looks to be pretty effective.

The idea behind it is that you skip the "translation" step.  It works like this:

In tradition Spanish classes, you would learn how to say apple as manzana.  But when you see an apple, first you recognize it as an apple, and then translate that to manzana.

Rosetta stone skips that second step and instead teaches you with pictures of the item.  Their goal is to get you to recognize the item as a manzana first.

From what I've heard from people that use it, it's effective.

[bsfins]

^^ I used Rossetta stone to try to learn italian...The problem I had was (and Why I quit) It wasn't teaching me really anything really useful,as in converstional...

The Boy under the airplane, by the cat next to the car......

[Buddhagirl]

I've looked a little bit at this Rosetta Stone software and it looks to be pretty effective.

The idea behind it is that you skip the "translation" step.  It works like this:

In tradition Spanish classes, you would learn how to say apple as manzana.  But when you see an apple, first you recognize it as an apple, and then translate that to manzana.

Rosetta stone skips that second step and instead teaches you with pictures of the item.  Their goal is to get you to recognize the item as a manzana first.

From what I've heard from people that use it, it's effective.

What you just explained is my primary problem. I try to translate word for word and then it doesn't really make sense or I am REALLY slow in response because in my head I'm translating. I feel like I'm ALWAYS "searching" for the word if that makes any sense.

The first few days I was in Peru, I had a headache from trying to keep up with all of the Spanish being thrown at me. Later in the trip I was able to understand and answer. Maybe it's just a matter of slipping into that "mode".

[Brian Fein]

That's what Rosetta Stone does - they teach you as if its your first language.  They teach you to THINK in Spanish, not just learn how to translate.  They said that its easier to learn that way than handcuffing two languages together by translation.

I think that's why the program is so successful.

[Buddhagirl]

That's what Rosetta Stone does - they teach you as if its your first language.  They teach you to THINK in Spanish, not just learn how to translate.  They said that its easier to learn that way than handcuffing two languages together by translation.

I think that's why the program is so successful.

Maybe I should check it out. Because it feels like I know Spanish, but I'm not thinking in Spanish.

[fyo]

Maybe I should check it out. Because it feels like I know Spanish, but I'm not thinking in Spanish.

My personal experience is that it takes a few days "submersed" before you start thinking in the foreign language. I've found that to hold even if I wasn't even remotely fluent in the language.

There really is no substitute to being completely submersed, though.

I've found that the greatest difference between young people learning a foreign language and adults, especially older ones, is that the older you get, the less willing you are to say something that's wrong. So you spend a lot of time NOT saying anything instead of just communicating and letting the correct grammar and vocabulary come as it may.

[Gabriel]

I've had a fair amount of experience with Rosetta Stone. It's fine for getting a start on a language you don't know or brushing up a bit on your high school Spanish before your vacation to Costa Rica, but it is no substitute for a rigorous immersion program. It will not not teach you to "think" in the language and it will not teach you the THOUSANDS of words you need to learn in order to function in a social or professional setting beyond the basics of pleasantries, talking about family, and asking/giving directions.