That doesn't necessarily mean anything. I know plenty of 20- and 30-something American English speakers (lived nowhere else in their lives, never studied any other languages) who have the English skills of a grade schooler. Heck, look at half the posts on Slashdot!;)
Even immersion techniques will only have limited effectiveness if the student isn't personally committed to learning what is being taught. They will tend to learn just enough to get by unless they find a personally compelling reason to go further. From your description, this may be what happened to you with your French instruction.
That said, don't let that nagging voice get you down. You never know, you may have a better time learning Japanese since you actually have an interest in learning it, rather than it being forced down your throat.
I wanted to learn Japanese for a number of reasons, including anime and manga, but also because of friends that I have met from Japan, as well as wanting to learn about the culture and history of the place.
I will say that the sparse self-instruction that I did helped a little when I went to Japan last summer, but not nearly enough! I do plan to keep studying, as I also plan to go back again!
Yes, the Amateur Radio community is in opposition to BPL, due to the high degree of RFI (radio frequency interference) that BPL puts out. The problem that not as many people are talking about is that this will also affect many fire/rescue/police radio frequencies, which occupy the same radio spectrum as the BPL systems interfere with. This could potentially cause severe problems in emergency situations. So no, it's not just a bunch of us HAMs whining about BPL "ruining our hobby". We also interact with emergency personnel in emergencysituations, severe weather, natural disasters, and yes, even terrorist attacks.
Representatives from the City's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Microsoft, as well as numerous local software companies testified.
I assume that was meant to read 'Representatives from the City's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications AND Microsoft, as well as numerous local software companies testified.'?
Not that we didn't already suspect there was evil at work in government...;)
Slashdot Mirror
That doesn't necessarily mean anything. I know plenty of 20- and 30-something American English speakers (lived nowhere else in their lives, never studied any other languages) who have the English skills of a grade schooler. Heck, look at half the posts on Slashdot! ;)
Even immersion techniques will only have limited effectiveness if the student isn't personally committed to learning what is being taught. They will tend to learn just enough to get by unless they find a personally compelling reason to go further. From your description, this may be what happened to you with your French instruction.
That said, don't let that nagging voice get you down. You never know, you may have a better time learning Japanese since you actually have an interest in learning it, rather than it being forced down your throat.
I wanted to learn Japanese for a number of reasons, including anime and manga, but also because of friends that I have met from Japan, as well as wanting to learn about the culture and history of the place.
I will say that the sparse self-instruction that I did helped a little when I went to Japan last summer, but not nearly enough! I do plan to keep studying, as I also plan to go back again!
Knightsabre
Yes, the Amateur Radio community is in opposition to BPL, due to the high degree of RFI (radio frequency interference) that BPL puts out. The problem that not as many people are talking about is that this will also affect many fire/rescue/police radio frequencies, which occupy the same radio spectrum as the BPL systems interfere with. This could potentially cause severe problems in emergency situations. So no, it's not just a bunch of us HAMs whining about BPL "ruining our hobby". We also interact with emergency personnel in emergency situations, severe weather, natural disasters, and yes, even terrorist attacks.
Representatives from the City's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Microsoft, as well as numerous local software companies testified.
;)
I assume that was meant to read 'Representatives from the City's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications AND Microsoft, as well as numerous local software companies testified.'?
Not that we didn't already suspect there was evil at work in government...