[Travelandtourism] Question About Blind People and Language Imersion

Wed Nov 26 14:48:26 UTC 2014

Good morning, Cheryl Echevarria here.

Being a travel agent, I need to speak a few words of foreign languages when
traveling.

There are many apps out there on cell phones as well to choose from to learn
from listening.  I know that Hadley School for the Blind offers Spanish
Conversation via correspondence course.

I also use Rosetta Stone. I  don't know if it is accessible to all of us,
but I have done many languages with them.

Just search language courses, and see if they are accessible. Almost all of
them are either,  correspondence courses. Hadley is Free. Or you have to pay
for them.

Adios.

acción de gracias feliz - Happy Thanksgiving or Feliz Pavo (Happy Turkey).
This is what we  say in our home.

Please remember we have monthly teleconferences for the division. Our next
one is January  20th at 8pm Eastern Time.

Cheryl Echevarria, President
National Federation of the Blind's Travel and Tourism Division
A proud division of the 
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND - "Live the life you want"
www.nfbtravel.org
631-236-5138
cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can have the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.

Cheryl Echevarria is also the owner of Echevarria Travel
www.echevarriatravel.com; 631-456-5394 or reservations at echevarriatravel.com
and  has partnered with Braille Smith. www.braillesmith.com for all her
braille needs.  Gail Smith is the Secretary of the NFB of Alabama

-----Original Message-----
From: Travelandtourism [mailto:travelandtourism-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Peter Wolf via Travelandtourism
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2014 4:00 AM
To: Chris Jones; NFB Travel and Tourism Division List
Subject: Re: [Travelandtourism] Question About Blind People and Language
Imersion

Hi Chris - and anyone who wants language learning info:

 I'm a good person to talk to about languages because they have always come
easy to me, and I've tried different methods.  Prior to the recent onset of
my vision issues I did the regular classic book/classroom learning.   I have
traveled a lot, and managed to speak the host language in all countries
except a few without speaking English there.  When I was a kid about 22, I
rode a bike across Europe after college, with walkman headphones in my
helmet (that's when helmets were a new idea and headphones weren't yet a
no-no)...  In the couple of weeks in one country, I'd learn enough language
while cycling on the roads to have learned enough survival level language of
the next country, coming on line as I crossed the border.  Let's
see...French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, a start on
Hebrew...

Since then I have had brain injuries which have produced functional
(cortical) blindness, which has really screwed reading.  All the more then,
audio courses have been a fantastic way to go.  I'm not totally blind, but
it has pretty much wiped out reading as well as well as walking (white
cane).  So I have good perspective of "before and after" info for you, and
methods.  And the verdict is in - that learning by audio for me is just
fantastic as much so now as it ever was, even as it has become necessary due
to the vision issues.  Audio is where it's at: people don't speak
conversationally in written print or braille either!  Learning language can
be very easy - if - you get the right course format for you.  I will lay out
three.  Here are some specifics:

First, figure out what kind of person you are for learning.  There are three
basic kinds of audio courses in my experience.  They are:
1.  Bare bones, material like a small pocket phrasebook 2.  Bones with some
development and context 3.  Interactive conversational courses

Let's break each down:
First:  If you are a straight linear learner, like you can hear and remember
"stacks" of information, and can "brain map" it out for yourself, then it
might be ok to use a Berlitz course.  I am not that kind of thinker, so I
personally find them disjointed and ineffective for my learning style.  They
pretty much stick to surface traveler's phrasebook needs.  And they jump
from one thing to the next without what I perceive as much connection.  If
you want to advance to the next level, Berlitz and almost anyone's course
will sell you the next advanced levels.  But Berlitz for me was just to
sketchy.  In English a Berlitz lesson would go something like this, first
the English, and then the language response, like:

Where is the bathroom?  (then language response).
Hot (language response).
Cold (etc).
Where is the nearest restaurant? (etc).
Where is the center of town? (etc).
Where is the nearest doctor? (etc).
Etcetera, etcetera.  

That kind of thing, I personally can't string together well to remember and
learn language coherently in a way that sticks.   l like more of a natural
progression, and even more, some actual situational context, like real
conversation.

Second, here is a course that is still in English, with the same kind of
repeating the foreign language in the same fashion.  A good course for this
is called "Living Language".  Why it is better than Berlitz, is that there
is more depth and connection of material, and it works in better and more
related progression through it.  If you make it all the way through one of
the Living Language courses, which typically has 20 lessons, you'll have
much more than disjointed phrasebook parroting.  It will give you some
language structure.  You should be able by now to get almost any language
through them.  But again, it is a "this, that, this, that, this, that" style
of repeat learning.  It's a bit to me like a freight train, clacking right
by.  I'm either on the train, or once I've fallen off, it's a hell of a run
to get back on.  But there is much more natural progression and more
material to go through it and make sense of than Berlitz.  Berlitz to me is
a bag of bones, good luck putting it all together.  Living Language at least
gives you a skeleton.  And in some cases, you can find cartilage and
ligaments that hold one bone to the next.

But then, third, (drum roll please):  There is the king of language learning
programs.  It's the whole body.  And it talks with you.  Pimsleur language
courses.  No, I don't work for them or own their stock.  But I've only
mentioned the other courses above (many of which I still own) to give you
perspective on types of courses.  I'd say, don't waste your time with
anything above - just get Pimsleur!  Why?  Because they are coherent,
progressive, and based in actual interacting conversational language.  They
supply the context for learning very easily.  And they structure it with
complete guidance and spontaneous quizzing, which is also in context.  They
get you completely involved, as if you are sitting trying to work into an
actual conversation with patient people who are willing to repeat it for you
and finally include you.  A lesson unit goes something like this:

1.  They say:  Here is a conversation.  See if you can pick out any words or
phrases, or meaning, and listen to the tone as well:  (it plays the
conversation for you).
2.  Then, they say:  This was a conversation about (subject).  How you say
(something) in this conversation is...(and they they tell you).  
3.  Then, they say:  Go ahead and listen through it for the phrase we've
just taught you.  (then they play it again to hear) 4.  Then, they say:  How
would *you* say it?  (what they just taught)
5   Then, they say:  Ok, now listen to the whole thing over again, and
follow through.  They then break it down, and quiz you on what you've been
hearing anticipating, and interacting with, asking, "how would *you* say...
And then they come back on you regularly not only for this particular
learning unit, but also in future learning units - to ask you these spot
questions on how to say something that relates.  They set you up to learn;
you just can't help it.  It's just fantastic because it is an interactive,
natural progression that does not ever come across as disjointed, has more
depth than phrasebooks, and makes it really fun.  That for me is in part
because I discover that despite myself I have absorbed and catch myself
reflexively responding correctly - which is how they've planned it all
along!  Far enough through one of their languages, and I start to catch
myself thinking in that language!

Pimsleur courses that give more than bare bones introduction can run a few
hundred bucks.  My vision issues are only 5 years old at this point, and as
I've been getting my assistive tech stuff going it's really only been about
6 months that I have been reading again -thank God.  I'm using Bookshare and
running books through voice dream by ipad primarily so far.  But so far
that's just books and the occasional PDF.  I don't know yet if or where a
library system we'd use has Pimsleur courses.  You can tell I'm "over the
top" about their courses I'm sure.  I tell you, next language I want to
learn, if I can't get it through a library loan, I'd absolutely shell out
money for it.  They are almost "autopilot" learning, and great fun too.  In
a short time, you'll be shocked at how much you've learned. 

Hope this helps.  Have fun!
Best wishes,
Peter

Life-Skills
Connecting with the Wisdom of the Earth
Tracking, Survival and Nature Awareness Skills www.wolfskills.com

Life-Skills
Connecting with the Wisdom of the Earth
Tracking, Survival and Nature Awareness Skills 
www.wolfskills.com

On Nov 25, 2014, at 9:43 PM, Chris Jones via Travelandtourism wrote:

> Dear Listers:
> My name is Chris Jones and I am wondering if anyone has had experience in
being imersed in a foreign language and how you may have gone about it as a
blind person.  I am totally blind and a fluent Braille user.  I am hoping to
go on a mission trip to Krakow, Poland and I do not know any Polish.  Years
ago, I learned French, but I am not fluent in it now, and I know a little
German, but, again, these are very different languages than Polish.
> If anyone has any relevant experiences, I would very much like to hear
from you.
> Should you prefer to respond privately, my e-mail address is
clj1 at cableone.net.
> Thank you for your time.
> Chris Jones
> _______________________________________________
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