The Linguist: A Personal Guide to Language Learning

By Steve Kaufmann

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0973339403
• ISBN13: 9780973339406
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: The Linguist Institute
• Length: 146 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The best and the only way to be proficient in other languages

Have you tried to learn foriegn language? How was it? Are you successful and finally be able to speak fluently? If not, you did it in a wrong way. Here's the answer in the book! If you want to learn foriegn language and be fluent, just listen and read as much as possible! Of course, you need strong motivation on it. In this way, an author could be fluent in 10 languages. Can't believe? I also experienced that this way works better than any other way of learning language before reading this book. Believe me and this book! It's the best way , at the same time, the only way to be proficient in foriegn language. A.. I'm native Korean and fluent in English without spending money on private academy or any other study materials. Only thing I did was just listen various sources of English video and audio on the web and read books.

Inspirational

I only wish I would have read this book in the begenning of my language studies. It would have helped me overcome some of the barriers of learning a new language sooner. Currently I am fluent in Korean and proficient in German, Japanese, and Spaniish. After reading this book I am ready to push harder and become fluent in several languages. The story was interesting putting his life in perspective and showing how he learned. A must have for anyone interested in learning several languages.

Interesting book

I think Kaufmann's book is very interesting. He tells his story about his life of language learning and how he didn't rely on grammar lessons. This book is similar to Barry Farber's book who also rejected learning grammar; he accepted learning by communicating. I wrote a book in which I wrote down how I learn languages. I'm very traditional; I like to know the grammar. My book is more like a primer that can be use with another grammar book. One thing I had a serious problem with in this book is Kaufmann's definition of the word "linguist." A linguist is not anybody who can speak two or more languages. That's the old definition of "linguist." A person who speaks two or more languages is called a "polyglot." A linguist is a person who studies the science and mechanics of language (gerund, past participle, phonetics, morphology, etc.). One my professors used to be a linguist, and he told me that people have a skewed definition of the word "linguist." Brandon Simpson

Very Practical

I liked Steve Kaufmann's book because it gives you a systematic approach for the real world, very much UNLIKE most language schools which focus on grammar. His approach is more practical and includes writing, which through my own experience has helped me to improve in fluency. If you follow his method you develope fluency quicker than going to most language schools. Jerry Bauer