Cantr II Discussion Forum

Here's an idea for anybody interested in languages: participate in the 2nd Unilang Language Learning Month!

The idea behind the Unilang Language Learning Month (Ulalemo for short) is the following: lots of people from all over the world and not just Unilang members try to learn as much of a language as they can during a set 30 days. During this period of time, participants will get together via the Unilang forums, study together, help each other and there'll also be native speakers around ready to give explanations and answer questions. All materials necessary to learn the language are available for free online.
This is a great challenge for the brain. Also, for those who are interested in knowing what a language is like, it's an excellent way of getting an introduction, and for those who seriously want to study a language, it's a very motivating boost start.

The Ulalemo does not require you to attend class at a specific time, or to study an amount of vocabulary per week. How much you do depends entirely on you. However, with this occasion and a good support network of fellow students and teachers, chances are that you will not feel overwhelmed, give up easily or procrastinate your studies. Don't think that you can't participate because you have a day job! Anybody can participate and anybody can take the time to study a language, at least a few minutes every day. If you're waiting for a time when you'll have a free half year without any work to do or appointments to honour, you're procrastinating language-learning forever. Just consider this: studying a language and having a career are not at all opposites, quite to the contrary. Studying a foreign language, ANY foreign language, will not just be good exercise for your brain, bringing direct benefits for your ability to concentrate and to remember for example, but it also statistically increases your salary by about 30%! No need to mention the obvious benefits of getting to know a foreign culture and way of thought and having the chance to communicate with more people.

So, what are you waiting for? The 2nd Unilang Language Learning Month with start on October 1st and it will be about Standard Arabic or Finnish. Every participant gets to choose one of these two languages. Sign up now!

I can teach you Finnish. Wichy could use some classmates.

Heh Junesun will play in the Arabic region with me!!!

Dee wrote:Heh Junesun will play in the Arabic region with me!!!

Nice! I wonder how the arabic playing mode will be: with arabic writing (right to left) or just transliteration to latin charset?

Actually, it's supposed to be from right to left.. But I made a mistake and forgot to make the text start from the right, but that's editable... I will correct those things as soon as possible

OMG, when the other areas make contact with the arabic speaking island , it's gonna be chaos No way they could understand anything - probably only see squares on the events list.

Hey, it was prolly the same sort of a situation when people first sailed to another continents. "Good Jos, they talk in squares! ...Are those even humans?" Though naturally people would understand the basic expressions (like smiling, sad face, anger, fear) and when those are expressed in different languages as well, it limits some stuff. Sorry, this is sliding off topic...

The 3rd Unilang Language Learning Month will start on March 1st.

The 1st preparatory stage has just begun. In this stage, we are considering which languages to offer in the poll. In order for a language to be an option in the poll, somebody has to propose it first and then enough free online resources must be found to allow everybody to learn the language, if it is chosen. If you'd like to make sure that your favourite language will be in the poll, please check this list. If the language is not in the list, propose it. If it is in the list but with a comment "MORE RESOURCES NEEDED", please try to find courses and the like and send me the URLs.

The 2nd preparatory stage will begin on February 8th. That's when the poll will be opened and every potential participant may cast his vote in order to determine which 2 languages will be the focus of the 3rd Ulalemo.

The poll will be open for three weeks, after which there is a short 3rd preparatory stage in which people can officially sign up to participate or to volunteer as a tutor.

Finally, on March 1st the 3rd Unilang Language Learning Month will start and I hope to see a lot of Cantr players there!

Do I understand correctly that you cannot vote just yet?

Yes. The voting will start on February 8th. Currently is the time to decide on possible options for voting. I thought I'd better inform people already because e. g. French will not make it to the voting if not more resources for it are suggested.

Who needs French?

I'm tempted to sign up for German, but ... how much time would it involve? I guess I already have trouble handling the Esperanto course ... Perhaps I should just wait until I can live for a year in Germany or something ...

Jos Elkink wrote:I'm tempted to sign up for German, but ... how much time would it involve? I guess I already have trouble handling the Esperanto course ... Perhaps I should just wait until I can live for a year in Germany or something ...

The Ulalemo is an opportunity to learn and to do so with the help and encouragement of other students and tutors. It's a period of time designed especially for those who would usually procrastinate language-learning because of their work schedule. It's an experiment to see how much you can learn in 30 days even while your life is as hectic as it normally is.

However, there is no schedule, no specified amount of time you need to invest. How much time you invest and how much you learn is entirely up to you. I suggest setting yourself a goal at the beginning of the month and then giving it your best shot. If you fail, you fail, but you'll know more about what you can or can't do if you really, really want to, and in any event you will have acquired some knowledge of a new language.

Jos: since you know both Dutch and English, German should be quite easy for you. I know I didn't have much trouble learning some Dutch.

Btw, this is a take-it-or-leave-it chance for German and Swedish. No language will be part of a Ulalemo twice. German and Swedish won't even be in the poll for the next Unilang Language Learning Month.