Uzbek

[David Powelstock]

It is hard to see how Pat or anyone else could have read "an Uzbek" (in
Greg's original message, below) to mean the "well-trained Uzbek teacher,"
into which s/he has been transformed in Greg's last message.  I think that
we can assume that any well-trained language teacher will bring to the
affair language-learning materials.  If not, what are they well trained in,
brain transplant surgery?  Language teaching by acupuncture?  So now, this
is a no brainer: your first step should be to find a well-trained Uzbek
trainer with good materials.  Preferable to a well-trained non-native
teacher of Uzbek.  Ceteris paribus?  Sure.  Likely to be found in the US?
Hardly.  For good measure, why don't we throw in one of the numberous and
well-funded Uzbek Language Universities here in the States, with their
complete collections of Uzbek literature and packed cultural programs?  At
this point, the student in question should be buying a ticket for
Uzbekistan.  And yet, puzzlingly, Greg concludes by restating his point as
originally formulated:
"Your bigger concern should to find one or more speakers of that language."
Is this speaker a well-trained native speaker of the language in question?
If not, as a beginning learner of language, I will gladly trade him or her
for a decent textbook.  Otherwise, if my native speaker and I live, eat,
sleep and go the bathroom together, I can expect to gain the language
proficiency of a ten-year old in about ten years, assuming my aging brain
retains the nimbleness of a child's.  Although you have now wrapped it in
some more sensible comments, Greg, you are still wrong.  I have learned (as
more or less an adult) and taught several languages fairly well through the
following two steps (a) study with textbooks and/or trained native or
non-native instructors, then (b) travel to the country where the language is
spoken (with or without formal instruction over there).  To learn relatively
quickly as an adult, you've first got to have pegs to hang things on.
Formal language study may not be something that every enjoys or is good at,
but without it, you're doomed to the slow route, which begins with
reinventing the wheel.

-----Original Message (Greg's first message)-----
"It seems to me that the first step would be to find an Uzbek, not to
find teaching materials. It may take a bit of effort, but languages
aren't found in teaching materials, they are found in the heads and
relationships of live people! So I would advise the person to put
first priority on finding and Uzbek, and second priority on finding
teaching materials."

Cheers,
david
David Powelstock
University of Chicago
d-powelstock at uchicago.edu

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