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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Doctorates or not (was Re: XSD)

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Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

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  • From: "Read, James C" <K0434995 AT kingston.ac.uk>
  • To: "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Doctorates or not (was Re: XSD)
  • Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2005 12:55:10 +0100

Karl wrote:
Hebrew is a language, and academic study is not the only way to master a
language. (I read a couple of years ago about an ESL teacher in China who
complained that he often met illiterate farmers who spoke better English than
his college students!) Academic study is just a more formalized way to study
a language.


JCP: This is something, that as an EFL teacher, I can confirm from firsthand
experience. My worst students
by far were the accademic grammar basher types, who could typically ace an
exam paper but couldn't order a
cup of coffe in a cafe' if their life depended on it.
My best students were typically olympic athletes that had never studied the
language from a grammatical
point of view. When faced with a written exam they would typically make
enormous errors but while speaking
they would not make such errors as they spoke by instinct and had the ability
to not only make themselves
understood but to use idioms and slangy sayings in correct contexts.

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