"…to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before."
In the 23rd century, after Earth had survived World War III, humanity allies with other alian races to explore the stars. The United Federation of Planets is created, and Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise along with his crew of 430 men and woman explore the galaxy.
[I guess James Bond never prevented WWIII]
In order to effectively create massive star ships, travel at warp speed, and make a fresh ham sandwich with sliced tomatoes, human and alien races had to have a plan.
When comparing the building process of the Enterprise-D to the learning process of learning Italian, I feel relieved it will only take 90 Days compared to 20 years. [Reference: USS Enterprise D Tech Manual, Summary]
Two days ago, James Bond helped us with creating our mission: where we want to be.
Today, Spock and Captain Kirk will be our companions in creating our 90 day plan: how we will get to where we want to be.
First, a dialog with the crew:
[Several hundred years into the future, on deck the Enterprise, Captain Kirk and Spock play a game of chess as I strike up a question]
Ben: Is the Computer efficient in calculating numbers across both human and alien languages, Captain?
Kirk: Not one hundred percent efficient, of course… but nothing ever is.
Spock: Computers make excellent and efficient servants, but I have no wish to serve under them. Captain, a star ship also runs on loyalty to…
Kirk: Why?! do you always ramble on like a babbling idiot?
Spock: Captain, if you would excuse me...
Kirk: I had something else in mind. You'd make a splendid computer, Mr. Spock.
Spock: That is very kind of you, Captain, but such a remark displeases me. If it is an emotional response you are looking for, maybe it requires physical stimuli.
Ben: Captain, may we proceed with inquiring the computer already?
Kirk: Ah.. Computer, calculate the number of words required to reach 95% fluency of the average language in a 90 day period.
Computer: [calculating: 0,02304840088 X 64^3 / 2 = 3021,0000002] Across 90 Earth days, or two-one-six-zero hours, 33,566666669 words should be memorized each 24 hour period to reach a 95% language fluency. This doesn't incl…
Kirk: Alright! Enough… Mr. Spock, did I ever tell you you play a very irritating game of chess… [conversation continues back to the chess game]
The Computer mentioned roughly 3000 words should be memorized over 90 days, and that is about 35 words per day.
With this in mind we need to create a plan that will enable us to remember this approximate number of words per day.
Yesterday, I mentioned two excellent online resources I have begun using to easily memorize words and phrases. The first, Livemocha.com, is a free online course of about 51 lessons + 31 "Crash Course" lessons [invite three friends and get the crash course free]. That's a total of 82 lessons.
The second resource, LearnItalianPod.com, is a collection of podcasts. Most of the podcasts are free, but I purchased the $15 subscription to download all 261 lessons plus gain access to all the written material and tests.
On average, each Livemocha lesson and each LearnItalianPod podcast teaches about 10 to 15 new words. So if I schedule 1 Livemocha lesson and 2 LearnItalianPod lessons for every day I will learn an average approximately 30-45 words per day, and this doesn't include other words I pick up.
This is the rough draft of my plan. Over time I will need to change or add my course material, but for now the goal is to have any plan towards studying everyday and learning the approximate number of words.
I mentioned Livemocha and LearnItalianPod podcasts, but any software, materials, or sources you find that will enable you to learn ~35 words per day will work. Just keep in mind, it's very important that you listen audio, so don't leave it out. I'm looking forward to watching movies in Italian! I can already understand the basics of a lot of conversations.
Check out my Calendar here to see what I have planned!
If you'd like to learn Golic Vulcan instead, use my methods along with the information and material from this website.
Did this post help? Does the theme make it entertaining, or just sappy? Do you have any good resources for language learning plans? I enjoy reading your feedback!
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