Think you can learn a language in just ten days? According to a program I found off Yahoo.com, over 25 million people claimed to have learned a new language in just ten days using the advice of a UCLA professor. The program is promised to work without the use of repetition, grammar, and for a very affordable price! Though this may sound like a dream-come-true solution to the difficulty of learning a new language, I found several holes in the validity of this program's advertisement.
The first thing that stood out to me was the extraordinary claim that the program can teach a language in ten days, and that over 25 million people have attested to the success of the program. Although the advertisement was adamant about the ten day learning process, the advertisement gave no insight as to how the program works. Also, the claim that over 25 million people said the program worked is not a reliable fact because this is a number that was self-reported. There could have been just as many, or even more people that did not find the program successful and did not report their results. Or, the advertisers many have ignored the failed results of the program.
Another fault I found in the advertisement for this program was the background about program's foundation. The program stressed how children are able to learn languages and claimed that in order to effectively learn a language one must anticipate the answers to questions in another language. However, once we have grown and matured, our brains are different than a child's. We cannot simply "undevelop" our brains to learn a language more effectively. Finally, the ability to anticipate the answer to a question is not a reliable way to learn a language because one cannot possibly predict what a person will ask them, regardless of language. The ability to anticipate a question is not a falsifiable claim; we cannot design a study to see whether one can predict questions.
Puedes aprender un leguaje en diez dias?
No TrackBacks
TrackBack URL: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/176596
This is definitely an example of an extraordinary claim. 10 days is such an unrealistic number of days to learn a language that it is clearly just a lie to make money. Who has the time to have 25 million people approve their product? They probably just made that number up.
I agree with the person above, definitely an extraordinary claim. This article seems to not include several other factors, as you have stated above. I have been learning Spanish for 6 years and still don't have it all down, and have even been to a Spanish speaking country for over 10 days and still did not fully learn the language. It takes 10 days to merely learn a verb tense fully. You provided a good analysis on all the things they are excluding and I agree that this definitely need some more information before using.
First of all, let me just say that it is upsetting that a program like this even exists. My experience with language learning is comparable to kelly973 (above) and I know that I am not even close to fluency. Besides the fact that you wouldn't be able to learn more than a few greetings in ten days, the quality of a conversation where you can predict the other person's answers is so low that it would not even be worth talking to them. If you already know the information someone is going to provide you with then there is no need for communication. Assuming we can all accept this fact, I think we can also agree that there is no way to base to a legitimate language-learning program off of a concept this absurd, because listening and comprehension abilities do not materialize out of guesswork.
I'd like to see the basis on how one does learn a language within ten days!! The advertisement probably gave no evidence as how one could quickly learn a language. Definitely an extraordinary claim. Also, 25 million is such a large number! It's funny they chose that. I wonder how many people actually gave into this extraordinary claim and wasted their money on this so-called affordable program!
One saying I always go by when I see television commercials or adds is, "if is sounds too good be true it probably is." Learning a language in just 10 days is an example of an extraordinary claim and something that sounds to good to be true! If it was true much more than 25 million people would have used this program. Not only that but this sounds like an advertisement that would use statistics, anecdotes and extraordinary claims with some scientific jargon that doesn't make sense, to convince people that their program is valid.
I find this advertisement to be ridiculous! I have been in Spanish for 2 years now and I still suck at the language! Really the only best way to learn a language is immerse yourself in the culture. If you are not speaking the language you are trying to learn every day with other people you will not get very far. One thing I have always wondered about these commercials is who buys these products and why. I would really like to meet these people and see their thinking behind their purchase.
I find this advertisement to be ridiculous! I have been in Spanish for 2 years now and I still suck at the language! Really the only best way to learn a language is immerse yourself in the culture. If you are not speaking the language you are trying to learn every day with other people you will not get very far. One thing I have always wondered about these commercials is who buys these products and why. I would really like to meet these people and see their thinking behind their purchase.