The use of Twitter

Part of the reason I like Twitter is the way it forces you to be precise.  This is the same reason many others hate it.  However, I find it can be a great way to examine a few things about the information density of languages.

English is less dense than say Chinese.  What does that mean?

A Chinese sentence can have more information in it than an English sentence of equal sentence.

For example,

“I will go to the library to study.”

“我要去图书馆学习”

I’m getting a bit off track a bit, but just take it to mean that while in English it can be difficult to “shorten” our writing, in Chinese it's harder to “expand” writing.

However, this is more about to address the use of Twitter for this blog.  I like the idea of “word a day” or something like that.  So, I think I will try to post a word a day with practical examples over here.  Using twitter as an exercise in precision and then expanding upon it in more of an exposition (or maybe vice versa).

The other reason for mentioning Twitter is to examine it a little more later.  When I have the time, I want to take a look at how a sample of people use Twitter and the methods they use to “shorten” their speech.  Then, I’d like to see how it corresponds to actual speaking in everyday life!  More on that later though, for now, I need to start thinking of words everyday!

An idea that needs more brewing

This site was meant to be a platform on which I could launch a more serious tutoring service. However, I think I need more time to develop the idea more, and I will be using this blog to develop the idea. I am more often on the learning side of learning, however I have spent my share of the time teaching too.

The ideas that this tutoring idea will be surfaced on are there:

• Learning in (and from) context
• Learning to improvise (and fail at forming proper sentences)
• Learning to have the confidence to improve (and to actually feel like skills are actually improving)

I’ll post lessons here and still provide Skype lessons to all who might need them, but I think I need to put this down a step in seriousness. More of a hobby than anything for now.

Wordless Beginning

Language acquisition always involves memorization. However, if the learner can use their limited vocabulary already acquired, then vocabulary can begin to naturally grow through organic conversations. The alternative to this is root memorization until the end of time.

Wordless aims to develop the confidence and skill sets necessary to hold and a conversation and build vocabularies in a way that makes the experience of learning active rather than passive.

This site will provide lessons with examples and private Skype sessions to help develop this skills in order to improve one's language skills.

For now, this site will focus on English.

Keep your eyes out for new lessons and any interested parties should contact me for more information.