Here’s an example of this process applied to learning a foreign language:
Define the goal: I want to be able to a. interact and b. converse and c. function in a society that speaks a different language.
Archetypes: Most of the time I spend talking with others in person is spent a. eating/drinking/buying things, b.asking for assistance, c. meeting new people. To break those down into subtypes, I’d say:
Ordering food
Ordering drinks
Buying products
Inquiring about a location
Need help
Asking “small talk” questions
Giving “small talk” answers
Processes: Learn to say the following sentences for each archetype, along with the various vocabulary words. Also list out possible responses to each sentence and learn to understand them.
Food: I’d like to order [food], Is [food item] [adjective]?, [Compliments], [Complaints],
Drinks: Can I have a [drink], Another [drink], Do you have [specific drink]?, No thanks.
Products: Do you carry [product]?, I am looking for [description].
Landmarks: Where is [location]?, Thank you.
Help: I need help, I have [condition], I am sick, Where is the hospital?, I am from [country], I am staying at [place], My emergency contact is [person].
Small Talk Questions: Hi, How are you?, Where are you from?, How do you like it here? What do you do?
Small Talk Answers: I’m doing well, I’m from [country], It’s great here, I like [thing], I don’t like [thing], I am a [occupation].
Exception Protocol: There are two main non-redundant failure points: “Someone uses a vocabulary word I don’t recognize” and “There is a complete gap in understanding.” Two different exception protocols can handle these, depending on the situation:
Learn to say, “Sorry, I’m from America and don’t speak [language] as a first language. Do you know English… or, can you say that again?”
Use Google Translate to translate what I am trying to communicate.
Strategy: Avoid situations that have the potential to become high-stakes. Prepare for situations where it may be loud/fast-paced and hard to understand people. Focus on scenarios that involve fairly low-stakes interactions and simple conversations. Practice my “Sorry, I’m from America” line until I can say it and sound good. Make sure my Google Translate app is readily available.
Improvement. Any time I have to use my exception protocol, make sure to look up the sentence that I was trying to say or was being said to me, and remember it. Take note of any recurring scenarios that I haven’t learned an appropriate sentence for. Expand my vocabulary list for the scenarios that are most common.
So, taking a look at what you actually propose to do, this reduces to a) learn some phrases from the tourist phrasebook and b) learn the rest of the language while c) avoiding high-stakes situations where you need language knowledge. Reminds me of this.
That may be a bit more snarky than is helpful. Your reduction loses useful information; Nanashi’s longer description of the process includes useful, specific procedural details that could otherwise trip people up.
TL;DR: The fastest way to learn new skills is to 1. Break it down into enough “recipes” or “how-to” guides that they cover most of what you might encounter, and 2. Figure out how to eloquently ask for help if you don’t know what to do.
(Incidentally, the link you posted does not work, it’s giving me a 404).
Here’s an example of this process applied to learning a foreign language:
Define the goal: I want to be able to a. interact and b. converse and c. function in a society that speaks a different language.
Archetypes: Most of the time I spend talking with others in person is spent a. eating/drinking/buying things, b.asking for assistance, c. meeting new people. To break those down into subtypes, I’d say:
Ordering food
Ordering drinks
Buying products
Inquiring about a location
Need help
Asking “small talk” questions
Giving “small talk” answers
Processes: Learn to say the following sentences for each archetype, along with the various vocabulary words. Also list out possible responses to each sentence and learn to understand them.
Food: I’d like to order [food], Is [food item] [adjective]?, [Compliments], [Complaints],
Drinks: Can I have a [drink], Another [drink], Do you have [specific drink]?, No thanks.
Products: Do you carry [product]?, I am looking for [description].
Landmarks: Where is [location]?, Thank you.
Help: I need help, I have [condition], I am sick, Where is the hospital?, I am from [country], I am staying at [place], My emergency contact is [person].
Small Talk Questions: Hi, How are you?, Where are you from?, How do you like it here? What do you do?
Small Talk Answers: I’m doing well, I’m from [country], It’s great here, I like [thing], I don’t like [thing], I am a [occupation].
Exception Protocol: There are two main non-redundant failure points: “Someone uses a vocabulary word I don’t recognize” and “There is a complete gap in understanding.” Two different exception protocols can handle these, depending on the situation:
Learn to say, “Sorry, I’m from America and don’t speak [language] as a first language. Do you know English… or, can you say that again?”
Use Google Translate to translate what I am trying to communicate.
Strategy: Avoid situations that have the potential to become high-stakes. Prepare for situations where it may be loud/fast-paced and hard to understand people. Focus on scenarios that involve fairly low-stakes interactions and simple conversations. Practice my “Sorry, I’m from America” line until I can say it and sound good. Make sure my Google Translate app is readily available.
Improvement. Any time I have to use my exception protocol, make sure to look up the sentence that I was trying to say or was being said to me, and remember it. Take note of any recurring scenarios that I haven’t learned an appropriate sentence for. Expand my vocabulary list for the scenarios that are most common.
So, taking a look at what you actually propose to do, this reduces to a) learn some phrases from the tourist phrasebook and b) learn the rest of the language while c) avoiding high-stakes situations where you need language knowledge. Reminds me of this.
That may be a bit more snarky than is helpful. Your reduction loses useful information; Nanashi’s longer description of the process includes useful, specific procedural details that could otherwise trip people up.
Yup, pretty much. To quote myself
(Incidentally, the link you posted does not work, it’s giving me a 404).