Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Use it or lose it?

The trouble with learning a foreign language is that while you learn new stuff your brain is busy forgetting some of the stuff you thought you had already learned! So it would clearly be an advantage if we could slow down the rate of forgetting. Some writers compare memory with computer data storage. They urge that we adopt strategies to move information from short term memory to long term storage, maybe like moving data out of RAM and onto disc.

If only it were that simple!

The main strategy that seems to be advocated is repetition. Some writers say that there is a threshold level of repetition below which you won’t learn for the long term. That level is usually pitched in the high teens. So you need to hear a word or phrase, say, seventeen times before you can learn it. And if you don’t keep on using the word, they say, then you’ll lose it.

Sadly the truth is a lot more complicated. First, learning and forgetting are brain functions. We don’t truly understand the brain, and we understand hardly at all how memory works. Why, for example can I still recite a line of Latin poetry I heard once only, in class at school, more than 45 years ago? And why does my son, aged 30, remember the registration number of the first car he ever drove? These are not memories that he and I worked to preserve, nor have they ever been needed. Never used, but never lost.

Secondly learning and forgetting rates vary markedly, for unknown reasons, between people. They also vary at different times for the same person.

Thirdly there’s a big difference between the impact of hearing a word or phrase, and using the same word or phrase in the course of daily life. That’s not the same as repeating it in class or in a drill at home. Using in daily life means needing the word or phrase, calling it up from memory, using it, and getting an appropriate response from someone else.

For the vast majority of people, learning a foreign language is difficult. Forgetting it is easy. Successful language learners seem to be able to create personal strategies that match their learning styles and work for them at both ends of the process. Trouble is, everyone’s strategies are different, just as we and our styles are all different. So the only general conclusion to this brief discussion is that you should distrust any standard system that offers you quick results for little effort. There is a high probability that any “programmed” language course will not fit your optimum style of learning

Here are a few pointers to consider when you work out your own strategy.

First, be clear why you want to learn the language, and what you will gain by success. It’s a difficult thing, learning a language, so you need good motivation.

Secondly use all the possible means you can find to hear, speak, read and write the language. You need variety; stimulus of all your senses and exercise for all your brain functions.

Thirdly try to pace your work. Mix physical exercise with your mental endeavour. Do your language learning when you are wide awake, not tired, not stressed.

Fourthly, mix revision of past work into learning new things. You will always forget something, but your aim is to minimise the loss whilst you add to your total language capital.

And finally, get all the help you can. You don’t want to work alone; it’s hard to keep motivated and very hard to build any fluency in the language when you study alone. If you can afford it, go to a specialist language school with tutors who understand the importance of different learning styles and the problem of forgetting.

If you are lucky enough to live in Jakarta, here’s a school that understands all the problems and issues that I’ve been discussing.

kursus bahasa Inggris

A school like this one offers you a great opportunity to learn the world’s favourite language. Use it or lose it!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

After the recession

What comes next?

Post recession planning should start now, not be delayed until business starts to improve.


It’s time now to think about what the world of business will be like after the recession, and how to configure your operations for the market you will face.

Cash control is the first essential. Businesses fail on the upswing out of recession, as well as during the recession itself. Mostly they have kept going during the downturn by a mix of borrowing, getting credit from their suppliers and keeping wages down. Then the climate for business improves; suppliers want to cut their creditors back to normal, staff want to see some reward for loyalty, and banks find big new exciting ways of investing their money, and want their older loans repaid.

So firms need to make sure that they don’t over-extend during the early days of returning prosperity. Tight control of cash remains essential, and expansion projects have to be financed very cautiously indeed. Over-trading and over-investment are the mistakes to avoid.

The good news is that there will be lots of opportunities to sell and get business. The bad news is that those of your competitors who have also survived will be leaner, fitter and stronger than they were. You are going to have to fight for your share of the opportunities. This means that your staff need to be on top of their game, your quality needs to be second to none, and your market intelligence must be sharp and clear.

In most cases the companies that prosper in the years after a recession will be those who kept their best people during the hard times, and made sure they were trained to take advantage of any opportunities that came your way. Good, trained people will give you your best chance of survival, as well as of expansion after the worst is over. They will keep your quality high, your market information up to date, and your customers happy.

The paradox is that some companies seem to risk their chance of survival and longer-term prosperity by letting people go who would have been their star performers in the post recession world. Worse, they cut back on training to conserve cash, and end up without the skills that would have led them through the risky post-recession recovery period.

Internationally, the training that companies put into their staff is the key factor in assuring success in the post-recession world. And training in the international language of business is an important core investment during the recession.

For companies in Jakarta, here’s a link to the best, and certainly the most focused English language training provider in your city.

Kursus Bahasa Inggris

Your post-recession future starts here!

Friday, January 9, 2009

We live in challenging times

An Article by the teachers at Aim for English. We know more than just the English language!

From the US to Iceland, from the UK to Indonesia, and from Peru to Japan the same message is flashing.

“There is a worldwide recession coming”.

More- it’s a recession that may be on a scale not seen for a generation, maybe not even for a lifetime. We all hope that the actions taken by governments around the world will reduce its intensity, and shorten the period of contraction. As I write we can also hope that the new young American President will lead his own country, and ours, swiftly back to prosperity. But the reality of today is that we live in challenging times.

So how on earth does a business cope with this kind of challenge? How does it survive? How does it manage?

There are three important things to remember. First, many businesses will survive. Secondly the businesses that survive will emerge stronger from the experience. And finally, the way to survive is to do the simple things better than your competition.

What are the simple things we all need to do?

Again, there are three.

First, keep focused on delivering the absolute best service you can to the customers you have. They have their problems too, and they need and will value all the help you can give them. More than this, in hard times the very best selling tool you have is the good opinion of your existing customers. In a recession the market is less forgiving, less liable to make allowances for bad service, more ruthless in cutting out poor suppliers.

Secondly, keep on selling. There’s going to be business out there, but it will be harder to find and much harder to win. Your selling tools need to be sharp. Your sales team must be highly trained and very highly motivated. Your marketing will have to be innovative, flexible, and sensitive to the changes in market mood. Your prices will need to be flexible, too, recognising that cash is tight everywhere.

Finally, keep your costs at the right level. Be careful with cost cutting, because there is a very real danger of damaging the level of customer service, and the market will be ultra-sensitive to that. Better to adopt a containment policy, capping cost growth until the sun starts to shine again. The really difficult thing about cutting costs is that it’s like surgery. It takes high-level skills if you don’t want to kill your patient. You should think of customer service as the main artery that keeps a business alive. Cut into it at your peril!

Here’s a firm that is helping Indonesian business to weather the financial storm. With its own costs under tight control, it delivers a level of service second to none in Jakarta. Its pricing is very competitive, helping its customers to conserve their cash. The product it delivers is the best English language training in town, without which the customer service teams of its clients would be far less able to cope with their own recessionary challenge.

All about AIM!

This is the place to learn English!

Where else can you find the best teachers, the latest technology, and a record for getting results that’s second to none? Only in Manggarai!

Maybe you want to study or work abroad. Perhaps you need to improve the English you use at work here in Jakarta. Whatever your objective, AIM is the place for you.

Learning English needn’t be a nightmare if you have great teachers to help you. Teachers who really understand your needs, and know how to make learning fun. Here at AIM we have the best team in Jakarta. Come and meet us, and we are sure that you will agree. Aim’s founders are all working teachers, so you can be sure that we really care about the quality of our work, and the results you will achieve.

Great teachers and keen students deserve the best materials and the latest technology. AIM’s materials are tailored to our students and their objectives. We don’t use a standard book or a formulaic course, because they are just not good enough.

AIM’s technology is cutting-edge. Say goodbye to language tapes and poor quality recorded sound. Forget copying things down from a whiteboard. Say hello to the Internet, surround-sound and the world’s best electronic whiteboard. Bring your laptop to download notes from our wifi network, or use one of our in-house PCs (we’ve got plenty for everyone!).

Your decision to improve your English means that you will be making a major investment in your time, your energy and of course in your cash. At AIM we understand that your commitment has to be equalled by ours. That’s why we have great teachers, unique materials and the latest technology. All waiting for you.

To find out more, or get in touch with the team at Aim, click: kursus bahasa inggris