Forum Post: Democrat or Republican Weakness, History, Culture, Language, Philosophy

I can't tell you what your weakness is. (I have a lot of Weaknesses that are ...like too obvious)

I'm not better than anyone. I've tried to learn on my own, but was lucky in 2 respects: A) My father travelled the world, was college eduated, and absorbed some liberal and democratic ideas along with his hard science perspective B) I went into the Military with an Idea about learning a Foreign Language.

So you tell me if you agree, Is History, Culture, Language, Philosophy Essential to a democratic People .... for a democratic Outcome .... for a real Perspective on Globalization ...and for Survival of us all????

For 30 years I have been pie in the sky about learning languages. I did learn to read Korean script, learned German, have familiarity with Spanish... actually learned German Grammer in College along with classes. I am weak where work is a stress ...I don't seem to learn much while living in a country and working for assholes.

But I have a natural ability to learn, if I can stop being overwhelmed by feelings of stress, or failure, or whatever.

At this point I think my best chance is to learn Spanish or German ... although it might be cheap to live in a country that speaks chinese like Thailand or Malaysia or Hong Kong or Taiwan.

What is my Plan? What am I willing to Commit to?

1) Plans create success after all.
2) Some people have no Structure ... and must commit to Structure in order to move forward.
3) We must think Globally to fix local government.
4) Speaking Foreign Languages helps to understand global cultures.
5) Speaking Foreign Languages helps to understand US Politics and Culture.
6) There are many perspectives, not just Wash DC perspectives or political rhetoric.
7) Liberty is about knowing the many perspectives.
8) History is Essential to Cultural understanding and Global Perspectives.
9) History is written by the Winner of wars, but this means we must learn about the other perspectives.
10) Politics is not History, is not Truth, is not fact, is not supported, is not the only perspective.
11) Behind Politics is always finance, people of finance, financial schemes, and war.
12) MSM does not teach culture, language, perspectives, philosophy, or ideology.
13) MSM does not report world news, world perspectives, world issues, culture appreciation, culture preservation, world heritage, or human value.
14) MSM does not support Philosophy, the study of Philosophy, or exploration of Philosophy.
15) MSM does not support study of Ideology, examination of Ideology, or the origins of Ideology.
16) One could get the idea that corporate MSM does not care or does not want US People to examine politics, philosophy, Ideology, Culture, or even allude to where our US Ideas come from, what the Basis of our US Idea are.

http://mindbodyforce.com/foreign-language-learning-tools-rosetta-stone-pimsleur-berlitz/ (no clue if this is an advertisement, sorry if it is ...)

The point is there are Great People, Teacher, Leaders, Philosophers, Brew-Masters, Community Activists, and International Ideas ... That are in a Foriegn Language ...and they are waiting to help us and teach us and be our friends in our personal growth. (damn it)

Looks like there are three big ways to learn a foreign language:

1) Immersion (Berlitz) using only the target language to be learned, accompanied by whatever non-verbal cues, pictures and sounds may be of help...offers a series of levels.
2) Oral System (Pimsleur System) is all Oral... spoken language skills, is based on three principles of learning: graduated interval training, anticipation and building a core vocabulary... emulating for adults the language acquisition experience of young children, builds on Berlitz system.
3) common set of images and actions. Rosetta Stone is good if you have time each day to spend with a computer. Rosetta Stone is particularly good for building vocabulary, and the combination of image plus sound brings a couple of mental faculties into play simultaneously,