Customer Reviews

The Way of the Linguist: A Language Learning Odyssey

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In THE LINGUIST: A Personal Guide to Language Learning, Steve Kaufmann promises to impart to you the insights that he has gained over a lifetime of learning several languages. The way the book was published and the amateur typesetting that greets you as you open the volume don't augur well. And indeed, the author ends up being something of a doddering old man, who goes into long tangents that have little to do with his proclaimed mission of language education, e.g.:

"As a poor student, I did not often have the chance to enjoy haute cuisine. However, it was not uncommon when I was hitchhiking in Southern France for truck drivers to share with me a full course lunch, including wine. How they continued driving after that was a bit of a mystery to me. I understand that the control on drinking and driving in France has become more severe in recent years."

After this there then follows a long explication of his hitchhiking experience with no connection to language learning. Virtually every stage of Kaufmann's life is marked by a long series of reminisces on local cuisine or geography with language learning being an afterthought.

After Kaufmann's biographical and philosophical musings, one finally comes to a chapter entitled "How to Learn a Language". But here the real tips are obscured by what is essentially a long sales pitch for Kaufmann's own website. A 7-page long appendix is just a collection of views on immigration to Canada.

My training is in linguistics and I travel most of the year seeking out new languages to learn, but I try to give only vague answers when asked by others what languages I speak for a number of reasons, among them 1) retaining a language after you've learnt it is a lifelong effort and your skills can atrophy without you even realizing it, and 2) the matter of what is really means to speak a foreign language fluently is difficult to pin down -- for example, I might comfortably immerse myself in village life in many languages, but the language's literary standard may remain a challenge. Presenting yourself as an authority on language learning is just to invite people to find cracks in the facade -- certainly for all my own personal achievements, I too would ultimately sound ridiculous if I wrote as Kaufmann does.

I suspect that this book will be of little use to most linguaphiles, who tend to establish their own methods through their own personal experience and not that of others. The general public wouldn't even ever come across this.

This inspiring memoir celebrates the power of languages, and the learning of languages, to bring people together, share insights, and create new connections. A global nomad long before this phrase became a popular cliche, the diplomat-businessman author Steve Kaufmann provides practical tips for becoming a world citizen, master of languages, and staying sane. This book should find a small, loyal audience among linguists, language teachers, and travelers.

Steve Kaufmann's book offers great insight and motivation as to how anyone can become fluent in foreign languages. Throughout the book, Kaufmann details his personal experiences with language learning, the struggles he faced, and how he ultimately prevailed in becoming fluent in an ever-increasing list of languages.

Perhaps most importantly, Kaufmann explains that the attitude of the learner is paramount in achieving foreign language success. Without inherent motivation, dedication, and desire to become fluent in a foreign language, few learners succeed in achieving foreign language fluency. Kaufmann also points out that self-study, rather than classroom teaching, is the key to truly learning languages.

For anyone interested in achieving foreign language fluency, Kaufmann's book is a breath of fresh air. His suggestions are simple and his methods plentiful. Combined with self-discipline and a positive attitude, Kaufmann's book is a valuable aid for all potential linguists.

I had a good time reading this book. The author explains how he started his language learning adventure, and how he learned 8 languages. It is inspiring how he learned these languages on his own, and how being a linguist help him to work as a diplomat, then as an international representative for two Canadian companies, and eventually as an entrepreneur. This is an excellent book for anyone interested in learning languages.

I've been a "linguist" for two years and I think this is a must-read book that anybody should read in order to get a different point of view regarding language learning. Undoubtedly, Steve has a great background living in many countries with their own cultures and languages and I would say that he transmit enormous motivation and passion in surviving in new cultures and learning quite different languages on his own methodology.
In this book, he also emphasizes the advantages the new Internet and multimedia era offers today to autonomous learners with a variety of software tools for spreading, sharing and managing high valuable contents for learning.

In addition, the book is easily understandable and enjoyable for non-native English speakers.

I did almost return this (kindle version) book because it is badly formatted. Hope Amazon.com will fix it soon because the content is brilliant. I speak a handful of languages and I learned some of them when I was little and I acquired them easily because I did it naturally and the method is discussed in this book. To set the record straight, this is not a "how to" book but it gives you valuable insights on languange learning and do not underestimate the value of these insights ... they save you tons of time and $$$$. Learn your target language naturally and practice, practice, practice. There's no shortcuts but there are effective ways of learning new languaes. It's a lovely odissey indeed.