Tutor Problem...

RacherBunny

RacherBunny

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:wave:
Hi everyone! I would like to get an opinion on something I'm having problems with.

I took Japanese language class last semester and the next class isn't for a few months, so I decided to hire a tutor for Japanese language. I love the language and am getting pretty good at it for being a beginner. :D

The only place we can meet is at the Enoch Pratt Library a few blocks away from my work. We meet every Thursday and I feel like if I really work at it with this tutor I could become much better and would surpass the other students in my next Japanese class. :D

Here's the problem....
I have problems hearing/understanding her so I mess up quite a bit more than if there was no talking involved. I'm started to get frustrated about it, and I think she is too. I use to be all about studying and learning Japanese, but now that my class is over and I'm working with the tutor only I've kinda just gave it up. :(

The class I was in and the class I start in Feb is all online with minimal talking with instructor. It's mostly a recording of instructor and your response, so I can re-listen as many times as I want and record my answers.

I mentioned by email about my dr appointments and hearing troubles, but she never mentioned anything about it.

So now I'm at a loss. I don't know if I want to stop going to the tutor all together, wait until after I see my dr and audie, or continue to see her. :(

Any ideas?
 
:) Actually I am. I'm following lifeprint.com and start-american-sign-language.com so I can teach myself and practice with husbands family when I get a chance.

I'm a big language fanatic. I have taken courses in Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Japanese, German, ASL, and Spanish. I also have plenty of books on other languages in case I want to learn others as well. Anything from Arabic, Shona, Xhosa, Latvian, Tagalog, Cantonese, Zulu, and any other language you can think of. lol
 
whoa!!!! so many languages, you must have a knack for them! :shock:
my hat's off to you!

So now I'm at a loss. I don't know if I want to stop going to the tutor all together, wait until after I see my dr and audie, or continue to see her
Click to expand...

Do you have to stick to exactly this tutor? how about another one,
who is more patient and have hopefully- some experience
with HoH/deaf pple?

Fuzzy
 
You learned how to speak so many languages! You must be a genius!

I agree with Audio Fuzzy -- maybe you will be able to hear a different tutor better. I have a steeply sloping hearing loss (click on my audiogram -- link is in my signature) -- that means I can hear some men with very deep low-toned voices much better than anyone else. So, if I were attempting to learn how to speak a language and not just read and write one, I would probably look for a tutor with a very deep vice. Maybe you have a similar situation and there are some voice pitches you can hear much better than others.

Even if your audiogram is flat and you hear all voice pitches equally well or your HA does a good job correcting for that -- some people will speak more clearly than others. Maybe you need a tutor who speaks more clearly?

I would also try to find a different place to meet a tutor than a library. I would look for a place where you would both be free to speak very loudly.

Its been my experience working with some people really don't like to speak very loudly. So I think the request that you will want your tutor to be able to speak very loudly, esp. when going over new words, would have to be both part of your ad (with an explanation as to why you're making this request) and your "interview".

I notice that people tend to mirror one's voice, at least to a certain extent. So if I want someone to speak a little louder than average to me, I have to do the same to them -- or they will tend to drop their voices back to what is normal for them.

I'm not sure if you are going to want to speak as loudly to your tutor as you may need him/her to speak to you, or at least when going over the new words for the first time. I guess you will have to feel this out.

Anyway, that's my two cents. :)
 
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with as many languages i've studied, i'm terrible with accents.

my tutor was born in usa but grew up with japanese family speaking japanese and lived in england for a while. so her accent is a mixture of japanese-english, american-english, and british-english. so with her accent, me not able to hear her 100%, and her speaking a bit unclear/fast or something.....i have some issues as you could imagine.

i really hate to let her go, but i guess i don't have many options. :(
 
Remember that your tutor is not your friend. It'll be purely a business move if you let your tutor go. Don't feel bad.
 
RacherBunny said:
:wave:
Hi everyone! I would like to get an opinion on something I'm having problems with.

I took Japanese language class last semester and the next class isn't for a few months, so I decided to hire a tutor for Japanese language. I love the language and am getting pretty good at it for being a beginner. :D

The only place we can meet is at the Enoch Pratt Library a few blocks away from my work. We meet every Thursday and I feel like if I really work at it with this tutor I could become much better and would surpass the other students in my next Japanese class. :D

Here's the problem....
I have problems hearing/understanding her so I mess up quite a bit more than if there was no talking involved. I'm started to get frustrated about it, and I think she is too. I use to be all about studying and learning Japanese, but now that my class is over and I'm working with the tutor only I've kinda just gave it up. :(

The class I was in and the class I start in Feb is all online with minimal talking with instructor. It's mostly a recording of instructor and your response, so I can re-listen as many times as I want and record my answers.

I mentioned by email about my dr appointments and hearing troubles, but she never mentioned anything about it.

So now I'm at a loss. I don't know if I want to stop going to the tutor all together, wait until after I see my dr and audie, or continue to see her. :(

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

why not focus on written language?
 
Jiro said:
why not focus on written language?
Click to expand...

i was thinking the same thing not long ago, but i can do that at home and get it checked for free.

besides, i think i have a little too much going on with work and dr appointments to really focus on it right now anyway.:hmm:

as much as i don't want to, i think it'll be in my best interest to drop the tutor.

:ty: to everyone who helped me out! i greatly appreciate it!
 
RacherBunny said:
i was thinking the same thing not long ago, but i can do that at home and get it checked for free.

besides, i think i have a little too much going on with work and dr appointments to really focus on it right now anyway.:hmm:

as much as i don't want to, i think it'll be in my best interest to drop the tutor.

:ty: to everyone who helped me out! i greatly appreciate it!
Click to expand...

I mean - if you really want to learn Japanese language, why not ask your tutor to teach you to read and write in Japanese?

I can't speak Korean/Spanish for squat but I can read and write Korean/Spanish just fairly fine.
 
I knew someone who taught the Japanese to speak English in their country. She said "most" Japanese people can read English but cannot speak it. I have no idea if that is true or not.
 
Beowulf said:
I knew someone who taught the Japanese to speak English in their country. She said "most" Japanese people can read English but cannot speak it. I have no idea if that is true or not.
Click to expand...

it would make sense that they would be able to read it, i don't know about understanding what they are reading though.

in japanese they 4 ways of writing: romaji, katakana, hiragana, and kanji. the romaji is "english" letters. katakana is a more boxy "alphabet" used for foreign words. hiragana is the more fluid rounder "alphabet". and kanji is the chinese characters (not an alphabet)

so technically anyone who knows english alphabet can read japanese ok using romaji only, it's just the understanding what you're reading that is the trick :lol:

example in romaji:
Kaimono ni ikimasu.
(I'm going shopping.)
 
RacherBunny said:
with as many languages i've studied, i'm terrible with accents.

my tutor was born in usa but grew up with japanese family speaking japanese and lived in england for a while. so her accent is a mixture of japanese-english, american-english, and british-english. so with her accent, me not able to hear her 100%, and her speaking a bit unclear/fast or something.....i have some issues as you could imagine.

i really hate to let her go, but i guess i don't have many options. :(
Click to expand...

It sounds like the best thing to do. Isn't it important for people who teach languages to be able to speak clearly and even slowly? I think even if you were hearing you would probably have to let her go.

I agree with Derek -- this is purely a business move, not personal.
 
She said "most" Japanese people can read English but cannot speak it. I have no idea if that is true or not
Click to expand...

I find it hard to believe they wouldn't be able to speak it at all,

I think it's more like speaking without a heavy accent.

For example, most Polish people can not pronounce the sound "th" if their life depended on it so they say more "de best" instead of "the best",
and Philippino the "f" like fifty, and German ""w" like in "window"

and so on...

You want to know something funny?
My daughter told me some time ago that all Polish people say "foregeret"
(forget it) - and only Polish people :giggle:
Indeed me and hubby always say 'forgeret'! :laugh2:

later on we remembered Russel Peters and how he makes fun of his ancestors bbqing in the backyard:-
"do you want a horog?" (a hot dog)
:laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:

and one day when we actually were eating hot dogs, we kept asking each other
~ "do you wanna more horog?"
~ forgeret!"

and were haing fits of laugh so bad we couldn't eat at all!
:laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:


I suppose every ethnic group has its own linguistic peculiarities :)

Do you know of any such?

Oh- I just recalled another comedian half white half Philippine who often makes fun of his mother mixing "p" with "f" - Jo Koy,
it was so damn funny! a great, great performer!

Fuzzy
 
i really hate to let her go, but i guess i don't have many options.
Click to expand...

Eventually, for you your best interest is at stake.

Please don't feel bad for firing the tutor.
It is the tutor responsibility to worry about her own compatibility.

Imagine you're Donald Trump, and simply say: "you are fired"! slam!

:)

Fuzzy
 
so i sent her a message last wednesday saying that i'd like to call off the tutoring at least until after i see my doctor and audie about my hearing.

she replied saying she didn't know i had trouble hearing (bs, i mentioned it before and she didn't even take notice to what i said) and it's a shame that i'm stopping so early.

i replied saying, "i don't exactly like to blurt my hearing issues out there, but i did mention it before." i even took the time to explain my hearing issue, how long i've been dealing with it, and how happy i am to (hopefully) get it figured out.

no reply to that.

so i'm actually glad now that i'm done with her tutoring, i don't think she would have done anything different even if she did realize what i said about my hearing :roll:

o well. very disappointing, but i'm still self teaching asl and will be taking spanish over the mini-mester in january. maybe i'll pick up japanese again after that...
 
no reply to that.

so i'm actually glad now that i'm done with her tutoring, i don't think she would have done anything different even if she did realize what i said about my hearing
Click to expand...

I agree with you. And you called her on her lie about her not "knowing" about it, and the fact she didn't reply if proof she admit her lie by avoidance.

Unless she will still reply and apologize for not paying attention and express willingness to work on the issue,
in my book she burnt any redemption.

Off with her head ;)

Glad you stood up for yourself. bet it felt great, huh? :)


:thumb: to you!
Now, I suppose you'll be looking for a new tutor?
may I suggest don't be afraid to tell about your hearing loss issue.
Probably say something like "I have significant hearing loss, do you think you are up for the challenge?"


Good luck! :)

Fuzzy
 
Good for you!! I have a thing for languages too!! I haven't had access to all the classes I want, but I took Japanese with a private tutor for two years and got pretty good before I had to drop the classes due to other schooling issues. I've also taken French, Spanish, and German. There are some online sites for Japanese, or forum type places, you can go to keep it up on the internet. Luckily, compared to English it's pretty easy to pronounce, so there's not as much variation to contend with.
 
Audiofuzzy said:
I agree with you. And you called her on her lie about her not "knowing" about it, and the fact she didn't reply if proof she admit her lie by avoidance.

Unless she will still reply and apologize for not paying attention and express willingness to work on the issue,
in my book she burnt any redemption.

Off with her head ;)

Glad you stood up for yourself. bet it felt great, huh? :)


:thumb: to you!
Now, I suppose you'll be looking for a new tutor?
may I suggest don't be afraid to tell about your hearing loss issue.
Probably say something like "I have significant hearing loss, do you think you are up for the challenge?"


Good luck! :)

Fuzzy
Click to expand...

it was an ego booster to stand up for myself, even if it was over email.:D

yea it's been almost a week with no reply. if she was going to reply, she would have done it by now (she always emailed me back within 2 days).:roll:

o well, the loss is hers, not mine :)


i think i have a plan i'm going to try to stick to....
-focus on asl

-take my 2 winter classes (spanish and medical terminology)

- if i get the new job in histology in january: i will focus on asl and the histology program and (if i can squeeze it in i will take japanese 102)

-if i don't get the job: i will take japanese 102, focus on asl, and finish my degree by summer

i think that covers it... :D


:ty:
 
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