Scriptorium Step by Step

[@NaturalLanguageLearning]

I think this, combined with shadowing and massive input daily (both graded materials and listening to real life content you find interesting) will make you learn quickly. If you do it consistently, of course.

[@ProfASAr]

Agreed!

[@YogaBlissDance]

I found when I was doing BOTH I def. noticed an improvement in my ease of speaking and listening comprehension.

[@QforzFovfi]

Fascinating to see you back making videos frequently. Thank you for your insight.

[@ProfASAr]

I am glad to be of service!

[@84071639]

Thank you so much for this demonstration, prof. Arguelles. I was quite delighted with the richness of details given. I've got really good insights. I'm definitely creating my own manuscrits

[@ProfASAr]

You are welcome: enjoy!

[@polyronin]

Thank you for this step-by-step presentation. Very helpful.

[@ProfASAr]

My pleasure!

[@Chris-lc5vf]

Looking sharp sir! Thanks for this breakdown, it is wonderful to see a long form discussion of this method!

[@ProfASAr]

You are welcome!

[@MsMetalslave]

Wow! Enjoyed this very much. I'm more interested in the polyliteracy aspects, and I'm going to focus more on this technique. I always feel inspired when I watch your presentations. I especially like the idea of incorporating my neglected calligraphy and embroidery hobbies. Thank you.

[@ProfASAr]

You are very welcome!

[@jonathantucker8445]

So helpful. I keep coming back to this as a means of learning languages. Grateful to you for the time and effort in laying this technique out.

[@sabotai]

I'm not one for making videos, but if I were there'd be at least a few more videos on scriptorium on KZbin. I found your channel and that video on the old how-to-learn-any-language forum and from the time I watched it several years ago, it has become a staple of my language learning activities.

[@ProfASAr]

I am glad that I could be of service!

[@panotch]

I enjoy your newly uploaded videos and especially this video on Scriptorium. I find it might be better for my style of learning and will incorporate it into my daily routine. I’d like you to elaborate more about polyliteracy maybe in another video, on how it’s different from polyglottery and advantages/disadvantages thereof. Thank you very much.

[@ProfASAr]

I will do so - thank you for the prompt!

[@SuperAykt]

This tecnique is work better for me to memorize words than word lists. I currently apply this to graded readers book series and it is so effective. My aim is to write all the book and read it every single day until I slmost memorize all the eords.

[@ProfASAr]

Best of success in your studies.

[@zxasskickerxz770]

Thank you so much!!!! I really appreciate you going into so much detail. But please don't burn yourself out doing too many videos. A lot of KZbinrs like to do one video a week. I do like you doing nitrile videos a week. Thank you again.

[@ProfASAr]

Thank you for the concern. I may indeed need to cut back. I suppose I defaulted to two a week because, way back when, I did one overview of methods and one overview of Germanic languages per week. I don't feel I can answer substantive questions here in the comments section, so for the time being I will do follow-up videos, but after I get my new website set up, I will answer them there.

[@zxasskickerxz770]

@@ProfASAr I also do feel like answering the questions in the video would be a better way, but I am not sure. You could possibly answer questions to your videos at the end of the next video. But it could get lengthy. And thank you for taking the time out to create these videos.

[@strangerintheselands251]

What a juicy, inspiring, substantive presentation. QUESTION 1: After reading a sentence aloud the first time, do you try to write it by hand FROM MEMORY - and hence once written you go for checking mistakes? [otherwise it is hard for me to imagine making a mistake if one keeps looking back and forth at the model sentence while his own scripted replica is under way]. QUESTION 2: Scriptorium has always had great appeal on me in principle. Its application however oftentimes proved extremely stressful. It was mainly due to the fact that the whole purpose of the exercise is to SLOW DOWN - that means you do things more thoroughly but you do MUCH LESS OF THEM, compared to, say, reading a novel and comparing it back to back with a translation. The latter has always seemed to me a more rapid vehicle for developing reading comprehension. So this tension kept cropping up: "What I'm after is reading a novel (which requires thousands upon thousands of word families and phrases) and what I AM ACTUALLY DOING is writing 5-10 sentences in a labourious manner". Tension is a euphemism here. I felt on the brink of exploding, actually, a fury is a better word. So I'm wondering whether I should try and find my way into the practice even at early intermediate stages or rather run quickly where energy goes (towards reading a novel) and only at that point include dabbling in scriptorium as a consolidation/revision practice of an Assimi course, for instance, for better internalization... QUESTION 3: An offshoot of the previous one - I find it also difficult to do scriptorium of languages that I already know very well. It is very hard to draw any value from copying things that you understand perfectly. It becomes automatic sort of, and mindless, and I feel I want to run away from it. How do you maintain the focus - or rather: WHAT EXACTLY do you focus ON while trying to absorb somebody's style rather than working on simply learning the ropes in a language? COMMENT 1: Scripting grammar samples are an excellent idea, the only way to do grammar exercises for me. [You look at a sentence they ask you to produce, you try to answer ORALLY - not in writing - then you check the answer in the key - and THEN YOU DO SCRIPTORIUM of the correct model sentence]. COMMENT 2: Looking up things as you go (to more fully understand a point that you noticed here and there) would probably consume all the time you have set on your stopwatch. So it seems better to make an asterisk and a separate study session devoted to details, don't you think? COMMENT 3: Creating a piece of something beautiful while spiritually/philosophically meaningful really brings heart into the whole process. COMMENT 4: It is extremely helpful to hear, Professor, that even 5 minutes of scriptorium could be enough for the maintenance of a language, which otherwise you would not be in contact with even for months or years.

[@puccarts]

These are some fantastic questions, and would love to know the answer to Question 1 especially regarding to languages such as Chinese where it's not a latin script. (Do I read the sentence and need to try and remember each character in the entire sentence from memory before writing it? Do I try and write character by character from memory, glancing at the reference material between character? Etc.) Thank you as always, Professor!

[@ProfASAr]

So many wonderful questions and comments - the response to this alone may take a whole follow-up video!

[@puccarts]

@@ProfASAr I would absolutely love and appreciate that!! Thank you, Professor!

[@oswaldocaminos8431]

​@@puccartsWhat a tender and loving being you are! ❤

[@violavalz6638]

Sounds like a very useful method. Before this, I had never heard of it so I'll use it to try to help myself improve on my journey to acquire two new languages. Thanks.

[@ProfASAr]

You are very welcome!

[@bjorn7355]

Wonderfull description of Scriptorium. One suggests ion for a future video - when starting on a new language - how to prepare it (what books and other resources should be collected), if you have a tutor - how is the best way to use him/her, and how do you best learn as a beginner.

[@strangerintheselands251]

Alexander made videos on different language manuals (Assimil, Linguaphone etc). Check out those for a beginner. For all his languages he starts with Assimil, basically. Also, see a long Shadowing video where he presents extensively how to build a review routine into an already running Assimil learning routine.

[@ProfASAr]

Thank you for the question. As Stranger in these Lands responded already, I did make a number of videos on these topics years ago. Please have a look at my "old" playlists. If something is lacking, I am happy to make it up in the future.

[@kathleenkrause4800]

Wow, thanks so much for the video. This is the first time that I’ve seen this explanation on scriptorium in detail. It resonates highly with me. I will be using this method to advance my skills in Spanish and Latin. I think I could use a modified version to continue to learn Koine Greek. I will be using the New Testament for my text in each language. Your time and explanations are greatly appreciated. My blank and white cat, Pearl, says “hi” to Merlin.

[@ProfASAr]

Thank you for your kind words of appreciation. I hope it helps you with your Spanish, Latin, and Greek. Merlin also says hello to Pearl.

[@undekagon2264]

As already mentioned on an another video, your scriptorium method seems to be that what I always did.I love copying text, looking at letterforms, word endings, noticing all the details. And I personally disagree, that it is not useful at the beginner stage. My brain starts noticing details right from the beginning, especially then I have a long list of questions which I try to ask to teachers, the textbook or when concrete enough also to the internet / google. Copying text gives me a strong motivation and I end up looking up so many words and details and slowly building up a foundation with it. In later stages I have a much smaller need for looking so much at the details. For me it is especially a beginners method, where I tend to copy the same texts again and again.

[@ProfASAr]

Thank you for confirming that my learning style suits others as well.

[@markmarkster]

Fantastic video - suggested by an online New Testament Greek (and soon Hebrew) group

[@ProfASAr]

Thank you for your appreciation. Please share this other video with your group as it contains a technique for reading New Testament Greek and Hebrew aloud that might interest you members. Might they also be interested in Latin? For that I will soon provide live interactive reading circles. Here is the video link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5TcinqurtyWZ9U

[@PabloStafforini]

It's always a pleasure to watch your videos, professor. I was wondering if you have ever tried or considered a somewhat related technique described by Edward Gibbon, which involves translating a passage from the language one is trying to improve into a language one already masters, and then, after allowing some time to pass, retranslating the translation into the original language. Here's how Gibbon describes the technique in his Memoirs: «In my French and Latin translations I adopted an excellent method, which, from my own success, I would recommend to the imitation of students. I chose some classic writer, such as Cicero and Vertot, the most approved for purity and elegance of style. I translated, for instance, an epistle of Cicero into French; and, after throwing it aside till the words and phrases were obliterated from my memory, I re-translated my French into such Latin as I could find; and then compared each sentence of my imperfect version with the ease, the grace, the propriety of the Roman orator. A similar experiment was made on several pages of the Revolutions of Vertot; I turned them into Latin, returned them after a sufficient interval into my own French, and again scrutinized the resemblance or dissimilitude of the copy and the original. By degrees I was less ashamed, by degrees I was more satisfied with myself; and I persevered in the practice of these double translations, which filled several books, till I had acquired the knowledge of both idioms, and the command at least of a correct style.» I vaguely remember encountering a description of the same or a similar method in Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography.

[@ProfASAr]

Thank you, Pablo, for this wonderful prompt. I think this is a great method, but I also think that the 18th century mind was capable of things of which our contemporary minds are no longer capable.

[@strangerintheselands251]

What a jewel you found Pablo! :) Nowadays it is Luca Lampariello who fosters this method and calls it Bidirectional Translation. The aspect of polishing the style is fantastic here. It brings to mind the descriptions of how Benjamin Franklin learned to write excellent English from his memoirs.

[@kugmath520]

I recognize this from Ben Franklin's autobiography. He's save a well-written clipping from a newspaper, summarize it in short on his own paper, then, later, reviewing only his notes, write out the story as well as he could, and then compare what he'd done with the work of the professional writer.

[@YogaBlissDance]

Luca Lampierello does this too.

[@christopherfreeman5663]

this technique is like the Lectio Divina of language learning!

[@ProfASAr]

Thank you for your kind words of appreciation!

[@okazakibuddhist]

Thank you, professor. I had a busy week so I'm only finally getting caught up with your videos, but I am enjoying them, especially this one. I'm sure these are taking quite a bit of time to make, edit, post, so I just wanted to say I really appreciate you taking the time to do this.

[@ProfASAr]

You are very welcome!

[@katerinak4164]

Thank you for all your wonderful videos !

[@ProfASAr]

I am always happy to share my knowledge and experience with those who can use them.

[@xavierpaquin]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us 🙏😊

[@ProfASAr]

You are very welcome.

[@davexhayter]

The part I'm not getting is that you should understand everything you're copying down, but also look difficult things up in a grammar afterwards. Shouldn't it be the other way around so when you're writing, you've already analyzed & solidified the details of the text? Or do you just need a global understanding first, and the scriptorium practice launches you into further exploration? Have you ever experimented with two-columns? For example I'm envisioning the left column with an Assimil dialogue, some words highlighted as indicating a problem area, and the right column containing either example sentences from a grammar, a declension chart, or whatever. Essentially creating your own annotated study text. I always do scriptorium with exercises in a TYS type book, it always helped to slow things down. I've done some copying of Assimil texts but will definitely add more of it to my daily practice, as well as some actual texts in my higher languages. Follow-up question: more on that sort of middle phase of learning. I'm great at getting through one Assimil or one Linguaphone (the two languages I'm stuck on in particular only have one Ling OR Assimil, not both, and one generation only) plus one TYS or Langenscheidt, and then hitting a brick wall. Starting another TYS/Colloquial type book always feels superfluous: "I should be beyond this! I've done so much!" But an advanced reader is too difficult & frustrating. Put the pride aside and do another grammar? Scriptorium the whole Assimil/Ling course? Basically, the steps between shadowing an Assimil course and getting into readers and all the things you say in that video from several years ago about expanding vocabulary.

[@strangerintheselands251]

Hi Dave. If you allow a comment. I totally resonate with what you said: "I should be beyond this, I have done so much already". That is why my initial several months of study are based on a solid routine of ONE manual (Assimil Russe + Assimil Russe Perfectionnement), but a lot of silent reading as fast as possible of as many alternative coursebooks that contain SHORT TEXTS (getting longer and longer) equipped with some glosses (vocab translated into a language I know). I DO NOT WORK HARD at those alternative things, it is too time-consuming and not necessary, my experience shows. BUT YOU NEED TO READ and check vocab all the time to bridge the gap of 4000 words between Assimil and a Novel. And then I move to literature back to back, as you pointed to somebody a few days ago. BUT I DO IT THUS: I listen to target language, but look at a language I understand, a few times. Then, when I know the content of a passage, I switch to the target language text and now Listen TL and Look at TL. That is how I plough through. Really soon it pays off.

[@davexhayter]

@@strangerintheselands251 Thanks. Yes I do the listening to TL and reading native, then reading target, method for lit as well. It is nice though my Russian is both very streetwise & academically it is political & historical writing I have focused on. Getting into literature is a whole different beast - very humbling.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for the detailed commentary. I'll address in the follow-up.

[@willibrord785]

Wonderful! That is some incredibly helpful advice.

[@ProfASAr]

You are very welcome.

[@nolsterbuckr8496]

Learning style wise, I've begun to consider your methods to be the yin to Steve Kaufmann's yang. I've been using his LingQ platform to learn Serbian, but the problem with it is that there isn't graded content to constantly expose myself to. Ironically, I've recently started using Scriptorium for the classic sixty short stories to do the exact opposite of the website's intended purpose- to learn grammar by squeezing as much as possible out of each sentence. It's been an interesting experience so far, to say the least. Side note- I tried looking for Assimil books for at least Yugoslavian languages but I couldn't find anything for Serbian, but I have found one for German-> Serbian, the former I've learned already. Would be pretty fun to work with that as part of the study routine.

[@ProfASAr]

I am glad to hear that Scriptorium is serving you well. I'm not sure how I feel about being a yin to Steve's yang, but your comparison brings out a very important fact that somehow gets glossed over most of the time. All too often people think that thye need to find "the" best method for learning, which will be for for everyone, but in point of fact there are indeed different learning styles, approaches, etc., and planning and philosophical pedagogy do play an important role in success. At any rate, Assimil's old (1970"s?) Serbocroatien sans peine does differentiate in sections between Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, etc., - and it is also one of their more substantive and inherently interesting methods. Track it down!

[@lenethharris-johnson8238]

I like your Latin pronunciation. When I was younger that's how we were taught to say it. Now I get into a muddle about what's correct because the modern style pronounces V's as V's and not W's. To me the earlier pronunciation is just so much more mellifluous especially for singing. I am going to choose O'fortuna from Carmina Burana as my first Latin maintenance Scriptorium text, Ne me quitte pas, by Jaques Brel for French and something from the Winterriese by Schubert. Any suggestions for what I can do for Spanish and Bulgarian? Thank you Professor for a marvelous video.

[@PhilipWatson]

Thank you so much Professor Arguelles for these videos. I'm a U.S. expat who teaches English in Moscow. The only foreign language that I have any degree of fluency in is Russian, but I dabble in many other languages and try to collect as many polyglot techniques as I can, both to improve my language learning skills as well as pass them off to my students to help them in learning English. I have tried this technique before and found it very useful. I have one question. Have you ever tried combing this technique with the method of thinking in the language? Sometimes when I do this writing exercise, I like to pause a moment and try to use and insert some of the phrases and expressions in a conversation I make up in my head. I often use the technique of thinking or talking to myself in a foreign language, but feel that I tend to say the same things over and over in the same way. Using the phrases from writing exercises like this or even just close reading, I feel I'm able "feed" my limited imagination of available things to think or say. I really enjoy all the techniques that you've taught so far and I feel there is a real synergy between combining them in different and creative ways.

[@strangerintheselands251]

Great question - creative thinking in your head of possible alternative versions of conversation lines, inspired by what you are currently scripting using scriptorium. Watch Alexander's video: Don't forget to think.

[@ProfASAr]

Absolutely! Please do always combine, innovate, experiment with new ways of doing anything that anyone shows you! I'll address in the follow-up.

[@pedrocaldeira3963]

How should one deal with languages that have a very high number of glyphs? I’m learning Japanese and while I can write kana, kanji are another story. Should I write kana only transcripts of the text I am reading? Should I learn to write the kanji I meet as I go along?

[@ProfASAr]

These are the languages when you need to check carefully for errors in each glyph. Yes, I would recommend learning kanji now rather than waiting. It will help you more in the long run.

[@pedrocaldeira3963]

@@ProfASAr thank you very for your answer. Just to clarify, I’m able to read the majority of kanji I see. Is learning how to write them still worth it in that case? Would you recommend learning them in isolation with methods like Heisig’s remembering the kanji? Or is better to do it gradually with scriptorium?

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

@@pedrocaldeira3963 The question is - what is your interest in Japanese? For me, kanji are part of the beauty of Japanese, and always more than worth it.

[@YogaBlissDance]

Professor-please answer this question by Stranger In These Lands 5 months ago (edited) What a juicy, inspiring, substantive presentation. QUESTION 1: After reading a sentence aloud the first time, do you try to write it by hand FROM MEMORY - and hence once written you go for checking mistakes? [otherwise it is hard for me to imagine making a mistake if one keeps looking back and forth at the model sentence while his own scripted replica is under way].

[@ProfASAr]

You can always check for mistakes rather than making them!

[@YogaBlissDance]

@@ProfASAr You clarify in another video presentation you did "Self-Study Habits for Continued Progress in Foreign Language Proficiency." There you say "look away, then write..." it's a small but important point.

[@Pakanahymni]

If you happen to have the accompanying audio to the original text, how would you integrate it into scriptorium?

[@ProfASAr]

You have shadowed it or otherwise listened to it beforehand, but should do Scriptorium in your own voice.

[@strangerintheselands251]

@@ProfASAr That is a very helpful, precise pointer. Thank you.

[@博运孙]

Professor Arguelles, Please forgive the length and lacking formatting of this inquiry. KZbin comments are, alas as you noted, not the best place to ask substantive questions. After listening to your previous few videos, I know that you are creating a new site where questions can be asked at length and systematically indexed. If the background information and depth of detail in this comment is too lengthy, please let me know, and I will happily resubmit this question once the new site is up and running. As a brief sketch of my language learning background, I live in Beijing and work as a teacher of writing, film, & history. After four years of study, I have reached an advanced level in Mandarin, along with just this past year beginning my study of Russian. In high school I studied Spanish formally without motivation, and in college returned to self study it without the know how. In the future I plan to study Spanish, Latin, Greek (Modern & Ancient), Classical Chinese, and possibly Middle & Old English before moving my focus to other fields of interest As for my overarching goal with languages: I wish to be able to read great literature in all the languages I study; in all the living languages I further wish to be able to listen to any interesting spoken text with ease; and in Mandarin and Russian, I wish to also be able to express myself in eloquent prose. I have two broad topics about which I would like to ask your advice. For each topic, I will first sketch an outline, and then provide specific questions as food for contemplation and as potential starting points for your response. Any additional reflections and advice you have on these topics is warmly welcomed and appreciated. On How Desired Skills Affect Method The first topic centers on questions of how differences in desired language skills affects an autodidact's study routine and methodology. Others have broached this topic in passing, but I would like to elaborate on this, as my current language learning plans have been forged after careful thought and whittling away of any skills unnecessary to my goals. If one only wishes to read a language (such as I do for Latin and Classical Chinese) should one forego any time spent trying to listen, write or speak in that language? If one only wishes to listen and read to a language (as I do with Spanish and Greek) should one forego speaking or writing practice? To clarify some potential point of confusion, when I refer to speaking and writing, I mean trying to create unique, original sentences in your target language, not copying a text or shadowing. So for example, in my future study of Spanish, while I plan to make rigorous use of both shadowing and scriptorium at a certain part of the learning process, I have no plans whatsoever to either engage in conversation with a tutor or to write regularly in the language. Perhaps trying to think and talk to myself in the language, but nothing more than that as far active skills are concerned. And likewise as regards to listening, I mean trying to understand the spoken language without reference to any written text. For example, in my future study of Latin, while especially in the beginning and intermediate stages I would strive to read and listen to texts at the same time, so as to create a voice for the language in my head, I plan on not spending any time at all on only listening to any of the several Latin podcasts I see floating about the Internet, or only listening to an audiobook in Latin. Is this general principle of cutting out practice of any skills not related to your goals advisable? Can in be carried too far? Are there any potential hidden pitfalls that you have experienced using this approach in your studies? On Maintenance & a Comfortable Range of Languages The second topic centers on questions of maintenance for different language skills, and more specifically, for languages where one has already achieved an advanced level. In the past you have continually emphasized the fact that five to fifteen minutes a day spent per language is enough if one wants to “tend the garden” of one’s known languages. You have also repeatedly emphasized that cutting up your time so rigidly can feel slightly off-putting and unfulfilling, given the natural inclination of a mind caught up in a gripping narrative or precise argument to continue reading. With the hindsight of these near twenty years where you have not seriously embarked upon learning any new languages to a substantial level (Finnish being the only apparent exception that I recall), could you offer some soft guidelines as to what constitutes a healthy range of languages, both for a serious polyglot (such as yourself) and an educated mind who is fascinated by languages, but who also intends to spend a large amount of time studying other subjects (such as myself). Range here refers both to the total number of languages, the relative difficulty of the languages, and the skills one desires to use in these languages. Essentially my principle fear is to land in the situation you found yourself in during the late 90s and early 2000s, having began the study of too many languages and only later realizing that there just is not enough time in the day to even use all these languages, much less to comfortably enjoy them. If I learn a language, I wish to at least be able to read at will any literary text written in it. If I spend an additional barrel of time learning how to write eloquent prose in Russian or Chinese, I want to write regularly in that given language for the rest of my life. Assuming one knows how to study a language - which I now believe I do - the sole worry and the greatest price that remains is time. Like friendships, after a certain soft threshold, languages ones adds must start to sacrifice quality at the expense of quantity, breadth at the expense of depth. I am very interested to know your thoughts on where that rough threshold begins. While a hard number of languages is only possible to determine based on the specific situation of a specific individual, perhaps you - a person who really tried to push the limits of poliliteracy while still managing to live a normal life - can offer some substantial guidelines for people like me, who wish to venture into seriously studying math and the hard sciences eventually in the future, but who would nevertheless only feel comfortable doing so after achieving a solid base in a range of languages with a rich literature and enchanting culture. Assuming one wishes to attain a very high level in one language before beginning the next, should one bother to bring speaking and writing ability to a high level before moving on? Have you found that daily maintenance of advanced receptive skills translates into reducing the erosion of one’s productive skills considerably? I recall you offering the advice some years ago that roughly six languages (divided into the subcategories of languages from one’s broader culture, the classical languages of one’s own culture, the international language, and an exotic language) is the ideal number for a well-formed mind who still wishes to delve into other areas of study. Do you still hold this view? Have you noticed any difference in the frequency of scheduled maintenance sessions if one needs to maintain active skills of a language, versus only maintaining reading and/or reading & listening ability in a language? Once again, please consider the specific questions I pose more as starting points for your ideas on these topics. And, on a personal note, thank you for inspiring a young neer-do-well twenty-year-old to figure out and then realize my dream. And to reaffirm my belief that effort towards, dedication to and passion for one’s work and leisure are not mere catchwords meant to recruit tuition, but - through the life of a great individual - are the very real foundations for any and all success in this life. As a teacher right now, you sir, are the model I emulate. Warmest, Chase Bodiford

[@strangerintheselands251]

A beautiful letter, Chase. Very valid questions. I like your style and clarity. Still, consider this: How much would you lose of your Self if you posed two questions first, and provided the story of your life later? Then everybody could decide if they want to spend time and attention on getting the context fully. Time is a scarce commodity nowadays, you know.

[@ProfASAr]

Dear Chase, Thank you so much for this detailed letter and all of your kind appreciation. As you note, the KZbin comment box is not the best place for this, but I hope to have my new website up and running soon, and a main feature of it will be the ability to pose questions such as yours, to be incorporated into a format similar to the way I answered such questions in the old HTLAL days. I would truly love to address the kinds of questions you raise regarding ideals to which one can aspire. My goal with the new site is to provide a lasting guide, a real reference for people with questions and sensibilities such as yours. Answering a letter such as yours requires much time and consideration, and if I do that, I don't want it to get lost or go to just one person, but to be more of a lasting record. Since your questions do not seem to relate directly to Scriptorium, can they please wait until we get the site up and running? Many thanks!

[@博运孙]

@@ProfASAr Professor, They can and they shall. I await the site’s opening, and in the meantime will polish up the questions. Till then, good health and good studies. Chase

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

@@博运孙 I didn't read most of your letter, Chase, but your style reminds me of myself when I was younger. Cheers.

[@herr_k69]

I especially like the idea of using the example sentences from reference grammars. I have a several-hundred page book of illustrative sentences for Georgian that Buske Verlag recently put out, and I've been struggling to come up with an effective means of extracting the information from it. The scriptorium exercise might just prove to be the solution! Do you have any particular preferences as to manufacturers of journals, fountain pens and the like? I know Moleskine is very popular in the notebook space.

[@davexhayter]

Check out the pen addict blog for some serious deep dives into stationery!

[@herr_k69]

@Giorgio Fegatini I do have that book and am actively working with it, however the one I described is the Grundwortschatz Georgisch, which is essentially a themed collection of some 3,800 example sentences. I think using it as a scriptorium resource makes perfect sense; as such I can now see it becoming rather suitably well worn and dog-eared in the near future!

[@ProfASAr]

Indeed, Scriptorium is a great way to finally go through grammar books that otherwise might gather dust on shelves. I'll address the aesthetic aspect in the follow-up.

[@evgkib1]

I was about to start with scriptorium myself, a very timely video indeed! I have a question about learning vocabulary. I remember you saying that you never write the new words down and you don't use flashcards or SRS applications. What would you recommend? Maybe a topic for a new video.

[@strangerintheselands251]

From Alexander's videos one can see that he does Assimil for a starter. Then perhaps Linguaphone or other alternative low level textbook. He internalizes them as explained in shadowing and scriptorium videos. Then watch Moving from intermediate towards advanced video. Never does vocabulary work really. Not necessary if you consider in how many ways he works with full texts, shadowing them, scripting them, typing them, typing them again and writing interlinear vocab. Then come readers. And extensive reading. No need to do flashcards or notes. Unless you like it.

[@ProfASAr]

Stranger in these Lands has already given my answer in detail, thank you very much.

[@Muham485]

Should i write it without looking at the sentence ? I mean after reading the sentence aloud i should stop looking at the sentence and try to write it by heart?

[@paulcal3500]

Professor, I was under the impression you used this from the start, copying out pages of beginner Assimil and Linguaphone lessons to get a grounding, but it seems this is not the case since you note it’s better for intermediate learners. Since you are so methodical about this and shadowing, I am curious to know how you actually sit down with new autodidactic materials from the start and go through it mentally? I have found that copying pages in Assimil (or whatever series) helps me to internalize the content even at a beginner level. It would be interesting to know how you actually use autodidactic materials pragmatically.

[@ProfASAr]

Paul, this is a late reply. Has the question been answered by my subsequent videos?

[@paulcal3500]

@@ProfASAr Hello Professor. Thanks for all the replies to my comments! I think most of these have been answered in subsequent videos. I guess one interesting and related question that is how you would go about learning a new alphabet? I don't think that you've ever made a video about this explicitly or mentioned it besides some posts on the old forums about learning hangul and hanja. I wonder if you had any insights about learning a totally new script AND how you would go about studying a language that has a different script but with ample content that is romanized. Besides this new question, I think everything has been answered!

[@mmmtmp1]

Dear Professor, thank you so much for an excellent explanation. I was using this technique when I was learning German, Italian, Danish, Latin - and it was working great. However, I had some problems with using this technique with Hebrew. Because of this I'd like to ask you if you have any advice for languages like Hebrew or Arabic. I mean, on a more advanced level. When you use authentic materials and literature (when I've used it with Assimil's book it was not much of a problem, because I've shadowed the whole book and I was better prepared to to do Scriptorium). I've tried to add an additional step - listening to the sentence from an audiobook before I say it aloud and write it down. But I think that this additional step is not a good thing - it takes too much time and I need more resources than just my notebook and my pen.

[@strangerintheselands251]

What problems did you have with Hebrew and Arabic? It is not really clear, Marcin. Hard to suggest a solution...

[@mmmtmp1]

@@strangerintheselands251 Sorry, I'll explain :-). The problem with Hebrew is that you don't have vowels. It's much easier to make a mistake when you compare it to German. If you use incorrect vowels while reading the sentence, you can easily change the meaning. Or just say something that makes no sense at all. That's why I've written that it's not a problem when you are working with the Assimil course. After you've shadowed all the lessons, you know the basics, it's more difficult to make this kind of mistakes. But when you are working with literature, you have to be really careful with vowels. When you have an audio book, it's easier, but Scriptorium works best (in my opinion) when you don't use additional resources (like an mp3 player/mobile/computer). And last but not least, when you repeat a couple of times the sentence using incorrect vowels, you are reinforcing a mistake. And when you want to make sure you are reading correctly, it can easily end up like this, that you'll have to check every word (here I'm exaggerating a little bit, of course - on this level, some of the words you know so well, that you have no doubts, but still, there are a lot of those, where you are not 100% sure :-))

[@strangerintheselands251]

@@mmmtmp1 Thank you. First things that comes to mind is this: if you have an audiobook, I would use audacity to separate sentences one from another and keep them as separate recordings. That as a way of preparing for scriptorium. And then - listen to one sentence as many times as needed, while looking at it UNTIL YOU ARE ABLE TO READ IT CORRECTLY. Then do scriptorium. Can't imagine any other magical way to go around uncertainty of HOW TO CORRECTLY READ ALOUD. You DO need a model. Don't you think?

[@mmmtmp1]

@@strangerintheselands251 That's true - it's very important to have a model. The idea with separating the sentences is also good, but it's a lot of work (even if you try to separate them automatically, most of the time Audacity is not able to do it correctly - not Audacity's fault of course, it depends on the narrator). And when you have, let's say 12 hours of audio material, it's a lot of work. What I usually do is, that I use the Shadowing technique first. Sometimes while looking at the text, sometimes not. But I make to many mistakes anyway. I'm not looking for a magical solution, of course :-). I just have a feeling, that I don't do something, that I should do. And with languages like German, Italian or Latin everything works fine anyway, because it's easy to read a sentence, even if you don't know some words, or if you have forgotten a grammatical structure. With Hebrew and Arabic it's just not the case :-) But I'll try out also your suggestion with separating the sentences - I'll simply take a shorter piece. :-)

[@strangerintheselands251]

@@mmmtmp1 Yeah... I did not mean that you do the ENTIRE audiobook first in audacity and only then you work at it. Do it by chunks of 5 mins. Use them for your practice. Then move on. Soon your vowels should be spot on and you will be able to switch gears and only listen to a sentence once before you do scriptorium of it (thus you won't need to work with audacity anymore). It's like... you grow a bit, then you use what you have developed to work FOR you. See my drift, Kolego?:)

[@MicheleBondesan]

Hello Professor Arguelles, thank you for this video. I would like to try this method to keep my languages alive, especially the ones I studied several years ago, and to move on with my Assimil Korean method. Do you recommend writing on a different notebook for each language or just use one notebook for all languages? Thank you for your advice!

[@ProfASAr]

I'll address this more in the follow-up, thank you very much for the prompt.

[@dustsettles6099]

Could this work as a beginner, using a phrase book? Before I invest more money in other materials?

[@ProfASAr]

Well, yes...

[@businessblogschool-jessiev660]

Thank you for sharing this method, professor Arguelles. I am learning French, Esperanto and Ukrainian, and I also try to maintain my Spanish, Turkish and Indonesian. I'm very interested in the Scriptorium technique, and I have 2 questions: 1. Can you say anything about the level of the texts you use? Is it all about comprehensible input, or is it better choosing a text that is a little beyond your current level? 2. I suppose you are familiar with the Goldlist method. Can you use Scriptorium with your sentences for your Goldlist? Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts about this ✍

[@ProfASAr]

Hello and thank you for your substantive comment. You can do Scriptorium with many different types of materials, from textbook passages you have worked through to works of literature that you are reading. If you are still in the learning stage proper, then it is best to write down material that you understand because you have worked through it already; if you are more advanced, you can do it with material that you are reading for the first time and may not understand 100%. I have never done it with Goldlist sentences but do not see why you could not give it a try. Best of success in your studies!

[@businessblogschool-jessiev660]

@@ProfASAr Thank you for your answer, I will give it a try with Goldlist sentences. And yes, I consider myself being in the learning stage.

[@StephenHarrisJr]

Dr. Argüelles, would Scriptorium be a good technique to use for learning scripts with hundreds of signs like cuneiform or Mandarin, which have syllabic, logographic, as well as determinative values? I've struggled for years to find a good way, in my case, of learning the cuneiform script for Akkadian (i.e., Babylonian and Assyrian). Grammar isn't the problem for me; it's figuring out how to get the cuneiform script into my head. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

[@ProfASAr]

Hello Stephen, absolutely I think Scriptorium would be of use for cuneiform script. I haven't used it for that, but yes for Mandarin.

[@StephenHarrisJr]

Thanks for the reply, Dr. Arguelles! Do you have any particular suggestions or strategies for learning the various syllabic, logographic, and determinative values of the signs, perhaps analogous to Hieroglyphic Egyptian or Mandarin?

[@shashwatasamanta7358]

Professor, could you make the slides avaliable online?

[@ProfASAr]

I will look into it.

[@angelostellato327]

¿PIENSA USTED, MAESTRO, QUE SERÍA PROFICUO COMBINAR AMBAS TÉCNICAS FUNDAMENTALES EN UNA PRÁCTICA MIXTA? POR EJEMPLO, HACIENDO SCRIPTORIUM CON LAS GRABACIONES QUE FRECUENTEMENTE USAMOS PARA HACER SHADOWING.

[@strangerintheselands251]

Claro. Eso es exactamente lo que Alexander hace en su estudio de idiomas. Shadowing de Assimil y despues como una forma de revision tambien Scriptiorium de lecciones ya hechos en oral.

[@ProfASAr]

¡Muchas gracias por la pregunta excelente! Como Stranger in These Lands ya respondió, una combinación de ambas técnicas es realmente ideal.

[@IvanIvanov-ug5dc]

It is not about languages, but nevermind: what is the name of your cat? Also any other information which you are ready to disclose on this topic will be very welcomed.

[@ProfASAr]

His name is Merlin! I'll address the topic of Scriptorium again this afternoon based on questions that came in here, and if you are asking for more information about Merlin, well, he is more likely than not to make another cameo appearance.

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

Is baolach go bhfuil sé ródhéanach anois chun ceisteanna a chur; ach mura bhfuil, ar mhiste, a dhuine uasail, go gcuirfinn an ceann deireanach seo ort? Cé chomh dona, dar leat, is a bheadh sé an Bíobla a úsáid mar théacs Scriptorium i dteanga seachas an Ghréigis ós nach téacs é a scríobhadh an chéad lá riamh sa teanga sin? Dar leat an mó is fiú díriú ar théacsanna dúchasacha? Chuala mé ó do bhéal uasal féin go mbíonn do chuid mac ag scríobh amach codanna den leabhar céanna agus rith sé liom (sular bhreathnaigh mé ar an bhfíseán seo ach arís anois) go bhféadfainn amhlaidh a dhéanamh freisin agus gur mhaith agus gurbh fhiú an mhaise dom é. Chonaic mé i seanfhíseán de do chuid go raibh staidéar á dhéanamh agat, a dhochtúir uasail, ar an nGaeilge agus ghlac mé leis dá réir go bhfuil léamh na teanga seo fós agat. Más ea nach bhfuil cuirfidh mé an cheist ort i dteanga eile agus maithfidh tú dom é.

[@ProfASAr]

Hello Mac and sorry for the late reply. My Irish has sadly stagnated, but with help I believe I was able to decipher this and gather that you are asking whether it is not preferable to use authentic texts rather than the Bible for copying? Certainly if you have them and can understand them, but completely bracketing the spiritual message of the New Testament, it is, quite simply, the universal Assimil method as it were, so it is an invaluable tool for accessing languages and getting them to the point where you could then use native materials.

[@pradeepsinghm]

I am going to try this with the Latin translation of The Hobbit that I just bought.

[@dunyahali8926]

Why do you study latin 🤔

[@nonmarked6052]

That's a bad latin translation. You better try it with a classical text or with a good graded reader

[@pradeepsinghm]

@@nonmarked6052 I have a bunch of the per se illustrata books but wanted a story in translation that I am familiar with. Is it really that bad?

[@pradeepsinghm]

@@dunyahali8926 because I would like to eventually read the works of Augustine of Hippo in the original language, as well as other authors.

[@strangerintheselands251]

You might be interested to watch this guys channel: Latinum Institute. He nails it down when it comes to the disappointment people feel when trying to move from Hans Orberg to a real piece of literature in Latin. Also check Luke Ranieri / Polymathy / Scorpio Martianus channels.

[@yacubfahmilda9238]

I love this video, but as some of your videos' voice are unclear, I think a close microfone is needed when you are making a video.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks, but this is an older video and I hope I have made improvements since then.