JIHYUNDE LANGUAGE CENTER - Tips & Techniques

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Foreign Language Memory Technique

Pia on 04/11/2007 at 1:24pm (UTC)

Learning a foreign language takes a lot of time and effort. Even so, most people spend countless hours memorizing vocabulary lists, when there is a better way. The Dunn memory technique is a faster, easier, and more enjoyable way to learn a foreign language.

In order to understand how the Dunn technique works, a little knowledge of memory is necessary. You have several levels of memory retention. Here are the levels of memory from worst to best.

1. You are able to relearn the material faster and more easily than new material.
2. You are able to recognize it in a group or list.
3. You are able to remember it if you are given a hint. (e.g. It starts with the letter H)
4. You can recall it without any help.

The Dunn technique makes two assumptions. One is that when you study new words, some of them will naturally fall into the deeper levels of memory than others. The other assumption is that it is more effective to have many words at a lower level of memory than to be able to perfectly recall a few words.

If you are able to recognize many words, even at a low memory level, then you are able to talk to native speakers, watch a foreign TV show, or listen to music in the language you are trying to learn. Since these activities are more enjoyable than staring at a vocabulary list for hours on end, you will probably do them more often. Every time you listen to that song or watch that movie you are actually practicing your vocabulary and moving your retention of those words to deeper levels.

Memorizing words this way is also more natural, and you will learn words in order of their importance. The importance of knowing a word is the frequency it is used in the language. Therefore the more important a word is, the more often you will hear it on TV and in music, the better you will remember it.

To learn a list of vocabulary words with the Dunn technique, you look at each word with its definition, and memorize it using whatever technique is most effective for you (e.g. form a mnemonic, picture it in your mind, repeat it a dozen times, etc). You need to memorize it well enough to have total recall for the entire list without looking at it. Once you can do that, forget about the list for a while. Review it every once and a while, but not too often. Don’t worry about forgetting a word or two. It is easier to put more new words into the lower levels of memory, than to try to forcefully pound those difficult words into the higher levels of memory.

If you keep a list with you everywhere you go, and continually review list over and over again, you are training your brain to memorize words that way. Then every time you want to learn a new word, you’ll have to go through that whole process again. It is better to memorize the word once, and let it fall back to the recognition level of memory, because then when you hear that word on a TV show or a song, your brain will realize that word was important, and it should memorize those words better.

It is also better for pronunciation to memorize a word from hearing native speakers say it than to memorize it from a list, since it’s your own voice in your head, and you have an accent. Your brain also prioritizes words more highly if you hear them in a real situation. Then your brain realizes why you needed to know that word, instead of just being another word on the list.

By focusing on quantity instead of quality, you are able to better learn from real life situations, just like you learned your first language. You will be able to learn words better, and more enjoyably by talking to native speakers and watching foreign movies than from memorizing lists. The Dunn technique doesn’t work for everyone. You have to know how good your own memory is, and adjust the method to fit your learning style. However, once you know how you memorize, you will be able to memorize words faster, more easily and more enjoyably with the Dunn memory technique.

Korea Trainee System

Mark on 04/03/2007 at 6:23pm (UTC)

Korea trainee system abolished, OFWs should avoid overstaying
Korea has abolished the Alien Industrial Trainee System and stopped issuing trainee visas effective January 1, 2007. Dr. Yong-Dal Kim, President of Human Resources Development Service of Korea (HRD Korea) said Philippine licensed agencies formerly hiring trainees for Korea can no longer recruit workers under the trainee scheme.
Korean employers could only get foreign workforce legally through the Employment Permit System (EPS) with the participation of other sending countries which include Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Cambodia, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and the Philippines.
Private recruitment agencies are not authorized to participate in implementation of the EPS and he asked the cooperation of the POEA to maintain such system. The POEA is the only government organization authorized to implement the EPS in the country.
Filipinos working as industrial trainees in Korea are advised to come back to the Philippines upon expiration of their contract and re-apply under the Employment Permit System (EPS) instead of going illegal.
According Dr. Yong-Dal Kim, a huge number of overstaying workers will affect the labor quota that will be given to the Philippines under the Employment Permit System.
Former trainees who wish to continue working legally in Korea can register with the POEA. They should pass the Korean Language Test (KLT) and the medical requirements for inclusion in the Roster of Jobseekers to have another chance to be hired by Korean employers. Former trainees should, however, wait for at least six months before they could go back to work in Korea. Employers will face stiff penalty for employing illegal foreign workers in Korea.

Call Center Industry in the Philippines

Pia on 04/03/2007 at 6:06pm (UTC)

The call center industry is an emerging industry in the Philippines. Business process outsourcing is regarded as one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Business process outsourcing in the Philippines became the latest trend in the services sector in the 2000s and is led by demand for offshore call centers.

The growth of call centers continue to be rapid, up from 72 registered in late 2003 when the Asian Call Center Review reported the Philippines as the first rank in the offshore call center industry for the Asian region, surpassing India at the second spot. From being an almost unexplored BPO territory in 2000, the call center industry has grown by leaps and bounds. The Philippines Board of Investments (BOI) estimates growth rate of this industry since 2001 to 100 percent annually. It is estimated that 200,000 people are working in 120 BPO (mostly Contact Centers) in the Philippines in 2006, and expected to bring in revenues of US$3.8 billion for the year - a sharp increase from 2000 when call centers employed 2400 people and earned US$24 million.

In 2004, the Philippines already captured 20 percent of the total world market share in contact center services. The Philippine government estimates the Philippines could capture 50 percent of the total world English-speaking market in 2008. This industry, aside from contributing 12 percent in to the Philippines gross national product, is also the fastest growing provider for Filipino college graduates. The Information and Communications Technology division of the BOI reported that the call center industry experienced a growth rate of 70 percent in 2005 making it the most dynamic of all sectors in the Philippine information technology industry. According to industry forecasts, more than a million Filipinos would be employed in the call center industry, with more than US$12 billion in revenues in the year 2010.

The Philippines is also considered as location of choice due to its less expensive labor costs.

The country offers 24/7 multilingual and multimedia supported premium services for marketing, sales, customer care, crisis management, investor relations and other key business applications. The reasons cited for the bullish outlook towards the Philippines have been, among others, due to lower operating costs, English language proficiency and high ICT skills yet low-cost workforce.

The Philippines is considered a major player in the global BPO market. In 2005, the country ranked in the top 10 world wide for top BPO destinations, according to neoIT's 2005 Mapping Offshore Markets Update.

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