Unilang outreach efforts (getting more active members)

[johntm]

I sort of agree. I tend to not write things way above my level because I know there'd be so many corrections and that if I read over them very few, if any, would stick. I hope most people would stick to something like that, you stick within your level, maybe using one or two things you don't have quite a good grasp on so that you get corrections and feedback about it. But after a certain point, I agree using the language a bunch is definitely beneficial, which is why I started my thread in the French subforum, I figured writing a short paragraph each day can't hurt.
I also agree that making mistakes is part of the language learning process, and you shouldn't freak out over them. Failure is just feedback, it lets you know what to improve.

[MillMaths]

In fact, i think it is more productive for beginners not to be corrected - otherwise there would be corrections all the time. Making mistakes is part of the process of learning languages. This is already the case in some threads where learners have a space to practise, and thus increasing their level - so this already works ! But as soon as a certain level is reached, corrections become very helpful and appreciated.
it's not a question of being correct or not, to me I just think learners should be encouraged to write as much as they can. Having a conversation is, IMO, better than a grammar lesson. But as always, it depends on everyone way to learn languages.

I think it is much better for beginners to be corrected as early as possible. That way, they learn their mistakes early and can correct them before the mistakes become a habit with them. Provided the corrections are, as johntm said, done gently and not in any way that might discourage the beginners from continuing to learn, I don't see why people shouldn't correct beginners as much as possible. There may be lots of corrections at first, but when the beginners learn from their mistakes, they won't make so many of them and there won't be so many corrections to make then.

[Bubulus]

I don't know about you guys, but in my experience, for a long time I did use to fear corrections, and when I received them I tended to not look at them. Mostly out of perfectionism, I simply didn't like being corrected, even if I knew it was well-intentioned on part of the teacher. I started to not mind it anymore when I started to correct others, now being in the opposite side's shoes... On the other hand, I still tend to fear correcting others because of the same reason, there often tends to be no way you won't hurt the other person besides not making comments on what you may think are mistakes...

I think there's also researchers on second language education that suggest only some kind of mistakes are correctable by pointing them out, and yet others that suggest language teachers shouldn't do any corrections at all, leaving it up to the students to acquire correct patterns, etc. from experience. I do welcome corrections and look at them closely now, but from my experience I'm not sure which side to take in general. Perhaps we could correct only those that request it in their sig or something?

[Abavagada]

What about creating a system or at least an area similar to Lang-8, in which people can right about something with the main intention of others correcting what they write?

[Michael]

All of this. I've observed more than a handful of English-language errors from non-natives, but most of the time, I tend to prefer to just let it be. I wouldn't like to be seen as a linguistic snob. Only if I see a shitload of errors from a learner will I say something. I might just stop correcting people's English, Portuguese, Greek, etc. errors altogether, lest I be viewed as condescending.

I myself fear corrections as if they were a linguistic pariah of sorts, even though I once claimed in my signature that I welcomed them, so I tend to make sure my grammar is spic-and-span and extra-perfect before clicking submit, especially when it comes to Portuguese.

Although for Italian I choose to be lazy, because I depend largely on and take advantage of my L1 knowledge of Neapolitan, which can actually deceive me sometimes.

[MillMaths]

I've observed more than a handful of English-language errors from non-natives, but most of the time, I tend to prefer to just let it be.

I wouldn't have guessed that from the way you readily pounce on Portuguese-language errors from UniLangers.

j/k

[Osias]

I've observed more than a handful of English-language errors from non-natives, but most of the time, I tend to prefer to just let it be.

I wouldn't have guessed that from the way you readily pounce on Portuguese-language errors from UniLangers.

j/k

I wonder if I don't sound to Micheal with so much accent as he sounds to me in Portuguese.

[BlackZ]

I'm a lot like Sophie regarding corrections. I personally don't care about being corrected - in fact, I am far more uncomfortable if I feel a sentence I wrote is wrong and it doesn't get corrected. I tend to correct a lot other people on their mistakes in Portuguese mostly for this reason.

Maybe if we limit the corrections to some threads (such as "The person after me") it could be less discouraging?

[Michael]

I've observed more than a handful of English-language errors from non-natives, but most of the time, I tend to prefer to just let it be.

I wouldn't have guessed that from the way you readily pounce on Portuguese-language errors from UniLangers.

j/k

melski was actually the first Portuguese learner whom I corrected (I think), and since I seemed to come across as discouraging, I promptly apologized, since I didn't intend to be a bully, but I actually wanted to further Julien's explanation of the use of the subjunctive after talvez.

I was once corrected after using the present subjunctive after talvez as well, and I learned from that. After doing further research on the use of talvez using Portuguese grammar pages for Brazilian school kids, I learned that the subjunctive of the present perfect form (which would otherwise be the present continuous if in the indicative) is used after talvez when wanting to express probability/uncertainty in a past event.

I wonder if I don't sound to Micheal with so much accent as he sounds to me in Portuguese.

Você quer uma gravação?

[johntm]

I myself have been pretty bad about correcting English learners. Unless it's really bad, I generally leave it alone unless it's in the English subforum or something, mainly because I don't want to be the guy who derails a good convo to point out a small error. That said, I personally want people to correct me (both in and out of the subforums for the languages I'm learning).
I don't think we should have to put anything in our sigs, let's just have an unwritten agreement (or somehow factor it into the rules) that we should correct each other when we notice errors? We shouldn't have to apologize a ton, just point out what's wrong and why, maybe encourage them if need be, but if we agree as a community to not view corrections as personal attacks then I think we'd all benefit. As long as someone doesn't just say "You suck at X, you should probably give up" or the like, I think we all could understand they're just trying to help us, as a learner.

[Osias]

I wonder if I don't sound to Micheal with so much accent as he sounds to me in Portuguese.

Você quer uma gravação?

Would be interesting, but I was wondering how would I sound to you. But I hate my voice recorded and won't do that.

[Michael]

Would be interesting, but I was wondering how would I sound to you. But I hate my voice recorded and won't do that.

Mas eu quero ouvir sua voz! Não se desencoraje. Nem eu acho minha própria voz tão linda…

[Meera]

I figured out that while Unilang is fun, it doesn't help me much with language learning, I learn more reading elsewhere, watching videos in the target languages, etc. Yes, I did get some good links here, but I'm talking about time spent here versus time spent elsewhere.

If I invite people to join how to I teach them to use Unilang? How do I incentive them to post and to post what? How do I create in them the habit of entering here a few minutes everyday? And enter WHERE? Start page? 'Newposts' link? 'Newposts' link is overdosed with things they're not learning. Egosearch is the page I open more, but it doesn't work for newcomers.

At last, someone gets it.
Jurgen Wullenwever mentioned not visiting the rest of the site. There needs to be some reason to come.
When we first started UniLang over 11 years ago, it was a new thing on the internet.. a language community. Now there are several dozen of them, and most offer new things. For example, Lang-8 allows people to help each other direction by correcting others. Other sites have language exchange programs. Then there is all the modern media available in the form of TV, radio, newspapers, videos.. to help people move beyond the "basic" levels.

I don't think the main problem is the forum. I think it's that now, there needs to be much more than the forum to bring people in and give them something to talk about.

Just my thoughts.
Erik / Aba

I agree with both of these posts. We need more things on language learning, because thats what people come here for.

[Osias]

Would be interesting, but I was wondering how would I sound to you. But I hate my voice recorded and won't do that.

Mas eu quero ouvir sua voz!

Eu. Tenho. Vergonha.

Não se desencoraje. Nem eu acho minha própria voz tão linda…

Nenhum erro aqui, mas soa estranho. Acho que usualmente as pessoas diriam "não desanime" e "tão linda assim", mas não sei explicar porque. Mas eu não tinha nem que mencionar isso, não é algo a se corrigir, é algo que você "pega" ou "absorve" com o tempo.

O que me lembra o quanto meu espanhol precisa melhorar.

[Michael]

Nossa… eu preciso deixar de estudar grego e recomeçar a estudar português.

[Osias]

Nossa… eu preciso deixar de estudar grego e recomeçar a estudar português.

oooopps, didn't mean that

[Michael]

Não, eu sei. Estou dizendo eu o que eu mesmo preciso fazer.