I had a couple of very interesting discussions with Professor Sakai of tadoku.org in Japan.

 

Tadoku is a method of language learning which stresses reading and listening as a more enjoyable and more effective way of language learning than the traditional approach grammar based approach. This has been a labour of many years. I our interview Professor Sakai discusses his method and his difficulty in persuading both learners and teachers to accept his approach. The more successful he has become, the more resistance he has aroused in the teaching fraternity.
Professor Sakai has made some inroads in Japan, but the traditional way of teaching seems to hold sway.

 

Professor Sakai has his three rules for his approach to learning through reading and listening.

 

1) do not look words up in the dictionary
2) if you are stuck, move on, don’t ask questions
3) if you do not like what you are reading, get something else to read.

 

While tadoku has been mostly been involved with English learning, it is now expanding into other languages. To begin with Japanese,  at nihongo-yomu.org with more languages to come.

 

We discuss this first in Japanese and then in English. I attach the first two files of the Japanese discussion. The final part of the Japanese discussion and the English discussion will follow in the next post.

 

I await your comments in Japanese or English. Professor Sakai has promised to comment and answer questions here.

 

 

Tadoku interview_00.00-13.06.mp3
Tadoku interview_13.06-26.13.mp3