Pimsleur: The Most Underrated Language Product

I've been wanting to write a post about Pimsleur for so long. My review of Assimil has been my most popular post so far and apparently a lot of people liked it, but there's also another language learning product that I must do justice, and that's Pimsleur.



Assimil is a charismatic language learning product, mainly because the lessons are relaxing, funny and short; so, I guess that's why people like it at first sight. But with Pimsleur... that's not the case at all.

So, that's why I feel even more obligated to talk about Pimsleur than anything else. In all honesty, Pimsleur has been one of the most helpful and amazing language learning products that I've tried, but apparently, a lot of people hate it or quickly disregard it by saying that it's too boring or too repetitive.

A little bit of history:



The Pimsleur Method was created by linguist Paul Pimsleur. Originally, Mr. Pimsleur started his career as a french teacher and his area of expertise was teaching french phonetics and phonemes. He later moved on into doing Second Language Acquisition research, his main interest was to investigate how was it that kids were able to speak a language without actually knowing its structure explicitly. After investigating children and adults alike, he started to develop the Pimsleur Language Learning System based upon the results that he had got. The Pimsleur Language Learning System would become The Pimsleur Method that we know today.

The Pimsleur Method is based on the concept of spaced repetition combined with the exposition of the structure of  the language via interactive dialogue.

However, there are two important things that you must understand about the Pimsleur Method:

1. Paul Pimsleur died of a heart attack in 1971 while still working and perfecting the Pimsleur Method.


2. The Pimsleur Method WAS NOT originally designed to be used as an auto-didactic course, it was designed to be used in a classroom.

Despite of this, a lot of the effectiveness of the original method was able to live on to the audio program that we know nowadays.

Pimsleur's main objective is to teach you, or better yet, to install the structure of the language into your mind. Pimsleur's secondary objective is to teach you the correct phonemes and pronunciation of the language.

That's pretty much all that Pimsleur sets out to do and it succeeds beautifully.

The main two critiques that I've heard about Pimsleur (coming from a lot of language enthusiast but also renowned polyglots) are:

• There's not a lot of vocabulary, there's not a lot of content, the content is irrelevant.


• It's boring and repetitive.

It’s in the first point where I feel that most people actually misunderstand Pimsleur. Pimsleur is not really designed to teach you vocabulary or a lot of fancy words, Pimsleur is designed to teach you the structure of the language and install it in your brain, so when you need to speak it, you can access to the structure quickly and use it correctly.



Teaching a lot of vocabulary is not its aim, Pimsleur teaches you basic vocabulary but, most importantly, it teaches and makes you aware of the structure of the language little by little, so when you learn new vocabulary, you can use it correctly with the structure that you’ve learned. So, for all the people who say that “there’s not a lot of content” “the content is irrelevant” or “the situations are fake” , you’re missing the point of the approach.

The actual words that they use don’t really matter, what matters, is the way that they say them and how you absorb that structure.

This makes Pimsleur one of the most valuable and unique language products out there, there are a lot of products focused on teaching you vocabulary but there aren’t a lot of products designed to teach you the structure of the language in such a subconscious and relaxed way without all the exhausting drills that you would get on a grammar book as a beginner.

The other aspect where Pimsleur shines is in the teaching of pronunciation and acquisition of phonemes. Pimsleur is the best method that I know for teaching you pronunciation, far better than Rosetta Stone or any other Computer Assisted Software. As I already mentioned, Paul Pimsleur was a specialist in teaching french phonemes and phonetics, so, he knew a thing or two about teaching you correct pronunciation, and the way that the Pimsleur method does this is really unique, effective and simple.

Concerning the second point, yeah, Pimsleur might seem boring, but believe me, it’s worth it, 100%. You just have to be patient with it. It might seem boring but as you keep moving forward, you'll realize that you will formulate the structure of the language correctly without thinking too much about it, allowing you to speak more quickly and fluently. It's exactly the same as practicing the scales on your guitar, they might seem boring and even stressful but they are going to help you in incredible ways and they're going to make you a far better player.



Pimsleur provides you the perfect speaking training because you have to respond correctly and quickly, just as you would do in a real life situation, it puts you on the spot and that's exactly what you need when you're developing your speaking abilities.

Concerning whether or not its repetitive… well of course it is! It’s based on a theory called “spaced repetition.” Besides, when you’re a beginner, learning a new skill, correct repetition is exactly what you need.

There's also another important thing: You need to complete all the three levels in order to get Pimsleur's full results. A lot of people only try the first level and then give up and criticize Pimsleur without even getting the full experience. Don't be one of them, if you're going to try Pimsleur, make sure to get the three levels.

But then again, I believe that exaggerated  ads have harm the product instead of helping it.



Clearly, the ad company that made this video didn't even understand the Pimsleur Method.

To make myself clear, I'm not an affiliate of Pimsleur nor I'm receiving any money for writing this post, I just wanted to talk about this language product because it has help me so much and I see that a lot of people underrate it when in reality it's one the best and most effective language products out there.

There's also another language product similar to Pimsleur and that is The Michel Thomas Method.



I would like to talk about it, unfortunately I've never tried it so I can't really review it. I would like to make a full comparison between the two of them, that would be cool, because these methods are unique and quite brilliant.

That would be all for now and thanks for reading :)

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Goddess of Thunder (Short Story in Progress) Chapter 5

V

She was on the road once again, the storm had just begun, the winds were becoming more and more hostile but they were nothing that she couldn't handle, the journey was steady the danger was being ignored. But then everything changed with the appearance of the tornado at the end of the road. There was no way of her to change directions by know, so she had no option but to be consumed by it.

Ailine opened her eyes from the terrible yet predictable nightmare, all of her thoughts of last night returned as instantly as she saw the trees that surrounded her. It was already morning and she quickly realized that Da Speller wasn't longer there, but the remaining pieces of the bike were still under the tree, so she knew that he could not be too far away. She stood up and began to look for him.

"Da Speller? are you still here?"

She walked a few meters and she quickly found him. He nailed down facing the ground, she didn't understand what he was doing but as she approached he could saw. He had buried Oly with his bare hands. He spent all the night digging the hole with his hands and he had finally buried his friend.

"Da Speller?"

All covered in dirt, he stood up tired as hell, his task was over. He looked exhausted, but with a great calm and serenity.

"You had a good night sleep?" he asked her.

"Heh... not exactly, but... forget about me, are you okay?"

Da Speller smiled; it was a tired but sincere smile.

"I'm just fine"

He began to walk away from the site of the grave.

"I suppose that they won't be looking for us by now" he said.

"I... I don't think so, they must have concluded that we died in the fire" responded Ailine as she followed him.

They returned to the same site where Ailine spent the night, Da Speller returned to the same tree where he had left the remaining pieces of the flying bike, he picked them up and began to observe them closely.

"What are you ... planning to do now?" she asked him, thinking it was a bad idea to say that so soon.

"I have a plan, I thought about it all night" Da Speller responded without looking at her. “I can't do, what you told me."

Ailine didn't know what he was talking about, suddenly she remember, the flying bike.

"You... you can't reconstruct the bike?

Da Speller laughed a little bit.

"Of course I can reconstruct it. In fact, I'm going to upgrade, the old design will look as a damn chance compare to this new one. But I cannot give it to you just like that, you must earn it in some way." Da Speller responded.

Ailine didn't understand what he was trying to said.

"Earn it? What do you mean by that?"

Da Speller was still analyzing the pieces; he was already sketching in his mind the way that he was going to reconstruct the bike.

"Do you want the same thing that happened to that biker happen to you?" He asked her.

"No, but... that happened to him because he didn't earn that bike?"

"Of course!" screamed Da Speller "The goddess only grants an opportunity at those she seem worthy, how the hell does someone expect to be worthy by climbing that mountain with a stolen bike? The Gods hate stealers."

The Gods were more conscious and present than Ailine previously though. She though that they were just mighty and invisible beings that just appeared or acted at random times, but soon she found out that there was nothing random about them.

"So, what do I have to do? How can I become worthy?" she was dying to know.

Finally, Da Speller looked at her with a penetrating view.

"Ailine!, I didn't want to give you this chance, but it seems that I have no other choice. In two months, I'm going to organize a big and mortal race; the one who wins the race will get my bike".

It seemed like a good challenge but there were so many details absent.

"If you want to, you can participate in the race, the entrance cost is $200,000" he said.

"But why are you organizing a race at this precise mom..." when she finally heard the number, she didn't need to ask further.

Da Speller began to look at the sky.

"There's a big part in me that is craving for a change, a great change. I think is time to say good bye to this part of my life, move on. And I need the money to move on."

Ailine was completely amazed as for how he took his own tragedy. He had no idea how he had done it, a great part of her wanted to know. But then she concluded that they were extremely different after all.

"But... how are you planning on organizing that race and how many bikers are going to compete?"

"I just have to leave that to my brother, he will market the hell out of this idea; after all, everybody will want this bike. He will probably contact all the gangs in the region, since they are a lot, only one member of each gang will be allowed to be a racer. Independent bikers can also join in, if they have the money."

The idea was becoming more and more frightening for Ailine and that was exactly what Da Speller was trying to do. All of the gangs were going to be there, so there was no question that it was going to be a big and violent race and she didn't even know where it was going to be.

"Where is it going to be held?"

Da Speller smiled and said:

"The Gray Canyon"

Ailine's face turned into the color of the canyon itself. She knew where that was. She didn't think that it was possible to held a race there, the gray canyon was infested with an eternal mist, it was almost impossible to see anything ahead while driving there, you had to use all of your instincts to sense the curves and the rode itself, otherwise, you would fall into the abyss. Ailine was amazed by the challenge that this was going to be, she was scared and she felt lost for a second, but for her, there was no other option, she had to do it, there was no other way.

Da Speller felt that he had finally talked Ailine out of the idea of pursuing that bike and that mountain. But soon, he found out that he was wrong.

"How much you said it was the entrance cost?"

That question left Da Speller in shock, she couldn't believe this girl's obsession, there was nothing good in it, but he figure that there was nothing that he could do about it.

"$200,000"

"Ok" she said, her voice was full of determination.

"Are you sure that you'll get the money by that time?"

Ailine had already something in mind, but she needed to get her bike back.

"Yeah, I will"

Da Speller felt sad for Ailine's response, he was trying to scare the girl off by making the challenge even more ridiculous, but his plan didn't work at all. In fact, Ailine seemed even more focused than ever.

"This ain't gonna be pretty, Ailine. Chances are that you hadn't seen a race like this before. A lot of people tend to die, I don't really recommend..."

"I've heard enough warnings" said Ailine, interrupting her "I'm sorry but they are not going to do the trick, I'm going to be there."

And that was the end of the conversation. There was nothing left to say for the two of them, they weren't going to see each other again until the day of the race. They could only wish each other farewell. Ailine began to walk away to the exit of the woods and Da Speller returned to Oly's grave. He stood in front of it, clenching his fist, biting the pain as it remerged once again.

Ailine was already reaching the road, then he heard a scream.

"Ailine!" it was Da Speller, screaming at her without taking his sight out of the grave.

The mechanic had one final phrase for her.

"One must accept one’s losses!"

The phrase arrived as an echo to Ailine. An echo she ignored, holding tight to what she considered to be hope.

With the wind erasing the words, she continued walking, leaving behind the man who had lost everything.

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Darkness in the Corners (Short Poem)

Short poem of mine, regarding the easy life and other things:

Darkness in the Corners

By Emanuel Vasconcelos

It's unknown to me when and how, but they made it,

or so it seems.

It's unknown to me what colors are they wearing,

they're so bright...

so bright that I cannot distinguish them at all.

Calling themselves masters of change,

attracting other souls to them.

Evidence in the images

and evidence in the words.

They rise as world conquerors

with a powerful flare in hand.

All spreading the bright fire,

a fire that I need to see.

A fire that conquers the anguish of the future.

But instead of a wild fire,

I just see a sterile light bulb.

Simplicity and orders in a box.

No patience, no practice required.

Could it be that simple?

I'm blinded by the light,

But all my other senses say "no".

All that light in the room

doesn't let me see the darkness that lies in the corners.

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Goddess of Thunder (Short Story in Progress) Chapter 4

Fourth chapter, hope you enjoy this one. :)

IV

Whoever reaches the top of the mountain, he or she will gain an audience with the Goddess of Thunder, she will grant him or her a wish. Ailine knew the legend but she never believed it, she didn't head to the mountain with that in mind, she just did it to escape the storm that always tormented her, she just did it because it gave her the sensation that she was moving, that she was accomplishing something or at least trying to. She never believed in that fairy tale until now, or maybe she always did but she hadn't realized yet.

"Scumbags are not worthy for her!" Da Speller shouted

He hated stating obvious things.

"But, I mean. If someone reaches the summit... if someone is capable of reaching the summit... she will grant him or her a wish?"

Da Speller took a sit in one if his working tables.

"Yeah... she will, but it has never happened. But you know... when it comes to Gods..."- said Da Speller while scratching his head - "the thing that you have to know is that, they are not genies, they are more like... like teachers. In other words, they don't grant wishes, they teach lessons. You understand?"

"Yes, yes, I do. But, if someone reached the top, she would truly do what that person commands?"

Da Speller was amazed by the questions that Ailine was making.

"Yeah hunny, that's the theory, but sometimes, reality is more disappointing." once again, he hated stating the obvious.

He began to analyze her one more time.

"So let me get this straight"- he said -"you've already gone to the mountain, you've already tried to reach the summit and you didn't know about this story?"

"I did, but I never actually believed it" she responded with a weak voice.

That answer just generated more questions in Da Speller's mind.

"But wait a minute, if you didn't believe it, then, why the hell did you go there in the first place?"

Ailine had no spoken answer to that question. She had one in the back of her mind, but she wasn't willing to pull it out, so, silence was her best answer.

Even more questions generated in Da Speller's mind.

"You know, they told me about you over the phone, but they never gave me your name, or your story, who are you? where are you from?" he asked.

"My name is Ailine"

Da Speller expected way more than just that.

"But I mean, where are you from? you don't belong to a gang, do you?

"No, I don't. I'm solo and I was raised in a town a few miles from here"

Again, Da Speller expected way more than just that, but he got the hint.

"Ok, if you don't wanna talk about it , I get it. Is not of my business anyways. I just thought that, you know, you were an interesting character. You don't see a female solo rider everyday."

The conversation reached a dead-end, it was getting late and Da Speller wanted to get some sleep.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Ailine, as you could see today, there aren't many costumers around so I don't really need another hand but thanks a lot for the offer. Now, if you don't mind, I would like to close and get some sleep, it has been a pretty bad day today."

Da Speller stood up and he showed Ailine the way out, although Ailine had no intentions to go.

"I want you to rebuild that bike for me" said Ailine with a firm tone.

He just laughed and ignored her. But Ailine was dead serious.

"I need that bike, that's the only thing that can get me to the top of that mountain"

Da Speller opened the exit door.

"Why don't you forget about that mountain and forget about that bike and carry on with your life?" Da Speller recommended.

"That mountain IS my life now and that bike is the only thing that can give me my old life back!" she shouted so that Da Speller couldn't ignore her anymore.

Da Speller closed the door.

"Listen to me Ailine, you're not the first person with a wish, everybody has at least twenty, sometimes they come true, sometimes they don't. But a wish meant for the Gods, it's a dangerous wish. The Gods control everything, you don't have any idea of the consequences it could bring to this world if one imbecile knocks on their door an asks for a wish, that's why is so some damn hard to reach the top of that mountain".

"But, if it's so dangerous, why do the gods even grant an opportunity?" she asked.

"Because they always like to challenge us, they always want to know how far are we willing to go to get something." - He responded with a voice full of anger-  "They're cruel scientist and you will be a lab rat if you continue to climb that mountain as all of the other idiots do. A wish meant for the Gods is never a good wish."

Once again, Da Speller opened the door.

"My wish is not evil, I don't wish to harm nobody, I don't wish to destroy anything. My wish is the exact opposite of that." said Ailine with a firm voice still, but she was actually begging deep inside.

"I don't care, pretty. It's a bad idea. Now please, get out of my property"

Both of them were facing each other, none of them were moving. The tension was building more and more and the situation was getting more complicated by the second. Da Speller had no idea what to do, he had never had this problem before so he didn't know how to react, Oly was also feeling the pressure and he was ready to intervene to protect his master, but Da Speller didn't want him to and Ailine was in no position of leaving.

Suddenly, this intense and silent confrontation came to an abrupt end. Oly sensed something wrong and he quickly went to the window. Ailine and Da Speller heard the sound of a group of motorbikes parking just outside the workshop.

Ailine took a look at them and she instantly recognize them, it was the same gang that attacked her in the mountain.

"Sorry guys, but you didn't make a late appointment and I'm about to close!" shouted Da Speller as they were getting off their bikes.

"Holy crap, they are the guys I saw back at the mountain, they're the guys who stole your bike!" screamed Ailine.

"What?! you're kidding me?" said Da Speller as he jumped scared.

"I'm not kidding!, they really are."

Da Speller shot the door and he went for his revolver. Oly barked at them with all the energy that a dog could have. The gang was standing outside the workshop like wolves surrounding their prey. Da Speller went to the shotted door and began to shout through it.

"There are no more bikes for you scumbags! You already killed my baby, now get the hell out before I kill you!" said Da Speller with the voice of an infernal demon.

"Your piece of shit bike exploded in the middle of the air while our friend was about to reach the top of the mountain, our friend is dead because of that bike, our friend is dead because of you, now is time for you to pay us back."

'Piece of shit bike', that was the only thing that Da Speller had actually paid attention to. The echo of that phrase was the only thing that occupied his mind at that moment.

"Piece of shit bike?, piece of shit bike?!" he was murmuring to himself while looking at the ground. Oly barked more and more as the bikers approached.

"Our leader is dead because of you..." said the biker, but his voice was being played down by Oly's incredible barks.

"...your bikes are a danger to humanity... we're gonna... we're gonna get rid of them... FUCKING DOG, SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

The biker took out his gun and pulled the trigger, the bullet passed through the window into Oly's eyeball, the dog instantly fell down.

Da Speller face was white as a bone, his jaw was completely open, and his body was totally frozen. Ailine was covering her mouth with her hands, petrified as well.

After staring at his fallen friend for five seconds, Da Speller began to approach the body of his pet slowly. Every small step that he took was just another strong affirmation of the nightmare that was actually unfolding. Just in the glimpse of an eye, his best friend and his only family was dead. It was only a few minutes ago, when he was patting him, exactly in the same place where he lied now, except that this time his body was there but his friend was long gone.

Without saying anything, without even dropping a tear, Da Speller's head began to turn red, his eyes turned white. He looked like a possessed and merciless alien invader. He broke the glass of the window with his elbow and he rapidly began to fire the full round of bullets back to the riders.

Two of the gang members were injured by Da Speller bullets, they quickly fired back and the scene became a big shoot out. Ailine took cover, there were bullets flying everywhere and everything indicated that Da Speller was going to die soon. Four gunmen against one, it was only a matter of time.

Da Speller was already out of bullets, he quickly started to reload while taking cover besides the window.

"Speller! I know how you  feel, but they are to many, they're going to kill you, we need to get out of here!" Ailine screamed but Da Speller completely ignored her.

Once his gun was loaded, he fire another quick round of bullets.

"Is there a way out of here?" screamed Ailine once again.

Da Speller pointed to a big gray metal door at the back of the workshop, it looked as if it hadn't been used in many years. She ran towards it and, exactly as she expected, it was lock.

"Where are the keys?"

Da Speller threw a bunch of keys that he had in his pocket at her.

"Which one is it?" she asked again.

"I don't know, I never use that door, try one by one." he said as he returned shooting.

Everytime that she tried one key, she sensed a bullet being shot closer and closer to her head. Da Speller turned out to be a pretty good shooter, the bikers were getting tired of not hitting him, so, they decided to put an end to this once and for all.

A molotov cocktail passed through the window and burned everything around it, Da Speller jump aside, he didn't get burned by a miracle, however, the whole place was starting to get on fire. The bikers threw more and more cocktails until the workshop was completed surrounded by flames.

"YOU BASTARDS!" screamed Da Speller, as his workshop was falling into pieces.

Finally, Ailine was able to find the right key, but the door wasn't opening yet, the metal was melting because of the fire and the door became extremely hot.

She kicked the door with all of her strength and the door opened.

"Quick, Da Speller, let's get out of here!"

The mechanic was on his knees, watching how everything in his life was fading away. He had an emotionless face, it was like he was trying to accept the event in his mind, trying to capture the final time that he was going to see his home.

"We need to get out, now!" she screamed and after she did this, Da Speller woke up from his melancholic trance.

He quickly stood up, took the body of Oly and the remaining pieces of the flying bike and he got out. Both of them ran as hell, away from the scramble of the workshop before the bikers realized there was a back door. Ailine had no time to get her bike because it was where the bikers where so they had no option but to run to escape. Da Speller seemed to be on an adrenaline rush, he was running even faster than her.

Running on the streets, they were starting to hear a group of bikes patrolling the streets, they knew that they weren't safe on the roads so they quickly got lost in the woods. They stayed behind the bushes and trees for a while, waiting for them to give up. But they, could clearly listened that they were still on pursue.

"They are going to be looking for us for the entire night, we better stay in the woods." said Ailine with a quiet voice.

Da Speller seemed to be still on an adrenaline rush, but the effects were starting to wear off. He was hiding behind a tree, silent and on the edge, looking carefully at the street with his eyes wide open. His head was no longer red, his anger was replaced with pain and sorrow. He had the body of his dog in the right hand and the remaining pieces of the flying bike on his left hand, the only two things that he was left with.

Ailine couldn't resist looking at him, she felt an incredible connection with him now, she knew exactly what he was going through. She had been in that place and she knew that there was nothing in the world that she could do or say to make the pain go away.

Da Speller remained in the same exact position, holding his two treasures and looking at the streets. Ailine sat under a tree, her legs were killing her. The hours passed and there was nothing but silence in the air. Ailine's eyelids grew heavier, there was no energy left in her, she began closing her eyes, the last thing that she saw before closing them was Da Speller and by doing this she could see herself.

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Goddess Of Thunder (Short Story in Progress) Chapter 3

III

The sound of the knocking door was the only thing audible that rusty morning. She didn't even know what time it was, this was the first time in her life were she really needed to enter a restaurant and the restaurant was closed. She heard someone moving inside, so she knocked even harder. Someone finally opened the door.

"Young lady, we will open in two hours...oh it's you!" said the waiter.

"I need to talk to you" she said.

"Are you gonna get me in any trouble?, pretty girls like you always get me into trouble."

"No, no. It's about the thing you said the other day, you know... that miracle."

The waiter was completely confused, but after remembering their conversation a little bit he then understood what she was saying.

"Oh ok, I get cha... you can come in."

The man opened the doors.

"Thanks"

Once inside, all tables were empty and the cookers were preparing everything for the day to come.

"Are you hungry?" the waiter asked.

"A little bit"

"Billy, three fried eggs, please!" the waiter shouted at one cook.

"Customers are not supposed to be here now!" the cooker shouted back.

"She's a friend" he said.

"Is she another runaway that you're trying to rescue?" the cooker asked with a smile on his face.

"Just fry the damn eggs, would you?" he yelled at last.

She sat on the table where she sat before and once here eggs were ready, she began to eat immediately.

"Wow, wow. You might wanna slow down." said the waiter freaked out.

"Sorry" said Ailine as she regained her manners.

The waiter sat down in front of her.

"So, I see that you've changed you mind."

"I have... I need to meet him, I need to meet Speller, the mechanic, you said that he was the brother of the owner, right?" asked Ailine, with food in her mouth.

"Step brother, actually. Well, if you really want a meeting, I could make some calls to see if he is available."

"Would you? I really need to see him."

"Well" the waiter looked at his watch "He should be awake by now, you want me to give him a call?"

"Please" said Ailine with food still in her mouth.

The waiter stood up and he went to the back of the kitchen.

"Hey!" said Ailine while he was going. The waiter turned around.

"Really... thanks for everything."

The waiter smiled and said.

"Don't worry, you'll repay me."

The waiter went away and Ailine finished her eggs.

The time was passing by, the restaurant opened and the early customers began to arrive.

The waiter returned with some news.

"Well, it seems that it's not your lucky day, I talked to him, and he told he was going to be busy all week. Do you mind waiting?"

"Yes, where did you say he lives?" she asked while standing up.

"Wow, wow. Come on, I already talked to him, he's busy right now. You'll have to wait."

"I'm sorry, I can't wait" she insisted.

The waiter held Ailine's shoulders.

"Listen to me, Teller... he's... he's a good fella , okay. But right now, his going through some difficult times and when he's mad, oh boy, let me tell you. Right now it's just not a good moment, you'll just have to wait."

Ailine had never been more impatient in her life, she thought that she was probably abusing from the waiter's courtesy but she had to see da Speller now. The waiter began to clean Ailine's table and she finally came up with something.

"Wait a minute, you said he was going through some difficult times, does he need any help?"

"Well... I... I guess so." The waiter doubly responded.

"I can be his assistant" said Ailine with a smile.

"Well... see, I don't think that Teller has the money to pay an employee." replied the waiter as he was slowly loosing his patience.

"I can work for free, I can be his free assistant."

The waiter stopped cleaning.

"Boy, you really want to see him, don't you" he said, amazed and tired by Ailine's stubbornness.

"So, you actually want to work for free?" he asked Ailine.

"Call him right now, tell him that you're sending him a free assistant from your part with no charges what so ever. Hey, that will give you extra points with him and with your boss."

The waiter touched his chin, and then he began to laugh.

"I can't believe you, girl. God damn it! fine, I'll call him, you can go ahead... street 54, Pinewoods Downhill."

Ailine jumped and hugged him while kissing him on the lips. Before he could react, Ailine was already outside turning on the engine of his bike, he quickly ran outside.

"Thanks for the kiss sweety, but if you get me into trouble, you'll not be welcome here anymore, you're to much of a trouble." he shouted.

"Don't worry, you wont regret this!" she shouted before riding away.

There was something in the back of the waiter's mind telling him that she was gonna.

***

In less than ten minutes, Ailine was already in the Da Speller workshop. Even though she had heard all of the stories of this particular mechanic, his workshop seemed to be completely ordinary from outside, with the same rusty and messy decoration that you would expect, and the scary guardian dog, barking through the window.

The front door and the garage door were closed, so Ailine began to shout.

"Mr. da Speller, I'm here to help."

There was no response, only the loud warning that the rottweiler emitted but Ailine began to scream louder than the barks of the dog, eventually, after a few minutes she heard:
"Ok, ok, I'm going! I was in the restroom!."

The garage door began to open and there she saw him. He was a tall, skinny bald man, with a purple head and a red beard. He was a wearing a long white shirt and army pants.

"God hell, you're stubborn!" he said and Ailine smiled.

"Don't smile! It's not a positive characteristic what so ever."

Da Speller began to analyze her within a distance, Ailine felt a little bit uncomfortable so she began talking.

"I'm here to help you." she said

"Yes, I know, I've been informed. I just want to know with who I'm dealing with."

Da Speller walked towards her and shake her hand.

"So, you're going to be my guardian angel?" he said, while still analyzing her.

"I prefer the term assistant" she replied.

He stopped analyzing her, and now, she began to analyze him. It was the strangest looking person she had ever saw. She knew he was from another planet, but that was not enough for her brain to accept him as someone normal or someone who you shouldn't stare at.

"Well, you couldn't arrive at the best time, I already have a first mission for you."

Ailine wanted to get to the point and tell him why she was really there, but the man seemed to strange for her and she didn't even know how it was going to react.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, yesterday some group of scumbags broke in and they took my latest design, follow me."

The voice of da Speller seemed extremely angry, there was no question that he wanted retribution because of this, Ailine instantly imagine what was going on.

She finally entered the workshop. The word ordinary began to fade away from her mind. Da Speller workshop was a big and dark cold place, all the windows were shut, with only one open, with a rottweiler aside, there were all kinds of esoteric and ritualistic objects hanging on the walls and cadlelights everywhere, all of his tools seemed shiny and new and he had pictures of his bikes all over the walls as if they were family portraits.

"This is Oly" said Da Speller pointing to the dog.

"I don't understand, how you got rob with a dog like that?"

Da Speller approached him and patted him.

"His a good dog, but when he sleeps, only the sound of an explosion can wake him up, isn't that right, you sleepy bastard." Da Speller said with a smile on his face, as the dog enjoyed every little second of his master patting him.

"I guess, he's not that good of a guardian after all." Ailine said.

"He's the only family that I have left!" he said with a loud and firm voice.

"What about your Half brother?" she asked.

"That's a... really difficult relationship, but Oly, well...he has never used me or betrayed me. Dogs are not like humans"

Ailine wanted to know the story of this strange man, he wasn't like any other person he had met before, he was a legend, yet he lived such a miserable and lonely life. It wasn't the first person of another planet that she met, but there was something different about him, something that made him more human than the rest.

"Where are you from?, how did you arrive here?" she asked, hoping to get some background.

Da Speller stopped patting his dog and he head to a small hall at the bottom of the workshop.

"My story is not the main concern here, I'll tell you what the main concern here is, follow me."

She crossed that small hall which lead to a room full of more portraits of motorbikes.

"This is the one" said Da Speller, pointing at a bike portrait on the corner.

Ailine went and saw it. Her suspicions were correct, the bike was the same one as the one that the other biker was riding, the flying bike.

"This one is my latest and greatest design," - he said - "actually, they stole other four bikes, but I don't give a damn about those, THIS is the one that matters, THIS is the one that I need back."

His voice was starting to get more and more insane

"I need you to patrol the entire town, it's possible that they are far away now, but there's still a possibility that they are here and if they are here, I need you to find them, and when you do find them, well" - he scratched his head - "...you know how to handle a gun don't you?"

She just looked at him without saying anything, it seemed that his face had become even more purple. The silence of the conversation lasted about ten seconds.

"If you don't mind, I would like for you to start now!" he screamed.

"I already found your bike." she firmly responded.

"What?...How?...Where?" asked Da Speller while his face was becoming even more purple.

The two of them went outside, where Ailine's bike was parked. She had a big bag in the back of her bike, she took the bag and opened it. Inside, there was the remaining frontal part of the bike that had analyzed before, the one that had the logo of the workshop.

"This is the one, isn't it?" said Ailine as she showed them the tragic piece.

"Where... how... where's the rest?" said Da Speller with tears on his eyes.

"This is all that I could recover, the bike was completely destroyed."

Da Speller face turned white and he instantly fainted.

Two hours passed, Da Speller felt the tongue of Oly licking all of his face, he quickly opened his eyes. They were once again inside the workshop because Ailine and Oly had dragged him there. Da Speller stood up with a terrible headache.

"What happened?" he asked without a clue of what was going on.

Ailine showed him once again the piece of the bike.

"Ohhhh!" said Da Speller with great pain and suffering "Now I remember... you stole and destroyed my baby!" he shouted .

"I didn't do nothing, old man!" screamed Ailine.

"Then how the hell do you posses that, do you even know with who you're dealing with?!"

"Look!" said Ailine trying to remain calm "... Mr. Speller, I will tell you everything, but first I need you to chill out and to stop screaming... and fainting."

Da Speller began to relax a little bit, but he was still quite impatient.

"Ok, go ahead and tell what me happened before I kill you." he said while biting his lips.

Ailine told him the events of the day after, every single detail that she could remember, it was the weirdest personal experience that she had ever told, but Da Speller had to believe it, otherwise he would probably kill her. Ailine's story ended and Da Speller remained silent.
He was touching his chin, thinking every aspect of the story carefully, he didn't seem as angry as before.

"Tell me something - he said, after a few moments of silence - how bad ass did it fly?"

It wasn't the question that Ailine was expecting.

"What?" she asked only to be sure.

"How bad ass did it fly?"

Ailine searched for the appropriate adjective, but there was none.

"Well, sir... I... I don't even have words to describe it."

Da Speller smiled and she could see that he had a few tears left in his eyes.

"Well... - he said, while trying not to cry - I... I guess this bike was to 'I don't even have words to describe it' for this world."

He turned his back, he didn't want to see Ailine no more, it was the first time that a women besides his mother saw him cry and he wanted that nightmare to stop.

"Please, leave the bike... what's rest of the bike here, would you? You can go away, I don't need anyone anymore."

That was the last thing that Ailine was planning to do.

"Aren't you planning to reconstruct it?" Ailine pushed.

"No, not right now, anyway. What kind of freaking idiot decides to go to the summit of that mountain with a stolen bike?" he rambled.
"What? What do you mean by that?" Ailine instantly asked.

Da Speller realized that the girl was still there.

"Would you please leave?"

"No, man! I want to know what the hell are you talking about, I found your bike, I think you owe me that!"

This was the last thing that Da Speller needed at that moment, but she was right, he owed her some sort of explanation.

"Do you really think that it was pure bad luck what made that lightning felt?!" he asked her laughing.

"I don't know, the rider... before he died... he said something about a Godess"

Da Speller put a palm on his face, ashamed of the things that Ailine was saying.

"You're not from around here, are you sweety?"

Ailine was completely amazed, she never thought that any of those stories were truth, she still couldn't believe it.

"So, that means that the legend is true?" she naively asked.

Da Speller answered with another question.

"Who the hell told you it was a legend?"

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The Ordeal of Learning a Language alone.

So, I've decided to stop learning French and start learning Italian. This month of February I'm focusing exclusively on Italian to see how far  I can go on my own. I don't really need Italian, I don't need to learn it for anything serious so I'm just doing it for the heck of it. But of course, this leads me to think once again about this whole idea of learning a language alone.

I'm a big promoter of self-education and I'm pretty much a self-educated person, so of course: I like the idea of learning a language alone.

And I understand why many people find the idea interesting. I mean, it's not always easy to find a language teacher, a good one or an affordable one, so the notion of doing this entire process alone seems like an incredibly attractive idea.

But this idea of learning a language on your own always forces me to ask a lot of questions.

Questions like:

• What is the maximum level that you can reach alone without proper tuition or living in another country?


• What are the best conditions to learn a language alone?


• What are the cons? (Because, of course, there are cons)


• Which languages should never be studied alone?


• When should we get a teacher and when should we go solo?

One of the initial things that I must say (and this applies to the whole notion of self-education in general) is that is NOT for everyone.

By this I'm not implying that just a limited number of people are capable or have the talent of doing it, no. In fact, it doesn't matter what your capacity is, because learning a language is not a matter of talent, it's a matter of will. That's the first reason why I say this is not for everyone, not everyone has the will to do it. Personally, I've never met anyone, besides myself, who is willing to go to the whole ordeal of learning a language on their own, even if they know it's possible. And I get it, it's not something that is for everybody, that doesn't mean that I'm better or smarter than them, that just means tha we have a different set of hobbies.

But it's not all just fun and games, in order of doing this, you need to be highly motivated, you need to be patient, you need to be disciplined, you need to be willing to construct a new habit, you need to look for material and you need to be consistent, all of that on your own.

As you can see, none of the reason I've just described require any particular talent, but they require a strong will.

And where are you going to obtain your strong will?

Defining why are you learning this language in the first place. Defining your goals and purposes. This is something that I already discussed about in a video, here it is if you want to watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w-8k0tUQ1o&list=UUUCihBXpSwutALS1mIn3RBA&feature=c4-overview

I mention this again because it's quite an important factor, it's the thing that you need to be reminding yourself every time that you're struggling to understand something new or every time that you're having a rough time speaking about something. Your purpose is going to be the fountain of your motivation, and if you don't have a strong fountain, you're not going to get very far.

I will attempt to answer some of my own questions, I would also like to know what you guy think about this.

Now, regarding one of my questions:

• What is the maximum level that you can reach alone without proper tuition or living in another country?

Well, I guess this depends on two factors: yourself and the language you're learning. My formula regarding this question is: The more motivated you are and the more popular the language you're learning is, the easiest is going to be to reach a high functional level without proper tuition or living in another country. For example, I believe that everybody is capable of reaching a high functional level in English on their own, because English is the most popular language in the world (and also on the web) and it's incredibly easy to find material to learn it.

Other languages that have this characteristic are Spanish, French, German and Italian, Japanese, Chinese, etc. The more popular the languages are, the easiest is to find material regarding them, the more material you're able to find, the higher the level you can achieve alone.

I believe that I'm capable of reaching a high level of Italian on my own because there are a lot of material regarding that language, however, I don't think I would be able to reach the same level this way studying Serbian. I don't mean that there are no Serbian books, but there are more Italian books than Serbian books at my disposal because Italian is a more popular language than Serbian. So I guess that I'd be able to reach a higher level of Italian than Serbian at the end of the day.

• What are the cons? (Because, of course, there are cons)

Well, you don't have anyone to monitor you but yourself, and let's admit it, that sucks. It's harder to know whether or not you're making mistakes, and if it's a mistake, how bad is it?, and sometimes, we tend to ignore certain small details of the language that later turn out to be huge details. For example: the tones in languages like Chinese or Thai, or the musical intonation of languages like Spanish and Italian, etc. And sometimes, is easier to learn grammar if you have a good teacher that gives you special tips that you can't find anywhere else.

• When should we get a teacher and when should we go solo?

The first thing that I would like to say is that there's nothing wrong with finding a teacher, honestly, I recommend you do that. And still, you can study on your own outside the classroom. For me that's the best way to study a language, you have the best of two worlds. I guess that you should find a teacher immediately if you really need to become functional in a language in a short period of time, if that's your situation, then finding a teacher is a most.

Also, if you feel that you've reached a language plateau (which I did while studying French), finding a teacher is also a good way to keep things rolling. A year ago, I felt that I was going nowhere with my French, I felt that I've reached a wall and that I wasn't learning as much as I once was (Trust me, than can happen to you at any time). Then, I found a French teacher and things started to change, the language became much more interactive and my level actually increased. So, don't be afraid of teachers, specially if they are good. Besides, it's a good way of keeping your skills fresh.

I guess that you should fly solo if you don't have anything that is pressuring you and if you are pleased with the way that you've been learning thus far.

So this has been a little overview regarding the ordeal of learning a language on your own and my experience with it. It's still a topic that I tend to analyze a lot and I also think it's an important notion to take into consideration when we are discussing stuff about education in general.

Thanks for reading :)

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On the importance (or lack of it) of starting something the right way.

I think it's impossible to determine what moment is a good moment to start doing something.

What is the appropriate moment to become enrolled in something? what is the appropriate moment to start a habit? or to leave one?

It's truly rare to find a moment which you could interpret as the absolute moment in which you should start doing something, and  if you ever find that so-called perfect moment chances are that you should have started a long time before that. But the idea that always governs me is the idea of having a good start, becoming almost a obsetion. I've always been a firm follower of the belief that if something starts the wrong way, it will never be able to become something good.

But now, I ask myself: is a good start really all that necessary?

I guess is helpful and motivational, but is it really the great denominator that's going predict the fate of an endeavour?

I guess sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't.

It only is, if you take good starts too seriously to begin with, if you don't care about them, chances are that they're not going to affect you in any significant way. Is it just another idea that we just take for grant it without actually thinking about it?

For example, in my case, playing guitar, writing and learning languages, all of them are stuff that I've become progressively good as the years go by, buy I don't have the finest idea of how it all got started. I don't remember what was the first chords or the first song that I played, I don't remember what was the first foreign word I learned and I don't remember what was the first thing I wrote in order to express something deep inside.

But most importantly, I don't remember if any of them were either good or bad experiences, I have no idea. I just kept doing those things till this day without the finest idea of how I actually started. Fact that leads me now to believe that: the way you start doesn't hold any particular significance if you just keep going, chances are that as you go by you won't even remember how it all got started anyways and if you do, it's probable that that initial reaction has fade away and holds no effect on you anymore...

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Goddess Of Thunder (Short Story in Progress), Chapter 2

Second chapter of this little short story of mine, hope you'll enjoy it.

II

Back where she belonged, the storm was rising again. The sound of the engine became her meditation mantra, perhaps she was ready to do it one more time. She knew which direction she had taken, moving ahead and pushing forward, she was meeting a recurring dead-end. As the mist unfolded in the horizon, there she was, the mountain, approaching at 200 miles per hour. She was ready to relive the same old story all over again, but this time, it was going to be different.

Her mantra was broken, as she started to hear other engines behind her. She took a quick look back and there was a gang of five bikers, following her. The lead biker of the gang accelerated until he was besides Ailine, he drove closer and closer to her.

"Where are you going?" He screamed. "This is no place for little bitches!"

The biker accelerated and he surpassed Ailine. Suddenly all the gang did the same, and now Ailine was the one behind them.

"Your husband is waiting for his dinner" one of them yelled while laughing.

Their bikes were far more superior in any sense, but Ailine was filled with anger, so she decided to take her bike into the maximum level, completely overcharging the capacity of the engine.

They arrived to the mountain, the mountain had a spiral path which bikers took in order to ascend it. It was a perpetual curve with and infinite amount of natural obstacles coming from everywhere: rocks appearing and falling out of nowhere, bones of both human and animals carefully placed so that they could break the tires, ivy on the floor that made you slow down and lose balance, occasional waterfalls that made slip and fall, and people also said that there were even supernatural forces ready to block your path.

It didn't matter what sort of great biker you were, you needed to slow down at the moment that you started to ascend the great mountain. All of the bikers did that, so Ailine accelerated even more to catch up with them.

Ailine started her ascendency, the last biker wasn't to far ahead of her. It was the moment to slow down, the path was starting to get dangerous but she only needed to focus, suddenly everything was slow and she could perfectly view everything up ahead. The biker in front of her made his first and last mistake, the ivy made him lose his balance and he fell. Ailine smiled but soon regain focus.

Despite having amazing bikes, the bikers couldn't handle the wrath of the mountain, one by one they fell, prey of the mountain's surprises, but Ailine remained. There was one biker left, the leader of the gang. Ailine was catching up on him, and she was ready to play dirty if he initiated.

The biker was very focus, but as Ailine began to approach, he started to realize that he wasn't alone. He took a quick look back and there he saw her. The adrenaline was starting to become greater and greater for both of them. They were reaching the peak of the mountain, it was the first time that Ailine reached this far but realizing this distracted her for a few seconds,when she regain focus, he saw the biker pointing at her with a gun.

"Don't disturb my concentration!" He said while pointing the gun and driving.

He began to shoot, Ailine tried everything to dodge the bullets but one of them hit her frontal tire. She lost all control, her bike was gonna go down. She knew the race was over for her, the last that she could do was to crash her bike with his so that he would also lose balance, after doing this, she fell.

For a second, Ailine thought that she was going to die, she had never reached so high, so the fall was going to be ten times harder, and so it was. But she didn't fell all the way, she was able to stop the fall in one of the lower levels of the mountain. She was injured but not so badly and she would had continued if the tire of her bike wasn't pumped.

She still wanted to make sure if that bastard actually fell when she crashed into him.

The answer was no, he was still up there but he was losing balance, it was only a matter of time before he suffered the same fate as hers. Ailine just wanted to see him fall. He lost all control of the bike and there was a closed curve lying ahead, it was going to be his end. He didn't manage to make that curve and his bike was suddenly in the air.

She was waiting for him to fall right away but... it didn't happen. He began to fall slowly, like if his bike was slowing down the effect of gravity for him.

"Why don't you fall?" was all that she was thinking about.

But the biker and his bike refused to fall quickly. While falling, the biker was trying everything the restart the engine with his pedal, but the engine was already on. It was in that moment were Ailine realized the he was trying to activate another pedal, his bike had a secondary pedal but she didn't know why it was there for.

The biker finally managed to activate the pedal and suddenly a small and thin platform made out of light appeared beneath his tires, it was literally as if he was riding a lightning, that lightning platform stopped the fall completely. The bike was standing on top of that luminous platform and it was no longer falling, it was as if the biker was suspended in the air, with nothing pulling him down.

Ailine knew in that moment that he was possibly an ordinary biker but that was no ordinary bike. Once that he realized that his situation was under control, the biker started his main engine and he began to ride was again, but this time, in the middle of the air and that luminous platform followed his bike through the air while leaving a path of light behind it.

Ailine couldn't believe what was going on, she had never seen anything like it, and she had seen a lot of other extraordinary events, but this one seemed like a miracle to her.

The biker was riding the sky, he was flying around the mountain, he was quickly ascending, flying in a circular manner. He was going to do it, he was going to reach the summit of the mountain and Ailine couldn't do anything but to stand there and witness.

The mountain was suddenly surrounded by a path of lightning, a spiral of light that was about to conquer the summit of the mountain. The biker was riding through clouds and dust. Ailine was still looking far away, she knew that he was going to be the one destined to complete this millennial challenge, but soon, she realized that she was wrong. He was a few meters away of reaching the final destination, but his triumphant march was going to last no longer.

Ailine, watching the epic scene, saw the biker being stroke by a real and powerful lightning that descended from the heavens. The strike was harsh and brutal, the bike exploded in the middle of the air and the biker was blown away. The smoke remained there, as a sign of a great failure, the biker and the remaining pieces of the bike were slowly falling away, the distance was too high and the biker was completely unconscious.

He fell close to a river near the mountain, she wanted to see who he was, although he was probably dead by now. She descended the mountain on foot and she realize there was nobody else, all of the other bikers were gone. Ailine began to run to the site of the fall. There were pieces of the bike still falling from the sky. As she was running, she didn't even know what had happened yet, she couldn't believe what she had just witnessed.

Before reaching the place of the fall, Ailine stumble upon the frontal half of the bike, she tried to touch it but it was burning. She rolled it over with her feet to examine it more carefully, it was almost impossible to distinguish anything special about it because it was almost completely burned down. However, she was able to distinguish a peculiar insignia at the front of the bike. It was a strange logo that she wasn't able to figure out, but around this strange logo it read "Da Speller Original".

She arrived at the river, and there he was. Lying on the ground, facing up and gazing to the sky, his clothes were completely burned out, his helmet was melting but his eyes were wide open, as if he was seeing the answer of all of his questions written down in the surface of those gray clouds. Ailine stood beside him, she thought that he was dead until she looked at him blink. Somehow, he was still alive. His eyes moved, and now he was looking at Ailine, she took her glasses off, and for the first time, the real world was as dark and cloudy as the way that the glasses represented it.

"Did... did you see her?" The biker asked Ailine.

She was shocked to see him still alive.

"Wh... what?" The rhythm of her heart began to increase.

"Did you... see her?" The biker asked once again.

"Who?" she asked back.

The biker began to look at the sky once again.

"The Goddess" he responded.

She had never believed those stories, but concerning the events that she witnessed that day, everything changed for her. The biker began to laugh with his final breath. When he reached the final second of his life, he just inhale and with that air he whispered:

"If I'm not worthy then no one is"

His eyes closed and his life was no more. Ailine looked at the mountain behind her and then she looked at the sky above her, realizing that the legend was true.

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