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April 27, 2005
Newspaper Production People! Argh!
I hate headlines. The only thing less useful than headlines are subheads. I know not to blame authors for their headlines (nor more than one can rationally hold back-cover blurbs against authors) but it does prejudice one against the article.
This morning I read on the Washington Post webpage:Love of Languages Transcends All Ages / Linguists say that age is not a factor in tackling new languages. Yeah, right. So I click and see: Love of Learning Language Transcends All Ages / Linguists Say Youth Isn't a Requirement to Master New Tongues. Better -- "isn't a requirement" is better than "is not a factor."
The article isn't bad -- you know, retirees learning Latin and such -- and it has some positively useful things to say about the overemphasis on starting early (which leads some people never to start at all). The author never really puts together the oddity of most modern language instruction in America, which is that they try to teach post-pubescents using the same method that would work like a charm for the younger (de-emphasizing the analytical abilities that we older types have), but it's not a bad article. The headline writer should be beaten with a Lewis and Short, though.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at April 27, 2005 7:00 AM