AMBIDEXTERITY & LANGUAGE LEARNING

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HAS YOUR AMBIDEXTERITY INFLUENCED YOUR ABILITY TO LEARN LANGUAGES?

I am not ambidextrous, I am actually left-handed.
11
69%
I am ambidextrous but have seen no effect/influence.
4
25%
I am ambidextrous and have seen an effect/influence.
1
6%
 
Total votes: 16

Skynet
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AMBIDEXTERITY & LANGUAGE LEARNING

Postby Skynet » Thu Dec 27, 2018 7:53 pm

Melkor wrote:
Skynet wrote:AMBIDEXTERITY + LANGUAGE LEARNING:
To make my language learning more exciting, I have decided to assign French to my left hand and German to my right hand to see if writing my weaker language with my slightly-dominant hand will help improve my German.

Any news on this experiment? Has your German improved? If so, how can you tell if it was the result of changing your writing hand, and not purely because of consistent practice?

Skynet wrote: More than a fortnight into the experiment, I can absolutely confirm that my German has improved tremendously. What is not yet apparent is the cause of this improvement: switching writing hands or simple determination to learn the language over the past 2 weeks. It would be ideal if other ambidextrous members would share their experiences with language learning.


POLL: "Has your L2/L3/LX improved by 'switching' your hands?" If not, please answer the following questions:

DUMMY VARIABLE QUESTION: I am left-handed.

For those who answered that they are ambidextrous:
a) Which language(s) did you write using your dominant hand? Which hand was dominant?
b) Which languages(s) did you write with your non-dominant hand? Which hand was non-dominant?
c) Which language(s) did you switch to either your dominant or non-dominant hand? Did you see any difference?

Definition of ambidextrous: writing skills.

TLDR: I am ambidextrous, with my right-hand being ever-so-slightly dominant. Initially, I used it for French and German, but decided to write my stronger language (F) with my non-dominant hand (left), and write my weaker language (G) with my dominant hand. I was able to see improvements in a fortnight in my German, but no deterioration in my French.

Disclaimer:
I am aware that no amount of ambidexterity can substitute diligence, which is why I know that my continued studying of German played a huge role in my improvement. The only way that I can test my hypothesis is to check if other members have noticed this as well.
Last edited by Skynet on Thu Dec 27, 2018 7:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Skynet
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Re: AMBIDEXTERITY & LANGUAGE LEARNING

Postby Skynet » Thu Dec 27, 2018 7:54 pm

(Left blank for future poll refinements.)
1 x

白田龍
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Re: AMBIDEXTERITY & LANGUAGE LEARNING

Postby 白田龍 » Thu Dec 27, 2018 8:11 pm

I'm kind of ambidextrous because I touch-type on a qwerty keyboard using both hands.
5 x

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Iversen
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Re: AMBIDEXTERITY & LANGUAGE LEARNING

Postby Iversen » Thu Dec 27, 2018 10:38 pm

I always write with my right hand, but when I still painted paintings I could use the brush with both hands, and when I still played a number musical instruments I also had to use my left hand for some fairly intricate tasks ... so I don't know whether I qualify as ambidextrous. But it really doesn't matter because I have not at any point felt that it mattered which hand I used when I did those different tasks.

I know that Loraine Obler & co. have hypothesized that polyglots are more likely to be lefthanded than the average person, but the hypothesis is based on a fairly limited (and biased) number of test persons, so while we wait for more research results to enter the field I remain sceptical. If Skynet has felt an effect from making deliberate decisions about which hand to use for different languages then it is of course interesting, but it could be that the effect is caused simply by having made a decision - any decision - concerning the writing process in itself. Switching from writing exercises by hand to using a keyboard would probably also have an impact on learning results. Or changing the average size of your handwriting ...
2 x

Speakeasy
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Re: AMBIDEXTERITY & LANGUAGE LEARNING

Postby Speakeasy » Thu Dec 27, 2018 11:35 pm

白田龍 wrote:I'm kind of ambidextrous because I touch-type on a qwerty keyboard using both hands.
I disagree with the idea that facility on keyboards can serve as an example of ambidexterity. For example, can you juggle three balls (successfully) with both hands; that is, with "either" hand? Can you play tennis "equally well" with either hand? Or, ...
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Iversen
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Re: AMBIDEXTERITY & LANGUAGE LEARNING

Postby Iversen » Thu Dec 27, 2018 11:45 pm

The corpus callosum of that artist must have been told to take a holiday - or he is a concert pianist in his spare time
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IronMike
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Re: AMBIDEXTERITY & LANGUAGE LEARNING

Postby IronMike » Fri Dec 28, 2018 4:03 pm

Weren't there fantasy art brothers who were ambidextrous painters? I remember reading about them, and they'd occasionally paint together, and their brushstrokes were similar enough that experts couldn't determine where one brother's strokes coincided with the other brother's. Maybe the Hildebrandts?
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Re: AMBIDEXTERITY & LANGUAGE LEARNING

Postby dgmg37@yahoo.co.uk » Tue Nov 16, 2021 8:03 pm

I used to practise writing Japanese and later Chinese characters with my 'wrong' (right) hand and I believe it helped prevent the process from becoming mechanical.
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白田龍
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Re: AMBIDEXTERITY & LANGUAGE LEARNING

Postby 白田龍 » Tue Nov 16, 2021 9:17 pm

Right handed ppl can't vote.... unfair.

Speakeasy wrote:
白田龍 wrote:I'm kind of ambidextrous because I touch-type on a qwerty keyboard using both hands.
I disagree with the idea that facility on keyboards can serve as an example of ambidexterity.


Because the keys on the left-handed side are more often used, the left hand is more active than the right one, and therefore gets more training over the years. For this reason my left hand feels more apt at typing than my right hand, like if I was left-handed for typing, but right handed for everything else.
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