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	<title>Tower of Confusion</title>
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	<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com</link>
	<description>Language Learning and Multiculturalism</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sun, 10 Jul 2011 01:55:58 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Treated as a Local</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/07/09/treated-as-a-local/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/07/09/treated-as-a-local/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 10 Jul 2011 01:55:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Portuguese]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=1394</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetHere in São Paulo, I am often treated as a local, and I don&#8217;t even need to pretend to be one. I am not sure whether I am &#8216;mistaken&#8217; or this is just the way they treat foreigners. Other than the people who know me, when I come into contact with a local, I am [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/07/09/treated-as-a-local/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How Reading Helps in an Immersion Environment</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/19/how-reading-helps-in-an-immersion-environment/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/19/how-reading-helps-in-an-immersion-environment/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 19 Jun 2011 21:26:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Portuguese]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reading]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=1349</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetAs soon as I stepped out of the plane and into São Paulo for the first time, I was surprised how much Portuguese I could read. This is partially helped by my knowledge in French and Spanish. But I believe the main reason is that before I came, I worked on reading a lot. I [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/19/how-reading-helps-in-an-immersion-environment/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>We Don&#8217;t Speak English Here</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/16/we-dont-speak-english-here/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/16/we-dont-speak-english-here/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:08:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Portuguese]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=1309</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetAt my very first dinner in São Paulo, I asked the waiter if he spoke English. He replied &#8216;não&#8217; with a cold face, as if I was ordering something off the menu. There was nothing wrong with him, just me. Most people in São Paulo don&#8217;t speak English, and they are not ashamed of it. [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/16/we-dont-speak-english-here/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Importance of Understanding</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/14/the-importance-of-understanding/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/14/the-importance-of-understanding/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 2011 03:36:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Portuguese]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=1314</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetWithout understanding what the other person says, what you say does not matter. There is no conversation. Most people would agree on this point. But yet some people will still think that you should try to converse in a foreign language as early as possible. What they fail to realize, I believe, is that it [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/14/the-importance-of-understanding/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Brazilian Mission</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/03/brazilian-mission/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/03/brazilian-mission/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:37:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Goals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Portuguese]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=1265</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetIn about a week time, I will be heading to São Paulo, Brazil to begin my 8-week Brazilian mission. Back in mid-February this year when I was assigned to a Brazilian project at work, I had no prior knowledge of Portuguese and I had no intention to learn the language. I had no friends or [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/03/brazilian-mission/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Fluent in 3 weeks</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/05/13/fluent-in-3-weeks/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/05/13/fluent-in-3-weeks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 May 2011 22:43:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Humour]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=1233</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetSo you want to become fluent in a language in 3 weeks? Honestly, I don&#8217;t think this is possible. Language learning takes time. Sorry, wrong answer! This is not what people want to hear. Some &#8220;language learning guru&#8221; says you can do it in just a few months. Ok, I will try again. I am [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/05/13/fluent-in-3-weeks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>19</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Speaking Too Early is a Waste of Time</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/02/08/speaking-too-early-is-a-waste-of-time/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/02/08/speaking-too-early-is-a-waste-of-time/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 17:00:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=1068</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetThe result (or &#8220;interim result&#8221; as some might put it) of Keith&#8216;s now-famous &#8220;TV Method&#8221; experiment has recently sparked numerous discussions and fierce debates in the online language learning communities. Some people are even taking this as a proof to proclaim that &#8220;silent period&#8221; is a waste of time. In my opinion, the experiment is [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/02/08/speaking-too-early-is-a-waste-of-time/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>25</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Las Escuelas de Inmersión en Francés</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/02/04/las-escuelas-de-inmersion-en-frances/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/02/04/las-escuelas-de-inmersion-en-frances/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:57:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[French]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Raising Kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spanish]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spanish Friday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toronto]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=1031</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tweet (This is a &#8220;Spanish Friday&#8221; post. Here is the English version, according to the Fish) Tracy en Latinaish.com ha tenido una buena idea: &#8220;Spanish Friday&#8220;. Así que voy a escribir esta entrada en español. Hoy Roxana decidió no enviar su hija a una escuela bilingüe, porque había algunos problemas. Es muy decepcionante para Roxana. [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/02/04/las-escuelas-de-inmersion-en-frances/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Pass On Your Heritage Languages</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/26/pass-on-your-heritage-languages/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/26/pass-on-your-heritage-languages/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Jan 2011 05:05:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Multiculturalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Raising Kids]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=847</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetImmigrant parents! Pass on your heritage languages no matter what! I was sitting in McDonald&#8217;s one day and saw two Chinese mothers chatting with each other in Mandarin. They then turned and spoke to their kids in English. These kids were only toddlers, not like those immigrant teens who already made up their minds not [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/26/pass-on-your-heritage-languages/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Hyperpolyglot Who Speaks 59 Languages</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/22/hyperpolyglot-who-speaks-59-languages/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/22/hyperpolyglot-who-speaks-59-languages/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 22 Jan 2011 19:03:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forums]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Motivation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=959</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetYesterday I was contacted by someone who claimed to speak 59 languages and he was only 18 years old! My first reaction was: Really?! Well, &#8216;speak&#8217; is a vague term. In fact, he admitted up front that he was not fluent in all of them. Before jumping into any conclusion of my own, I did [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/22/hyperpolyglot-who-speaks-59-languages/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Best Way to Improve Writing</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/19/best-way-to-improve-writing/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/19/best-way-to-improve-writing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Jan 2011 01:08:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=904</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetThe best way to improve writing is &#8230; to read more. This morning someone from Taiwan pinged me in Skype. I could not remember why she was on my contact list. I probably added her a few years ago when I was trying to improve my Mandarin. She told me she wanted to improve her [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/19/best-way-to-improve-writing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Speaking Practice Amongst Learners</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/11/speaking-practice-amongst-learners/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/11/speaking-practice-amongst-learners/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:50:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cantonese]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[French]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=849</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetToday, I had a chance to speak over Skype with Milan, the die-hard Cantonese learner. It must have been more than 3 years since we last talked. Back then we spoke in English and Cantonese. This time our conversation was purely in French and it lasted for more than an hour! When Milan proposed this [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/11/speaking-practice-amongst-learners/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Speaking Tips</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/31/speaking-tips/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/31/speaking-tips/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Dec 2010 17:11:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=709</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetSpeak when you are ready, not when you &#8216;think&#8217; you are ready. You are probably more ready to speak than you think you are. Yes, please honour the &#8220;silent period&#8221; and focus on input activities. But if you have already put in a lot of hours listening and reading, but feel uncomfortable moving on to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/31/speaking-tips/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Challenge of Raising Multilingual Kids</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/16/the-challenge-of-raising-multilingual-kids/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/16/the-challenge-of-raising-multilingual-kids/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:16:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Korean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Raising Kids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spanish]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=739</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetMany parents struggle with the challenge of raising their kids bilingually. I have the challenge of raising mine quadrilingually. Cantonese has always been my daughter&#8217;s first language, and I as a parent will try my best to keep it up. English is the social language of our community, and naturally it will become more dominant [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/16/the-challenge-of-raising-multilingual-kids/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Paid Language Tutoring</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/07/paid-language-tutoring/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/07/paid-language-tutoring/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Dec 2010 20:40:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cantonese]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spanish]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=646</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetIn the past few months, I have been focusing on a lot speaking activities. During the summer, I paid for some conversation practices in Spanish. I tried three different tutors online, and ended up picking one to continue with throughout the summer. In the past year or so, my Spanish learning activities consist of listening, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/07/paid-language-tutoring/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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