Marvel <Marvel@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am of the opinion that some things are best taught very slowly and have
> had good luck with that in physically learning to do something.

Right: when you deal with body inertia there is a certin benefit in
doing things slowly to start with - like dances, martial arts' kata and
so on...

> Until this time I had never really thought much about speed of listening,
> then I ran across this post and compared the Japanese I have learned with
> the speed at which I have learned it.
> And I have determined, faster is better.

I'd say, as fast as in one can get in "normal" speed (i.e., not extra
fast, just naturally fast). For example, when i learned Morse Code long
ago, the patterns for individual letters were not slowed down for the
beginners, just the gaps between them made longer to give the brain more
processing time. The idea is to not get the learners to count the
individual parts of the patterns - and with language the idea is not to
listen to individual words but to sentences and emotions.

Of course, we know that this works, it is, after all, how children pick
up language best - not from being talked to in babytalk or "slow
motion". :-) But there seem to be few schools that apply this knowledge
- witness how many years the average Japanese spends on learning English
and how little they know at the end...

Japanese is the first language that I have learned _primarily_ from
ongoing exposure to regular talk, as opposed to classroom talk (although
the foundation one gets in class is helpful, to jump start the process).
In Okinawa this natural learning method is perhaps more widely available
than in other parts of the country, since many people here have a habit
of getting together in the evenings and to talk into the wee hours,
aided by lubricants of note (parties and nomikai here start usually
around 9pm - that's the time when the Aichi party goers I hung out with
would usually say "soro-soro" and go home).

Al