E-mobile: avoid
This is only likely to be of interest to a few people in Japan, but I am one of them so I am going to go ahead and publish it.
I just got off the phone with an e-mobile supervisor called Mr. Fukunaga following a mostly polite conversation about their contract and renewal policies.
I first got a contract with e-mobile in 2008, when they were aggressively subsidizing new laptops if bought with a two-year wireless data modem contract. I enjoyed the laptop briefly, found the usb wireless modem useful for a year or so, then wireless networks appeared everywhere in my life and I forgot about it.
In 2010 e-mobile automatically renewed my contract. During a contract, you cannot cancel it without paying a 10,000 yen penalty fee. This is not particularly unusual with mobile contracts, but e-mobile ups the ante by doing the following:
1. refusing to send you monthly statements unless you pay them (and not offering email ones)
2. refusing to let you cancel your contract except during a one-month window in the year it is up for renewal
Mr. Fukunaga explained that as e-mobile ‘has so many subscribers’ they could not guarantee that they would remember not to auto-renew my contract for another two years, so I have to remember to call them back between the 1st and 30th of November. If I fail to do so, they will gladly renew my contract again for a further two years without telling me.
This is just obnoxious. Their business model seems to be based on signing people up for contracts, hoping they will forget about them, and enforcing draconian cancellation penalties if and when they do remember.
At first they were one of the only options for wireless data, but now that mi-fi devices are everywhere I would avoid this company like the plague. It probably didn’t help that it took me three tries and twenty minutes to get through their automated phone centre to talk to a person.
Anyone have anything good to say about e-mobile?
curriculum expectations extensive listening extensive reading Language learning online resources personal Thai theory
by sendaiben
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Thai (lack of) progress
Okay, so we are now two months into 2012, and my Thai study is going nowhere very slowly.
This has been a very interesting exercise for me, both from a learning point of view, and as a way to test out my theories regarding how best to study a language. Now, it has been very clear to me from observing my students that learning preferences and habits are extremely personal and vary widely among individuals. Some of my students take to internet drills, some like reading, some spend hours writing journals, and some, despite my best efforts, do nothing.
I am definitely not a self-directed learner. I like the idea of input, but at the end of the day I need the structure and encouragement provided by a teacher, a class, or by actually living in a foreign language environment.
Come to think of it, I have done all my language learning under one or more of those conditions. This is the first time for me to try to learn a language on my own, outside of a place where it is spoken. It is not going well.
There are many examples of successful language learners who have succeeded under similar conditions. Khatsumoto for Japanese, or Steve Kaufmann for all sorts of languages. They rely on masses of input, supplemented with judicious use of SRS (spaced repetition system online flashcard applications). I completely agree with the approach, and see great results from those of my students that follow my advice. So what’s my problem?
I have been listening to the Learn Thai Podcast materials, which are pretty good, but in all fairness are nowhere near adequate to take me to Thai language mastery. I need a foundation of basic phrases to provide a base, then a huge amount of input supplemented by the ‘teaching’ in the podcasts, as well as conversation practice/tutoring once I get a bit better.
I have three fairly serious issues I need to overcome first:
1. I can’t read Thai yet. This is a huge hurdle because it is preventing me from getting input through reading (probably the best way to get lots of input fast)
2. I haven’t found good sources for input (radio, videos, music)
3. I haven’t found anyone to help me with Thai or hold me accountable for (not) studying
It’s fairly clear what I need to do. I need to learn Thai phonics and the alphabet. I need to find videos, TV, and music that I like and make sure I spend a chunk of time each day with it. And I am going to need a teacher or class to keep me focused. That last point is particular to me. I tend to get distracted and lose interest in things, so I need an external motivator to help me.
Okay, round two. I’ll keep you posted.
expectations language courses Language learning online resources personal
by sendaiben
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2011 and all that
Happy New Year! I for one am sincerely hoping that 2012 will bring good things.
Last year was one of the toughest I have faced, even more than some very hard teenage years. While the emotional suffering wasn’t up there, I can definitely say that physically and mentally 2011 was the hardest year of my life. I am very happy to see the back of it. I have always subscribed to the ‘whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger’ philosophy, but after the latter nine months of last year I think there is an alternative interpretation, ie ‘whatever doesn’t kill me makes me very tired and unwilling to do anything’. You may have noticed the distinct lack of blog posts towards the end of the year.
Partly in an effort to put all that behind me, I have a few New Year goals (I hesitate to call them resolutions as that seems to jinx things). One of them is to learn Thai this year, studying by myself using online resources. I’ll report back on my progress throughout the year and hopefully it will give me a new perspective on language learning (I have been lucky enough to learn most of my languages in context, by living there, so this is new). I foresee issues with motivation and consistency, but this is something I have always wanted to do so we’ll see how far I can get in a year.
I’ll be using material from Learn Thai Podcast, in case anyone is interested. They seem pretty good so far (full review later).
Happy New Year
Saw this today and liked the sentiment. Here’s hoping for a very happy 2012 for everyone
iPhone 4S in Japan, part 2
Well, I take it all back.
After a couple of weeks of enduring the increasingly frequent delays on my iPhone 3GS with iOS 5, I finally decided to update to the newest model.
Softbank has two fairly nice programs for customers who are updating, so I was happy to stay with them (my wife signed up for an iPhone with AU, and I have not been impressed with their staff training and readiness for the product), namely
1. they will forgive all payments due on a previous iPhone, allowing you to upgrade and just pay for the new phone (you can sell your old one online -a friend got over 12,000 yen for her old 3GS) or
2. if you have already paid off your previous iPhone, they will give you 6,000 yen cashback
The phone arrived in just over a week, and I got it on Thursday evening.
Wow.
The camera, the speed, the… display.
If you are on the fence about the 4GS, do yourself a favour and get one. It’s that good.