Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!canon!wachtel From: wachtel@canon.co.uk (Tom Wachtel) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Chinese Room Experiment: empirical tests Message-ID: <1990Dec3.134710.25467@canon.co.uk> Date: 3 Dec 90 13:47:10 GMT References: <7852@uwm.edu> <1990Nov26.055429.8883@agate.berkeley.edu> <7989@uwm.edu> Organization: Canon Research Europe, Guildford, UK Lines: 17 In article <1990Nov26.055429.8883@agate.berkeley.edu> jwl@garnet.berkeley.edu (James Wilbur Lewis) writes: >I'll buy the idea that you might have a good feel for the syntax of a language >after such an intensive program of imitation, but *understanding*, in the sense >that Searle uses the term? No way! > >-- Jim Lewis The technique of teaching a foreign language using the target language as the sole medium of communication has been around for several decades (literally) and is very successful, in general. In fact, using translation to convey the meaning of a foreign language is the thing that is out of date and known to be self-defeating. This may be hard to believe if you have never experienced it (from either side). The thing is that it's not just imitation, but communication. It's really not even a radical issue any more. -- Tom Wachtel Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com