Courtesy of jaylopez
There was a question posted on the Daily Post a couple of days ago on how I learn a new skill. Australian universities, especially humanities, encourages you to learn by yourself. In many ways I find that this is unfair since I’m paying $1000 to learn a subject only to be told that I have to do it on my own with no guidance or feedback.
I’ve graduated now and after leaving university I still feel I’ve learnt pretty much nothing. Now I would like to eventually head in the direction of trade publishing and after paying for two courses in editing and publishing I still feel like I don’t know enough, let alone the basics like English grammar (which was not taught at all).
The problem with Australian education is that it doesn’t teach you those basics, because English is the native language (there’s a linguistic term for this but it’s escaped me). So as a budding editor I know what’s right (sometimes) but not the reason why.
So I’ve gone back to basics in learning the English grammar through a series of books. I’ve started with a fun little book called The Grammar Detective: Solving the mysteries of basic grammar by Gillian Hanson.
What I’m also learning on the side is Marketing, Japanese and Programming. I might consider posting what I learn each week as a mental check-up for me and maybe it might help others.
Over and out.
