Educating myself - Technically and Professionally 1

[OldFredBear]

Hello everyone,

I am currently looking for some advice on advancing myself technically and professionally for personal and career reasons.

I have a background in automotive and would like to explore combustion further, has anyone had success with books, courses, seminars??

Professionally I am thinking of taking on the huge task of learning a foreign language. Japanese is the first one that comes to mind and it looks somewhat interesting. Any thoughts on Japanese, Chinese, and/or German??

Thanks,
OFB

 

[Beggar]

Regarding the languages, check out one of the earlier threads on languages.

If you've never studied another language, I'd try German first. Even if you have, unless you've got a fluent speaker to practice with, I think you'll find it exceedingly difficult to make much headway with the Asian languages.

After a pretty successful attempt at self-taught Spanish, I confidently tried to start with Mandarin. It was a no-go without somebody to practice with several times per week.

I'd choose whatever language provides you with an opportunity to regularly converse with friends, neighbors, or colleagues.

Without daily practice, it's not gonna happen.

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Bring back the HP-15

http://www.hp15c.org

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[EngJW]

A good start for combustion is Heywoods book. Blair also has a book on 4-stroke simulation but it is more oriented toward air flow. It is difficult to read but it does have some worthwhile coverage of combustion. Then there is Taylors 2-volume set which is more empirical but no one involved in automotive engines should be without it. (Heywood is modern theory, Taylor is how it was done before computers.) There are many SAE papers. Most of them are not worth the paper they are written on, but sometimes you will find a good one if you have a wheel barrow full of money to pay their rates.

PS- I tried Japanese and was a total failure at it. Now I took up drums. That is just practice, and you don't have to memorize anything, which I am too old for.

 

[ziggi]

I speak three languages fluently and have some understanding in 4 more, including mandarin.

I found that the easiest way for an engineer to learn a language is to tackle it like an engineering problem. Break it down into its constituents (the grammar), learn all the grammar rules and how they apply. Most languages are very straightforward, English is one of the only screwed up ones.
Then when you've got that memorise the nouns, verbs etc and if possible practice.
Two cruxes of teaching exist, first there's the audio versus visual crux, then the word memorisation versus the grammar and structure crux.
I tried the word memorisation and audio teaching methods, but they DON'T work for me.
Learning the building blocks and rules of a language and learning it from a book turned out to be the best way for me, at least when I was starting. After that learn the necessary words and speak all you can, take specific conversation classes when you've got the grammar down pat.

As for what language to start with, it depends on you. Mandarin is grammatically easier than German, however you have to learn the characters (well you don't, but I had to, they suck in the beginning but they are also based on logic) it is possible to only learn Mandarin conversational skills and those should suffice. I'm not sure about Japanese but judging by the culture it will be very organised and logical.

Good luck

 

[OldFredBear]

Thanks for the quick replies so far.

I am going to look into Heywood's book, its just about all I hear about for Fundamentals of IC engines. I do have another book from SAE that was helpful for a broad view.

I am leaning towards Japanese as I am moving to a new position where I will have a supplier that is based in Japan and it sounds like there will be plenty of correspondence. Thanks ziggi, your method of learning a language sounds like the way to approach it, and from what I have read you are correct about Japanese being somewhat organised and logical.

Keep the good stuff coming.

 

[whyun]

Most Asians who correspond with the west speak English relatively well as it is taught as a mandatory second language at least from high school up. Although knowing Japanese may "amuse" your correspondents in Japan, I can almost guarantee that majority of communication will be in English.

Understanding the culture and history, in my opinion, helps more in dealing with companies in Asia.

To my knowledge, the grammatical structure of Mandarin is closer to English compared with Japanese. But memorizing thousands of Chinese characters is not an easy task for non-Chinese.

After three years of Japanese courses in college, I am embarrased to say I am quite illiterate in Japanese. Spanish, which I learned in high school, is closer to home...