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Learning Another Language

Posted by maure , 08 August 2010 · 148 views

I rank learning another language among the "must do". If you are monolingual, this post is for you in particular.

Let's deal first with the myths. One, Shakespeare among non-natives while illiterate among your own. Two, children learn better and faster than adults.

The native supremacy idiocy rides on the academic wave created by Chomsky. It is all bull. Being a native speaker implies nothing. The knowledge a person has of a language depends on the person. If you read, for instance, you will have a larger vocabulary than those that don't read regardless of whether you are a native speaker or not. The objective of the learner should always be fluency and natives are not the model, fluent speakers are.

The myth that children learn better, faster, or effortlessly is at complete odds with reality. It takes years for a child to learn to speak and even when they do, they are able to accomplish very little compared to an adult, regardless of level of fluency. Last, if you think children learn effortlessly, you've never done homework with them or taught them anything. As an adult language learner, you could be operational within six months (no philosophical discussions but able to buy a house). As a rule of thumb, it takes about 2,000 hours of study to become fluent. This amount of work changes depending the distance from the languages you know to the one you want to learn, in other words, learning French from English or German takes less time that learning Japanese from the same two languages. Still, and despite language distance, you will outperform any child any time.

So, how do you go about learning a language?

Here are some pointers:

1. Learn the pronunciation as soon as possible. Practice first with complete speech acts (songs, poetry, speeches, prose) rather than individual words. Ignore the meaning and focus on the sounds (segments) and their rhythm (prosodics). Pay particular attention to vowels and also to stress patterns.

2. Learn the grammatical basics. No need to jump into it all at once. Get a book and study the first few chapters... just to get an idea of what you are dealing with.

3. Learn vocabulary in context. If you were learning English and wanted to memorize the word "dove", place the word in complete sentences such as "I like doves", "There are many doves here", etc. Surround the unknown word with known words. Pick the phrases from existing text rather than make them up yourself. In this manner, you will learn what a word means _and_ how it plays with other words.

4. Most vocabulary is harly ever used. In English, 100 words account for half of all words we use while 3,000 words account for up to 95% of all words we use. It is the reason why most people know about that many words _only_. Don't be surprised. The vocabulary of most fluent people is quite small. In fact, a "knowledgeable" person might know some 8,000 to 15,000 and, in very rare cases, up to 20,000 to 25,000.

5. Because most of the words fluent speakers use are _relatively_ few (compared to the entire lexicon of a language), the most frequent words have a high degree of polysemy, that is, a lot of meanings. Consider the English words "put" and "astronaut", the first has a lot of meaning, the second only one. Thus, it is a complete error to think that the word "hydroponic" is a difficult word for non-English speakers while a word like "take" is easy. First, an adult will know what "hydroponic" means in his/her language(s) so it is a direct translation. Second, the word "hydroponic" has very few collocations (ways of interacting with other words). On the other hand, the word "take" has many meanings and many collocations, from "take off" to "take ill" or "take out". In sum, the word "take" has many meanings and collocations.

6. Practice aloud as often as you can.

7. Find input opportunities. Radio/TV programs. Newspapers, blogs, etc.

8. Find opportunities for interaction. You must have heard the "joke" that the best way to learn a language is to marry into it. Well, seek out that French woman or Korean man and give them a run for their money. You don't need to sleep with everyone... but it doesn't hurt.

9. Don't be discouraged by mistakes. When you come across learners of languages you speak, you quickly notice that some learners are more eager or willing to communicate. Often, these people are not the ones that know the language better, they are the ones that are willing to make mistakes.

10. Remember that learning a language is learning a skill. It is not an academic subject. It is like learning to dance or ride a bike. Practice is required above it all.

Now, go for it.

freaky2
Aug 08 2010 03:45 PM

Thanks for the pointers, Maure

I already learned a language ages ago, but I had strong motivation to go for it, unlike now when I have this "yes it would be nice" mindset but never get to it. So pointers are a great thing for times when you lose the way...

By the way, (I'm sure you inferred this from George's comment ages ago

) I think your blog is very good.

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Pucky the Whale
Aug 08 2010 04:45 PM

I had Spanish in school for about 11 years; it's my own fault I don't remember as much.  I wrote my final Spanish "essay" in June and since it has slowly disappeared from my memory from a lack of use.

In short, practice is the only way to learn and maintain.  The most worthwhile exercise I did in school was a five minute presentation on a nation's entire culture without any notes.  In English, that would seem so easy to me; anyone can talk their native language for five minutes.  If you forget what you were going to say in your first language, you can just make it up or blow it over and be vague.  Not so much in a language you don't really know.  It forces you to think in the language you are learning; and if you don't think in the language, you'll sound unnatural when you speak it, and you'll forget it much easier.  The sooner you stop thinking what you want to say in your first language and then translating it, the better.

Had I actually had a better attitude toward learning Spanish, I doubt I would have forgotten as much as I have, and probably would have learned more than required.  I was simply there to collect another A and move on.

Learning the language the wrong way, as I did, really isn't learning a language.  It's regurgitating translations and having no knowledge whatsoever.  I imagine I'll regret that; the sheltered world of upper middle class suburban America does not present much use for Spanish, but I'm sure someday I will have one.  Perhaps I ought to revisit it and do it properly this time.

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maure
Aug 08 2010 11:07 PM

Thank you for the kind words.

It might surprise you but I have gradually forgotten my first language as I've hardly used it for decades. I could still probably pass as a native (most people judge you on pronunciation alone) but I know I would struggle to find the right words/expressions and my manner would be considered stilted.

Now, and unfortunately, the so-called "instructed" approach (as opposed to the "naturalist" approach) is full of problems. Consider the most elemental one. In a naturalistic setting, you are for example in France and there is one of you but many of them (fluent speakers, I mean). As a learner, you have many opportunities of input and interaction. Now consider learning French in the UK, for example, in an instructed setting, that is, many learners to one teacher. One can rightfully ask who was the freaking genius that thought that one up. The opportunities for input and interaction in a foreign language setting are seriously limited (unless the teacher knows his/her job). Moreover, the formation of language teachers tends to be non-existent. Literally. If you happen to know or come across an English teacher (meaning teaching English to non-English speakers) ask them if they could explain to you what plosives or epenthesis are. Most English language teachers know extremely little about the subject matter, namely, the English language and the mechanics of language learning. They get jobs on account of the mirage of nativeness that presumably entitles them to "perfect" knowledge of the language... far, far from the truth and the core issue when it comes to language learning failure in school.

So I favour the self-centered approach. Be you the one in charge of your learning. As a matter of fact, any self-respecting language instructor will be teaching in a manner that gradually transfers the responsibility of learning from teacher to student. Why? Because regardless of the amount of instruction, one must walk out there in the world and continue learning on their own. There is no other way to become fluent.

And, as I said, as an adult, you've got a tremendous edge. If you already have a professional formation, for instance, you will be able to transfer that knowledge to any language regardless of the cultural or linguistic complexities you might face. The same goes for all other things you've already learn about life and self...

One final note, don't forget the "language ego". Some of you, particularly monolingual ones, might rely on language dexterity more than you think. What I mean is that your ability to use the English language might determine your identity to a larger extent that you might think. A simple example, you might be a social person that tells a lot of jokes. You think of yourself as a "funny" person. If the "funny" is linguistic, it is part of your language ego, it is part of your sense of self. When you learn another language, you might have problems "transfering" this sense of self. The experience can be disconcerting to some. It is not a common problem but it is better to be adviced than to find yourself coming unstuck in a foreign land.

No fears, though, humanity awaits you and your cute accent. It's not a joke. No matter where you go, there always are those that are attracted to you because of your foreignness.

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freaky2
Aug 09 2010 08:09 AM

On the subject of forgetting your mother tongue: I seriously lack vocabulary in my mother tongue and I'm thankful that I am the only one among the children in the house that can at least write in it (excepting complicated and unknown to me words) properly. I also lack the cute accent, something for which my friends sometimes mock me XD
But in the UK I did have a cute Spanish accent... imagine what they would say about it in my home country, literally, "you talk weird". I hope it's not too bad xD

About teachers lacking the knowledge to teach: we see this every day, for example I am, or at least I used to be, a straight A student, but teaching never came easy to me and I was too demanding on the poor people asking for help. So you had to be able to put up with me to then be able to catch something. And I am still unsure about what is taught in English language classes in the UK, grammar doesn't seem to be a popular subject, unlike how we were taught in high school which involved an awful lot of it (it goes without saying that I ignored half of it, after all we were studying at conversational level). But my point is that we studied a lot of grammar in Spanish classes, it was a must. So, I ask this out of simple curiosity, what do people study about English in the UK, USA and other English speaking countries?

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maure
Aug 09 2010 01:04 PM

I suppose you mean what kind of English language study do "foreign" people get in the UK, USA, etc?

The latest fad is "communicative" approaches. However, the actual knowledge that teachers have of the communicative approach as proposed in the academic literature quickly nears zero. Quickly. So-called "up-and-coming" state-of-the-art approaches involve fluency building and extensive reading. Curiously, neither are new (the opposite is quite true), they are just the latests rediscovered old research now turned into fads and I expect little to come of it... not because they are not effective but because most teachers won't study them propoerly and understand them well enough to implement them.

However, let's be clear. When it comes down to language learning, the mothership field is called applied linguistics. Any language teacher should at least have a master degree on the subject. It is not sufficient but it is mandatory.

The truth is that language teacher education is seriously lacking. We joke that language teaching today is like medicine in the dark ages... we have more shamans than proper doctors. Some researches argue (with data) that language teachers do more damage than good. The only good news is that _some_ individuals (teachers) do take their jobs seriously and do some good work. But _some_ is not many or most by far.

The real problem comes with hiring practices and these are most often in the hands of non-natives. So, in Japan, it is actually the Japanese who are to blame for the decades long profound and pervasive failure of the English "education" system. It is a complex problem.

If you are (or find youself) a language teacher, here are the ABC's:

A. Quit if you do not have the formal training.
B. Maximize input and output opportunites.
C. Don't lecture. Language learning is a skill. Have the students do most of the work by far and let yourself "guide" the students from the background. Rule the taoist way, namely, the unseen teacher.

Last, good luck. I mean it. A nurse is not hired to do the work of an electrician or a butcher the job of a lawyer. Yet any moron can teach English provided "nativeness". If you find yourself in this situation, make sure to treat your students with upmost respect. The are the clients, the ones paying _you_ the big bucks. And follow the ABC's outlined above.

Hope this is the answer to the question you asked. If it isn't, please elaborate.

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Quiet One
Aug 09 2010 09:28 PM

Ahhh, another language...if only they should stop trying to teach us so we could learn!

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Autumnpuma
Aug 21 2010 12:21 AM

Damn fine post, Maure. I just now discovered that you're writing blogs here and look forward to reading every one, with beer in hand and smile in place.