The Linguist On Language

Many language learners just want to talk. They think that if they just talk they wil improve.

In my experience just talking is not enough. Talking is like playing the game of language learning. In a way it is the reward. It is why we do the other things like read, listen, write and accumulate words and phrases. We work hard to acquire more and more effective language tools so that when we talk we can express ourselves more accurately and more natural y.

Just talking is good practice....... at talking. However, conversing in a foreign language, while fun, is also a little stressful. It is not the ideal place to learn new words and phrases . It is a great place to confirm your knowledge of words and phrases that you have already learned, or to identify your gaps...

Conversation class can be time consuming and expensive. It can also become quite boring if the conversation is forced. Like everything you do in language learning, you learn best when the context is meaningful and real. Conversation is a most effective learning activity if it is genuine and combined with other activities.

Fitness

I am back from my fitness session and have had breakfast. I guess there are major differences between physical exercise and learning languages. Here are few that come to my mind.

1) If you stop exercising you wil lose your fitness level quite quickly and it wil take a lot of work to get it back. If you stop working on a language, you get a little bit rusty but you do not lose much. It is easy to get it back.

2) In learning a language, the emotional commitment to the language, the words, the subject matter, the sounds of the language, people you know who speak the language, episodes that you remember, etc. are al important parts of your learning. This is not true for the pure "grunt work" of physical exercise, although it helps if you enjoy doing it.

Memory

Since ancient times people have been developing systems to assist with memorization.

Mnemonics are clues or associations that are supposed to help us remember. Hopeful y these clues are easier to remember than the objects themselves. I have never used mnemonics.

It has always seemed like a lot of work to set these systems up.

Memory retrieval systems organize information to be memorized in a certain order. Bits of information are ranked and the frequency with which they are studied and reviewed is determined by the learner and/or by an algorithm, which, according to some research, optimizes retention. The Leitner cardbox system and Supermemo are examples of this approach.

There is undoubtedly value in these systems for those who enjoy using them. I would think that the cleaner the bit of information, the more effective these systems are. When it comes to learning words, I feel it is unwise to rely too much on such systems. I also question the relevance of the learning algorithms.

Words are messy, fuzzy things and their meaning and usage is dependent on context. It is through exposure to context, lots of context, that we eventual y learn them. A word is most often acquired incidental y as we suddenly see it or hear it for the nth time. That is when we reach the tipping point in the understanding of a word, and the word becomes a part of us.

That tipping point can come at any time and the timing wil be different for each word.

Deliberate study of words, and for those who like them, memory systems, can help accelerate the process of reaching the tipping point.

However, it is important that the main activity remain listening and reading, and eventual y speaking and writing. The deliberate study of words needs to be very closely integrated with this listening and reading. It is important to strike the right balance between enabling learners to enjoy their listening and reading, and offering them an efficient support system to make sure that words are retained and the tipping point is reached earlier.

Don't try to remember

I think adults get more frustrated than young learners when they seem unable to remember things. They probably have poorer short term memory than younger students. Even high school and university students probably have an ability to cram information into their heads for exams that adult learners have lost.

So I believe you should not rely on memory to learn languages. Expect to forget most of what you learn. That is why consistent and intensive exposure through listening and reading to meaningful content is so important. Through the process of ingesting the language, often the same content, over and over again, you gradual y improve your ability to deal with the new language.

Of course it is also important to make the effort to learn the bits and pieces, the words and phrases. Flash cards or similar systems are very effective. Working on the words and seeing them again in different sentences that you have heard or listened to is a good exercise for the brain. It also helps you learn how to use them.