The Linguist On Language

There must be mil ions if not hundreds of mil ions of people who study languages. Many of them are frustrated and do not achieve fluency. Often it is the false friends of language learning that let them down.

These false friends are:

 the classroom

 text books

 grammar explanations

 exercises and drills

 vocabulary lists and books

 conversation class

 thick dictionaries

Why are these false friends? Because they are not natural. They do not offer real communication in the language. Many people who are fluent in a second or third language did not learn primarily from these false friends. They learned by listening, reading and communicating in the language on subjects of interests. Maybe they learned from friends, from TV, or from movies or from necessity, but the key is that they were motivated to learn. They took over the learning process and did not rely on the false friends.

There are many ways to enjoy a language

I am learning Russian and I want to be able to speak—fluently —one day. I have stated that I am in no hurry to start speaking with native speakers (although I am ready now). I am enjoying my listening and reading and vocabulary learning. I can do it whenever and wherever I want, stress free. I am discovering a new world. I have said that I do not want someone correcting my undoubtedly poor spoken Russian. This caused some controversy here on my blog. I know that I wil have to start speaking at some point. I know that it wil be difficult to try to remember everything that I have learned. I wil undoubtedly confuse Russian patterns with Japanese or Korean patterns, depending on where my brain decides to go in the confusion of trying to put together Russian phrases for me.

Language learning research

I believe that what happens in the language class is less important than what happens outside the language class. Therefore I think most of the research on language learning is irrelevant since it is based on learning in the classroom and not on how we learn natural y.

Don't believe the myths

Along with the false friends of language learning, there are myths.

1. "You have to have a talent for languages in order to learn."

Is it likely that this talent for languages exists only with certain nations? Is it likely that the Dutch and Swedes are al born with this talent for languages whereas the English are not?

Is it likely that Singaporeans are al talented while the Chinese are not? I do not think so.

Instead it is a matter of attitude and exposure to the language.

2. "I have to go to the country to learn the language."

This is not so. I grew up in Montreal surrounded by French, but I was not interested in learning French until I reached the age of 17. When I became motivated, I learned. There are many immigrants in Canada who never learn to speak wel . Yet I have met people in places like China who were absolutely fluent in English. I learned to become fluent in Mandarin in Hong Kong, a city where the language was not spoken. Exposure alone wil not do it. If you are motivated and know how to create your own interesting language world to learn from, you can learn anywhere. This is the key to effective language learning. I know. I have done it many times.

3. "You have to have an ear for music to learn languages."

I lived in Japan for nine years. I often went to karaoke. Most Japanese men at karaoke bars are good singers, and have a good ear for music. Very few of them are good at languages.

They either are not motivated or do not have an effective system for learning.

4. ―My teacher is no good."

It is not the school or teacher that wil determine language learning success. It is the learner. The greatest role of the teacher is to stimulate the learner, to help the learner become a truly motivated independent learner. It is stil up to the learner to learn.

5. ―Only children can learn languages wel ."

Children are uninhibited. They are encouraged and not usual y corrected. They spend a lot of time using the new language with their peers. They not cling to their own language and culture and resist the new language as adults do. On the other hand adults know more, have a wider vocabulary and can learn faster. If they can imitate the attitude of the child and take advantage of their own greater knowledge and experience, they wil learn faster than any child.

Three laws of language learning

1) The law of unpredictable returns.