Labyrinth of language learning

  I have worked as a translator on and off since completing my masters in 1998.  After an extended period during which my translation work was very part-time, in October 2019 I returned to full-time freelance translating work. For the most part my work involves being sent Word files in a foreign language which I 'overtype' (i.e. replace the foreign language text with my English translation). My languages are German, Italian, Russian and French. My areas of expertise include semi-technical legal texts (such as contracts or court rulings) and texts related to detergents (such as patents or reports), as well as all sorts of commercial texts, advertising anything from spas to interfaces for paid parking. One of my niche jobs is translating coding-relating texts for a major social media company.  As I reflect on my work (and try to improve how I do it), I thought it would be useful to break the process of translating down into the constituent activities it involves. Hopef...

Lots of people across the world are faced with the challenge of learning a foreign language. You might be in your country of origin wanting to learn a language such as English for your work. Or you might have moved to another country and want to make progress with the local language.  But how do you do it? Is there any prospect of making significant progress? Will you ever be able to give that talk or do that job in another language?  Well, almost certainly yes, but it will take time and staying power. Accept that your ambitious goal may take some time to reach, but, as you make progress, every step is worthwhile in and of itself.  What I can offer is some tips to make your learning more effective .  Let me say straightaway: don't bury your head in an old-style textbook or rely on a language tutor to teach you (their job is to assist your learning) - that is not going to deliver the results you need. Nor is using Duolingo, on its own, although that is...

Just today I wrote my first email in Spanish. It had a few mistakes in it - I asked someone to check it for me and they corrected what I got wrong. But it was intelligible and hopefully I will get a reply. Here it is (corrected): ¡ Hola I! He preguntado a N como funciona el grupo L a C. Me interesa también tu punto de vista.  Más tarde quiero organizar un seminar Zoom sobre esto.   Russell  Having done that, I am now learning the numbers and need to go over the alphabet and pronunciation again. This is the wrong way round... or is it? I don't think it is. I am learning. I can understand stuff in Spanish now and I am increasingly able to compose sentences which are not just modified Italian. Come to think of it, I have never finished a language textbook for any of my languages - not even Esperanto . I have certainly had plenty of teach yourself books, many of which, such as Teach Yourself Russian , proved very helpful. But, like those stabi...

Those of you who know me personally will know that I am an Esperantist, a speaker of Esperanto . Esperanto is what is called a planned or artificial language, invented (if that is the right word) by a Polish Jew, called Ludwik Zamenhof, living in Bialystok in NW Poland in 1887. His vision was to create a language which would be easy to learn and would unite people by serving as a universal second language. Zamenhof authored the book outlining the 16 simple rules of grammar of what he called la Universala Lingvo (the Universal Language) under the pseudonym Doktoro Esperanto (The Hoping Doctor). It was this pseudonym which became the name of the language. Esperanto looks and sounds like a sort of Slavicised Italian. Here is a sample sentence: "En la komenco estis la Vorto." ("In the beginning was the Word"). In my experience Esperanto functions as a language. I have been able to converse in Esperanto and indeed correspond in the langauge. When I was learning...

It's been ages (over three weeks!) since I last published a blog post on language learning. I have been busy, in part, with language teaching, so I would like to share some things I have been observing about this process.  1. Keep reinforcing the basics. So often with foreign languages, we repeat basic mistakes which we learnt a long time. There is always merit in reinforcing basic points and this also increases learner confidence. 2. Have a plan. How many times have you said to yourself, "I need to brush up on my German (or your language of choice)." Organise your learning in some way. Set aside time every day - even five or ten minutes can make a difference, 30 minutes is ideal. If you are going to attempt an hour or more, you might want to break the time up into slots of 20 minutes, so that you can be more effective. And have a plan. In one case I wrote a simple learning plan based on identifying the verbs in short text. This evolved into learning to recognise verb...

This morning I started to read a book on relationships. The opening chapter began with a description of a marriage which had deteriorated. The author observed, "It had not always been like this." The idea being conveyed was that a marriage was now bad, but there had been times in the past when it had been good. As I thought about this phrase, I thought, "I wonder how you would say that in Russian?" And then I began to think about clarity and ambiguity and how easy it is, in a foreign language, to either 'get the wrong end of the stick' or to fail to convey what we mean, and our hearer/reader 'gets the wrong end of the stick'. So, the translation into Russian of the phrase, "It had not always been like this," would be four words. These could be arranged in at least the following four ways (the underlined words are emphasised). Так было не всегда. It wasn't like that always . Не всегда так было. It wasn't always like th...

Language learning involves attention to detail. We have all interacted with people who have half-learnt our language, and when they speak or write at times the 'connection' is lost entirely. Half-learners gabble, say confusing things, experience major interference with their native language and make the same mistakes all the time. It can be tiring, even annoying to converse with them. And often they don't realise or do anything about it. At the present time I am involved in several situations which require attention-to-detail language learning and teaching. I thought it would be worthwhile sharing some things I am learning. 1. Always go back and check things. Even if you are certain you have written or said it right. I have worked long enough as a translator to know that mistakes creep in and can be overlooked. A completed translation would require at least three start-to-finish read-throughs and checks. Language learning would be much the same. 2. Find objective w...

The subject of this blog post is inspired, of course, by the film Aladdin, the latest version of which includes this masterful performance by Will Smith. This post is about language lessons - either for those giving the lessons, or for the learner. The 'genie' in this scenario is the instructor/tutor and 'Aladdin' is the language learner. How do you do language lessons? How do you organise the time and what activities are useful? Let me share my experience - and maybe you can message me with your thoughts. Straight off, let me say clearly, that when it comes to language learning, I am not 'old school'. I can still remember the weekly 'old school' Russian grammar lectures at Cambridge University, scheduled first thing on a Monday morning, at which the lecturer delighted us to every possible metaphor for murder in connection with Russian grammar: "Last veek ve drowned verb aspect and zis morning ve vill strangle ze dative case!" By c...

The significance of the picture to the right is the saying, "An elephant never forgets." And, indeed, remembering is a big part of language learning . To master a language, a working vocabulary of 2000 words is required. Besides vocabulary, there are also phrases, grammatical endings and constructions to remember. This does take time and effort, both to learn and to be able to retrieve what you have learnt. I want to talk about how to make that effort in a way which is effective, not wasting energy on what will not deliver the result you need. So how do you do it? Let me suggest some ways I have used to remember language . 1. One artificial way of remembering words is to come up with some association . My Hebrew teacher taught us to associate the Hebrew derekh (road) with the name of my current church minister, Derek. The word for yellow in Russian, jolty , sounds like the word for a dayglow jacket ( jilet ). I remember the German for elephant trunk, because it ...

The title of this post is based on a saying in English, "to call a spade a spade." This means to say things directly, rather than using euphemisms or not saying what you really mean. However, I am using this saying to show how words can have different meanings in different languages.  Most of the languages I know are Indo-European, that is to say they derive from a single parent language called Proto-Indo-European, which was spoken as a single language about 4500 years ago somewhere in modern-day Ukraine or Turkey. Its speakers then spread as far as India in the East and Ireland in the west. You can even listen to a reconstruction of that original language here . Native speakers of Indo-European languages account for almost half the world's population (3.2 billion people). The relevance of all this for language learning is that when I, for example, as a native speaker of English, learn, say, Italian, then lots of the words will be familiar. The numbers will sound th...

One of the most difficult things to 'get' in a foreign language is humour. In case you did not understand the title of this blog, it is a reference to something people say when a joke is not found funny by the hearers. In other words, background information ('being there') is required in order to find something funny. Often jokes function by saying something unexpected. Here's my first joke for today. Two Irishmen are talking and one says to the other, "What do you think about the Covid 19?" His friend answers, "Ach, they are probably innocent; they should all be set free." This joke - in case you don't 'get' it - is based on several high-profile court cases in the United Kingdom, when groups of men, designated as 'the Birmingham Six' or 'the Guildford Four' etc., were accused of terrorist crimes and later exonerated (found not guilty). The joke is based on someone thinking Covid 19 is another such case of wro...

Learning languages is about examples, not rules.  And there are some pretty odd rules out there.  To give you an idea about weird rules in languages, let me show you two French sentences: 1. J'ai vu la voiture. (I have seen the car) 2. Je l'ai vue . (I have seen it, i.e. the car) Now, even if you don't know French you will notice that in the first sentence the word 'vu' (seen) is spelled without the final 'e' but in the second sentence it has a final 'e'. Let me explain why that is. First of all, you need to know that in many languages every noun has a gender (masculine, feminine and, in some cases, neuter). Often these genders defy logic. In German " Mädche n" (girl) is not feminine, but neuter. The word for 'problem' is masculine in French ( le problème ), feminine in Russian ( проблема ) and neuter in German ( das Problem ).  In French car ( voiture ) is feminine.  I could go into all sorts of additional expl...

Yes, singing. I reckon it is one of the keys to language learning. When I was about 15 I decided to learn some Welsh; my Dad was from a Welsh mining town called Blaenavon. I learnt the entire Welsh national anthem and to this day can sing it from memory, even though my knowledge of Welsh is far less advanced. In a similar way, my daughter, who is learning Spanish, can sing the whole of "Valiente" from memory. She has only a few words of Spanish so far. So why is singing so useful when it comes to language learning? 1. It's easy to listen over and over again and just join in when there are words you can discern. You don't have to understand them all. 2. It is an easy-entry way of picking up the pronunciation, rhyme and rhythm of a language. 3. Singing helps you memorise the words - far better than a list. Just as a tune can get 'stuck in your head', so can the words. 4. It doesn't feel like study; you can just listen and join in to relax ...

It might seem out of character to be talking about syntax on a blog in which I have advocated getting on with using the language, even if you don't know the rules ... yet. I have indeed repeatedly urged you not to spend your time with your noses in textbooks. You need to be pushing forward with your own self-study and trying things out at the earliest opportunity. But that doesn't mean that I don't see the need for grammar and syntax. Let me give you some simple definitions of both those terms. Grammar is about things like verb endings. Syntax is about arranging words in a sentence. You could say grammar is about selecting the right-shaped bricks and syntax is about making them into a wall . So, syntax is about how to arrange words in a sentence, which is made up of one or more clauses. Let me quickly explain what a clause is. A clause is part of a sentence, often marked off by a comma. "She is good at languages, therefore she enjoys travelling," would...

If anyone is not familiar with the saying in the title of this blog post, the full version is, "Where angels fear to tread fools rush in." It alludes to someone doing something hastily, not thinking about the consequences. What I actually want to say is that the right approach to language learning is precisely that: to rush in. This goes directly against the approach which starts a language learner off slowly learning the alphabet, progressing to learning some basic words and by the third of fourth lesson starting to learn very basic sentences, saying things you would never say in real life like, "The dog is red," or, "The house is there." I am suggesting you get on with learning, even before you might have had a chance to find out some basic things like how many letters are in the alphabet or how you pronounce all the sounds. And there is a theory of language learning that states that you should always be one step ahead of your theoretical knowledge,...

Most readers will be familiar with the expression, "Flogging a dead horse" (see picture below). If you don't know this expression, it means to make an effort when no result is possible; the saying imagines someone beating a dead horse, hoping that it might get up again. A futile exercise, as you can imagine. That may be the way you feel about your past language learning. Maybe there is a language which you learnt many years ago. And, whenever you are reminded of that language, you despair of reviving it. Let me encourage you. As a Christian I believe in miracles (that's another story), but reviving a 'forgotten' language is no miracle; it is entirely realistic and let me give you some tips on how to do it. Firstly, and please dwell on this point, you have not forgotten German or Russian or whichever language you have neglected for years. It's there is your head. You can remember bits and pieces - the numbers, the word for bread, My name is - and f...

So, just today I had one of those moments when I said something and they didn't get it . 'They' being speakers of my foreign language - actually, my best one (Russian). It was a video conference and there must have been a dozen of them. So why didn't they 'get' it? Why did I fail to get my point across? And how can my experience today help you and me with language learning? My first mistake was the order in which I provided information . Rather than saying what I wanted to say straightaway, I started with something less important, a qualification, and that distracted my hearers. If it's not your native language, say the main thing straightaway, don't get sidetracked . Secondly, I waffled, cluttering up my sentences with long words and phrases, again creating 'noise' which hindered my listeners from getting what I was on about. I need to learn to keep it simple . Thirdly, there was a key word I couldn't quite find in the moment. I wan...

When people learn foreign languages, they tend to reach a certain level and then plateau, i.e. stop learning and developing. I am sure you are familiar with speakers of English (or of your native language) who can't pronounce particular words or sounds, who use the same wrong word every time or who say things the way they would sound in their own native language. A dear Belgian gentleman and friend of our family once said, "I am not visible," to mean, "I am not presentable." Russian teachers of English stubbornly insist on calling school homework 'home tasks' (домашние задания). My Italian aunt, when travelling as a passenger in the car, used to urge the driver to "take over" the vehicle in front. When I moved to Russia I referred to a planning meeting ('planiorka') as a floorplan ('planirovka'). Native speakers of German will say things like, "Are you coming with?" (Kommst du mit?) When castigating bad behaviour,...

For those of you who are not familiar with the word 'stickler' , it means a pedantic person who wants things to be right. For example, you could say, "He is a stickler for punctuality."  The 'stickler' is very useful, perhaps even essential, when it comes to langauge learning. So, what is a 'stickler' and how might they help you to learn a language?  Well, one of the best ways of learning a language is just to get on with using it. You can compose sentences, expressing whatever is on your mind in your foreign language. You could even compose a whole article or talk. And then send that text or speech to someone who knows the language, preferably a native speaker, and who is willing to correct your mistakes. This is your 'stickler'. What happens next is that your 'stickler' corrects what you are saying. If there are mistakes, they can point them out. If there are oddities, they can tell you how to say it differently. Often slightly...

We all have our favourite words and phrases, sometimes to the extent that people can identify us by the things we always say. In the same way languages have what I call resonance words and phrases - they come up all the time and evoke a response in the hearers . This is about more than the plain meaning of words. To use another metaphor, these are words and phrases which native speakers will gravitate towards, go-to vocabulary and constructions. Let me give you some examples so you know what I am talking about. If I say, "That is the same as what I am talking about," it sounds stilted, foreign, doesn't it? But if I say, " That's what I am talking about ," it immediately connects. Or if, in the present context, I were to say, "We are paying attention to the curve," it would be understandable, but if I said, " We are keeping our eye on the curve," it just sounds more English. I recently translated a text which spoke, literally, of a c...