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.
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 verbs in German and learning the meanings of key verbs. If you don't have plan, it is much easier to be at a loss as to what to do and/or to feel you aren't making progress.
3. Most things yield to patient study. Don't despair when faced with a 'cliff face' like strong verbs in German, the intricacies of agreement in French sentences or Kyrgyz vowel harmony. Most things in language do have an underlying reason to them and, given time and study, can be learnt.
4. Use real-life utterances. Don't limit your language to theory or grammatical exercises. Work with live dialogue or real-life written texts. And constantly reference phrases and sentences used in life.
5. Get a feel for the language. Besides focusing on particular points, zoom out and soak in the language as it sounds and feels. Some of the things you learn will be sub-conscious, not deliberate and you will find yourself entering into the underlying logic of how the language works. That is why passive exposure and active use are so important.
6. Praise where it's due. I don't mean flattery. And I don't mean overlooking mistakes. The only way to learn is to be open to being corrected - and responding well to that. But we all need to be praised for what we do well. Whether it is self-praise or, better, praise from a teacher or fellow-learner, this is really important - and, of course, how we learnt our native language.
7. Keep moving forward, however incrementally. If it's been a while since you list did anything, make five minutes today and get back into it. The following words are attributed to Martin Luther King.
3. Most things yield to patient study. Don't despair when faced with a 'cliff face' like strong verbs in German, the intricacies of agreement in French sentences or Kyrgyz vowel harmony. Most things in language do have an underlying reason to them and, given time and study, can be learnt.
4. Use real-life utterances. Don't limit your language to theory or grammatical exercises. Work with live dialogue or real-life written texts. And constantly reference phrases and sentences used in life.
5. Get a feel for the language. Besides focusing on particular points, zoom out and soak in the language as it sounds and feels. Some of the things you learn will be sub-conscious, not deliberate and you will find yourself entering into the underlying logic of how the language works. That is why passive exposure and active use are so important.
6. Praise where it's due. I don't mean flattery. And I don't mean overlooking mistakes. The only way to learn is to be open to being corrected - and responding well to that. But we all need to be praised for what we do well. Whether it is self-praise or, better, praise from a teacher or fellow-learner, this is really important - and, of course, how we learnt our native language.
7. Keep moving forward, however incrementally. If it's been a while since you list did anything, make five minutes today and get back into it. The following words are attributed to Martin Luther King.
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