How to learn a foreign language. Thoughts of a casual learner. Part 2.
This is the part two of the essay. Click here for part one."
Important points.
1. Emotional response as motivation.
After spending more than two years working for a French company (though not in France), I would never think then that I'm going to learn the language. There were problems sometimes so that we needed translation help but everyone had to do the job and not have fun with the French accents. At that time, I had visited our Paris office twice and, having spent weekends in the city, never had any problems with people understanding me speaking English. Well, maybe I had to try imitating American accent to see that well known really rude response some folks get, but they would definitely uncover me on the first phrase and probably laugh all together for hours. Anyways, without suspecting anything I was sent to another office that is located in the south, in Provence, with a smaller team, where people didn't look all that busy like Parisiens. Was it their openness and hospitality, or maybe just warm pleasant weather but sitting in the chair in the airport of Marseille when flying back, I thought that I want to change something. The very next week I have accidentally found probably the best French handbook that I mentioned before. By some happy coincidence my colleague had the same book but with tapes for listening and speaking exercises. At that time we didn't have kids, not even a television, and I could learn whenever I wanted without anyone stopping me. Actually, this was probably half an hour per day in the first two months. I tried E-mails those two months later, and speaking in another couple of months.Why did it work so well? What kind of force was pushing me? There was no necessity, no materialistic incentives, just pure emotions. And when later I heard people saying that my French is good (liars, you'll laugh hearing it), I was always thinking it was their, in the sense that they gave to me as a long wanted gift that I had to unwrap (still unwrapping, stalled in the beginning).
A year later my "hmmmm... emmmm.." mixed with French words so that all together looked more like some incomprehensible babbling, has so impressed my hotel receptionist that on my leaving she jumped out of her corner with last buh-byes as if I was a lovely relative. (Well, no kisses were involved.) Kick me if THIS is not the best motivation you can have!
So, it's about finding the right people that will provide the right response. On many other occasions I somehow made a conclusion that learning a language of some highly emotional nation like Italian or probably Spanish may be dangerous for your health, for one day you are going to meet a native speaker that will kill you hugging, full of joy that you've just said "hello, where is a men's room here?" If you are afraid for your life, go learn some language coming from sober tranquil peoples.
Speaking about emotions, even if you have no chance to get a human source of inspiration, turn to the Internet. I don't mean looking for lyrics of your favourite songs, as I mention in another section. I'd recommend looking for humour - laughing is good and it is a much better motivation catalyst than any materialistic stuff. When I took another job, where I had no chance to use French, reading the Usenet group fr.rec.humour was a great help to keep my knowledge (and even learn lots of new words, though not of that kind I will ever have to use at work).
2. Never ever give up: Alien concepts of your foreign language.
When learning a language that differs significantly from your own, you should get prepared to deal with very strange, alien concepts. While we can easily accept that words and sound are different, each foreign language has a couple of things to make us wonder, how in the world could THAT come to someone's mind? Examples are:1. Articles (a, the) in Western European languages when compared with absence of those in Eastern European. (I'll never get this right - you have already noticed).
2. Strange verb conjugation, like irregular verbs. Most of languages have it, but each differs in its weirdness. Good news: scientists report that at least in the case of English, irregular verbs tend to regularize, and not later than in the next two thousand years, nearly all English verbs will be regular.
3. Genders of nouns. Quite normal for me, but most of native English speakers will never get this. Best explained by Mark Twain in his essay "This Awful German Language". The best: things can of course have different gender in different languages, so if you get this somehow in one, get prepared to surprises when starting another one. Though sometimes it IS easy: I have once noticed that the word "bottle" is "she" in all gender-expressive languages I am familiar with. A colleague once explained that easily by showing, with his hands, that bottle has feminine form, indeed.
4. Noun cases. The same noun can have different forms depending on its use. Very useful for Germans and East Europeans. Look for "dative" or "accusative" in your dictionary.
After years of learning or using a language it will never stop bringing you surprises. Just recently, I have noticed that my use of nouns (or pronouns) with prepositions with or without doesn't actually match that of native German speakers. I always thought that it should be the same case for with and without - the dative. Imagine how funny was it to read in my dictionary that without is one case (ohne mich - accusative), while with is another case (mit mir - dative). It made me mad, until I realised that we do that (in this particular case!) in exactly the same way in my native language. Well, the people around me are so used to my broken language that they most likely don't notice that in a hope that one day I will just copy what they are saying.
Beyond the standard.
So far I have covered more of less standard topics. Most of my thoughts are so common that you can figure them out yourself. Now let's proceed to slightly less obvious tricks in learning the language. Let's talk about solving problems and dealing with native speakers (that are bringing problems or helping to solve them).Skipping the insignificant.
Two of the scary problems you will have to deal with is:1. Slowing down when trying to understand each and every word in whatever you read or hear.
2. Fighting with the people that slow down trying to make you understand each and every word in whatever they say or write.
When you learn a foreign language, the biggest problem of all will be excess of confusion and lack of self confidence. You get nervous and oops! what was that I was talking about when I stopped to think whether I should use perfect of imperfect verb form? I sure don't want to screw up the whole sentence - that's why I stop! When we are in the school, it's very important to have 100% percent of understanding and build absolutely flawless phrases when we speak or write. Our marks depend on that - in the school, even if you do just a small dumb typo, you lose. Same applies if you are doing an exam in a foreign language (to get a certificate - more on exams in a dedicated section later), or if you are leading some diplomatic talks, where one word wrongly understood can result in, say, irrevocable wiping out of several generation of bacteria by applying wrongly directed antibiotic bombs. But let's agree that overwhelming majority of us will never be in need of making such important decisions - we elect dumb politicians to deal with subjects as unattractive as antibiotics. (Diplomats get paid to attend foreign language lessons, during work hours, paid by your taxes, so don't worry about you being bombed).
So, in our life, it's more important to learn how to get the general idea on what is being said than to learn the whole dusty dictionary you bought on a flea market. At some point I have learnt to say "hell with it" when I see something unknown and I feel that this has little to do with the subject I am dealing with. My feeling can be wrong, of course, but if I stop here to get an explanation, I am going to miss much more there. This DOES work in the long term. If you feel uncomfortable with the idea, there is a slight variation of it. Whenever you have doubts, write the damned word down in your notebook (if you can't remember the sound of it). You can look it up later, when you have time, or you can ask someone to explain it.
While it's often your choice, your partners may feel differently if seeing that you didn't get the last word. If you do look confident they may be indeed confused. Hey! - such person is thinking - I've just used this very very special word in yet more special form, it simply can't be he understood it, for I've heard it myself only the last week! I find this difficult, but have to go through it sometimes. Maybe you could avoid such pedantic persons, or maybe they can learn to distinguish absolutely important things from insignificant ones. Well, I hate this anyways.
I make exceptions myself. Sometimes I can see that my partner skips something significant. And in some situations I have to ensure complete understanding mo matter what. Examples of them are:
1. Talking to a doctor. No one wants to be prescribed a potent laxative for headache, right?
2. Important meetings. See above, similar to antibiotics bombs. No one wants to get fired.
3. Scheduling important meetings. Time of the day looks different for each nation. I was surprised once to see a schedule of suburban trains in US, that they provide service only in the morning (as no one wants to get back home from work - heh! for typical wage slaves!), till I realized that there were "am" and "pm" times. Yet better was getting an appointment in my bank at "half past one", as the bank clerk said", and once there, seeing that they are closed for lunch. It was in Germany, and the guy, speaking in English, meant "half an hour TO one", or 12:30. No one wants to be late.
Arrogance against complexity.
Your self-confidence is the key in learning a foreign language and using it successfully. And the key to building self-confidence is stop thinking about mistakes, past and future. Don't let just any little stupid mistake spoil you the whole day. Actually, there are NO mistakes for you to make. You don't believe me? Why, if for thousands of years, the native speakers of that foreign language built the schemes to fool and confuse others, to their advantage. The language is their monopoly and they will try to kick you as you approach them. Try being a monopolist in some business - you will soon be surrounded by governments, lawyers and consumer protection agencies. No such thing with foreign language. There are no laws to protect us from foreign language monopolies, but fortunately, we can choose to fight and win. YOU make NO mistakes. THEY build their TRAPS. YOU can be strong enough to go kick THEM as if there were no trap. Keep going, don't let them make a breath.One common trap is pronunciations subtleties, slang and "double-entendres" (different, often confusing meanings of common words). Pronunciation is essential and the first example of common mistakes we get, if you learn English as a foreign language, is confusing "sheep" with "ship". So what if you don't learn it? If someone is not getting that you are talking, in good will, about "sheet" as "of paper"? Don't even stop to see them showing their intelligence - go on.
I remember talking to a French about how my meeting with a female colleague went and using "tête-à-tête" instead of "vis-à-vis". The former is meant normally for really private and intimate discussions, that normally are not meant for work. I looked at how wide my colleague's eyes opened and, without realising what he thought, went on. Go on and forget it.
Well, in some situations, like asking for "rubber" eraser in a country where "rubber" is used for "condom", you better have yourself informed about slang. The Internet gives you unlimited possibilities in exploring how the natives have mangled their own language.
Choosing the helping hand.
It's always great to talk to people that understand your problems. If you are learning a foreign language, communication with native speakers is crucial to your success, and you should never miss the opportunity to show your appreciation to people that: 1). Understand that you do need help and 2). Don't stress you too much with their help. As I say in the section "Skipping the insignificant", you may meet people that will try to beat every single mistake you make, slowing down the whole discussion and losing time. They do understand that you need help but their help is too much.In learning German, for example, I have adopted a casual learning practice. I learn some little bit here and another one there, and I have to admit to myself that I cannot really master it to professional level. It's great that my colleagues do not overstress me, while being always ready to answer my questions! And there are many things that I will probably never get right! In German, one of those is the way they count. In spoken German, the numbers from 20 to 99 are spelled in reverse, like "one and sixty", not "sixty one". Do whatever you want, if you talk too fast, I will never get it because I have to revert the numbers back to how my mind works! And it's great to have people that feel that and say not "one and sixty" but one by one, like "six, one". Look for this kind of helpers - you need them.
Keeping your foreign language knowledge alive.
So, the last page of your textbook is turned and you are fed up with regular exercise. You even got a certificate. Now what? You don't think your knowledge is going to stay with you forever, isn't it? Neither do I.Things not imprinted into your brain next after your mother's milk are easy to lose. After more than four years into learning German I could say that I feel pretty comfortable in everyday use of the language. Yes, every working day - it should help and probably make it permanent? No chance.
Last year I have carefully planned a two week Easter vacation in France. After twelve days of driving first south to Mediterranean, then north to Paris, I found myself squeezed into a crowd of commuters going home. Suburban trains going to the airport were cancelled because of an accident. Driver was shouting "Merde!" constantly instead of checking the tickets. Next to me was a lady trying to understand where was the bus going. She could speak English, she wanted to catch her plane in Charles de Gaulle Airport with her family. The rest of her family and my family was in another end of the bus (I could not get in easily because of a stroller). When I finally clarified that the bus doesn't go to the airport but it's better to go further to have more chances to get in when commuters leave, the lady shouted to her husband "KLAUS!" followed by some familiar sounds. What was that? - I thought. I thought also that it would be fun talking German inside if this stuffed French commuter bus, but it took me several minutes to switch. It was damned difficult. They got out with us when we reached our hotel. No idea if they went to Germany on that evening. I told them we are leaving in the same direction the next morning but we didn't have vacancies even in our car trunk.
After that, I was thinking how is it that I could still restore my French in several days without having it actively used for nine years? And why was it so hard to switch my brain to German just after twelve days, though my German is much stronger than my French.
I think the deciding trick is not methodical exercise to support and develop your knowledge. No one will have time for this, unless moving to the respective country. When I could not speak German, on same one day, in Munich, my French knowledge helped me twice - somehow people I asked for help spoke French and not English. So that I thought that it will be a good idea to give my French some minimal support.
In the last years, this minimal support was: occasional watching of television in French (mostly Arte and TV5), really rare radio listening, some music, and subscribing to French e-mailing lists delivering technology news every working day into my inbox. Little bits that make the big difference so that when one day I got immersed into French again, I didn't take it as a nasty alien environment.
If you don't feel like you are going to enjoy foreign language television, or if you are really short on time, take a look at mailing lists. I find this very similar to those tear off calendars that are specially published for foreign language learners. Their main point is to teach you regularly but with little bits so that you'll never feel exhausted. If you skip by some reason - it's not going to be a problem. Same with a mailing list. It's not a big piece to swallow, it's always (regularly and automatically) at your disposal and it can be thrown away if you don't have the time now. It can be for fun if you subscribe to jokes mailing lists (beware of e-mail filters, checking for bad words!), and if you can even learn something new, that could go unnoticed otherwise, if you subscribe to a mailing list in the area of your professional interest. Most of news sites (not only general news but industry or technology news) have mailing lists to subscribe to.
Final Notes.
Taking exams?
Many of us will have to show our foreign language knowledge in some kind of test, to have a written proof. It may be required to get admitted to some school, but you may also decide to take it just for fun (or may be to show it then on your resume). Whatever the goal is, even if the exam fee is not going to make a hole in your budget, you should take it seriously.When I took the IELTS test (it's the only one I did so I am going to mention it through the rest of this section), I took the preparation seriously. Most likely you will be helped by waiting time - you cannot just sign up and do it next week. Use this time. Do something every day, until thinking about the test topics starts making your breakfast go up. Of course, learning the tricks special to exams often doesn't contribute to your real knowledge, but take it as another chance to improve. I had nearly three months and I read and listened just every IELTS transcript I found on the Internet and wrote a dozen of short essays (or letters) similar to ones you have to do in a real test. After one month I have discovered that I did many things aimed at "academic" test, though I wanted to take a simpler "general" one, but digging deeper didn't hurt. If you have less time than I had, check whether that what you are doing is relevant.
You need some plan to get prepared for the exam. Getting "official" preparation materials does make sense, but the Internet delivery you tons of information for free. You are not allowed to take your notes and test transcripts outside of the examination room, but you are free to submit whatever you can recall later to many sites that collect that information. The best quality materials, though limited, are provided by the IELTS authority and many universities.
Just like you were taking your time in preparation phase, take your time on the exam. In written tests you get plenty of time to finish the task and then double or triple check everything. However, verbal tests are tough. You don't get any chance to rewind the tape back. What is gone, is gone forever, so get prepared to understand everything right away. Any distraction or a noise can be a big problem.
When you don't have any time too is the conversational test. The main trick here is to take the leading role and keep it rolling (if you have something to say of course). You will most likely be asked some question expecting a longer answer and in this case you will be given a couple of minutes time to get ready. The main advice you will find in every good guide for foreign language tests, and I find it very important myself: never try to make the story up, unless you are a fiction writer or a politician (as in those cases it's your professional skill). Just find something from you own life and tell a story. Only then it will work if you will be asked new questions - they won't give you any more time to think and get ready.
Click for part one of "Foreign Language Learning, The Casual Way."