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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Sprachjunge Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 7169 days ago 368 posts - 548 votes  Speaks: English*, GermanC2 Studies: Spanish, Russian | Message 121 of 164 19 March 2010 at 1:15pm | IP Logged |
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Hey there! Yes, as I was following your log, I just shook my head in pleasant bemusement, asking: "How did Quabazza's language log turn into a war zone?" :)
Anyway, good job on your languages! Understanding political(!) conversations in a bar is very impressive, especially since I have a hard enough time following anything of the sort in a quiet room with clearly-enunciated radiospeak. Oh, and I DO understand about only learning what you need to, especially if it's an immersion environment. I really like what someone else expressed on here once: the brain is, for better or for worse, highly efficient. It will only retain what is necessary to retain, as evidenced by repeated use. So, if you didn't need to use "buy" or "sell" in Spanish, I totally get that your brain would not say, "Hey, Quabazza! Why don't you look up those verbs! They're so simple; it's bothering me!" No, your brain is like, "I can't miss what I don't need." And languages are so complicated anyway that your brain is always looking for something to skimp on. Well, that's my theory anyway. :) By the way, the above is not all that new, but the twist that the person put on it was the following: because your brain is that efficient, anything that is superfluous--or, more descriptively, "doubled up"--will be forgotten. For instance, if you just equate comprar with buy, then your brain will tend to forget comprar, because it already has a word for that concept. So, it is important to somehow make the Spanish concept of "to buy" distinct from the English one. He recommended linking things to concepts in that culture, and was strongly in favor of immersion, because then you would naturally associate the Spanish "comprar" with, say, going with your husband to buy a new football in Argentina. This concept would be "new" enough that your brain would be forced to remember it; it would occupy a slot different from the "buy" slot in your brain. Anyhow, keep up the good work! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Quabazaa Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5613 days ago 414 posts - 543 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, French Studies: Japanese, Korean, Maori, Scottish Gaelic, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written) | Message 122 of 164 19 March 2010 at 10:51pm | IP Logged |
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x Edited by Quabazaa on 10 May 2014 at 3:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| annette Senior Member United States Joined 5510 days ago 164 posts - 192 votes Speaks: English* | Message 123 of 164 20 March 2010 at 8:36am | IP Logged |
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Quabazaa, what's your favorite story by Salwa Bakr called?
I have a friend who is living in Spain right now, and usually she doesn't have too much linguistic confusion because she just does everything in Spanish. But whenever I call her on Skype, she's forced to use English and whatever other languages we're both studying because I don't know any Spanish, and she kind of gets briefly thrown off track... it's funny because she likes to Skype in public areas, so sometimes someone will walk by and start speaking to her in Spanish or whatever, and she NEVER switches to the right language in time, even if she's just trying to say something really simple like sí. So don't feel alone for speaking Japanese to the Swiss train conductor!! It happens to the best of us ;). I guess a closer parallel to your story would be how I automatically switch to Arabic whenever I'm responding to someone speaking in a language I don't know. (This happens to me a lot for some reason?) My brain just goes, "You don't understand much spoken Arabic yet, and you definitely don't understand what this person is saying, so... quick! Say something in fus7a!!" Edited by annette on 20 March 2010 at 8:41am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| joanthemaid Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5474 days ago 483 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian, German | Message 124 of 164 20 March 2010 at 9:09am | IP Logged |
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Lol, for me my problem is, whenever I have to speak to a Russian person in something else than Russian I automatically speak French. For instance someone will ask me (in English) to do a skype Russian-English exchange (I have both English learning and French learning Russian Skype pals) and I'll answer in French: ok, we can meet on Skype and so on...). I guess it might be because my first Skype pal was learning French, so now my brain goes: Russian person? They MUST be learning French, even if they're messaging me in English. So far, it only happens in writing though...
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Quabazaa Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5613 days ago 414 posts - 543 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, French Studies: Japanese, Korean, Maori, Scottish Gaelic, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written) | Message 125 of 164 26 March 2010 at 12:18pm | IP Logged |
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x Edited by Quabazaa on 10 May 2014 at 3:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Quabazaa Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5613 days ago 414 posts - 543 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, French Studies: Japanese, Korean, Maori, Scottish Gaelic, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written) | Message 126 of 164 28 March 2010 at 11:20pm | IP Logged |
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x Edited by Quabazaa on 10 May 2014 at 3:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Quabazaa Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5613 days ago 414 posts - 543 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, French Studies: Japanese, Korean, Maori, Scottish Gaelic, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written) | Message 127 of 164 30 March 2010 at 1:23am | IP Logged |
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x Edited by Quabazaa on 10 May 2014 at 3:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Quabazaa Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5613 days ago 414 posts - 543 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, French Studies: Japanese, Korean, Maori, Scottish Gaelic, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written) | Message 128 of 164 01 April 2010 at 12:59am | IP Logged |
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x Edited by Quabazaa on 10 May 2014 at 3:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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