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Losing the language | ||
Tags: Maintaining Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6900 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes  5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 1 of 21 08 June 2006 at 4:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Some time ago I've noticed that my command in English is dramatically decreasing. It used to be quite obvious to me that English is my "strongest" foreign language but now I have, quite intentionally, much more contact with German. I feel like losing my fluency in English. When I'm writing or saying something, I feel automatically that something "doesn't sound like English" and probably is incorrect. I have also a feeling that I've started having problems with grammar that was always my strong point.
What do you do to keep your language while learning other foreign languages? Using English in learning German is not really possible as I have quite many Polish resources and the German-only ones. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6940 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 2 of 21 08 June 2006 at 7:41pm | IP Logged | |||||
Mostly, I just try to read a novel once in a while, and I find it quite helpful in maintaining a language. I do not try to maintain all four language skills - no time for that - but I find that reading alone is a lot more than doing nothing at all. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6887 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 3 of 21 08 June 2006 at 10:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've found my Spanish has seriously degraded over the years, despite once having near native fluency in it. Now, my verb conjugations are sometimes all over the place, I find it increasingly harder to write and think in Spanish and my vocabulary's slowing slipping away. It certainly doesn't help that I've been learning new languages recently...it seems my brain is unable to cope!
I used to use Spanish in everyday life and school back in Gibraltar but once I went off to university, I hardly ever used it and this is still the case as I have not been in contact with any Spanish speakers in recent years (except for my occasional holidays back home). These days my only contact with the language is about 20 minutes a week when I call my grandmother. Once I am back in Europe, I hope to buy El Pais or any other Spanish newspapers I can find. While I know these are available online, I always prefer to read the real thing. ;) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Frisco Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6853 days ago 380 posts - 398 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Italian, Turkish, Mandarin | Message 4 of 21 08 June 2006 at 10:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
I know what you mean. I find that when I read stuff in foreign languages (or in my native language, for that matter) online, it's too easy for me to distract myself with something else. :P 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6887 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 5 of 21 08 June 2006 at 11:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
Likewise! I find my attention span is substantially lower when it comes to reading anything on the Internet. I tend to to skim rather than read. And PDF files tend to hurt my eyes after a while so I prefer the printed book to the E-book any day. ^_^ 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6940 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 6 of 21 08 June 2006 at 11:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
I had this happening with my Russian after 20+ years in the US. I reread Anna Karenina and followed up with a bunch of pretty trashy modern mystery novels with enough peppy dialog in them. It helped a lot, as did hanging out in a couple of internet forums. I really do think reading can make a big difference. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7012 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 21 09 June 2006 at 4:36am | IP Logged | |||||
I agree with both of you. There's nothing I enjoy more (well...almost nothing!) than settling down with a good book. Like Frisco, I get too distracted when I'm online. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6940 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 8 of 21 09 June 2006 at 8:01am | IP Logged | |||||
Besides being fun, I also find it the most practical way to maintain a language on a busy schedule. I recently bought a small portable multiregion DVD player thinking I could sneak a foreign movie occasionally before going to sleep, but found that watching just a part of a movie somehow isn't fun, while staying up for up to two hours to finish it can ruin the next workday. A book, on the other hand, you can read a couple of pages in a few minutes, if you don't have time for more that day, and fall asleep, and if you do it day after day, it still adds up and is fun. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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