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Losing the language | ||
Tags: Maintaining Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7012 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes  Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 21 09 June 2006 at 9:07am | IP Logged | |||||
I agree. Despite all the amazing opportunities for language learning our "advanced civilization" has to offer (DVDs, CDs, Internet, etc) there's still much to be said for good old-fashioned paper. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7373 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 10 of 21 09 June 2006 at 10:23am | IP Logged | |||||
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Very depressing thread this one.
I think to make a fair assessment of your remaining linguistic skills, you need to do it when you are fully rested and after at least an hour of warming up exercises. Professionally I have to switch constantly from one language to the other, and after an exhausting day I sometimes feel like I can't speak really well in any language, including my native French. Ardaschir explained that most of the languages he speaks are not really fluent until after he has spent a couple days in the country, they come back to life like those dried insects who stop a hibernation of 50 years when exposed to water. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| 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 11 of 21 09 June 2006 at 12:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
Hey, I didn't want to start a depressing thread :). It's rather looking for some ways to deal with the problem of remaining linguistic skills :) Of course sometimes it's just because of tiredness, and sometimes it's even difficult to speak any language :) But I really feel a difference between my English now and about 10 months ago. I find the metaphor by Ardaschir fascinating, the comparison with these insects is really apt :) By the way, I've started thinking that maybe I just demand too much from myself. 10 months ago I was after part-immersion, having been learning English quite intensively and than using mostly English during almost one month... maybe it's just the matter of spending those "a couple days" speaking this language and it will come back... At least, I hope so :) 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 12 of 21 09 June 2006 at 12:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
It may be even better than that. When you let it lie for a while and then come back to it, after the initial "rehydration" period (to continue with the insect analogy), you may find that the language has actually somehow snapped into place in your head while you were doing other things. Especially after the sort of intense exposure you are describing, a break may be just the thing.
There is only one other thing I found that seems to work reasonably well with a busy schedule - podcasts. If you choose a program that's about 15 minutes long, it's not too hard to slip the headphones on for that long at the end of the day, even in bed. I still consider books the primary means of language maintenance, but it's good to hear the language once in a while. On the formal learning side, Assimil is good from schedule standpoint - I missed few Italian lessons so far where, from past experience, Pimsleur would have long bombed. So, there is hope, after all. :) Edited by frenkeld on 09 June 2006 at 1:25pm 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 13 of 21 09 June 2006 at 2:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
Could you provide a link to this as I'm quite curious to read what insects have to do with languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| 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 14 of 21 09 June 2006 at 3:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
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You don't need any link, just read above the post by administrator :)
I don't know if administrator's quoted exactly Ardashir's words or it was just an illustration for them, though. Edited by Julie on 09 June 2006 at 3:18pm 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 15 of 21 10 June 2006 at 12:55am | IP Logged | |||||
Oops, didn't make the connection. Sorry! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6700 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 16 of 21 25 July 2006 at 9:38am | IP Logged | |||||
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In the seventies I followed a course in Romanian over 3 years and could more or less speak that language when I left the university in 1981. Then followed a 25 year long dry spell where I hardly opened a book or heard any spoken Romanian, and it withered away leaving only "Buna ziua" ("good day") and a couple of other isolated words that for some reason stuck in my memory (such as "scrumiere", "ash tray", even though I'm a non smoker).
However this year I spent most of my summer holidays in Romania and Moldova, and I could feel the language come back to life like that elusive Ardaschirian insect, - the first day I had to consult my trusty Langenscheidt pocket dictionary just to buy a train ticket, but already five days into my holiday I found myself discussing Shakespeare's rather free use of the Danish Hamlet compared to Bram Stoker's use of Vlad Tepes with an employee of one of the museums in Chisinau. The only problem is that I know it won't last, - within a couple of months I may have to edit my language profile again to downgrade Romanian, because that pesky little critter has crept back into its hole to hibernate for the next 25 years. Edited by Iversen on 25 July 2006 at 2:12pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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