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Ah ha moment | ||
Tags: Epiphany | Success Story | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5210 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 9 of 15 27 October 2014 at 10:08am | IP Logged |
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For me it's been the first proper conversation. It comes almost as a surprise. I remember the first time I spoke Italian for a good half hour, as opposed to just a few sentences, then I walked away thinking "...I didn't know I could converse in Italian!". It's that point when you suddenly realise that you're past the beginner stage and all the little bits you've learned have started to combine enough for you to use them to communicate.
That's happened in all my languages, and it's the biggest "step" I've perceived in language learning. From then onwards it's mostly just years of gradual improvement, slowly going from being able to converse to being able to converse well. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Tyrion101 Senior Member United States Joined 3916 days ago 153 posts - 174 votes Speaks: French | Message 10 of 15 27 October 2014 at 2:38pm | IP Logged |
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My ah ha moments have all been involving the listening portion of my language studies. For instance the
other day I finally realized what a lady on a podcast I listen to says very frequently. I knew what it meant but couldn't figure out the proper words of the phrase. Turns out it was a massive liaison, and because of that its changed how I listen to french. If you're curius the phrase was: merci d'être avec nous. (Thank you for being with us), but the way it's said makes it seem like she's saying: merci de travec nous, which I'm sure most of you who I know French are aware it doesn't make much sense. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| bellang Newbie United States Joined 3685 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Studies: Vietnamese | Message 11 of 15 27 October 2014 at 3:02pm | IP Logged |
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To me, when I say Ah ha is the moment that I recogize the familiar word in Chinese. Yeah,
the feeling is hard to describe though.. Edited by bellang on 29 October 2014 at 10:36am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3910 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 12 of 15 27 October 2014 at 7:39pm | IP Logged |
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My ah ha moments occur generally when I can tell whether somethings sounds right or not. In German, the word order can be pretty difficult for a native English speaker. When I am typing an email or talking to someone in German and I go back over what I just wrote/said and can tell what I said was correct, not by analyzing it in anyway but rather from saying it in my head and intuitively knowing that it sounds correct (even if I can't explain why), that's when I know I'm beginning to internalize the language.
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| holly heels Groupie United States Joined 3889 days ago 47 posts - 107 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 13 of 15 27 October 2014 at 10:13pm | IP Logged |
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I had an ah ha moment today when I did my daily ritual of listening to Mandarin radio news, but this time I was a little more distracted.
Anyway the news was about the newest potential Ebola case in the USA involving a child being admitted to a hospital in New York. I wasn't making a conscious effort to understand every detail, so I was listening more as a typical news consumer, not someone desperately trying to understand every word in the target language. So a couple hours later I watched American news on the exact same story and found that I was correct in my understanding of all the details which I had heard in Mandarin. So as much as I like the ah ha moments as independent confirmations that I am getting somewhere in learning Mandarin, I realize that even having the biggest ah ha moment can't prevent you from having a moment of massive disappointment a week later. Edited by holly heels on 27 October 2014 at 10:50pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5559 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 14 of 15 28 October 2014 at 12:15am | IP Logged |
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Here are a couple of personal "Aha!" moments I've had in the past whilst living in Germany....
1. When I woke up early the next morning thinking exclusively in German, having gone to bed after a big night out with a group of native German speakers (and probably one too many digestifs). In a strangely disconnected way, it's as though I woke up with a new little German part of me chatting happily away in the spotlight of my mind. 2. Whilst watching an episode of Stromberg, I was convinced everyone had been speaking English for the last 10 minutes, only to realize it had been in German all along. I really couldn't tell the difference in the moment, as I was just enjoying the show. Edited by Teango on 28 October 2014 at 12:17am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| VivianJ5 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4265 days ago 81 posts - 133 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 15 of 15 29 October 2014 at 3:13pm | IP Logged |
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My ah-ha moment was many years ago, when I was very actively studying French (grad student in a French business
school), and had come home for a short visit with my family. My dad asked me a question, while I was doing something else, so I wasn't fully paying attention to what I was saying. After I responded, he looked at me in a strange way, and said, "Um, what did you just say to me?" I had to stop, and think for a second - and hoping, as a good daughter, I hadn't said anything disrespectful! - then realized I had answered him in French, which he does NOT understand. It had come so naturally that I was stunned, then realized that my almost-full-year of immersion had finally paid off... That and dreaming in French, which was lovely the couple of times it happened :-). 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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