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Why people have problems with learning la | ||
Tags: Learning Difficulty | Foreign Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 6126 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 9 of 32 04 March 2011 at 8:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Talking to people in bars? That seems pretty advanced level. Maybe. Though honestly, even bars in the USA, I just sit there, stare at my $6 diet Pepsi and talk to no one, so maybe this is a 'bar problem' for me and not a language problem. I think anyone can learn the "I'm a confused slow foreigner" conversation. But comprehending native speech at full speed with background noise and slurred from the influence of alcohol?
There is definitely such a thing as 'language learning aptitude.' And sometimes I think of myself as a language-learning retard, but then quite often I run into people who I can tell have put in the hours but who are even worse. Edited by cathrynm on 04 March 2011 at 10:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6012 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 10 of 32 04 March 2011 at 10:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
Advanced? Yes, certainly. But that still doesn't mean you need an aptitude to get there. It's not just a matter of putting the hours in, though. A lot of people put in a lot of time, but doing the wrong thing, so never get anywhere. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Thantophobia Groupie United States Joined 5163 days ago 49 posts - 66 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 11 of 32 04 March 2011 at 11:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
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In my Spanish class there are people who completely don't understand the entire Spanish
concept at all, and there are people who can speak it well and naturally. We're all in the same curriculum, so it can't be because of a bad learning method. I can't see any other reason but that some of them are talented and some aren't. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5382 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 12 of 32 04 March 2011 at 11:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
There's the willingness to learn, the effort put into it and everything they do or don't do outside of class. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5454 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 13 of 32 04 March 2011 at 11:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
Not that I dismiss talent, but what about motivation? Homework? Exposure through TV, music, radio, people they meet, family and friends? Sleep and nutrition? 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 6126 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 14 of 32 05 March 2011 at 12:22am | IP Logged | |||||
Yeah, if you say so. I haven't learned a language yet to that level, so I don't really know myself. I can see why you'd think this, though. I am confounded myself by how a simple a short rant, blurted out by an old drunken Japanese guy can be, while at the same time being, to me, utterly impenetrable. It's just a bit of sound -- this shouldn't be Mt. Everest. But, yet. DLI believes in language learning aptitude, so for me that's enough. I'm at peace with the idea that others are better than me. I don't think it's just me. Really, how many people here have tried the 'gold list' or something like this, and then found they failed miserably compared to the inventor of the system. I run into people and think "how can you be so dense?" -- and I'm sure the better students look at me and think the same thing. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5670 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 15 of 32 05 March 2011 at 8:24am | IP Logged | |||||
There is certainly some evidence that a very tiny number of people are natural geniuses at something. However, this is unlikely to be the case for any of the super-talented foreign language learners that you come across. As is often stated on this forum, the best way to be able to speak 10 languages well is to already be able to speak 9 languages well. Aptitude can be developed. Like you, I have always thought of myself as a language dunce. However, with time and patience, my complete lack of ability is slowly slipping away. As I mentioned in another thread, I haven't yet managed to break the spine of any language, but now have the feeling that I have successfully clipped some toenails. Having always felt glum at my own lack of natural ability, I was surprised a couple of weeks ago when another language learner said to me "well, it is easy for you, because you are good at languages." I explained that I am not. However, it shows that when you see the end result of other people's efforts, you assume it all came much easier to them than it does to you. It is rarely the case, unless they were already able to speak 9 languages well .... Edited by Splog on 05 March 2011 at 9:18am 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| RogerK Triglot Groupie Austria Joined 5076 days ago 92 posts - 181 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian Studies: Portuguese | Message 16 of 32 05 March 2011 at 9:33am | IP Logged | |||||
I think Kmart's point was missed. I believe she meant, regardless of our natural abilities we should strive to achieve our best and we must accept that our best will be limited by what our parents gave us. In sport this is 100% correct. The marathon analogy is a good one. It is true that pretty much anyone can complete a marathon with 6 (12 would be better) months preparation. However if you took two people of the same weight, same age, who hadn't done any sport since their school days and they trained exactly the same, ate the same food had the same amount of rest etc, etc. they would still run different times. Why? Because of their natural abilities. Whoever says we don't have natural abilities doesn't know a whole lot about sport. A side note: less than 1% of the population ever complete a marathon. This must be similar in all endeavours. This means some people will have a better predisposition for learning languages than the next person. Some people understand maths better and others languages better. However, if you really like doing something even though you’re naturally not very good at it doesn’t mean you can’t become very good at it. It will take longer and more work. But you are highly unlikely at achieving an elite level. 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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