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Language acquisition = habit formation? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5386 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes  Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 1 of 5 12 January 2011 at 10:14pm | IP Logged |
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I believe that when we learn languages, we essentially form habits. Only when phrases and processes have been internalized as habits can we actually create new utterances with fluency.
I was reminded of this the other day when someone in another thread mentioned the expression “to have a run in with”. While I can come up with common uses of the expression, such as having a run-in with the in-laws, with the police, with a biker gang, etc., I can’t actually remember learning or hearing the expression in any particular time or place. How peculiar – I don’t remember learning or hearing the expression, but I know how to use it! Yet, I inevitably learned it at some point since English is my second language. Of course, this is true of virtually everything else I know about the language. The way I see it, this illustrates how language is about habit formation. Somehow, after hearing a new phrase or word enough times, the brain registers it as something you use in a particular context, and forms a new habit, while either discarding or ignoring information about where it heard it or how it learned it. I have the impression that when we learn words intentionally, they enter the brain in a place that is not easily accessible by our language functions, and that they can only be used naturally or with fluency after their use has become a habit. Only then do these words become accessible by the part of our brain that is actually used for creative language use. What are your impressions? Is anyone knowledgeable enough in this aspect of acquisition to enlighten me further on the process? Edited by Arekkusu on 12 January 2011 at 10:18pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Segata Triglot Groupie Germany Joined 5176 days ago 64 posts - 125 votes Speaks: German*, Japanese, English Studies: Korean, Esperanto | Message 2 of 5 12 January 2011 at 10:45pm | IP Logged |
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I agree. While I'm no expert on the subject matter, to me personally language acquisition has a lot to do with forming habits and getting used to patterns and words. I had such an experience just a while ago when I had watched Korean dramas for several hours straight the day before and as I spoke to a Korean girl I suddenly realized: "Hey, that expression I just used is the exakt same one they were using in that drama all the time". Interestingly enough, I had "learned" that expression before but I wasn't ready to use it until I had seen it "in action".
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 budonoseito Pro Member United States budobeyondtechnRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5810 days ago 261 posts - 344 votes Studies: French, Japanese Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 5 13 January 2011 at 12:00am | IP Logged |
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I don't know if I would call it a habit. But, I think you have to internalize the basics
or atomic levels of a language. The same for sports and martial arts. In martial arts you practice basics until they are internalized to the point that you just do them in a complex environment. I.e. combat. For language, if you can recall enough without effort, thought becomes language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6708 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 4 of 5 13 January 2011 at 11:30am | IP Logged |
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To speak in a fluent manner you have to have internalized a lot of things and you can of course refer to that process as habit formation. But I can't see that this changes the judgement on conscious word/expression acquisition versus 'letting things happen'. In the former case you know when you decided to learn a certain word or expression, and then you can of course discover that you have trouble accessing your memory about it. Without a conscious decision you don't even discover that you once tried to learn it. Besides the use of structured acquisition methods doesn't hinder you in also absorbing words in an unconscious way.
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| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6587 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 5 of 5 13 January 2011 at 11:37am | IP Logged |
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Yeah, I love SRS, but it's important to know that memorizing a word through SRS is only putting it in a place where you can go and get it. You'll need to encounter it in action and then purposefully use it a few times before it becomes something you always carry with you.
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