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A Gift for Learning Languages | ||
Tags: Talent | Foreign Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes  Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 9 of 42 29 March 2010 at 2:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with others here that anyone can learn a language if they are determined to do
so. But I do think some people are particularly gifted for language. [EDIT: Removed pompous part] Edited by Arekkusu on 29 March 2010 at 6:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5669 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 10 of 42 29 March 2010 at 2:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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When I was a child, my nextdoor neighbour did very well at school. She excelled in all subjects. She was the star of the school. Most assumed she was a super-genius. However, I knew that she woke at 6am ever morning to get in an hour of practice on flute and violin. At lunchtimes she was in the science club. And every night after homework, she would sit with her mother for two hours going over the day's schoolwork. She did this routine every day, for the whole of the time I knew her.
I am sure she was very smart, but above all she was very committed, and so were her parents. The whole family simply dedicated far more focused hours than anybody else to ensuring she did very well at school. This was a tremendous lesson for me personally, and even though I have limited brain power, I decided to emulate her by studying harder at university than others. I committed to putting in at least 60 hours a week on top of the time in lectures and with my tutors. I came top of the class (a starred first - the highest grade possible). It was purely down to long hours year after year. Many of the top polyglots on this site have done exactly the same. Newcomers often ask "what is the fastest way to learn a language?" The most honest answer is, to keep working at it, every day, forever. As the Foreign Service Institute stated after studying their most successful students: the major determinant of language learning success was "time on task". Relating to this: maybe you have heard of the 10,000 hours rule? It states that most of the exceptional people in any field have mastered that field by putting in at least 10,000 hours of hard work. So, when you see super-achievers, remember what the American Comedian Eddie Cantor once said "It takes twenty years to become an overnight success". 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Siberiano Tetraglot Senior Member Russian Federation one-giant-leap.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6493 days ago 465 posts - 696 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, ItalianC1, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Serbian | Message 11 of 42 29 March 2010 at 2:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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It does really take commitment and dedication to master a language, and it's your mileage that matters the most. When people say "You're gifted!", they mean "I'm so lazy!". xD No, seriously it means "you did more effort that me". Even if it's not the effort, there are explanations.
An example: 2 Russians speak Italian, both started it at the same time, but one has a moderate but notable accent, the other speaks with no accent. Is the second talented and is the 1st deaf to pronunciation? No, it's that one of them learned English much earlier and was exposed to learning other languages more, while the other wasn't. But there's a trick: learning doesn't have to be a toil all the time. You can arrange activities so that you'll learn naturally. Initially, a textbook and an adapted audio course are all what you need: you're unable to do conversations or produce any meaningful writing. But few months into learning you need to start trying to do conversations and writing, otherwise it will be just boring. Find a pen-pal. Start a web-log in target language and try to engage the readers. Organize a language exchange club: let people meet and speak in the target language on common topics (BUT NOT TEH FREAKING TRAVELING! so that those who didn't travel won't feel excluded and outsiders). In general, language has to become a means, not an aim. This way you can afford being lazy and not dedicated, but still spend a lot of hours practicing. (The, of course, depends on the distance between languages.) Edited by Siberiano on 29 March 2010 at 2:50pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 12 of 42 29 March 2010 at 4:32pm | IP Logged | ||
When a person learns significantly faster than others while putting only minimal effort into it, then it's not that others are lazy, it's that the person is gifted. There is such a thing as giftedness. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lapislazuli Tetraglot Senior Member Austria Joined 7036 days ago 146 posts - 170 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, ItalianB1 Studies: French, Hungarian, Esperanto, Czech | Message 13 of 42 29 March 2010 at 5:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't really believe in the existence of such a thing as "talent" - at least not in the way that people often use it. Something wonderful that is given to some people from birth, and not to others.
It is also used as an excuse for not learning or doing something (like languages but also other things) Some people call me talented, because I speak maybe more languages then the average person, but then I say: no, I am definitely not talented. I have to work as much as anyone else would have to work (and often I also find it a bit offending when people assume I am just doing that because it is "easy" for me, and that I probably would not do it if it was a lot of work for me. But they just don't see the work, that I put into it.) In fact when learning languages at school, I always had very bad marks. No-one would have mentioned the word "talent" and my name in the same sentence. For me, what we call talent, is a combination of different favourable circumstances inclucing motivation, an effective learning method that works for you etc. But of course there are also some aspects of language learning that one finds easier then the other, some are faster in memorizing vocabulary, others are better in understanding grammar, and others have good ear for accents. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| joanthemaid Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5470 days ago 483 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian, German | Message 14 of 42 29 March 2010 at 5:37pm | IP Logged | ||
I agree, but I think it also depends on what your second language is and how much incentive you have to use it. For example I only started learning English at school at age 10 (normal age for people of my generation in France, now it's much earlier) but around 14-15 I had so much incentive to use it in my daily life that I got better mostly on my own, reading, playing videogames, following my own rhythm and authentic materials (which is not what happens at school). So my second language was not my hardest, as at school I was rather gifted, then it sort of happened, and once I got to university I was so far ahead that it was even easier. I really find Spanish and Russian much more difficult now. So, I think for some people English as a second language is pretty easy simply because even if you're not in a multilingual environment, English is everywhere. Now if you're a geek you just don't have a choice (except maybe Japanese) and don't forget all the people who learn a second language that's dominant in their country ( English in India, Russian in the ex-soviet bloc...). So, I'd say the most difficult language is the first one you don't need to learn. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| joanthemaid Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5470 days ago 483 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian, German | Message 15 of 42 29 March 2010 at 5:40pm | IP Logged | ||
You can't imagine how frustrating it is for teachers, having to manage the students who can't learn, the students who don't want to learn, and barely having time for those who are motivated. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 16 of 42 29 March 2010 at 5:43pm | IP Logged | ||
The most difficult language I studied is the one I'm currently learning, Japanese, and it's the 12th I've dabbled in. I suppose it does get somewhat easier as you learn more languages... except when you start learning a language that's very different from all the other languages you studied before. Edited by Arekkusu on 29 March 2010 at 5:44pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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