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Anyone become fluent w/o having travelled | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| FrenchLanguage Senior Member Germany Joined 5738 days ago 122 posts - 135 votes  | Message 1 of 21 27 June 2009 at 3:39pm | IP Logged |
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Unfortunately I cant put more words in the title!
What I'm wondering is: Has anyone on here become truly fluent at a language without ever staying in a country where the language is spoken (weekend trips don't count as "staying" in my book :-))? Do you know of anyone who has done that? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6036 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 2 of 21 27 June 2009 at 3:41pm | IP Logged |
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Depends on what you mean by "truly fluent" ( as opposed to "falsely fluent" ;p ). Edited by Sennin on 27 June 2009 at 3:48pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6130 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 3 of 21 27 June 2009 at 4:03pm | IP Logged |
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If you have some time to kill, have a look at my learning log, it might just answer your question. I'm pursuing this endeavor right now. So far, I have no reason to think that becoming truly fluent in a language without going to the country is an impossible feat. Edited by fairyfountain on 27 June 2009 at 4:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6036 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 4 of 21 27 June 2009 at 5:54pm | IP Logged |
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Actually, I can give an example for mastering a language not only to a decently fluent level but to an extend that makes it indistinguishable from a native speaker.
There was this Bulgarian lady, working as a translator for Italian films. Her job involved listening to the film's original audio (in Italian) and producing a voice translation in real-time (in Bulgarian). What the audience gets is a very quiet version of the original audio with her voice on top of it. Nothing is recorder, montaged, edited, etc. She translates on the fly. I'm not sure if this scheme was ever used in the west but it was very popular in Bulgaria (and possibly Russia too). The woman has graduated from a specialized Italian lycee in Sofia and all her working life she did real-time translation. She have never set foot in Italy, nor spoken to a native Italian person. Her only source of exposure to the language were these moves that she was translating, all her life. I know all this because it was in the media a couple of years ago. In the best tradition of reality TV, they exposed her 'undiscovered talent' (TM) and made sure she goes to Italy. Then they arranged a meeting with one of the firm directors she was dubbing for. The director confirmed that her Italian is impeccable and couldn't believe the woman have never been to Italy before. According to him, she sounded like a native. This is an exceptional case but it comes to show that everything is possible given enough time and dedication. Edited by Sennin on 27 June 2009 at 6:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Loopy Newbie United States Joined 5713 days ago 37 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, French | Message 5 of 21 27 June 2009 at 6:03pm | IP Logged |
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Given the technology of today (YouTube, Skype, etc...) I would say it is entirely possible.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| zerothinking Senior Member Australia Joined 6374 days ago 528 posts - 772 votes Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 21 27 June 2009 at 6:07pm | IP Logged |
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Yes, there is nothing magical about staying in a country. If you immerse yourself in the
language using the internet and everything like that in your home country you will create the same environment. Research shows that your linguistic mirco-climate is more important than macro. But macro helps to create the micro climate. That's why there's people who have lived in the USA for 20 years and don't speak English. They surrounded themselves with a barrier of their own language. Scores of people do it all the time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Olympia Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5983 days ago 195 posts - 244 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Old English, French | Message 7 of 21 27 June 2009 at 6:10pm | IP Logged |
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I consider myself fluent in Spanish and I've only spent a few days in Mexico. I'm not native-like, though. I just try
to get as much Spanish input as possible. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| chronik Diglot Groupie Brazil Joined 6008 days ago 42 posts - 42 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: Italian | Message 8 of 21 27 June 2009 at 7:45pm | IP Logged |
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I think it is certainly possible, just be sure to get a lot of input of the target language. The output is a natural response to the input you get.
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