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How long to passively learn a language? | ||
Tags: Passive | Time to learn | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Bill_Sage667 Groupie United States Joined 5015 days ago 62 posts - 71 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 8 30 September 2010 at 8:30am | IP Logged | ||
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Luca says it took him 2 years to attain a very high level of fluency in German. How long
would you reckon would it take to attain a very high level fluency in the same language, but this time, without having to worry about the active aspects of the language? Would it take only half of the time or much less? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Britomartis Groupie United States Joined 5619 days ago 67 posts - 74 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin | Message 2 of 8 30 September 2010 at 8:44am | IP Logged | ||
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I think there are far too many variables to give any semi-accurate estimate. However, I do not think it will be much less than what is needed for complete fluency because the active side of a language reinforces the passive.
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| jae Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5474 days ago 206 posts - 239 votes Speaks: English*, German, Latin Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, French | Message 3 of 8 14 October 2010 at 12:14am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm not quite sure what you mean to learn a language passively.
Do you just mean living in the country without actively pursuing knowledge of the language (i.e. not through books, a class, etc.)? By watching movies until the language starts to sink in without formal training? If this is what you mean, then I think it takes much longer to learn this way than to study actively with books, the internet, a class, etc. However, if you just mean, how long you have to study a language until you can understand it completely (even if you cannot personally speak/write fluently), then this is probably shorter, since I assume you are pursuing study of the language actively. In this case, I have known people to live in the country of the language they were learning for a year, and they have been able to speak only conversationally/with basic fluency, but they could understand more than they could speak. I think, however, this is the same for every level of active (verbal) fluency - your passive understanding is higher...in this case, you probably still need to be pretty good actively to be passively "fluent." Sorry if that was a pretty vague answer; I was just trying to explain my thought process behind it...I think the actual time depends on the person, their previous knowledge, their ability, etc. Good luck! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BiaHuda Triglot Groupie Vietnam Joined 5173 days ago 97 posts - 127 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Vietnamese Studies: Cantonese | Message 4 of 8 14 October 2010 at 1:53pm | IP Logged | ||
If this kind of learning is what you are talking about, the learning through osmosis type of thing, there is a good chance that it may never happen. I have seen alot of expats living here in Vịệt Nam that have been here as long as 22 years without being able to utter the most rudimentary of phrases. Mostly related to food, drink or shopping. Not much different from the tourist who can order "dos cerveza por favor" on a Spanish or Mexican holiday. Maybe there is a thread on this somewhere on the site. I've heard of proponents for this type of learning, like an infant or whatever, but I don't see much evidence to support it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5191 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 5 of 8 14 October 2010 at 5:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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Whatever are the "active aspects" of a language?
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| B-Tina Tetraglot Senior Member Germany dragonsallaroun Joined 5337 days ago 123 posts - 218 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Polish | Message 6 of 8 14 October 2010 at 7:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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Arekkusu: output-related activities, I guess - i.e. writing and speaking.
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| delta910 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5685 days ago 267 posts - 313 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, German | Message 7 of 8 14 October 2010 at 7:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think what is meant by passively learn a language is to be able to read and hear the language. Actively would
probably mean along the lines of being able to speak and to write. In my opinion, to learn a language to a passive like stage, to read a book with ease and say watch the news or a film with the same fluidity, shouldn't take you that long depending on the language. Just work hard and you'll get there. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6360 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 8 of 8 15 October 2010 at 2:15am | IP Logged | ||
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German is probably do-able. Maybe 5 times as long?
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