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Language as Habit | ||
Tags: Learning Strategy | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Wulfgar Senior Member United States Joined 4458 days ago 404 posts - 791 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 9 of 26 03 June 2012 at 9:08am | IP Logged | |||||
Are you suggesting someone can acquire a new language in three months? If so, to what level? I ask because I see quite a few people making this statement, but few clarify the level they are talking about. And the videos I've seen as proof are never very impressive. The "several years" guys seem to do a lot better. 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| futurianus Senior Member Korea, South starlightonclou Joined 4796 days ago 125 posts - 234 votes Speaks: Korean* | Message 10 of 26 03 June 2012 at 10:26am | IP Logged | |||||
It depends on several factors: --the nature of the new language in relation to the learner's linguistic background, --type and nature of immersion environment(traveling, dating or married to a native speaker who will speak in his/her native language, working, studying in the target language country, etc), --time one can afford to dedicate to learning it, --intensity of passion to learn it, --methodologies and approaches which are appropriate for the particular learner, --etc. The main thrust of this thread is on the nature of language learning as developing a set of new habits, and not on the time framework for developing a level of competency. However, in further response to your question, in a best immersion environment and using most efficient methodologies and approaches possible, I think it is possible to gain a working conversational level in a new language within three months, more so in a language which is closely related to the language one had already acquired. Three months in a language will give one a good foundation upon which to build on. I think it will take two years of full time learning in a favorable immersion environment to fully acquire a language from an unfamiliar language family to be able to become fully functional in professional way. I have met some professors of languages and linguistics in Korea and Japan who have published books on particular languages, such as English, Korean, Spanish, Mandarin and Russian, but who could not carry on even a simple conversation in their expert languages. I was even requested to edit some of their books, which contained pitiably many mistakes and I had to mercilessly axe them out. I also met so many people who spent twenty, even decades to learn a language, especially English, but could not understand the normal every day conversations in English spoken by native speakers at natural speed, let alone put together a sentence containing more than fifteen words, without butchering it. They can even teach native English speakers the finer points of English grammar, but had not developed a naturally flowing accent-minimized grammatically smooth conversational ability, simply because they have not yet become habituated to the language. They knew about English, but lacked practical skills in it. They had the passion for English strong enough to become professonal professors in the universities, but lacked wisdom, a proper guidance to acquire English in a more effective and less painful way. Many are usually the professors of old generation, of course. Edited by futurianus on 03 June 2012 at 11:19am 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| futurianus Senior Member Korea, South starlightonclou Joined 4796 days ago 125 posts - 234 votes Speaks: Korean* | Message 11 of 26 03 June 2012 at 11:08am | IP Logged | |||||
from How to raise a kid polyglot? Version 2012
I have started the above related thread in which I will be discussing about Wendy and Mabou more in detail. As for habit formation in regards to language learning, I have marked relevant tags within the brackets for quick reference. Relevant discussions from there will also be referenced here from time to time. The main relevant concepts for habit formation are --the new nerve cells and, --stimulus, its nature, amount and administration within the background concept of immersion. Edited by futurianus on 03 June 2012 at 11:24am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Wulfgar Senior Member United States Joined 4458 days ago 404 posts - 791 votes Speaks: English* | Message 12 of 26 04 June 2012 at 8:58am | IP Logged | |||||
futurianus is an accomplished polyglot in many languages. He has has taken an interesting angle in his discussion of language learning, one that is rarely taken on this forum. Please try to be a little more polite. 9 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5319 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 13 of 26 04 June 2012 at 12:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
The US Foreign Service Institute gets people to ILR 3/3 (allegedly equivalent to C1) in some "category 1" languages in as little as 24 weeks of full-time study. This includes most of the Romance languages, several Germanic languages (but not German), and several Scandinavian languages (but not Icelandic). A typical FSI student is in their 40s, speaks an average of slightly more than 2 languages, and has significant motivation. And the pace is pretty ruthless. Here's a quote from the blog of a woman studying Chinese:
The author was one of the first people in the class to pass her Chinese proficiency exam, too. So when I hear "fluent in 3 months", I always imagine somebody working twice as hard as an FSI student, and I start twitching. I'm not saying it's impossible to learn a language that quickly, but it's got to be a pretty agonizing process—something akin to hiking all 2,181 miles of the Appalachian Trail in under 47 days. It's a stunt, not a study plan. Edited by emk on 04 June 2012 at 12:25pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5343 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 14 of 26 04 June 2012 at 1:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Emk and futurianus make good points here. For myself and many others, language learning isn't about studying at breakneck speed through a veil of tears (although initial short-term challenges can often be fun); it's more about falling in love with the language and keeping these fires burning, so that exposure to it becomes a habit, an aspect of our everyday life that we even genuinely look forward to, and every unique word acquired or depth of culture fathomed is a new-found joy. Edited by Teango on 05 June 2012 at 11:50am 12 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6384 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 15 of 26 04 June 2012 at 2:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| futurianus Senior Member Korea, South starlightonclou Joined 4796 days ago 125 posts - 234 votes Speaks: Korean* | Message 16 of 26 05 June 2012 at 6:14am | IP Logged | |||||
I evaluate myself as a language learner who has acquired a measure of abilities in some languages, which are neither 'completed' nor exceptionally brilliant. I have never considered and do not have the audacity to regard myself as 'an accomplished polyglot in many languages.' But I do appreciate your kind comments. Edited by futurianus on 05 June 2012 at 6:14am 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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