In 7th grade, when I had to choose between learning Spanish and French, I chose Spanish on that basis that, living in California, I would be able to use it more than I would French. It was a purely utilitarian reason- I wanted to be able to communicate with the largest amount of people (maybe more later on my recent thoughts about communication vs. language.) However, as my focus for what I want to do after college becomes sharper, I’m beginning to realize that Spanish may not be enough; at least a working knowledge of two or more Latin American indigenous languages (ex: Zapotec, Nahuatl, Quechua) will probably be necessary. Which, along with some browsing of the Matador Network while I had nothing else to do at work, brought me to a host of different thoughts.
When I asked myself why do I wanted to learn these indigenous languages the first answer that came to mind was “so that I can communicate with more people, with those who only speak that language and not Spanish.” However, going deeper, I realized that even for those indigenous peoples who do speak both Spanish and an indigenous language, I would prefer to speak with them in their native, cultural tongue. To me, there’s something about speaking to someone in their native language that fosters a deeper connection. There’s an appreciation on the other person’s behalf that you care enough to look and sound awkward so that they can feel more comfortable, and a new level of trust. It’s a way for you to say that you aren’t like those who came before and demanded that everyone learn their language, that you want to learn from them as much as you want to teach them.
So, with that established, how do you go about learning a new language, more specifically, how do I best learn a new language, especially one that, even though it’s spoken by millions of people, is hardly ever formally taught anywhere? I came across a page detailing the 5 ways we learn a language (the link’s at the end), and decided that I need a mix of three of them: Grammar based, Communicative, and Immersion, in that order. Give me a base in the grammar and vocabulary, give me some practice actually using the language with other people, and then throw me out there and let me use what I’ve got to figure the rest out.
So, how about you guys, how do you think you want to go about learning a new language?
Also, some interesting articles from Matador Network that tie into what we were talking about last night with getting the gist of what someone is trying to say even if you don’t understand every word completely and about getting a feel for connotations and the “feeling” of word even if you don’t get the exact meaning.
http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/follow-your-intuition-to-fluency/
http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/latin-americas-indigenous-languages/
http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/the-5-ways-we-learn-languages-and-which-style-is-right-for-you/
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For me, learning a language is just the opposite. It's not about being able to communicate better (though that is a nice side effect), it's about attempting to validate the thought that has been persisting in my head since I left high school: No one is good at saying what they really want to say. Translation from thought to word filters out some of the most important things that attempting to be communicated. Therefore I want to learn languages in order to have a certain level of validity when I say: Language does not work. And from there to move forward and attempt to discover a method for communicating that does work, and forces honesty upon the communicator. In my utopian society the only way a person could lie is by never saying or doing anything ever. Another stipulation would be that everyone must first learn to accept each other for who they are, so that when someone feels like doing something awful, they can communicate about it, and therefore perhaps rid themselves of the desire through a less awful medium than actually committing some sort of horrid act. I want everyone to know themselves well enough that they can actually function. And while I am fantasizing, I want a new motorcycle, car, and house.
ReplyDeleteOk, so sort of the idea that you can't criticize something unless you know it. But how do you know that it's the language's deficiency and not a deficiency in how you're using it? A kind of "user error?"
ReplyDeleteAnd now the other part of my original question: how do you go about learning all these languages? What's worked for you?
Well, I think it's hard to tell one way or the other. Let's think of it this way, shall we? Let's take someone who only constructs sentences with one subject and one verb, and then let's take someone who has the entire English vocabulary at the tip of their tongue. The former person, we'll call him Paper Jones, will most likely express the way he feels by describing the events or context that led him to these feelings: "I chased the deer. I caught up with the deer. The deer kicked. It kicked me. I feel bad." Now let's imagine a similar situation with our very verbose friend, who we will name Tootz McCungus. She may say something more like: "Previously, as I proposed earlier, when I went for a jaunt in the surrounding countryside, I came upon a virile, progenitive buffalo. Upon detecting the undomesticated mammalian, I elevated my musket, only to have the beast commit to a violent sortie, in which my leg was eviscerated. What was, in fact, more startling though was the sensation that quickly swept over me, that was in some ways contravention, but in another sense a contrived sense of nonperformance, or deficiency, which was profoundly bewildering." In either extreme, the meaning is to a certain extent obscured by the language. In a lovely balanced way of speaking or writing, I find the same problem, but just more subtly. If I were to convey what Paper Jones, or Tootz McCungus were actually trying to say, I might say: "I was hunting, when I found a beautiful young animal (buffalo or deer, whichever you want). Unfortunately for me, the animal attacked me, leaving me injured, but this was of less concern, than perhaps the sensation of failure and insignificance that swept over me." To me, these words, that are mostly easy to understand whether you know the definition or not, simply fail to convey that "bad feeling" that Paper Jones encountered. No one really can relate to, or know what Paper Jones was feeling. One way (an extreme way) of thinking about it, is to say that all language does for us is to lie or conceal our true feelings and identity. No matter the words I choose the true essence of the thing is uncommunicable.
ReplyDeleteHow I learn languages is generally through emersion. Trying to learn language in class feels about the same as learning math. There are set of rules, and once you have them all memorized (a seemingly impossible task, since in language there are many exceptions in all languages) you can plug and chug using the vocabulary you may also be required to memorize. Learning Languages as a "first language" is my preferred method.