One thing I haven't mastered is the ability to speak, or fully understand, another language. At various points you hit a wall and give up, at least if you try to do it on your own. Clearly it is possible to learn several languages as there are entire countries where people speak three or more languages. This article is on the back of something I saw on YouTube, specifically one of the TedX talks. The speaker outlined 5 principles and seven actions. Here I will outline those facts and add some extra commentary.
The speaker (Chris Lonsdale, TedXLinganUniversity) stated that being fluent in a language required only 3000 words. The justification is that while a language can have several thousand words (1 million+ for English), 90% of the everyday language is restricted to about 3000 words. If the goal is set at this level then language acquisition seems much more achievable. What makes this more interesting is that rapid acquisition of a language is a also a less formidable goal, since a speaker needs a far smaller number of words than otherwise suspected.
The speaker claims that you can learn another language in 6 months by following his principles and actions. I'm intrigued and decided to try some of his suggestions to see how quickly I can learn 3000 words, and will be the subject of a follow up article.
Here are the main take-aways from the video:
Myths: (1) You don't need talent. (2) Immersion doesn't matter.
The five principles are:
- Focus on language content that is relevant to you.
- Use your language as a tool to communicate from day 1.
- When you understand the message you will acquire the language unconsciously, i.e comprehensible input (Krashen, et al)
- Language is not about accumulating a lot of knowledge but is rather a type of physiological training. (speak / hear)
- Psycho-physiological state matters – you need to be happy, relaxed, and most importantly, you need to be tolerant of ambiguity. Don’t try to understand every detail as it will drive you crazy.
The seven actions are:
- Listen a lot – it doesn’t matter if you understand or not. Listen to rhythms and patterns.
- Focus on getting the meaning first, before the words. Body language and facial expressions can help.
- Start mixing, get creative, and use what you’re learning.
- Focus on the core – the most commonly-used words, and use the language to learn more (What is this/that? How do you say ? etc.)
- Get a language parent – someone who is fluent in the language and who will do their best to understand what you mean; who will not correct. your mistakes; who will feedback their understanding of what you’re saying using correct language, and uses words that you know.
- Copy the face – watch native speakers and observe who their face, and particular their mouth, moves when they’re speaking.
- “Direct connect” to the target language – find ways to connect words directly with images and other internal representations.