Learning Languages
Sep. 5th, 2004 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
guslPeople often ask me how I learned Dutch so fast. Here's the answer:
Well, first the obvious: it helps to have a lot of grey matter. One might consider using attention / memory enhancers. Being interested and a constant effort (which could come unconsciously to enthusiastic learners) is also important.
* Phonetics is very important as a first step. Perception comes first. You should try to make all the phonetic distinctions natives can make as early as possible, and work very consciously on always pronouncing things correctly (i.e. with the phonemes the natives use).
* Create your personal collection of complex sentences, which explore the grammar of the language. Choose the kind of sentences that could serve as a model for novel sentences (for answering questions such as "which word order is correct?"). This is obviously heuristic, not logical, and it's also how children acquire their first language. Do not waste time memorizing decontextualized words, such as past tenses or word lists, but instead work on dialogs in life-like situations and create as many associations as possible (perhaps by associating it with mental images or relating the word to related concepts).
IN OTHER WORDS, use chunks in context. Memorize meaningful sentences which exemplify difficult words, a strange expression or a difficult word order pattern, and act them out dramatically in your head.
Similarly, when you learn words, chunk them with their article: "DE fiets", "HET kantoor".
This little sentence: "omdat ik mijn huiswerk niet heb gedaan" exemplifies many rules of Dutch grammar, and helps me a lot with producing the correct word order in novel sentences.
* Spend a few minutes a day thinking about how to say things in the language, having imaginary conversations in your head. (I imagine this comes automatically to enthusiastic learners). At the same time, make sure you have contact with fluent speakers who can correct you, before you reinforce wrong patterns.
Though I don't know much about first language acquisition, it strikes me how much this seems to resemble a child learning his first language: first the sounds, later the grammar, and only later the exceptions to the rules.
OTHER NOTES:
I learned Dutch quickly because I *REALLY* wanted to learn it, so I worked very hard mentally. Whenever I heard something I didn't know, I focused my attention there to try to figure out what it meant / why it's said this way.
It's easier to remember something when you yourself figure it out. With flashcards/dictionaries, you may have to go over some words 10 or more times. Books with a lot of repetitive content (the green book approach) may be helpful here. e.g. "Today Bob is sick. He is not feeling well. He feels pain. He is going to the doctor.", because not only do you figure out new words, but it also helps you create a network of concepts in the new language. (although concepts may sometimes (or most of the time) be language-independent)
Don't be shy. Talk to people. Ask them to correct you, and occasionally interrupt them to explain a word or expression they used. It's better for you AND more polite than pretending you understand.
Well, first the obvious: it helps to have a lot of grey matter. One might consider using attention / memory enhancers. Being interested and a constant effort (which could come unconsciously to enthusiastic learners) is also important.
* Phonetics is very important as a first step. Perception comes first. You should try to make all the phonetic distinctions natives can make as early as possible, and work very consciously on always pronouncing things correctly (i.e. with the phonemes the natives use).
* Create your personal collection of complex sentences, which explore the grammar of the language. Choose the kind of sentences that could serve as a model for novel sentences (for answering questions such as "which word order is correct?"). This is obviously heuristic, not logical, and it's also how children acquire their first language. Do not waste time memorizing decontextualized words, such as past tenses or word lists, but instead work on dialogs in life-like situations and create as many associations as possible (perhaps by associating it with mental images or relating the word to related concepts).
IN OTHER WORDS, use chunks in context. Memorize meaningful sentences which exemplify difficult words, a strange expression or a difficult word order pattern, and act them out dramatically in your head.
Similarly, when you learn words, chunk them with their article: "DE fiets", "HET kantoor".
This little sentence: "omdat ik mijn huiswerk niet heb gedaan" exemplifies many rules of Dutch grammar, and helps me a lot with producing the correct word order in novel sentences.
* Spend a few minutes a day thinking about how to say things in the language, having imaginary conversations in your head. (I imagine this comes automatically to enthusiastic learners). At the same time, make sure you have contact with fluent speakers who can correct you, before you reinforce wrong patterns.
Though I don't know much about first language acquisition, it strikes me how much this seems to resemble a child learning his first language: first the sounds, later the grammar, and only later the exceptions to the rules.
OTHER NOTES:
I learned Dutch quickly because I *REALLY* wanted to learn it, so I worked very hard mentally. Whenever I heard something I didn't know, I focused my attention there to try to figure out what it meant / why it's said this way.
It's easier to remember something when you yourself figure it out. With flashcards/dictionaries, you may have to go over some words 10 or more times. Books with a lot of repetitive content (the green book approach) may be helpful here. e.g. "Today Bob is sick. He is not feeling well. He feels pain. He is going to the doctor.", because not only do you figure out new words, but it also helps you create a network of concepts in the new language. (although concepts may sometimes (or most of the time) be language-independent)
Don't be shy. Talk to people. Ask them to correct you, and occasionally interrupt them to explain a word or expression they used. It's better for you AND more polite than pretending you understand.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-12 03:13 am (UTC)Word order is part of the grammar right? So if Dutch, like German, has quite fixed ways of ordering words then that indicates a ridged grammar no?
For the record, even though my teacher has all this experience with different methods etc., at the moment I suspect that this kind of sentence learning approach will be the best for me. I believe that even for a language like Italian, if I can use this method to get my grammar fundamentals up to a good solid base level and then switch to just learning through conversation with native speakers after that, I should be able to generalise beyond just the grammatical structures that I learnt in the first step. That is, I'm not convinced at the moment that the criticisms of this method are valid if the method is used correctly. Well I guess we will see in the coming year if I'm right.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-12 06:45 am (UTC)Well, English has a very fixed word order, like Dutch. I think German has a more flexible word order, since it's more marked to make up for it. My point was that every grammar is somewhat "rigid", so I don't understand what you are comparing Dutch to when you say it has a "rigid grammar". Or do you actually mean "ridged grammar"? (in which case I don't understand)
Some grammars seem to be inherently simpler than others, though: English for example, seems rather simple.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-12 07:06 am (UTC)I've been told that in German the order of the verb, subject, direct object and indirect object as well and the placement of the adjective etc. is not as flexible as languages like Italian. I was under the impression that Dutch is similar. However I don't speak Dutch or German myself so I can only tell you what others have told me.