Over the years I have become very critical of the way we teach languages. The focus on grammar and proper word usage, works for some people, for the way their brains acquire language, but not for all. My brain acquires language by vocabulary and usage, hearing and using the language in an interactive way. My brain learns the rules of usage by hearing others use the language correctly - not by learning rules and applying them as my brain is processing the words. For the most part, this is how I learned my first language, there are only a handful of "rules" that I have to work through for English to flow for me. Teaching a second language as a set of rules, does not work for me.
I enjoy hearing French, I enjoy reading French words mixed into a text in English.
Do you have a second language?
I don't have another language although I learnt French for four years when I was a teen. Instinct tells me you are correct as that is the way we learn as children, but maybe that is not for everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe more we understand the brain, the more we understand that we learn differently, and we need multiple teaching methods to reach more people
DeleteI read french, and a little spanish. I could read the above sign without google translate.
ReplyDeleteI worked on Spanish when I was in Florida and never mastered it.
DeleteForty years ago I was fluent in French and took university classes taught in French. Alas, it has deteriorated from lack of use since. I can still read it pretty well but I'm shy about speaking it. One of the things I hope to do in retirement is get back my conversational ability in French. The best way to learn any language is through immersion.
ReplyDeleteShould come back fast
DeleteI can read Spanish and understand about a quarter of what I'm reading, probably less. I've ordered food at Mexican restaurants and the servers have asked on more than one occasion if I was Hispanic. Apparently I have no American accent when I order and my skin tone and features confuse a lot of people :). I tried taking a class at a local community college, but my attention span is shot and the students kept interrupting the teacher with questions that had already been answered. I got bored really fast and left. I don't care for French. I can't do the accent. Spanish was so much easier for me, being raised in San Diego.
ReplyDeleteSpanish is easier to use, I should work on that
DeleteI had three years of German in high school, and was thus placed in second year German in college. It was a tough class, and I didn't do well. It didn't help that I was a freshman and not really applying myself yet.
ReplyDeleteThat was in the early 70s. In 1985, I took a two year assignment teaching English at a private International School in Oberursel, West Germany, near Frankfurt. I took some conversational classes while I was there, but I am ashamed to say that I left after the two years were up, never having advanced beyond ordering food, making appointments over the phone, and basic greetings. EVERYONE spoke English. I missed a perfect opportunity.
Most Germans under the age of 40 are able to speak at least some English, we spent two weeks there in 2015l and seldom had an issue
DeleteI learn languages the same as you. It sounds like your French has served you well. Jerry doesn’t have an ear for languages and has to be much more structured and academic in his approach.
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