In the interests of transparency, I must confess the following: As I write this right now, there are several asterisks holding the place of the number slot in the title [fixed it!]. I'm not really sure, off the top of my head, how many things I want to put down here. Research shows that if it's much more than nine, it won't stick (hint: if you struggle with memorization, don't study vocab words in chunks of more than that; absolute max - 15). However, there are definitely some things that every language student, no matter where they are in their journey, from their first day to polishing up their fifth dialect, should keep in mind as they embark on a new phase of learning.
This year, I don't have my own classroom and a captive audience to share these things with. Luckily though, neither do I have to go through a seven page syllabus and standard procedure for turning in papers before I get to talk about the fun stuff. So, below, I have shared with you some key things to keep in mind as we start out the school year, or really, any next step or return to the language learning process.
1. Breathe - I'm 100% serious. This isn't just for sports, giving birth and an involuntary action to give your lungs something to keep them busy. Learning to speak a language is like learning to sing and you can't do it right if you take tiny breaths and squeak through your nose. Unless, of course, that is a specific accented sound you're trying for (French, I'm lookin' at you). If you squeak like a mouse because you're terrified to make a mistake, breathing will help that too. Extra oxygen in your brain helps you relax and calms you down and the extra airflow provides your vocal muscles with the support they need to try new movements and sounds. Treat learning a language like the high-intensity, oral activity that it is; like singing or playing an instrument, breathing is crucial, both physically and mentally.2. Temporary idiocy is to be expected, revel in it - Okay, this may sound harsh, but guess what, this is not your first language and you are going to say stupid and/or simple things that, from the perspective of your first-language self, are really embarrassing. For a beginning speaker, talking about the height and physical characteristics of your family can sound boring and kind of stupid or maybe you're still making mistakes trying to do even that. You have to realize that it's just a rung on the ladder and unfortunately for you, you don't remember being on that rung in your first language very well. If you did, you'd have some more patience with yourself. For a more advanced speaker, in addition to grammar mistakes, you're going to make some culturally inappropriate mistakes. You might ask if someone is sexually aroused instead of emotionally excited or if they're lactating instead of serving milk. Even when you know the concepts are different. Both of these are examples of good times to sit back, laugh a lot and think about how many other people have sounded just as inane or simple or clueless as you do right now. Because it's a really big number. Really, really big. Impossibly, unimaginably big.
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| All of them. Every. Single. One. Has sounded completely idiotic at one time or another. And probably in their first language too. |
3. You get out what you put in - This is really true for most things in life but it's especially true of learning language. It's also a concept that I've seen many students, of many ages, fail to grasp (I, myself, am guilty of forgetting sometimes). If you want to learn a language, there are ways to do it; sitting like a bump on a log in a Spanish class is not one of them. If your high school teacher isn't going fast enough for you, or is going too fast...welcome to the internet age. Google it. (Required self-marketing: Or look me up! See the lessons tab above!) If you're stuck in Level 1 Spanish and you're bored and you hate it because you would really like a free semester to take an elective: study your butt off independently and pass out of second semester. Most teachers and schools will be willing to work with you, but (get this, it's a tricky one) you have to do the upfront work first. Now there are a lot of methods and details and tips to this, but I don't want to put myself out of a job just as I'm getting started, so we'll save that for a later post. The moral of the story is: Even if you go to class every single day and sit their passively, listening and taking notes, you might not learn the language. You're putting almost nothing in. You absolutely must interact with the material; whether it comes from a teacher, a tutor or the internet, you have to choose to learn it. With that in mind, you can climb as high as you like or sit right there on your butt. It's your call.
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| Mmm...breakfast. |
Buenas suerte y pura vida,
Sarah
*Literally, "you'll speak the new language like you ate parakeets for breakfast." Very cultural. Parakeets make a lot of noise, talk a lot, you eat them, you talk a lot....you get the picture.
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