Category: Language learning

Social aspects of language learning

By Simon

In a paper I read recently – The Contemporary Esperanto Speech Community by Adelina Solis – the idea that female language learners tend to prefer going to language classes, as this gives their studies a social aspect, and that male language learners are more likely to learn on their own, is discussed. This was based on a survey of 13 Esperanto learners – not a large sample, and not necessarily representative of language learners as a whole, but it is an interesting observation.

In my own experience I’ve found that language classes often have more female students than male students, and friends I’ve mentioned this to have said the same.

Do you think there is any substance in this?

Do you know of any studies or surveys on this?

Polyglot Gathering Berlin 2015

By Simon

I got back from the Polyglot Gathering in Berlin about an hour ago. I took the train all the way from Berlin to Bangor, via Cologne, Brussels, London, Crewe and Chester, leaving Berlin just before 7am this morning, and arriving in Bangor just after 9pm this evening. On the way there I also travelled by train, though I had to stay in Brussels for one night, and continued the next day. It cost slightly more than flying (only about £20 more) and took a bit longer (about 2 hours – more on the way there), but I saw so much more, and went through parts of France and Germany I hadn’t been before, and visited Belgium for the first time. The engineers on German railways started a 5-day strike today, and I was worried that my trains might not be running. Fortunately they did run, and were more or less on time.

The gathering was bigger than last year with about 350 participants from many countries. There were many people there I knew from last year’s gathering, and from the Polyglot Conference in Novi Sad, and I met lots of new people. I had conversations in all the languages I know well, and most of the ones I know less well. There was a Breton speaker there, though I didn’t get to talk to him, as well as speakers of Welsh, Irish, Cornish and Scottish Gaelic. Like last year, there were plenty of Esperanto speakers, and I had quite a few conversations in Esperanto, which I brushed up a bit beforehand. There were a number of people who had studied sign languages there, including BSL, ASL, Dutch Sign Language (Nederlandse Gebarentaal / NGT) and Slovak Sign Language (Slovenský posunkový jazyk / SPJ), and the Slovak signer demonstrated how she interprets songs in SPJ, which was fascinating to watch.

The talks and lectures were really interesting, and I went to quite a few introductions to languages, including Northern Sami, Navajo, Arabic, Hebrew, Milanese, Gottlandic, Finnish, Greek and Basque. I don’t intend to learn any of these languages just yet, but it was fascinating to find out more about them. My own presentation, on the History of Writing, was well received, and I got lots of positive comments.

Some of the polyglots at the Polyglot Gathering in Berlin in May 2015
Some of the polyglots at the Polyglot Gathering – from right to left: Richard Simcott, Alex Rawlings, Christopher Huff, Jimmy Melo, and me – between us we speak at least 20 or 30 languages, to varying degrees.

The evening activities included a polyglot games evening, an international culinary festival – I took some Welsh cakes and bara brith, which were popular – a book fair, a polyglot game show, a concert with the multilingual French singer JoMo, who sang in 25 different languages, and an international cultural evening, at which I sang a Scottish Gaelic waulking song (Ceud soiridh soiridh bhuam) and one of my own songs – A Hen in My Hat (in 5 languages). After the cultural evening there was a little Irish and Scottish music session – I had a couple of tin whistles with me, and a few other people had instruments.

So now I’m back in Bangor and will start to catch up with the work I couldn’t do while away due to time constraints and internet connection issues.

Five methods for improving your language level towards Mastery

By Simon

This is a guest post by Benny Lewis, of Fluent in 3 Months. He’s launching a series of beginner guides for Chinese, French, Spanish, German, English and Italian this week, but in today’s post he wanted to write some tips here for those of you working on your more advanced skills!

If you’ve been studying a foreign language for a while, you’ve likely considered testing yourself to determine just how “good” you actually are. Many turn to the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), which provides a reliable standardized system to test and understand language levels.

While I’m usually known for my 3 month language “missions” to go from an absolute beginner to a B1/B2 level, this post is for the steps beyond those early stages. (If you are a beginner language learner then be sure to check out these brand new guides I have just created about getting started in particular languages.)

Drawing from my own experiences sitting the C2 level exams in both Spanish and German, I will share with you 5 methods for building your language level from CEFR’s B2 (“upper intermediate”) to C2 (“mastery”). But even if you aren’t preparing for a specific exam, these techniques will help you level up your language skills, regardless of your end goals.

Taking a Test vs. Developing Communication Skills
Studying for a test and for communication are not the same thing. With a test, your study needs to account for the specific format of the test, whereas day-to-day communication doesn’t require you to perform the same type of tasks. Your methods need to match your end goals with the language and, more importantly, the way you study for a test may not actually improve your ability to communicate in the language.

That probably sounds counterintuitive. After all, shouldn’t studying for a language test improve your communication ability? Essentially, tests have such specific requirements that you may need to step away from focusing on improving your conversation fluency, in favor of alternative methods.

Understanding the C2 Level and Parts of the Exam
The main difference between the B2 and C2 levels is being able to identify subtle differences and distinctions in how ideas are expressed. At C2 level, you’re understanding fine shades of meaning, so that you can express and understand a topic in a variety of ways.

CEFR level exams are broken up in to five parts: oral, writing, grammar, reading and listening, and we’re going to discuss specific methods to help you develop the skills you need for each part of the test.

1. Study Less to Improve Your Oral Skills
The oral part of the exam is where your ability to comfortably flow with the language comes in to play, and it’s difficult to develop a high level of oral skill if you’re always stuck inside a book.

Instead of focusing all of your energy on grammar rules and vocabulary flash cards, get out and meet with native speakers for at least an hour a day, speaking only in the target language. Can’t meet in person? Then find online conversations partners to meet with over Skype.

While I advise this for people who want to reach B1/B2 level too, what needs to change is what you talk about if you are aiming for Mastery. In my C-level conversations, I steer our chats to more advanced topics, like philosophy, politics, and have even had (friendly) debates with my teachers. In some sessions, I may watch a news report and have to give my opinion on it.

Forcing yourself outside of your comfort zone will open up new conversation topics to you. This comes with practice rather than studying. After your spoken session, take all the new words you learned or all the things you wish you could have said and revise that, but the bulk of your oral improvement needs to come from practice.

2. Write About Specific Topics, Over and Over Again
If you can speak confidently and correctly, then transferring that skill to writing is generally pretty easy. The main difference is to remove casual empty-softeners (“like”, “y’know”, “isn’t it?”) and conversational connectors which makes speech seem more natural, but doesn’t work in the written form.

One method I recommend is to practice writing about the themes that are common for the exam and then have them reviewed by a native speaker. Then, try to write (without referring to the original) on the same topic again, using different ways of expressing yourself. You can get free feedback on short texts on lang-8, but I recommend having someone familiar with the exam structure to correct much longer texts and offer more feedback than simple corrections, such as how you could develop your ideas more.

Since one of the main differences between B2 and C2 is your ability to understand subtle distinctions in ways of expression, it’s helpful to practice this skill by writing on similar topics in multiple ways. Be sure to have a native speaker review your different texts and explain how the feeling and nuanced meaning of one is different than the other.

3. Don’t Just Study Grammar, Use It!
To build your skills for the grammar test you will need to take a two-pronged approach.

First, study and learn to recognise grammatical patterns. CEFR examinations require an understanding of technical aspects of the language so you will need to study for the specific exam format. Look at past papers from the exam, and come up with as many possible iterations of of the answers as you can.

Second, enhance your study of technical grammar with regular practise of the rules you are learning. Schedule time with a native to review the grammar patterns you have studied and use them in actual communication.

This practical application of the material will help you build a deeper understanding, because the more you practice the rules, the more familiar they will become.

4. Build a Deep Understanding of Specific Vocabulary
The reading section in a C2 exam requires you to rephrase answers, extrapolate slightly, search through text for certain information and be able to produce vocabulary – not just recognise it. This is not the same as generally summarising a chapter of a book, for example.

To prepare, practice answering questions on texts for sample exams. Don’t just “read a lot”. Then run those answers through a native, and take note of key vocabulary that comes up again and again.

This may sound odd, but in my experience, reading more won’t necessarily improve your reading score on an exam. The focus in these exams is on an active and deep understanding of the language. When you see questions about a text you’re reading, you’ll need to demonstrate that you have a precise understanding of the words on the page, and this is much more about being familiar with specific vocabulary.

5. Create a Focused Environment for Listening and Taking Notes
Given the format for CEFR exams, passive listening will have little effect on improving your score. It is great for giving you a “feel” for the language and to get used to the sounds, but it doesn’t help you with the skills you need to develop at this level — focused listening and taking notes.

There are two things you can do to improve these skills. First, when you are listening to audio in the target language, use 100% of your focus on what you are hearing (not doing anything else at the same time). Try to hear and understand as many details as possible from the audio.

Second, practice taking notes. Start by listening to a 30 second segment of audio and write down as much as you can about what you’ve heard. The goal isn’t to write the text verbatim, but to make sure you can share specific details about the information. You can increase the challenge by extending the time by 15 second increments until you are comfortable taking notes for a 3 to 5 minute audio recording.

Make a Plan That Works For You
When you’re preparing for your next exam (or working to “level up” with your language), make a plan for your study. Don’t just leave it to chance or try to pick up things passively.

Although I’ve provided some methods here, you should still make sure that your study is always geared towards your specific ways of learning. Your “best” method for learning a language is going to be different than mine or someone else’s, so look at study methods more like a scientist experimenting with different theories. Test them out, see how they work for you, and then keep those that have the best results.

Studying for an exam is different than studying for daily use of a language. Plan your study to accommodate the specific requirements of the exam and focus on those methods that will provide your best results.

Living Languages – a special report on language learning

By Simon

Living Languages - a special report on language learning

I came across an article about language learning in the Guardian today which discusses the findings of a report on language learning [PDF] based on a two-year study carried out by the Guardian and the British Academy.

The report makes interesting reading, and looks at many aspects of language learning, such as language education, young people’s attitudes to language learning, language and social change, as well as many personal stories about how people learn and use languages.

Compulsory languages

By Simon

In an article I came across today in the Irish Times the writer, an Irish speaker, wonders whether the compulsory teaching of Irish language in schools in Ireland is the best way to keep the language alive. He argues that those who are interested in the language will continue to learn it and speak it even if it is no longer compulsory in schools. I’ve seen suggestions like this many times for Irish and other minority languages, and it is difficult to say what is best as there is some truth in the idea that making a subject compulsory isn’t necessarily the best way to get people to study it.

What are your thoughts on this?

Building up gradually

By Simon

I often see that when starting a new project, such as learning a language, we often commit ourselves to studying of a certain amount of time every day or every week – it might be an hour a day or at least 10 hours a week, for example. There’s nothing wrong with this, and if you’re very self-disciplined and consistent you can sustain it. However, it can be difficult to stick to such plans if you’re somewhat lacking in self-discipline, especially if your plans are ambitious.

I don’t usually announce my language learning plans publicly. I might mention that I’m concentrating on a particular language, but I don’t give exact details of how long and how often I study, as this tends to vary a lot. I might start out with the intention of studying for an hour a day, but rarely stick to it for any length of time Usually after a week or two my regular study times become short and/or more sporadic and I might start another project – learning another language or a new instrument, or something completely different.

To acquire a new habit, such as studying a language every day, it might be best to build up to it gradually. So instead studying for an hour a day from the start, maybe it would be better to do 5 or 10 minutes, and if you can keep that up for a week or two, then increase it to 15 or 20 minutes. By building it up gradually like this you ease gently into the new habit, which might make it more sustainable.

Do you jump straight into new projects? Can you maintain your enthusiasm for them, or do you tend to burn out or loose steam after a certain time? Have you tried building up to them gradually?

Talking about language and languages

By Simon

I love using my languages, especially the ones I speak well or at least fairly well. Even the ones I know bits of are fun to use. However, I also enjoy taking about language and languages. I like finding out where words come from and finding connections within and between languages. I’m fascinated by how different languages work – their phonology, syntax, morphology, and also like to discover different cultures and customs.

Actually learning languages is also fun, though can be somewhat tedious at times, and even frustrating, when I don’t make as much progress as I want to, or can’t remember simple vocabulary and grammar. This is probably because I tend to dabble in many languages, learning bits here and there, and rarely focusing on one for any length of time.

Do you see languages a subject of interest and fascination in themselves, or as tools to help you communicate, meet people, and explore other cultures, etc? Or maybe as a bit of both.

I think I’m more interested in languages themselves.

Flashcards

By Simon

At the moment I’m focusing on improving my Russian and Czech, and am trying to keep my other languages ticking over. I’ve starting using Anki to store and learn words and phrases, and am finding it very useful. For words that can be visually represented, I use pictures rather than translations on the flash cards – an idea from Gabriel Wyner’s book Fluent Forever. For other words and phrases I use English translations. I’ve briefly dabbled with SRS programs like Anki before, but never really gave them much time. Now I’m starting to see how useful and effective they can be, especially if you make your own lists, rather than relying on those made by others.

Another way I’m using to help me remember words is to learn the equivalent signs from the appropriate sign language, which I find in the Spread The Sign multilingual sign language dictionary. So I’m learning Czech words and Czech Sign Language signs, and so on. This gives me gestures I can link to the spoken and written words, and I hope it will help me to remember them.

Do you use Anki or other SRS / flash card programs? Do you find them useful?

What does it take to master a language?

By Simon

Today we have a guest post from Alex Sorin of Foreigncy featuring an interview with their Persian linguist, Matt Cheek.

Those who have succeeded in turning their passion for languages into a career making a difference in the world know that mastering a language takes years of persistence and dedication. Turning your passion into your trade requires more than just language study, it includes significant time spent abroad absorbing a country’s culture, and always seeking new tools to harness your skills. The below interview was conducted with Foreigncy‘s Persian linguist, who shares his thoughts on what it took to master the Persian language and how his journey studying Persian led to a deeper appreciation of a foreign culture.

First, what is your favorite Persian expression?

دستت درد نکنه – “Dastet dard nakoneh” It’s an idiomatic expression meaning roughly “thank you” or “don’t trouble yourself” in Persian, but the literal translation is “May your hand not have pain.” I also really like the Persian saying, گل پشت و رو نداره “Gol posht o ro nadareh” which is used specifically when you are sitting directly behind someone and they turn around to apologize for your having to sit directly behind them and see the back of their head. This phrase is a response to that apology and literally translates to “A flower doesn’t have a front or back.” I like idioms because they really reveal a lot about how people from that culture think.

When did you become interested in studying Persian and what were the most challenging aspects about learning the language?

I’ve always been interested in languages in general. In high school, Spanish and French were the only classes I consistently did well in, but I was basically ordered to be interested in Persian when I showed up to the Defense Language Institute and assigned to learn the language based on aptitude tests and the needs of the Marine Corps. Being assigned to Persian turned out to be an amazing thing as I fell in love with the language and the culture of Iran almost instantly. I can’t imagine where I’d be if I had been assigned any other language. The most challenging aspect of the language for me to grasp was the direct object marker را “ra” and when to use it.

How would you compare the military’s language learning methods to that of universities? What’s better or worse?

Honestly, the military’s language training was so vastly superior it’s not even a fair comparison. At DLI you are assigned to a class of around 20-30 students from all military branches. All of the students have no knowledge of the language at all when the program begins. The class is further broken down into sections and each section may have 4 students each with each section having a designated “main” professor. The professors at DLI are all native speakers for the target language and they rotate hours teaching your section, so you may be exposed to an Iranian PhD with a Tehrani accent in the first hour of the day, an Iranian PhD with a Shirazi accent in the second hour, and so on. Each day you study with these native instructors for a minimum of 7 hours and then you have mandatory study halls and homework. So, it’s a very intensive program and my Persian program lasted for 52 weeks. By the end of the program we were dreaming in Persian and able to carry on full conversations about abstract ideas and we reached levels of fluency that were pretty astounding.

In college, I was in the highest level of Persian classes offered by UNC and I was one of three students in the class and the only non-native speaker among the group. My professor was a PhD holding Iranian, but she was the lone professor, which meant exposure to only one accent. The military simply has the advantages of being capable of taking 100% of students’ time and good performance on the foreign language proficiency tests comes with a monthly pay increase. While in college I had Persian classes three days a week for fifty minutes at a time with homework and readings to complete before each class session. If you want to become proficient in a language and your plan is to do so through college classes, you will need to supplement whatever classes you take with a lot of additional resources, whether that is daily language drills like we do at Foreigncy, time spent speaking with native speakers, listening to podcasts and YouTube videos, or reading news articles. I have plenty of friends that became highly proficient in Persian through college though, so it’s definitely possible to become proficient in a language by way of college classes.

Tell me a bit about your time in Tajikistan. How crucial is it for a Persian language student to live in a country where the language is spoken? What role did being immersed in the culture play in shaping your mastery of the language and appreciation for it?

I had a great time studying in Tajikistan. It was an eye-opening experience because I thought I was going to be able to communicate effectively going into the experience, but what I found out is that Tajik involves far more Russian loan-words than I had expected. It’s crucial for a student of any language to immerse themselves in the language and culture in order to really learn to speak the language on a high level, but immersion doesn’t exactly necessitate living in that country. For instance, a Persian speaker can speak far more Iranian Persian in parts of Los Angeles than they can in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. I was really in a unique position there as I was immersed in Tajik language and culture, but my goal was to study Iranian Persian. The role that my immersion experience played in my language skills was a large one as I improved my speaking and listening a great deal, I learned a lot more about everyday idioms and speech patterns, and I was able to have some great experiences observing how Sunni Islam is lived on a daily basis.

When you were starting out as a Persian student, what were some study strategies that worked best for you?

I cannot stress enough the importance of listening to and communicating with native speakers. You can pick up some bad habits if you only speak with second-language speakers of a language and you will develop an awkward accent. For me personally, I spent as much time with my professors outside of the classroom as they would allow me to. I did everything short of following them home at night because I saw the need for speaking and listening and having immediate feedback if I mispronounced or misunderstood something. Another thing I did then and do still to this day is I try to translate everything into Persian in my head, even my thoughts. A good practice to get into is to, when speaking English, stop yourself and think, “how would I say that in X language?” If you can’t express the thought in your target language, then go learn how to. I also studied flashcards religiously, but it’s important to not just look at the target language and think of the English translation, the reverse is harder and helps ingrain the target word into your brain so you can begin to think in the target language. It’s also important to approach a language with no fear, don’t be afraid of messing up or sounding like an idiot.

If I was a Persian student, how do you recommend navigating a Foreigncy Persian set to utilize it to the fullest?

You should review the flash cards thoroughly, go through them with the Persian side showing first and listen to the pronunciation of the words you don’t know how to pronounce. Then, go through the flashcards again with the English side showing first. If you can’t think of all of the Persian equivalents of the English words, review the cards again. Then complete the drag and drop quiz a few times until you feel comfortable enough to read the article. Read the article and copy/paste words you don’t know to save later so you can define them and make flashcards out of them. If you did this everyday, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to pick up a Persian language newspaper and read and comprehend it.

What separates someone who becomes a language expert from those that don’t quite make it to that level, because we all start at the same place. Is it raw talent and inherent language ability, or does determination and persistence win out in the end?

There is undoubtedly some aspect of innate ability involved in second language learning, this has been scientifically proven. But, determination plays a much larger role in my eyes. If you are willing to put in the time and energy actively seeking out uses for your second language, you will not only improve linguistically, but you may even find unique opportunities you never would have had as a monolingual person. For example, in an attempt to use more Persian and Dari, I volunteered to translate green card application appointments for Iranian and Afghan refugees in my city through a non-profit organization and it’s not only been productive for me from a linguistic perspective, but it has been a rewarding experience that has led me to meeting some interesting people with unique perspectives.

About Foreigncy
Foreigncy is a critical language training website for professional and aspiring linguists. Foreigncy’s team prepares daily language sets that prepare you to read foreign language news articles in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hebrew, Mandarin, and Russian.

French & English Language Exchange

By Simon

I went to the French & English Language Exchange group in Liverpool last night – a friend found it on Meetup, decided to see what it was like, and asked me to come along. They meet twice a month at Thomas Rigby’s, a pub in the centre of Liverpool, and last night there were 30 or 40 people there, including some French people – far more than ever go to the Bangor French conversation group. I talked to various people from England, Brazil, China and New Zealand in English, French, Mandarin and Portuguese. So it was worth going, though it is quite a long way to go – about an hour and a half from Bangor – and I might go back there occasionally.

Do you meet up to find / arrange similar groups?

Does it work well for you?

There are very few groups on meet up in the Bangor area at the moment, but I might set one up.