Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One

Chapter 11 (Excerpt)

The First Steps in Learning a Foreign Language

Language Learning is a Process

In an academic setting, languages are typically grouped with the humanities. Most of these subjects--history, literature, sociology, etc.--involve the learning of broad concepts, or the memorization of facts.

From the learner's perspective, foreign language study actually has more in common with mathematics or computer programming. A language is a skill. While an accomplished historian certainly possesses a great deal of knowledge and insight that can be applied to various situations, history itself is not a skill.

As with any skill, your abilities in a foreign language can be measured by your capacity to solve problems. At first, the level of problems that you can solve will be extremely limited: You will be able to greet someone correctly at different times of the day ("good morning", "good afternoon", etc.), and you will be able to give and solicit basic personal information such as your name, age, and nationality.

After more study, you will be able to solve slightly more difficult problems. Whereas before you were relying entirely on memorized scripts, you will now be formulating your own questions and statements. You will understand simple questions and responses from native speakers. The range of topics that you can effectively handle at this point will still be restricted. For the most part, your conversations will be limited to basic factual information: what you ate for breakfast, does the other person like living in New York, whether or not food is expensive in Italy, and so on. At this stage, however, a discussion about a complex philosophical or technical issue will be beyond your grasp.

If you persevere, you will notice that the difficult problems gradually become less intimidating. One day, you will discover that you can actually explain your company's products in the other language. Someone will insist on drawing you into a political discussion, and you will be able to reasonably present and defend your opinions regarding America's latest foreign policy decisions. There will still be a lot of gaps in your abilities to express yourself, but you will begin to get the feeling that you "speak" the language.

With more study, you will refine your skills, and develop the ability to discuss practically any topic in the foreign language. Speaking in the foreign language will be somewhat more comfortable to you. Conscious effort will no longer be required each time you participate in a conversation. Although you will realize that you lack the accent and cultural perspectives of a native speaker, you will be confident dealing with native speakers in their own mode of communication......

(End of Chapter Excerpt)

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