They say “you are what you eat”. In the global information age, maybe it should be “you are what you can say”.

 

Language, in its varied manifestations, is mankind’s defining achievement, and it also defines us. Language can be social, political, technical, practical, entertaining, sensual, philosophical, and much more. At the banquet of life, each language is another course. The better you can use languages, your own and others, the more you can enjoy the feast. At least that has been my experience.

 

I have achieved varying degrees of fluency in 21 languages, and look forward to learning more. To me, there are three language acquisition stages, which I outline here. A great deal of money is wasted on ineffective language instruction, which ignore these natural stages.

 

The First Stage

60-90 hours

The Three Language Acquisition Stages

My Goal: To become familiar with a strange language.

My Measurable: Learn to recognize 1000 words.

Main Task: Listen repeatedly to short, simple content.

My Target Languages (possible future): Hindi, Dutch, Indonesian.

 

When I begin, I need to “connect” with the new language and overcome my resistance to its strange sounds and structure. I don’t need to speak. I don’t need to understand any grammar. I don’t need to get anything “right”. I am not interested in mastering a few phrases or simple greetings. I want to get into the language, to get a feel for it.

 

Here is how Fred Genesee of McGill University describes the beginning stages of language learning.

 

“When learning occurs, neurochemical communication between neurons is facilitated, in other words a neural network is gradually established. Exposure to unfamiliar speech sounds is initially registered by the brain as undifferentiated neural activity. As exposure continues, the listener (and the brain) learns to differentiate among different sounds and even among short sequences of sounds that correspond to words or parts of words…”

 

I start by repeatedly listening to short morsels of content. My favourite kind of content for starting out in a language is the point of view story followed by circling questions. The 60 mini-stories we have for each of the 36 languages at LingQ are typically what I start with.

These stories deal with familiar situations, use the most frequent verbs and conjunctions in a language and give use some familiarity with a new language. They help forge the new “neural networks” in my brain. I end up listening to them many times, 30 or more times, but not all at once. After focusing intensely on one story, I move ahead to a new one while the first one is still unclear, I regularly come back to the old ones. The Internet and my iPhone make this content accessible and portable like never before in history.

I can read the text of whatever I am listening to on my mobile device. This allows me to access an online dictionary and create my own database of words and phrases for review in a variety of ways on LingQ. The acquisition of words and phrases, encountered in my listening and reading, is my key measurable goal as I grow in a language.

 

New words in a language at first seem strange and confusingly similar to each other. However, by staying with simple content, where common words appear often in different contexts, these words eventually start to stick. I associate the new words and phrases with specific contexts where I have heard them. The more associations I can attach to a word or phrase, the easier they become to remember.

 

I don’t speak much at first. I have so few words and don’t yet understand very well. I practice repeating words and phrases out loud to myself, in a haphazard manner. I don’t worry about pronunciation. That will be easier to work on once my brain gets better at distinguishing the sounds.

 

At some point I may speak a little, just for fun, to try out what I have learned. I can easily find a native speaker tutor or language exchange partner via the Internet. I don’t go to classrooms, since I don’t want to be confused by other non-native speakers.

 

The Second Stage   

180-360 hours

The Three Language Acquisition Stages

My Goal: To understand ordinary conversations and most everyday language.

My Measurable: Less than 10% unknown words in most conversations.

Main tasks: Listen to natural conversations, work on vocabulary, step up speaking and writing activity.

My Current Target Languages: Persian, Arabic, Turkish   

 

Now that I no longer find the language strange, I want to deal with the language as it is usually spoken or written by native speakers. This is sometimes referred to as “authentic” language.

 

Conversation is the easiest “authentic” content to understand, because the most commonly used words of a language account for 90-95% of conversations. The same most commonly used words usually account for 70-75% of more formal written material. Unfortunately, interesting and authentic conversational content with transcripts is difficult to find. Graded reading and listening material, usually stories, is another useful form of intermediate learning content. The key is to find material of interest. There are lots of graded readers available for English, often with audio. Less is available for other languages. Olly Richards’ collection is a great resource in this regard.

 

For all three of these languages there is a fair collection of content in our libraries at LingQ. One good example of intermediate content is the History of Iran series or “The Iranians” courses at LingQ. Natural, authentic, and yet not too difficult.

 

Each item of study is now longer, three to five minutes or even 10 minutes or longer. I listen to each item less frequently and cover more material, in order to learn more words. I use dead time, doing chores, driving or jogging to listen, over and over. The more words I already know, the easier it is to learn new words. Vocabulary is like money, “the more you have the more you get” or “the rich get richer”.

I like to stick to interesting and familiar subjects in my listening and reading, so I quickly drop anything that is uninteresting, or where I do not like the voice of the narrator or the sound quality.  At first it seems that native speakers speak very quickly, but my brain gets used to the natural flow, with enough repetition. I am not frustrated when I do not understand “authentic content”. I feel exhilarated when I do.

 

Again, Professor Genesee’s observations are helpful. Students’ vocabulary acquisition can be enhanced when it is embedded in real-world complex contexts that are familiar to them.

 

I now engage more often with native speaker tutors on the Internet, but once or twice a week is enough. Speaking helps me to identify weaknesses, missing words, concepts that I can’t express, and words that I have trouble pronouncing. I can then work on these things on my own.

 

With limited contact with native speakers, I also write, especially on blogs and forums. Writing is great for learning. I have time to compose my thoughts, and retain a record of my mistakes and problems.

 

At this stage, my main emphasis is still to listen, read, and increase my vocabulary.

 

The Third Stage

180 hours to forever

The Three Language Acquisition Stages

My Goal: Continue to enjoy the language, learn more words, and to use the language better.

My Measurable: Less than 10% unknown words in contexts that are of interest.

Main tasks: Follow my interests.

My Potential Target Languages:  Russian, Korean, Polish and many others.

 

This is the most rewarding stage. I can travel to the country where the language is spoken, or meet with native speakers. I know I will enjoy the experience, even though I make mistakes. I can maintain the language, even if I go for long periods without using it. I can seek out interesting content so that I can be learning about the history and culture of a country while improving in the language, and without deliberately or consciously studying the language.

 

Unfortunately I am so busy learning new languages that I don’t really have time to work on the languages that are at this stage. If I did have the time, this would be the time to study grammar. I would seek out books and audio books on grammar, intended for native speakers of the language. I am now familiar enough with the language, through exposure, that I can use style and usage manuals intended for native speakers. Nevertheless, my personal interest takes me more to history and literature. I find reading books and listening to audiobooks, on subjects of interest, is the most enjoyable and most effective way to continue improving, or to refresh in a language that I have not used for a while.

I am not required to take any language proficiency tests. If I were, this is the stage when I would prepare in earnest for them. The keys to success on these tests are the ability to read quickly and comprehend the spoken language, and a wide vocabulary of words and phrases, all of which I have already acquired, enjoyably and painlessly. Only at this level would I take these test, since I know that I would score well.

 

This is also the stage to work on special skills like making presentations, writing academic papers, or producing business reports. It is easy to find relevant material in the target language on the Web and elsewhere. The goal is to imitate the wording and turns of phrase, as well as the ways of organizing information, that are most appreciated in a particular language and culture. It is easy enough to find a native speaker professional tutor or coach, again via the Web, to work on these skills.

 

Conclusion

Having done it a few times, I know that I can learn a new language, or improve in a language I already speak well, including my own.

 

You too can move through the three language acquisition stages and gain fluency in your target language. The key is motivation and enjoyment, not a school or a diploma. I know, as well, that the pursuit of perfection in any language is futile, so I am happy to make mistakes and do not really ask to be corrected. I just like to feast on languages, drinking, eating, tasting, chewing and digesting them. I never get full, although I may get a little intoxicated from time to time.