By Aaron Myers
There
are a lot of choices available for learning another language. There always have
been. With the Internet though, the quantity of information about learning
language has grown exponentially. So have the number of programs that promise
you more than could ever be true. Programs, methods, course, resources – there
are more options for learning language now than there have ever been.
There
are also more opinions and arguments over what works best. So the question is,
should you:
- begin speaking right away or wait to speak until you’re ready?
- use LingQ or Livemocha or Rosetta Stone or does all online learning really just stink?
- study grammar or is studying grammar of the devil?
- study for hours a day or just play with the language and have fun?
- use SRS, DLI, SSR, AL, UG, or just sit around in your BVDs?
- use the TV method, core novel method or the put the book under your pillow at night method?
Anyway,
a casual trip through the blogs of those of us who write about language learning
will reveal a myriad of ideas, programs, methods and arguments for and against
all of them. Drop down into the comment section and it seems often that the
fate of all mankind rests on one method or another being defended and proven
with out a doubt to be the best or attacked as an inferior idea that will lead
to the death of millions.
I
try to steer clear of the arguments, but the discussions, when tactful, are
truly useful and indeed an important part of improving language learning for all
of us. They are discussions that need to keep taking place, for with out them a
stagnation can occur that hurts language learners everywhere. It is why I
encourage all of my readers to read other bloggers, to learn from them and their language
learning.
But
I must tell you that there is one program, one method that is the worlds best
when it comes to language learning. It is YOU. You the language learner. You are the best method, the best
program, the best thing that has happened to your language learning and it is
because of you that you will
learn the language.
People
have been learning languages for thousands of years using all sorts of crazy
methods and ideas, some of which are ridiculous. But they still learned
other languages.
Methods
and programs are important to think about. I wrote as much when I shared a
bit of an Annie Dillard story a few weeks back. But in the end, your
learning depends on you. We are all different.
Everyone
I know who has learned another language well, has done it in a different way. I
have one friend here in Istanbul who is an academic geek. He loves the process
of learning as much as he loves being able to use the language. He loves
studying grammar books and working through stuff that would kill me. I think he
makes grammar trees as a hobby.
Another
friend volunteers as a waiter on his off days at a local restaurant just so he
can be in the language for eight hours straight once a week. Others have used
language helpers and others signed up for local classes. And they are all
successful language learners.
The
thing they all had going for them was that they knew themselves. They
recognized what they liked, what their learning style was and how they felt like
they could best learn. They put themselves firmly in charge of their learning
and made the choices they needed to make so that they could succeed.
For
one friend, that meant signing up for a Turkish class but never doing any of the
assigned homework. It messed with her teacher, but hey, she was paying the bill
and was learning loads and enjoying the journey.
I
look at it this way. In order to learn a language you need two things. You
need good exposure to the language – comprehensible input – and you need time. Lots of time. A 1,000 page grammar textbook written at the turn of
the century will get you both if you can stomach it and I am pretty sure you
would learn the language working through it.
I
once read that, with the Defense Language Institute material, soldiers signed up
and then spent eight hours a day, five days a week, sitting in a classroom going
through the books for a year straight. That is over 2,000 hours of exposure to
the language.
Now,
I need to step back and say that while input plus time will lead to language
learning, the reality is that if you hate something, you won’t put in the time.
And that is a big part of the reason why the discussions on the various blogs
are so very important.
Everyone
is out there experimenting, finding out what they love to do to learn language.
The more people who do this, the more likely it is that you will run across an
idea or method or strategy that fits what you need.
But you need to decide. I can’t. I can
offer ideas. Lots of ideas. I can encourage you to think about ways to maximize any method to
get the most out of it for your learning style and your personality and all that
goes in to making you who you are.
But in the end, it’s up to YOU.
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