Tag Archives: native speaker

Language Acquisition

Fly-By Reading

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Fly-by Reading

How can I remain fluent in a language that I do not have the opportunity to use every day? That is the question. If you aspire to speak more than two languages, you need to find a way to imitate the environment in which you must use those languages in your daily life in order to maintain your skills in those languages. The problem is that we sleep for eight hours a day (at least the very luckiest of us do), we work eight hours a day, and we have responsibilities beyond work that keep us busy for most of the remaining eight hours. How can we fit our languages into our day?

I have played with many techniques for solving this problem, and one of the most promising methods I’ve developed is what I call “fly-by reading.” Anyone familiar with the Speakening method of language learning is already familiar with the core practice of dividing sentences into digestible, useful phrases and repeating those phrases for understanding and fluency. There is nothing more productive a language learner can do. However, after achieving fluency in a language, this technique can be reserved for new and unfamiliar phrases only.

Fly-by reading allows us to review vast amounts of language in a much shorter time than the essential phrase-by-phrase method. However, it is only appropriate for those languages we have already acquired. Choose an advanced text in the target language that offers several translated examples of all the grammatical structures and sentence patterns commonly found in that language. Read through these examples at a comfortable pace without stopping to repeat phrases unless you really don’t understand a particular phrase. Don’t worry too much about pronunciation; this should only be taking place in your head, not in your mouth. The faster you can do this, the better.

I have a beautiful Italian language book that offers the ideal text for fly-by reading. I took the book to one of my favorite coffee shops, bought my coffee (rent for the table), put in my headphones to listen to some of my favorite music (not really recommended for best studying practice), and started my first attempt at fly-by reading. It was 10:00 A.M. I only looked up whenever I realized that someone was talking to me, then immediately resumed my reading. When I finished the grammar sections of the twenty chapters in the book, I checked the time. It was 1:30 PM! Way too long!

I immediately knew what had gone wrong. I had automatically spent too much time practicing phrases instead of fly-by reading. When I got home, I did it with my Japanese text and it went much faster. Of course the Japanese text does not have nearly so much content as the Italian text. So, I had to try it again in Italian. Success! I was able to fly by the Italian book in less than two hours.

Now, you don’t have to do the whole book in one day. One week would be fast enough. At that rate, fly-by reading can take you through several languages in a short enough time to keep your skills fresh and growing.

 

By John DePonte

 

 

 

 

Language Acquisition

Word for Word

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There are language courses that warn their readers never to translate word for word. The reasoning is that since languages don’t always translate word for word, you would not be learning your new language properly. So, when an English-speaking student sees the Japanese sentence, “Watashi wa amerikajin desu,” he or she should translate it as, “I am an American.” After all, that is what it means.

Unfortunately, there are three reasons that make it absolutely necessary to learn a language word for word. First, we learn vocabulary within the contexts of phrases and sentences. That means we must know what each word or lexical unit in a sentence means if we are to use those same units in other contexts. If I don’t translate “Watashi wa amerikajin desu” word for word, I will assume that “Watashi” means “I,” “wa” means “am,” “amerikajin” means “an,” and “desu” means “American.” In fact, “Watashi” does mean “I,” but that’s the only one I got right. I need to know much more than the mere meaning of the sentence in my native language.

I need to know that “wa” is a topic marker that is not translated into English, but means something like “As for.” “Watashi wa” means “As for me” (literally: I/ as for). It’s pretty clear that “amerikajin” is the word here that refers to the English word “American,” but it actually refers to an American person, i.e. “an American.” “Amerika” means “America” and “jin” adds the meaning of person. “Desu” is the Japanese equivalent of “is,” “am,” or “are.” So our literal translation is: I / as for / an American / am. It would be translated: “As for me, I am an American.” The final, idiomatic translation would be: “I am an American,” “I am American,” or “I’m American.”

The second reason that we always need word for word translations is that they provide us with insight into how the native speakers of a language think about the world we share and how they express their ideas about it. When I speak any language other than my native English, I don’t first think of the English sentence, then translate. I think of the words in the order that a native speaker would use to construct the sentence. It’s even helpful to think of the words you would use in your native language in the word order of the language you’re learning. This will help you develop a feel for putting sentences together naturally and easily in your new language. Ultimately, I say what I have to say without recourse to my native language. In other words, I think in the other language. In fact, I develop a different speaking “personality” for each language so I can commit to speaking that language like a native speaker.

The third reason that word for word translation is essential is that it is simply impossible to actually acquire a language without it. Remember, when we say we “acquire” a language, we mean we gain the ability to speak it like a native. The native speaker of any language can tell you what virtually every word in his or her sentences means. This is not a coincidence. Word for word translation, i.e. knowing what every single word means, is an indispensable feature of the language acquisition process whether we are studying a second language, or learning our mother tongue.

by John DePonte

Language Acquisition

Language Mastery: The Pincer Maneuver

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The term “pincer maneuver” is derived from tools that are used to grasp things from two sides. Tweezers and tongs are examples of pincers. The pincer maneuver is a military tactic that involves attacking the enemy from opposite sides. So, what on earth does the Pincer Maneuver have to do with language mastery? Well, I’ll tell you.

Once I have reached an advanced level in a new language, the most challenging part of the language acquisition process still lies ahead: becoming fluent. After achieving fluency, you still have to work to maintain the ability to speak the language. Use it or lose it. One of the most effective techniques I have found for these purposes is what I refer to as the Pincer Maneuver. It simply means practicing with two different books at the same time: one basic, the other advanced.

The Pincer Maneuver approaches the language from two opposite sides: beginner and advanced. Each side complements, supports, and improves the other. Most good language books will have readings, conversations, and grammar explanations. I prefer to work through the readings and conversations without referring to the grammar. After completing both books in this manner, I like to work through the examples in the grammar sections of both books. Occasionally, it helps to read through some of the grammar explanations too.

Start your Pincer Maneuver process with the two best books you can find: basic and advanced. Work through these books in the way I have described above several times. You can use these books as the basis of your language maintenance for the rest of your life. Other books can be added for constantly increasing your vocabulary, but your two “pincer” books will have already provided you with a formidable vocabulary along with most of the grammar you will ever need. Don’t worry. Most real-life conversations do not involve complex vocabulary or complicated sentence structures. Just think of the daily conversations you have in your native language.

You will find that the Pincer Maneuver is not only highly effective, but a heck of a lot of fun. The advanced material will make the basic and intermediate levels seem so simple that they become automatic. That is, you will start to become truly fluent. In addition, the advanced level will become clearer and clearer. Perhaps the most important result of using the Pincer Maneuver is that your confidence in using the language will rise to a level that will have you fearlessly conversing with native speakers.

by John DePonte

Language Acquisition

Shanghai in New York

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I landed in Shanghai with very little Mandarin under my belt. I had studied on my own during the New York school year as I concluded teaching my high school ESL classes. No harm though. Almost everyone in the Shanghai town I stayed in didn’t speak Mandarin. They spoke Shanghainese. It’s considered a dialect but, like most Chinese dialects, it’s far, far from Mandarin.

For the first time, I was in the same position in which many of my New York students find themselves; I couldn’t understand the locals, nor make myself understood in many situations. If I spoke Mandarin, some appreciated the effort, others not so much. When I asked one shop worker for “cha” (tea), she pretended she didn’t understand and told me the correct word was “ta.” It isn’t

Of course it didn’t help that, at the time, China and Japan were experiencing a conflict over a fishing island in which the U.S. supported its ally, Japan. This didn’t earn me any points with my neighbors. At one deli, a woman asked where I was from. When I answered, Meiguo (America), she turned and walked away in disgust. Another women stuck her tongue out at me on line at a supermarket. This made my Chinese friends uncomfortable, but I took it as a tremendous learning experience.

When I caught a cab driver running up my fare, I said, “Shensheng, zhe ge tai gui” (Sir, this is too expensive). He flipped, started screaming, and turned off the meter. They are very afraid of being reported. I overpaid him anyway and did not report him. The tuition for a lesson well learned. This was also happening to my Chinese friends when the cabbies thought they were from out of town. Sound familiar New Yorkers?

The one word that most aptly describes the experience of not being able to communicate with anyone when you need to is “frustrating.” This may seem obvious, but it is not easily understood. I felt it most acutely when I had to leave all my purchases with a security guard in order to go buy a bag in which to carry them. When I couldn’t find my way back to the guard, I was utterly lost. I couldn’t ask anyone, I couldn’t mime, and even though I had seen the English word “Information” written on a sign hanging over the Information desk (somewhere in this gigantic store), no one could understand the spoken word. It took an eternity to find my way.

Fortunately for most immigrants in New York City, there’s a community that speaks their language. Nevertheless, I am now more keenly aware of how many people are experiencing Shanghai in New York. And heaven help the cabbie or shop worker I catch being “unhelpful” to someone who doesn’t understand English.

by John DePonte

Language Acquisition

The Etymology of “Speakening”

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The word “Speakening” is a trademarked name I created by combining the words “speaking” and “listening.” This neologism refers to a technique of listening to a foreign language that gives you the ability to clearly hear fluent, rapid speech. The biggest problem that language learners face is understanding their new language when spoken by native speakers. After studying so hard and working so long, most language learners become utterly discouraged when they encounter a native speaker whose rapid speech is incomprehensible to them. It is at this point that even the most dedicated students are inclined to give up, erroneously concluding that they simply don’t have the talent to learn a new language.

As a life-long language learner, I of course had to grapple with this same problem. Fortunately, I was always too stubborn to quit. I assumed that if anyone could become fluent in a second language, then everyone could. This was my assumption when I read about a man who could simultaneously repeat out loud whatever he heard someone else saying within 1/4 of a second. I concluded that if he could do this aloud, then anyone could do it silently. I also guessed that this skill was related to successful language acquisition. It just might be the key for transforming the “gibberish” of native speakers of other languages into clear, understandable speech.

So I took my new technique to the television where I tuned in to RAI Italian programming. Until this time, I had been able to make out a word hear and there, but had not yet become a “fluent” listener of Italian. As I consciously repeated silently what I was hearing, a miracle occurred. For the first time, Italian was as clear to me as English. Even if I didn’t know the meaning of the word I was repeating, I could spell it correctly and look it up later.

This was an important breakthrough for me, and my students. It was the last step to total fluency in a new language and it works for every language. It requires effort in the beginning, to be sure. But it eventually becomes natural, and the effort is automatic. That is, the speakening technique eventually becomes unnecessary when the new language always sounds as clear as one’s mother tongue.

One other important point: You must be ready for the language you are about to hear, or even your native language may fool you. A friend of mine from Hungary told me an important story of an incident when he could not understand perfect Hungarian because he was not prepared to hear it from a Chinese concierge. After three or four repetitions from the concierge, my friend finally realized that the concierge was speaking Hungarian, and the problem of understanding him instantly disappeared.

While it is not easy for everyone to employ the speakening technique at first, it should never be abandoned. It is the key to understanding fluent native speakers. So practice silently repeating what you hear in your native language first. When you can do that, try it on your new language. It does require effort, and it will fatigue you at first, but nothing worth knowing ever comes easy.

by John DePonte