How do you address your professor?

I came across this interesting study several semesters ago. These psychologists looked at how graduate students in the US address their professors...according to the gender of the professor. Here is the abstract that provides a quick synopsis of their findings:

College students participated in two studies assessing differences in terms of address for male and female professors (i.e., first name vs. title) and the implications of the terms selected. In Study 1, 243 students reported their terms of address for professors of their present classes. As predicted, the probability of being addressed by title was significantly greater for male professors than female professors. In Study 2, 120 students read and answered questions about a transcript of a class session ostensibly taught by a male or female professor whom students addressed by first name or title. Professors were perceived to hold higher status when addressed by title, regardless of their gender. Female, but not male, professors addressed by title were perceived to be less accessible. These findings suggest that female professors hold lower status than male professors and must often choose between perceptions of status versus accessibility.

It's kind of scary that something like this happens (albeit subconsciously) among a group as educated as graduate students. Of course, its hard to spot these subconscious biases within ourselves. Which is why its good that studies like this are conducted in order to raise awareness.

Reading Books for Language Learning and Pleasure: The Do's and Do Not's

When people decide to try learning a language by reading books that they already enjoy they often make the mistake of starting with books that are for (young) adults. For example, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Normally I would suggest that you read a book targeting a younger audience first. Something like the Warriors books by Erin Hunter, which is targeted at preteens, but is still enjoyed by many adults. I would recommend this for several reasons: the grammar will be simpler, the vocabulary will be simpler, and, most importantly, the plot will be simpler (seriously). And I would suggest that you read it all the way through in English, and then, if you liked it, read it all the way through in the language. In my experience trying to jump back and forth after each sentence or paragraph is just frustrating because it feels more like language learning than enjoyment, and this strategy will work best if you are enjoying the process of reading the book itself.

Also, while going through the books, don't try to understand everything in the language. That's another (very) common mistake. When you start you should be reading and be thinking "I think this is the part where he shot the gun" not "And then he grabbed the gun and fired five shots very quickly into the opposing line." Think of it like watching a movie that you like in the language. You're not going to get all of what is said, but you can still follow along with the plot. Focus on the plot, not on the language. If you start to get lost, either backtrack to where you last think you knew roughly what was going on, or skim forward until you think you have picked the trail back up. If you really want to focus on at least some part of the language, then I recommend that you focus on pronouncing each word correctly in your mind (or out loud if you prefer.) But hopefully you will eventually be so interested in reading the story that even slowing down to pronounce each word correctly will get frustrating, and you'll start just focusing more on the meaning. Also, if you really want to understand more, then you can do the back and forth method, but I recommend that you do it by chapter rather than paragraph, that way when you finish reading in one language you are at a natural stopping point, and it won't feel so forced and it will be easier to remember what was going on when you switch back. Basically, it will still feel like a normal reading process, rather than a forced exercise. Your brain does not like to work. But it likes to play. And, ironically, it does basically the same thing in both situations: learn, practice, and overcome challenges.

Finally, keep in mind that your mind is doing double/triple duty while reading in a new language. So don't be surprised if you can't binge-read like you can in English. Your brain needs time (sleep) to assimilate what it is learning about the language. I would only read until you start to feel frustrated/bored/tired, and then I would mark exactly where you are stopping and scribble a quick note in English about what exactly is going on right there. Again, if you force yourself to read a specific amount each day/week/hour, then you will very quickly burn yourself out and I very much doubt that you will finish the book. Make it fun and relaxing, and take your time to enjoy the process. Hmmm... have I emphasized that enough yet?  ;-)

Where to get Movies and Books in Your Langauge

If you decide to learn a language by watching movies you already enjoy in that language then you are likely to eventually start purchasing DVDs that are dubbed in the new language because the ones that you have right now are not dubbed in that language. For example, I'm slowly replacing my non-spanish dubbed dvds with spanish-dubbed ones.Some languages, like Spanish, have an unfair advantage, but there are still quite a few dvds in the US that are not even dubbed in Spanish. Often I can't even find them on Amazon.es or Amazon.mx. So I've been buying them from an online store in Spain and an online store in Mexico and I've found one on eBay (the hard part was finding the online stores, but once I did it was definitely worth the effort!) I also purchased a region-free player (Toshiba BDX1300 DVD & Blu-Ray Player) which works really well so far (I've been using it almost daily for several months). Finally, I've purchased almost all of the Terry Pratchett books that I've been reading in Spanish on Amazon, but most of them have been shipped from England.

One last note, be aware that sometimes a dvd description on Amazon or other website may say that it is dubbed in the language, but it really isn't. That's because of different versions of the same dvd. This has happened with me with dvds that were identified as dubbed in Spanish in the Amazon description, but aren't really dubbed in Spanish. So far I think I've received around 4 dvds like this.  This is another reason I've moved on to using almost only the online stores in Spain and Mexico, because all their dvds so far have definitely had Spanish dubbing.

Having Fun While Language Learning On Your Own

So, learning a language is getting challenging, eh? Don't you hate it when stuff starts to get harder?

Most people only become proficient in a second language if they use it in a meaningful way on a regular basis. The problem is that "meaningful" can be very different for different people. If you really want to keep learning a language then here are a few ideas of how to make the process and/or end result more meaningful, and therefore increase your motivation.

- Plan a trip to a country where they speak your language in like a year or whenever, now your studies will be preparing you for something real.

- Start looking for a job in a country where they speak your language, and as soon as you find one, take it. Learn the language by living in a country where they speak your language. A lot of people who take this route look for jobs as English tutors.

- Look for a temporary work-abroad opportunity. The prevalence of these programs will depend on what language you are studying. For example, there are a lot of Spanish-speaking countries that have short-term projects that you can be a part of, such as service missions, while these are much less frequent in industrialized European countries.

- Just start doing everything you can in your language. Watch all movies/tv shows in the language, read all books in the language, play video games in the language, switch all your computer/phone settings to the language, etc. Basically, do whatever you do for fun in the language. Note: whatever you do for fun now. Don't try to do this step by trying to adopt pasttimes from a target culture. A lot of people try this but it usually doesn't work out well. So, for example, there are a lot of tv shows and movies in Spanish which are produced in Spain, Mexico, and Argentina, but I never watch any of them. I do however watch a lot of Hollywood movies in Spanish, such as Jurassic Park, Tremors, the Avengers, Bourne, etc. You will pick up a lot more of the language, and you'll be more motivated to learn if you are doing something that you already enjoy. But do keep a dictionary handy, you will want it occasionally (like when you notice a word that is being used a lot).

- Interact with others in the language. This one would probably be the hardest for me. If you're living in the country, then you are forced to use language, so you don't have to go out of your way (other than going out of your way to move to the country), but with this one what you do is look for language speakers where you live right now. Which means that you have to start trying to make friends, volunteering, etc. that you normally wouldn't. A lot of people take this approach, but I'm not a big fan. I much prefer the other methods where you don't have to leave the comfort of your social bubble.

- And, of course, the classic is to date/marry a language speaker. But if you ask me trying to find someone to date/marry just so that you can practice a language is a bit extreme. Also, there tend to be unforeseen cultural barriers, such as the preconception of the role of the woman in a relationship.

Finally, be prepared for the normal process of language learning and don't let it discourage you. You will begin with interference from English, as well as some influence from the new language in English. The interference isn't usually too severe in either direction, but it can be very noticeable to the language learner. Language learning usually is kind of a cyclic process. You'll have a breakthrough, start getting a lot, it will be exciting, then you'll plateau for a while, this will be a little frustrating after the rush of the breakthrough, and then you'll regress for a while, this can be very discouraging because your new language will actually get worse for a while. This is normal and we think it happens because your brain is trying to break apart its concept of the new language in order to incorporate the next thing you'll be learning. (Your subconscious sees it coming but you don't. An example would be your brain getting ready to adopt the new language's way of conjugating verbs by throwing out its current concept of the language's verb conjugations (which originally is largely based on English conjugations), during this process you will find it very hard to conjugate anything correctly in the language). Then you'll have a breakthrough again, etc.