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.
No comments:
Post a Comment