Random Muttering Coming soon…

On Language Learning… (Part 1)

Is formal language class useless? Do textbooks just suck? Why does a uni student after studying a paarticular language for 4 years in class still comes out stuttering when speaking with native speaker? Let’s not mention about reading newspaper, magazine etc.

Wander to any particular language aisle on a big bookstore, see how many “Learn XXX in 40 Days”, “Speak Real XXX Fast” type of book there are, or here  Learn Cantonese in 10 Days!! O yeah beat that!

Are people just gullible or what? everything need to be instant eh?  Where can I download that microchip and plug it straight to my brain?

On the flip side there is people that try in vain to master a particular second language as an adult (>18 yrs), they got burnt and swore that learning language to fluency is impossible for an adult, especially without living in that particular country for years and even that it’s not a given.

Could it be that the traditional academic method are just unsuitable for acquiring language proficieny? Just because a child learns their native language in a particular way, would the same method works for an adult foreigner too? Once I took a Japanese course in a university, and let’s just say that I don’t want to speak Japanese the way their native instructors speak English.

One would have thought that motivation is the most important tool, there need to be a strong desire to embark on language learning as a lifelong journey, more than a fad. Some people who managed to do just that does sounds…  radical and the best advice they would give is to go and live in that country for some years or you will never be fluent! And the other that managed to master a secondary language without relocating are even more… extreme.

Nevertheless these people do set an example that these tasks can be done! It’s possible (and maybe do-able for most people) to master a language as an adult. And they do provide lots of helpful advice/pointer along the way, their methodology and journey is what interest me most, as they had proven it that their method does work.

More on this on later post….