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Want to Learn a Language on Your Next Trip? Avoid These Six Mistakes. | Scott H Young
Creating a Native Language Bubble
When you land in a country, you usually don't feel confident speaking, so you might decide to start in your native language until you get your bearings.
But you might meet peers and other people speaking in your native language, and if this bubble sticks, you can end up living in a country for decades without ever learning the local language.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
Language And The Way We Think
Language is a literal and linguistic tool that many believe is a fundamental basis of the way we think. Some have hypothesized (like the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis) that many languages do not ...
Languages Are Tied To Culture
- Culture is a way of perspective and identity, and people speaking the same language immediately bond and form a connection.
- If an English speaking person learns Spanish, the underlying culture that emphasises ‘passion’ or ‘enjoying the experience’ is a more important cultural value in the countries who are natively Spanish.
- The culture of a certain place may include cuisine, history, music and notable personalities, but language becomes the salt without which the culture is tasteless.
Language: The Gateway To Culture
The local language is the preferred route to understand the culture due to 2 reasons:
- Most people don’t speak English very well, due to their learning it as a second or third language. These people do not represent the real sampling of the country's population, just being the better-educated cosmopolitans who speak a global language.
- Most translations are poor substitutes for the real cultural essence, and a person needs to learn the original language to fully understand the context and culture.
Memorizing Speeches
- Once in our lives, we'll be able to get the chance of speaking in front of many people, doing declamations or oratorical and memorizing a speech is a useful skill to learn.
The Sculpting Phase of a Speech
There are two ways you can write down your speech:
- How you want to say it;
- As an outline or a skeleton.
When you've written it down it's going to take more than several times to figure out what you're trying to say and this is the sculpting process where you edit, add, or delete parts of your speech to make it sound better.
The Memorization Phase of a Speech
- The key to memorizing a speech is to memorize it hierarchically. You begin with the broad chunks, moving to specific paragraphs, phrases, up until the intonation and your timing with the words.
- When starting with the chunks you simply write out the main points of the speech then cover them up and recall them.
- Moving up to the small points you can expand your bullets to represent each idea with one or two key words and quiz yourself until you have it memorized.
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Key Ideas
When You Can’t Travel to Study A New Language
You can choose a friend who also wants to learn the language. Agree to talk in your language of choice at least once per day or whenever you talk to each other.
Your friend does not have to...
When To Hire A Tutor For New Language
If you cannot find a learning buddy ( a partner that is willing to commit to only speaking in a foreign language with you), hire a tutor.
You can also opt for language exchange with people who want to learn your language.
Learning a New Language: Preparation Time
- Don't wait too long before you start practicing. Most people find it uncomfortable to speak a language poorly and avoid it. Don't think you will wait until you're "ready".
- Going from zero to 100% will require some preparation. 25 - 50 hours are usually enough for a European language, 100 hours for harder Asian languages.