Spanish - undiluted, uncorrected, almost understood!
My post below referenced a Linguist post on correction that poked at a common problem in language learning: an excessive desire to understand and get everything right while learning.
When I first started learning languages, I would hunt down grammars that explained every last word and readers where I could understand every sentence. I would make rapid progress. And then I would stall. Either I reached a point where it was too hard or, more often, it wouldn't ramp up fast enough and I would get bored.
Taking up Uzbek cured me of some of my attitude about having everything explained, because nothing I was prepared to pay for explained everything. And so, when I learned something new, it was very often something I'd already figured out. My Uzbek is still barely sufficient to order a sandwich, though I could find a bathroom, as well as booking a hotel room that had one - I focus on the important stuff! But when I fuss with Uzbek, I always find things that I'd already sort of figured out and when I listen to the music, I'm continually catching words and sentences that I'd missed before. Exposing yourself to the same language is like doing a crossword puzzle: Once you've filled in some of the blanks, it's easier to figure out what's in the others. So, for example, you can distinguish whether that muffled word was "hayot"-life or "hayol"-dream from context you lacked on the first hearing.
This weekend, I picked up a copy of Eco's La misteriosa llama de la reina Loana, the Spanish translation of his most recent novel. I read the first five pages, with a sense that I understood around 85%. I picked up the English translation, learned two new words that I hadn't figured out in context in the Spanish and confirmed that I'd understood 85%-90%. Of course I've read a lot of Eco - most in English, some in French, a little bit in Italian - and I've read one of Eco's major inspirations, Borges, in both Spanish and French. The result: Eco, who most consider a challenge, was easier for me in Spanish than a lot of other writers. With all due deference, he tends to repeat themes, and so I had the context.
I also got an abridged audio of El Código Da Vinci (Angels and Demons was better, but more expensive). I've listened to the first track twice now. The first time, I would have been lost if I hadn't read it in English, but by the second listening my poor Spanish ear was picking out quite a bit.
I could neither have read Eco nor listened to Mr. Brown if I'd insisted on my earlier standards for language learning. Nor could I enjoy Uzbek and Turkish music. But sometimes sitting there smiling and nodding and jumping for joy because you recognized one word in ten, or even one word in a hundred, is necessary to approaching the language as it is.
I still think that if you aspire to learn a language, you need to start with some structure and vocabulary. Entirely direct methods are a bit much unless you have time to relive your childhood in another language, which most of us don't. But that said, I don't think you need as much concrete learning about a language and how it functions before engaging it as I once thought. What you need most, once you've got enough structure and vocabulary to have some context about what you need to watch for in your language, is to mix learning and exposure in a way that makes you feel comfortable so that you can let your mind run wild discovering all the things you can do from day to day that you hadn't been able to do the day before.
In this vein, there are two types of self-correction in language: the good self-correction, where you've learned enough to recognize and fix your errors on the fly when they create a problem; and the bad self-correction, where fear of making a mistake or misunderstanding causes you to not stretch or challenge yourself.
I've given myself till the end of the year to get through Borges, so it's on hold except for occasionally skimming parts that I've already parsed the hell out of. In the meantime, I've been enjoying understanding as much of Eco as I can (and if you can get 80% in your own language, isn't that enough!) and achieving self-actualization, inner-peace and, hopefully soon, fame and fortune (though I can't find that part in the table of contents) with Tolle's El Poder del Ahora.
To sum up for those interested in language learning hints, not the exciting details of my own language learning: In the same way that excessive correction from a teacher can discourage you from learning, limiting yourself to study materials where you won't make mistakes or get the language wrong can keep you from making the discoveries and mental leaps you need to get the most out of your language learning. So if you're going to get one book in your language where you understand everything, to practice your reading, be sure to pick up another that's going to be harder. In real life, neither authors nor people are going to limit themselves to the skills and vocabulary in the materials you've studied from. So prepare yourself to be baffled, overwhelmed, and then surprised at how much you actually managed to figure out on your own. It will build your skills and build your confidence. And once you've learned that it's okay to not understand everything, it can be fun.
When I first started learning languages, I would hunt down grammars that explained every last word and readers where I could understand every sentence. I would make rapid progress. And then I would stall. Either I reached a point where it was too hard or, more often, it wouldn't ramp up fast enough and I would get bored.
Taking up Uzbek cured me of some of my attitude about having everything explained, because nothing I was prepared to pay for explained everything. And so, when I learned something new, it was very often something I'd already figured out. My Uzbek is still barely sufficient to order a sandwich, though I could find a bathroom, as well as booking a hotel room that had one - I focus on the important stuff! But when I fuss with Uzbek, I always find things that I'd already sort of figured out and when I listen to the music, I'm continually catching words and sentences that I'd missed before. Exposing yourself to the same language is like doing a crossword puzzle: Once you've filled in some of the blanks, it's easier to figure out what's in the others. So, for example, you can distinguish whether that muffled word was "hayot"-life or "hayol"-dream from context you lacked on the first hearing.
This weekend, I picked up a copy of Eco's La misteriosa llama de la reina Loana, the Spanish translation of his most recent novel. I read the first five pages, with a sense that I understood around 85%. I picked up the English translation, learned two new words that I hadn't figured out in context in the Spanish and confirmed that I'd understood 85%-90%. Of course I've read a lot of Eco - most in English, some in French, a little bit in Italian - and I've read one of Eco's major inspirations, Borges, in both Spanish and French. The result: Eco, who most consider a challenge, was easier for me in Spanish than a lot of other writers. With all due deference, he tends to repeat themes, and so I had the context.
I also got an abridged audio of El Código Da Vinci (Angels and Demons was better, but more expensive). I've listened to the first track twice now. The first time, I would have been lost if I hadn't read it in English, but by the second listening my poor Spanish ear was picking out quite a bit.
I could neither have read Eco nor listened to Mr. Brown if I'd insisted on my earlier standards for language learning. Nor could I enjoy Uzbek and Turkish music. But sometimes sitting there smiling and nodding and jumping for joy because you recognized one word in ten, or even one word in a hundred, is necessary to approaching the language as it is.
I still think that if you aspire to learn a language, you need to start with some structure and vocabulary. Entirely direct methods are a bit much unless you have time to relive your childhood in another language, which most of us don't. But that said, I don't think you need as much concrete learning about a language and how it functions before engaging it as I once thought. What you need most, once you've got enough structure and vocabulary to have some context about what you need to watch for in your language, is to mix learning and exposure in a way that makes you feel comfortable so that you can let your mind run wild discovering all the things you can do from day to day that you hadn't been able to do the day before.
In this vein, there are two types of self-correction in language: the good self-correction, where you've learned enough to recognize and fix your errors on the fly when they create a problem; and the bad self-correction, where fear of making a mistake or misunderstanding causes you to not stretch or challenge yourself.
I've given myself till the end of the year to get through Borges, so it's on hold except for occasionally skimming parts that I've already parsed the hell out of. In the meantime, I've been enjoying understanding as much of Eco as I can (and if you can get 80% in your own language, isn't that enough!) and achieving self-actualization, inner-peace and, hopefully soon, fame and fortune (though I can't find that part in the table of contents) with Tolle's El Poder del Ahora.
To sum up for those interested in language learning hints, not the exciting details of my own language learning: In the same way that excessive correction from a teacher can discourage you from learning, limiting yourself to study materials where you won't make mistakes or get the language wrong can keep you from making the discoveries and mental leaps you need to get the most out of your language learning. So if you're going to get one book in your language where you understand everything, to practice your reading, be sure to pick up another that's going to be harder. In real life, neither authors nor people are going to limit themselves to the skills and vocabulary in the materials you've studied from. So prepare yourself to be baffled, overwhelmed, and then surprised at how much you actually managed to figure out on your own. It will build your skills and build your confidence. And once you've learned that it's okay to not understand everything, it can be fun.
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