AJATT

Steve mentioned AJATT the other day. And Josh mentioned it in a comment thread.

I hadn't been by in quite some time, so I wandered over and started reading it, in order.

I should be listening to Uzbek or Turkish instead, since even a little study would count as some sort of win. But it's also a win to reminded to focus on the small wins.

There's one underlying question: Do you want to be fluent?

If yes, do you really want it? Enough to put in the time?

If not, why not?

One big point on which I'll agree with Khatzumoto: You don't have to be a genius to be a successful learner:

Anyway, as I see it, language is not an act, nor is it a skill; it cannot be possessed. Language is a habit. You don’t “learn” a language as such, you live it. You don’t need to get “good” at language, you get used to it. You don’t become fluent at a language, you become it. And that pretty much covers it.

Working at a language school, I see so many people who are "learning" a language, and who are filled with questions "about" it so that they can learn "how" to speak it. Meanwhile, with the Pimsleur, I'm finding that if you can first repeat, then understand a sentence like "Yarin aksham beraber yemek iyelimmi?" (forgive the lousy transcription, not at a computer with a Turkish keyboard) then soon you can speak it and before long you don't even have to think to understand or produce it.

Think of the child pointing and going, "Doggy!" She's not thinking, "a quadruped, canine in nature, as distinct from a cat, also a quadruped, but feline in nature, for reasons that native speakers of English may not know even though they would never mistake a cat for a dog..." She's just identifying a known object by the cutesy name her parents indicated for it while baby-talking to her. By the time she's six, there's virtually no chance that she'll confuse a dog for a cat even though it's highly unlikely that anyone will sit her down and give an explanation beyond the fact that cats have whiskers and while dogs do too, it's different. (Why?)

Language is a funny thing. Anyone can learn it if they put in the time. And with the exception of select savants (curse them all!), those who don't can't.

Which is why I'm going to end this post and look for some Uzbek or Turkish to read or listen to. If you want to learn a language, this might be a good thing for you to do to. If you'd rather think about learning a language, though, you can follow my lead and go visit Khatzumoto for some thoughts and some inspiration to just do it.