Multi-lingualism
Perhaps I have came too late into the discussion- most of the things that could have been discussed have- but I thought I would give my two cents on the issue. I don't think language learning is 'genetic'. My ancestors and my immediate family are, for the most part, scholars, but I was one of the first people in it that could do well in languages; everyone else detested them. Perhaps a willing to want to speak to the world
led me to do well. So, despite the fact that all my family (apart from my DJ/Teacher cousin in Ireland who speaks a strange mix of Gaelic, Welsh German and French) despise, detest(ed) and had nothing in the way of an aptitude for languages, I became multilingual (slowly
) and now I speak fluent Spanish, French and German as well as having an understanding of Italian, Dutch and Portuguese.
Unfortunately, because I live in England (at the moment, but soon I am moving to el País Vasco) and because my family attached little importance to languages, I had no early start in them and I started at 11, as is the practice in England. Amazingly, I stunned the teachers so much that they asked whether I had Spanish heritage (which I do, but I never learnt the language before that point) and by the time I was 12 or so I could speak Spanish as I could English.. I started German soonafter, then, when I was 17, I picked up French (without the dodgy Franglais accent, thank you
) fluently in three months: the preparation and the infinately harder Spanish subjunctive had prepared me for French grammar, and it was a breeze. So, why did I learn these? Maybe I'm just weird :wink:! Now I can speak to anyone about anything in Spanish, and with a weird concoction of languages (I have had to stop myself saying 'you know' between streams of French, it's a bad habit!) I can survive anywhere.
Anyhow, I think you need three things to succeed in becoming a polyglot if you missed the so-called 'Window of Opportunity' in languages. First of all, a knowledge of grammar is essential- without this, the best one can make is odious baby talk
personally, I think if you learn the grammar first, all will follow much easier; secondly, you need a desire to become proficient in a language and an ability to communicate well in your own 'lingua materna'. You should try and avoid translating idiomatic expressions in English directly to Spanish, as these really don't make sense and confuse things badly for my students: try and think of the pure form in your own language and translate that. Thirdly, you need to know how languages work... I cannot explain this but you have to understand the base of languages, this is where so many people limit their powers of expression.
Anyway, thank you for reading this waffle, I wish you all good luck (buen chance!! Frespanol at its worst) in your language studies!
. But no, I am unfortunately a 'grammar nazi' and do not make these mistakes...
. Did you hear about a group of teenagers who tried to have their text-style English literature papers marked for content rather than language... and there was once a plan to introduce phonetic English to African children. This was all mocked by the author Joseph O'Connor who wrote in the style they advocated:
) defensive when it comes to slighting the French origin of words and dislike the "defrançaisfication" of our language... after all they make up approx. 45% of the language. I like it as it is; we should not dumb-down our language just because some people cannot get their heads round a few French adaption rules... furthermore, it brings us closer to that beastly populist phonetic---whoops, 'fonetic'--- spelling. On a nowhere nearly related note, I found it quite condescending that people still want to inflict their missionariesque simplified English on Africa: if we could all learn the charming nuances of this languages, what says African people cannot?
