The Three Main Goals in Language Learning

A lot of people might believe that learning a language is a non-sequential thing but more of a chaotic process in which you're just exposed to the language and then a lot of things start to happen and suddenly... pum... you're already speaking the language.

I know that it might seem to be that way in the eyes of the language learner but in reality, language learning, as any other skill, is a very sequential process. Do you speak the same way that you did when you were a 6-year-old? When you were 6 years old, were you able to understand documentaries about finance or were you able to get dark comedy jokes? No.

Why? because according to the sequence, you weren't able to understand stuff at that level. When you were a little child you started watching baby shows that were incredibly easy to understand (like Barney or Sesame Street), when you were a kid you started to watch shows a little bit more complex (like Batman: The Animated Series), and now that you're an adult, chances are that you watch complex dramas such as Game of Thrones, House of Cards or True Detective. All of them are shows that posses a high level of the language that a young child wouldn't be able to understand.

So that's your proof right there, you learned your L1 in a very sequential way and when it comes to a L2, it happens the same way. So, since learning a language is something sequential, you need goals in order to realize in which step of the sequence you're on.

I made a vide in which I propose what I consider to be the three main goals that you should try to achieve while learning a language:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3GP7ut16I8

Thanks for watching and reading :)

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The Ordeal of Learning a Language alone.

So, I've decided to stop learning French and start learning Italian. This month of February I'm focusing exclusively on Italian to see how far  I can go on my own. I don't really need Italian, I don't need to learn it for anything serious so I'm just doing it for the heck of it. But of course, this leads me to think once again about this whole idea of learning a language alone.

I'm a big promoter of self-education and I'm pretty much a self-educated person, so of course: I like the idea of learning a language alone.

And I understand why many people find the idea interesting. I mean, it's not always easy to find a language teacher, a good one or an affordable one, so the notion of doing this entire process alone seems like an incredibly attractive idea.

But this idea of learning a language on your own always forces me to ask a lot of questions.

Questions like:

• What is the maximum level that you can reach alone without proper tuition or living in another country?


• What are the best conditions to learn a language alone?


• What are the cons? (Because, of course, there are cons)


• Which languages should never be studied alone?


• When should we get a teacher and when should we go solo?

One of the initial things that I must say (and this applies to the whole notion of self-education in general) is that is NOT for everyone.

By this I'm not implying that just a limited number of people are capable or have the talent of doing it, no. In fact, it doesn't matter what your capacity is, because learning a language is not a matter of talent, it's a matter of will. That's the first reason why I say this is not for everyone, not everyone has the will to do it. Personally, I've never met anyone, besides myself, who is willing to go to the whole ordeal of learning a language on their own, even if they know it's possible. And I get it, it's not something that is for everybody, that doesn't mean that I'm better or smarter than them, that just means tha we have a different set of hobbies.

But it's not all just fun and games, in order of doing this, you need to be highly motivated, you need to be patient, you need to be disciplined, you need to be willing to construct a new habit, you need to look for material and you need to be consistent, all of that on your own.

As you can see, none of the reason I've just described require any particular talent, but they require a strong will.

And where are you going to obtain your strong will?

Defining why are you learning this language in the first place. Defining your goals and purposes. This is something that I already discussed about in a video, here it is if you want to watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w-8k0tUQ1o&list=UUUCihBXpSwutALS1mIn3RBA&feature=c4-overview

I mention this again because it's quite an important factor, it's the thing that you need to be reminding yourself every time that you're struggling to understand something new or every time that you're having a rough time speaking about something. Your purpose is going to be the fountain of your motivation, and if you don't have a strong fountain, you're not going to get very far.

I will attempt to answer some of my own questions, I would also like to know what you guy think about this.

Now, regarding one of my questions:

• What is the maximum level that you can reach alone without proper tuition or living in another country?

Well, I guess this depends on two factors: yourself and the language you're learning. My formula regarding this question is: The more motivated you are and the more popular the language you're learning is, the easiest is going to be to reach a high functional level without proper tuition or living in another country. For example, I believe that everybody is capable of reaching a high functional level in English on their own, because English is the most popular language in the world (and also on the web) and it's incredibly easy to find material to learn it.

Other languages that have this characteristic are Spanish, French, German and Italian, Japanese, Chinese, etc. The more popular the languages are, the easiest is to find material regarding them, the more material you're able to find, the higher the level you can achieve alone.

I believe that I'm capable of reaching a high level of Italian on my own because there are a lot of material regarding that language, however, I don't think I would be able to reach the same level this way studying Serbian. I don't mean that there are no Serbian books, but there are more Italian books than Serbian books at my disposal because Italian is a more popular language than Serbian. So I guess that I'd be able to reach a higher level of Italian than Serbian at the end of the day.

• What are the cons? (Because, of course, there are cons)

Well, you don't have anyone to monitor you but yourself, and let's admit it, that sucks. It's harder to know whether or not you're making mistakes, and if it's a mistake, how bad is it?, and sometimes, we tend to ignore certain small details of the language that later turn out to be huge details. For example: the tones in languages like Chinese or Thai, or the musical intonation of languages like Spanish and Italian, etc. And sometimes, is easier to learn grammar if you have a good teacher that gives you special tips that you can't find anywhere else.

• When should we get a teacher and when should we go solo?

The first thing that I would like to say is that there's nothing wrong with finding a teacher, honestly, I recommend you do that. And still, you can study on your own outside the classroom. For me that's the best way to study a language, you have the best of two worlds. I guess that you should find a teacher immediately if you really need to become functional in a language in a short period of time, if that's your situation, then finding a teacher is a most.

Also, if you feel that you've reached a language plateau (which I did while studying French), finding a teacher is also a good way to keep things rolling. A year ago, I felt that I was going nowhere with my French, I felt that I've reached a wall and that I wasn't learning as much as I once was (Trust me, than can happen to you at any time). Then, I found a French teacher and things started to change, the language became much more interactive and my level actually increased. So, don't be afraid of teachers, specially if they are good. Besides, it's a good way of keeping your skills fresh.

I guess that you should fly solo if you don't have anything that is pressuring you and if you are pleased with the way that you've been learning thus far.

So this has been a little overview regarding the ordeal of learning a language on your own and my experience with it. It's still a topic that I tend to analyze a lot and I also think it's an important notion to take into consideration when we are discussing stuff about education in general.

Thanks for reading :)

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When do we actually know a language?

Many polyglots pride themselves by saying that they speak an X number of languages. Unfortunately I have always found this term (the term "speak") extremely vague and inconclusive when it's used in this way. It's in fact more vague and inconclusive when you realize that all of the polyglots have a different definition for it.



When can we say that we speak a language?

Many might say: "It's when you're able to hold a 20 minute conversation with someone", or "It's when you have total mastery of the language and you can pass as a native" others might say: "It's when you talk fluently about many different topics". Others might even say "When you just say a word or a phrase in another language, you're already speaking another language" and, you know... it's technically correct, you are speaking in another language.

And of course, then the ads for special miracle language learning products come: "Speak a language in 3 months,1 month, 2 weeks, " And I have even read "2 days". And of course, as all marketing tricks, they never define the terms that they are using and they keep the actual efficiency of the product as vague as possible.

What do they mean by "speak"? If by that they mean the second definition that I offered, then I'm extremely impressed. But if by "speak" they mean my last definition (which is most probably the case) then the term "speak" means nothing at all to me and holds no importance as an achievement.

So, when can we say that we speak a language?

I don't know.

Personally, I believe that we are asking the wrong question. The term "speak" is a bad measure of success in a language, since it holds no absolute definition, it can mean something incredible or something unimpressive.

Most of the time, when we study a language, we have the goal of being optimal users of this language or optimal readers. But I think that being an optimal language user or reader it's just the culmination of a lot of important language learning and acquisition processes that happened before. Being an optimal language user it's just the natural conclusion of these processes.

But now the question is, what are these language learning processes?

I'm not able to describe all of them, but I'm able to describe to you the one that I think it's the most essential and important, and that is: "To know the language"

To know the language, to be acquainted with it, to know it as a good friend or, putting it with more correct terms, "To have Linguistic Knowledge".

If there's one thing I'm beginning to hate more and more these days, it's without any doubt the use of vagueness when someone is discussing a topic that requires proper definitions.

I wouldn't like to be vague at all in this post and I'm going to define to you what I mean by "knowing a language".

If you're interested, the definition that I'm going to use for this term is the one described in the book "An Introduction to Language" by Victor Fromkin, Robert Rodman and Nina Hyams. This book is heavily used in the first years of MIT's Linguistics and Philosophy curriculum and it's completely amazing, check it out, it's a magnificent introduction to the great field of Linguistics.



So, as I said, I believe we are asking the wrong questions in this paradigm. Instead of asking when do we speak the language, we should ask:

When do we actually know the language?

Linguistics Knowledge is the first thing that you should be after, it's the basis of it all. Once that you acquire Linguistic Knowledge you can move to Functionality, then Fluency and (if you're that crazy for the language and the right conditions are met) Bilingualism.

This is how An Introduction to Language defines Linguistic Knowledge. If you present the following symptoms, that means you know the language you're studying, I'm so sorry.

Linguistic Knowledge is recognized when the following criteria are met:

• Knowledge of the Sound System.


• Knowledge of Words.


• Knowledge of Sentences and Nonsentences.


• Creativity of Linguistic Knowledge and Performance.

I'm going to explain these points in more detail.

• Knowledge of the Sound System:

"Part of knowing a language means knowing what sounds (or signs) are in that language and what sounds are not."

Ok, so you obviously speak English. English is a language that you know extremely well. So, if I say the word: "Correr", you instantly know that "Correr" is not an English word, it's not a word that belongs to the English language. But how did you know this? How did you know so instantly that 'Correr' wasn't an English word?

Easy, you know which sounds belong to English and which sounds don't. "Correr", that weird double r sound is nowhere to be found in English, so you instantly conclude :  that's not an English word. The same happens with signs while reading. If I write the word "Antaño". You know that's not English, what the hell is that 'ñ' thing? that sign doesn't exist in English, that's NOT English.

If you're studying a foreign language, let's say French. And if you're already able to figure out which sounds and signs belong to the French language and which sounds and signs don't, that's one sign that indicates that you know French.

• Knowledge of Words:

"When you know a language, you know words in that language, that is, which sequence of sounds are related to specific meanings and which are not."

In this context, we are going to define a "word" as "A sequence of articulated sounds that posses a specific meaning".

Knowing a language isn't just about recognizing individual sounds, it's also about recognizing sequence of sounds, recognizing words. Again, you know English, and if I say the word "Chaleco", you instantly know that's not an English word.

But why? I mean, let's analyze the sounds. We have "Cha", this is a sound that exists in the English language: you can find it in words such as "challenge", "charity", "charlatan". Then we have "le", again, that exists in English, you find it in words such as "lesser", "let", "lend", "elegant". Finally "co", which we can find in words like 'cop', 'cooperation', 'coalition', etc.

So, what's going on? How did you know this wasn't English? As I previously mentioned, it's not just about sounds, it's also about the sequence of these sounds. There's no word in the English language that sounds the way that 'Chaleco' does. Although its sounds exist in the English language, English words don't tend to sounds this way. The English language never uses that sort of sound sequence in its words.

If you're learning French and you're able to recognize which sequence of sounds do sound like a French word and which sequence of sounds don't, then, that's another signal that you know French.

• Knowledge of Sentence and Nonsentence:

"When you know a language,you know the sounds, the words and the rules for their combination. Our knowledge of a language determines which strings of words are well-formed and which strings are not."

This is where the interesting part begins. Syntax! Here is where you're able to realize if you indeed know the language. A language isn't just about sounds, it's about the sequence of these sounds (which are words), but it's still not only about words, it's also about the sequence in which these words are used.

If you know a language, you know the correct way in which people tend to form sentences and phrases.

You know English, so check this list of sentences:

1. John kissed the old lady who owned the shaggy dog.


2. Who owned the little shaggy dog John kissed the old lady.


3. John is difficult to love.


4. It's difficult to love John.


5. John is anxious to go.


6. It's anxious to go John.


7. John, who was a student, flunked his exams.


8. Exams his flunked student a was who John.

Can you tell me which sentences are OK and which sentences are kind of weird?

If you answered 1,3,4,5,7 and 2,6,8. Then you  have knowledge of sentences and nonsentences.

But why 2,6,8 are not sentences? Quite simply, because people don't talk that way. You've spent a lot of time with English and that time has allowed you to know that they never say stuff like that. Your experience allows you to recognize that no one speaks with that order, thus, those sentences are malformed.

While studying a foreign language, to be able to tell whether or not a sentence is using a correct structure, it's usually one of the hardest things to do. You require a good amount of exposition to the language in order to do this, and it takes time (sometimes, a lot). But, when you do it, it's one of the most remarkable achievements in language learning.

Knowledge of Senteces and Nonsetences means that you have acquired the syntax of this language (the syntax! probably the most important aspect of any language), if you have managed to do this, congratulate yourself, because this is quite an achievement.

• Creativity of Linguistic Knowledge and Performance:

"So, are you saying that you were the best friend of the woman who was married to the man who represented your husband in divorce?

In the history of speech, that sentence has never been uttered before."

Finally, knowing a language is not just about knowing the sounds, the words and the syntax. But it's also about using all of these elements in order to express yourself creatively. As the dialogue puts it: To create sentences that have never been uttered before. Or, to create sentences that we have never heard before. Creativity of Linguistic Knowledge is one of the most vital aspect if you want to express yourself or survive in another language.

I guess that's the most impressive thing about the human language. The fact that it's all about creativity. We're constantly creating sentences out of thin air in order to express ourselves in given situations, sentences that probably have never been said before or that we have never heard. Other animals also posses complex communicative systems, but in those communicative systems there's not a lot of creativity involved. Our langauge demands an enormous amount of creativity in order to use it. A non-creative being will never be able to use a human language properly, never.

And finally, if you're able to be creative with the foreign language that you're learning. If you can constantly form original sentences with a correct use of syntax and you posses all of the other criteria too, then, congratulations, you know the language.

As you can see, knowing a language it's not something easy. A language is an extremely complex entity. Getting to know a language is like getting to know a person. It's going to require time, exposition and different situations or approaches so you can see the multiple faces that this language really has.

After doing all of that stuff, you'll know that you know this language.

Best of luck in your language learning and thanks for reading.

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