Language Learning as Entertainment?

Language as a jewel

As I see it, there is a giant gap in the area of language learning.  It is between people who say that they would love to know another language and those who eventually achieve that goal.  Are you perhaps one of those people? Are you starting to feel guilty?  Please don't.  You are not alone! The old English proverb  "There's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip"  may apply.

Let's look at one of those "slips."  My inspiration for the topic comes from the article, "The NOT to do List for Successful Language Learners" http://l2mastery.com/blog/linguistics-and-education/methods/not-to-do-list.  I agree with all ten suggestions, but the one that caught my eye this morning was:

10. Do NOT forget to have some fun!

There are many definitions of fun!

We may need to broaden the definition of 'fun'' before we go any further.  "Fun'" is definitely a subjective topic.  For some people, it may conjure up images of a wild Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, with jazz bands jamming and beads flung from floats to eager spectators.  For others, it may be binge-watching a whole season of "Downton Abbey" with a large bowl of kettle corn and the  house cat.  To each his own.

Our traditional way of teaching languages in classrooms has been, in many cases, the very opposite of a pleasurable experience.  We have believed that students need to memorize long vocabulary lists, learn complicated grammar rules, and drill those elements by mind-numbing practice.





Only a masochist (or a language nerd like me) may survive that regime.  I'm reminded of Jane Fonda's workout videos when she encourages us to "feel the burn."  Language instructors often feel that students need to get serious and suffer in order to acquire a language.

But let's leave the classroom and enter the realm of independent learners who want to acquire a language for various purposes beyond an academic credit:  learning a language for a new job overseas, anticipating an enhanced travel experience, needing to converse with the family of a new in-law, or attempting to keep one's brain from turning to mush.  The concept of language learning as "fun" may help in these circumstances.

So, what can a person do to learn a language that is in the realm of fun, pleasure, entertainment, excitement?  (Okay, I got carried away with that last concept.)

Here are some activities that come to mind in which I could combine language learning and entertainment, based of course on my personal preferences:

Read a 19th century novel in another language.

I just finished Au Bonheur des Dames by Émile Zola.  It was hard going at times, but the recent television mini-series based on the novel helped me imagine the scenes that were described at length by Zola.  I also just finished Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis, a classical Brazilian author.  What a plot that novel has! I was reading so fast at the end to see what happened that I didn't even realize I was reading in Portuguese rather than English.

Plan a trip, then make a list of travel situations and imagine dialogues for them. 

I haven't tried this idea yet, but there is a trip with husband and friends to Northern Spain and Portugal in my future that is encouraging me to brush up on peninsular Spanish and Portuguese. I'm going for practical  and casual vocabulary here.

Watch movies and TV shows in other languages.  

I'm not much of a movie or TV fan, but I'll bet that I'm missing a great opportunity for expanding my entertainment horizons and acquiring language at the same time.

What might you do to have fun with language?  

1. Listen to music with  written lyrics.
2. Join an Internet service where you communicate in another language.
3. Sign up for a course (please be sure that it is a communication-based course).
4. Convince an acquaintance to meet you for coffee and conversation in another language on a regular basis

Let's not suffer through 15 verb tenses before we have a need to use them.  Let's make a place for language learning in the space we carve out in our lives for relaxation, enrichment, and personal growth.

Please note:  Language Lover's Blog is taking a week's mini-vacation.  It will return on February 10th.























 http://l2mastery.com/blog/linguistics-and-education/methods/not-to-do-list

Analyzing Conversations

Do you analyze conversations that you have on a daily basis?  I do.  Most introverts do, I think. The conversations that I have, even email messages, run through my head until I put them to rest. I must admit to even analyzing anonymous conversations that I overhear in stores, offices, restaurants, and campuses.  It's nosy, but it's such a great way to learn more about human nature!

Analyzing communication is not a new idea.   An English language philosopher, Paul Grice, wrote about the Cooperative Principle in 1975.  He observed that most conversation partners cooperate with one another in order to have effective communication.  The Cooperative Principle breaks down into four maxims. 

MAXIM OF QUANTITY  Each speaker gives no more or no less information than is required. Let's take the idea of more information first.  As an example, when I ask for directions, I often find that people overwhelm me with details that I can't remember anyway.  A few simple directions like "Right turn on Elm, left turn on First, first house on the right" would help me considerably. Sometimes my husband Wayne will relate a conversation that he has had and remark, "And he told me a whole lot more than I wanted to know." The Maxim of Quantity had been violated, I'm sure.

Now for the idea of less information.  Someone announces, "I got a new bread machine for Christmas."  A second person asks, "What have you made?"  First speaker answers, "Bread."  Hmm.  I might need to call in a psychologist to analyze that response!

MAXIM OF QUALITY  Each speaker speaks the truth and bases information on sufficient evidence. Husband to wife:  "Are you cold?"  Wife:  "No, I enjoy sitting in a meat locker."  A bit of sarcasm here, I believe.  I hope this marriage survives!

MAXIM OF RELATION   Each speaker contributes information relevant to the subject.  

First diner:  "Do you want dessert?  Second diner:  "Does the sun come up in the east?"  The first diner has to do a bit of thinking to realize that the second diner is saying "Yes."

MAXIM OF MANNER  Each speaker should speak in a clear fashion, avoiding vagueness, ambiguity, and wordiness.  Someone once told me that a neighbor "slept on the other side of the bed." Which side is the other side, I wondered?   It took me a few minutes to realize that the description was a euphemism for "gay."

Do we always follow the Cooperative Principle?  Probably not, and that's where concepts like humor, lying, sarcasm, and withholding information come into play.  Another interesting idea would be to determine if other cultures use the Cooperative Principle for communication in the same way as we do in English (I'll bet they don't!)

This YouTube video about violations to the Conversational Maxims should give you a good laugh! 

Saying What You Really Mean

Do you usually say exactly what you mean?  I'll bet your first response was "Of course I do. Doesn't everyone?"  Let's look at some examples of real language used in specific situations that may change your mind.

On a recent trip to Los Angeles, California, a group of us were dining at an upscale restaurant near The Grove.  (At least the menu prices hinted that this was a location for finer dining.)  My friend Mary, visiting from London, had a good laugh when the waitress appeared at her shoulder at the end of our meal and asked, "Are you still enjoying your dinner?"  You could surmise, of course, as Mary did, that the waitress was just checking to see if Mary was through with her meal, in which case the waitress would no doubt immediately have whisked her plate away . But the question had many possible interpretations and answers.  "No, the food tasted better before I got heartburn";  "Yes, the guacamole has just the right touch of spice";   "No, the music is too loud and the room is too hot" all come to mind.  But of course the waitress could have said more directly, "May I remove your plate?"

Many years ago, when I was grade school age, my mother and I religiously watched Perry Mason on television.  He was handsome, suave, and in control of every situation. During one episode, Perry Mason needed to have a private conversation with a client, so he turned to his secretary, Della Street, and asked, "May I impose?"   Della knew her boss well enough that she was able to interpret his question as a request for her to leave the room.  My mother and I had a good laugh and decided that we wouldn't have been quite so discerning.

Married couples are particularly adept at not expressing themselves in a direct manner.  And my husband of 32 years and I are no exception.  When he says, " I just saw the postman pass by,"  it  means he wants me to be the one to walk out to the mailbox and retrieve the mail.  If I say, "I've got work to do this evening." it is breaking the bad news to him gently that I won't be preparing supper.   

I'm sure by now you are thinking of many instances in your life of use of indirect language.  We often choose not to speak directly because we want to soften our expression, or appear more polite, or feel more comfortable suggesting rather than demanding.  It is part of our American culture.  

But have you ever considered the effort  it takes to understand others (or for others to understand us) when language is not direct?  We can't take the actual words at face value.  We have to go beyond the words expressed and add information from our own minds to correctly interpret indirect language. Cultural information, personal information, familiarity with the situation, location, and a good dose of common sense are all useful in interpreting language.  And we all do the necessary interpretation naturally until there is a misunderstanding.  If you have ever tried to learn a foreign language, you know that the words that you hear are often not what the person meant for you to understand.


The field of Linguistics has a term for the study of language in real contexts.  It is Pragmatics.  (Linguists spend a good deal of time, I think, thinking up esoteric terms that normal people don't understand immediately !)


Let me know if this brief discussion of use of language in context brings to mind any misunderstandings that you have experienced because of use of indirect language.  Those situations are often good for a hearty laugh!

You'd Think I'd Know How to Acquire a Language by Now!

A recent email message from a longtime friend caused my head to start whirling.  "I would like to pick your brain about learning Chinese."  We are meeting up for a short visit soon, and I know the topic will come up.

Yes, my field of study is languages.  Yes, I am a big fan of Linguistics.  Yes, I taught a foreign language, either Spanish or  Portuguese for many years.  But do I have the best advice to give someone who wants to learn another language, especially a good friend whom I don't want to lead astray?  I'm embarrassed to say I don't have a definitive answer.

I suppose I will begin our conversation with a description of the Communicative Approach.  This popular approach to learning a language emphasizes communication in the language (listening, speaking, reading and writing, not necessarily in that order) over learning and practicing grammar rules.  "Heresy!" many will cry.  "I want to speak correctly, not sound like a Tarzan-Jane conversation." 

It is so very difficult to convince language learners, especially well-educated adults, that communication should come first, followed perhaps by some targeted grammar study, not vice versa. The optimal mix of communicative skills and grammar is still being (passionately!) debated in the language profession.  But, my friend wants to learn Chinese NOW.

I think my first question to her would be, "What do you want to be able to do in Chinese?"  Most of us set our goals for language learning too high and expect quick results.  I wish learning a language could be as doable as learning a new software program - difficult but achievable.  I even wish I could equate learning a language to learning how to use the iPad (could it be going on a year and a half that I have been trying to make friends with that device?)  But deciding to become fully proficient in a new language under ordinary circumstances is a lifelong task.  It is a commitment only equaled to feeding the stray cat who begs for food at the back door.  As much as I applaud both activities, you may find that you have bitten off more than you can chew.

So, how about breaking down the nebulous goal of learning a language into doable steps, the more specific the better?  Maybe I'll ask my friend questions like the following.   Is there one language skill you want to concentrate on first?  Do you want to travel to China and hold simple conversations with native speakers? Do you want to read Chinese signs?  Would you like to start an Internet conversation with a native speaker? How long are you giving yourself to achieve a specific goal?  How will you know when you reach it?    We might make a start in helping her develop a Chinese language learning plan.

Let's see how the language learning conversation with my dear friend goes.  Tune in next week for an update!