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