Speak more slowly! I can't understand you!

Understanding and speaking a second language.  The same skill or two different skills?

For anyone who has tried to acquire a second language, the answer is obvious.  Understanding and speaking are separate skills that seem to be two sides of the same coin, but unfortunately they do not always develop simultaneously in our brains.

The ability to understand spoken language has in the past been labeled a passive skill.  Nothing could be further from the truth! When someone speaks to me in a foreign language, I can feel my brain working overtime, trying to make meaning.

Some people I know will answer the question, "Do you speak Spanish?" by apologizing and saying, "No, but I can understand it."  No apology needed here!  Being able to understand another language is a great accomplishment.  

On the other hand, few people will admit, "I speak Spanish, but I have trouble understanding it." Have you ever been hesitant to try out your new foreign language for fear that someone might respond with a bunch of sounds that your brain can't match to words?  I have!

How does it happen that a person can produce language but not understand it? In a new language, I can acquire vocabulary, sounds, and structures so that I can put together sentences. But I still may not have the ability to understand spoken language.

The crucial difference is perhaps this:  When I speak,  I am in control of what I say.  If I don't know the word for bananas, I can avoid talking about bananas. If I have trouble producing a certain sound, I can avoid words with that sound.  (Note:  You will never hear me say ferrocarril in Spanish. Those two trilled r sounds would be the death of me.)   And if I feel insecure about a certain structure (for example, the rather exotic Portuguese future subjunctive), I can reword my sentence to avoid the use of the difficult structure.  

But when someone speaks to you in a foreign language, who knows what they are going to say- possibly words you have never heard of, sounds you have never produced, and complex structures that you may never conquer? Ah, if only those fluent speakers would agree to speak to you using just language that you have already mastered!

Lots of language being produced here!

  

At one point in second language instruction, teachers were encouraged to provide students with a "Silent Period." This was a period of time in beginning language classes when students would only hear the new language but were not required to speak it.  The idea was that infants have an extended silent period (approximately from birth to 18 months of age) when they can take in language and let their brains make sense of it before they begin to produce language.

This probably isn't going to happen!

What a luxury a Silent Period would be for an adult language learner!  Wouldn't it be relaxing  to listen and understand your new language without feeling the urgency to speak?  But in our speeded-up world, few people have time for a Silent Period.  Advertisements for language learning software that promise "Learn Spanish in 15 days"  give us the impression that we should learn a new language in the same time it might take me to master a new app on my phone.

Successful language acquisition is like the turtle in the race with the hare.  Slow and steady wins the race.  But what a great prize awaits us!