Language Learning - Gems from Quora Digest

Are you familiar with Quora Digest?

Quora is a free online question-answer service that includes one of my favorite hobbies - Language. The questions and answers come from people of varied backgrounds.  During this month alone (November 2015), I found no less than 23 entries on Quora concerning language topics. I was amazed by the number of people in the world who, like me, enjoy discussing issues related to linguistic interests such as language acquisition, fluency, and correctness,

As I read through the recent Quora entries, I realized that, like the Goldilocks and Three Bears phenomenon, my reactions fell into three categories:  totally agree, partially agree, and disagree.

For example, here is a Quora answer that I have doubts about:  "Languages take immense effort to learn, and people will only learn them if it's socially or economically inescapable."  I think the modifiers "immense" and "inescapable" are making too strong a case for the difficulty of learning languages. Granted, learning a new language does not fall into the category of easy activities, but the fact that over half of the world's population is bilingual indicates that many people do succeed in acquiring other languages.

And, granted that social and economic pressure are powerful carrots for language acquisition, as a lifelong learner and teacher of languages, I can vouch for factors such as interest in other cultures, fascination with linguistics, and need for intellectual stimulation as powerful motivators to learn languages as well.  

Another Quora question that was answered online was "Is it important to acquire the accent while learning a new language?"  A quick response would be, "Of course."  However, I only partially agree with the answer that was posted by a French teacher, "Please commit to learning the accent."

Unrealistic Expectation?

Speaking another language with a native accent would be a wonderful achievement, but the reality of the language learning task is that few people achieve a perfect accent after they reach the age of puberty.  So, where does that leave language learners age 13 and beyond (like me and probably you)? A more reasonable goal would be to achieve an accent in the new language that helps us communicate meaning and does not distract from communication.  Also, concentrating too heavily on achieving a perfect accent takes away from equally important tasks, like learning vocabulary and sentence structure.

Finally, a few words about a question-answer to which I felt like saying, "Here, here!"  The question was from a language learner who felt he was concentrating too much on grammar in class and, as a consequence,  not learning communication skills.

The advice given in the answer was to forget about grammar at present and make understanding the goal, with grammar coming later.  Learning grammar is a misunderstood and controversial topic in the language teaching world.  For some, grammar holds the sacred status that Mom and apple pie do in the U.S., because they equate grammar with concepts like upholding societal mores and preserving the integrity of language.   "There is no use having good grammar if you can't communicate,"  the responder advised.   I agree.    

If you have not investigated Quora Digest, I can recommend it as a source of new thoughts and ideas about a multitude of topics about the world we live in.  You may give a thumbs up to some posts, a thumbs down to others, and partially agree with still others.  Whatever the circumstances, I believe you will enjoy reading about your special interests as much as I do about language.