Does language learning make you uptight?

Why do so many people want to learn a foreign language but never quite succeed?  This is a question I have asked myself (and about myself!) for some time now.  Friends and acquaintances frequently ask for language learning advice because they know that acquiring other languages is one of my life passions, If only the advice could be condensed in a few words.   To use a phrase I hear a lot these days - "It's complicated."  But here are two suggestions that may rid you of the uptight feeling that often accompanies language study.

(1)  Dispel the idea that the foreign language you produce always has to be perfectly correct.

Easier said than done, right? I fight with this notion all the time myself.  Why?  Because I am an adult and should know how to do things right.  Because I am detail oriented.  Because I don't want to appear uneducated.  Because I always make A's... Because....  Well, you understand. Being correct feels so very good.

But is it realistic to think that in a foreign language you will produce perfect language?   We spend years acquiring our native language and continue to improve it throughout our lives.  Why should one course (or several courses for that matter) in Spanish enable a person to speak with unassailable vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation?  Give yourself a break!

Rather than having to do mental gymnastics (a term coined by Stephen A Krashen) to focus on correctness, how about focusing on communicating meaning.  Isn't that the major goal of communication?

When children are acquiring languages, they use language as a tool.  We adults could well follow their example.  And children correct their language by themselves as they continue to use it by comparing their version to the adult version.  We adults will begin to speak and write more correctly as we hear and read more and more language spoken and written correctly.  Just give yourself some time - lots of time!

(2) Slow and steady wins the race.    It worked for the tortoise, and it may work for you in acquiring another language.  The fast world we live in, where so much happens instantaneously, is now a cliché.  We expect language learning results to be quick so we can get on to the next life project.

Smaller daily doses of a new language may work better than longer, intense study sessions.  And don't leave daily language practice to chance.  One of the reasons I enjoy duolingo.com, a popular online language learning site, is that the program allows you to set up daily reminders to make progress.  At first, I allowed Duolingo to nag me with emails when I had not been on the site in 24 hours.

Soon, I had made Duolingo so much a part of my daily routine that I opted out of the reminders. Now I can proudly say that I have done language practice for 650 days straight.  And I can say that I feel like I am moving forward with learning other languages.

It's time for a revolution in language learning.  Let's tame our egos that make us always want to be perfect.  Let's work on our daily self-discipline to take small steps to success.  Let's put language acquisition in the category of enjoyable activities instead of drudgery.

So many languages, so little time

If T-shirts were a part of my daily wardrobe, I would have one specially made that says, "So many languages, so little time."   Languages are always on my list of fun activities.  But with an estimated 6000-8000 languages identified in the world today, which languages should I choose to devote time and effort to study?

This very intriguing issue presented itself to me yesterday as I logged onto a free language-learning site, livemocha.com.  I had my choice of 35 languages, with a long list of planned languages for the future.  What a smorgasbord!  And the winner was Catalan.  

Catalan is a Romance language, derived from Latin like its sister languages, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.

It is one of the official languages of Catalunya, whose capital city is Barcelona. Catalan is spoken in other regions of Spain and France as well and on various islands. Catalan is the official language of Andorra, a small nation bordered by Spain and France. 

But why did my eye settle on Catalan instead of the other 34 choices?  This question leads to a larger question of why we are attracted to some languages and not others.  In my case, the Catalan language brought memories of a family trip to Barcelona several years ago.  And I savored those memories.

Our twenty-something son had agreed to make one more family trip with his parents, and we had reserved a separate room for him in Barcelona.  As he tells the story, he had emerged from the shower, wrapped a towel around himself, and wandered out onto the small balcony of his bedroom to catch a view of Barcelona. When he turned to go back inside, he discovered that the sliding glass door to the balcony had closed and locked automatically.  His story of how he solved the problem was my first insight into the Catalan language.

He explained that he had started yelling to anyone he could see outside, giving his room number.  "What language did you speak?"  I quizzed him, knowing he had studied Spanish several years ago in high school but did not speak Catalan.  When he realized that using Spanish was not helping him out of the situation, he said he switched to Catalan.  And he was rescued!  "How in the world did you do that?"  I inquired suspiciously.  He said that he just took the words for the numbers in Spanish and shortened them. What a practical solution! I'll have to investigate that.

Some of my other memories of Barcelona are leisurely walking Las Ramblas, a pedestrian street filled with music, food, vendors and street performers,  

and subsequently nursing my husband back from a bout of stomach trouble caused by a suspicious paella dish. And then I remember the Picasso museum, sunning on the beach, and an unforgettable performance of Lang-Lang with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Gran Teatre del Liceu Opera House.  I also attended my first motorcycle race in a village outside of Barcelona.  A unique experience!

Yes!  I want to study Catalan, if for no other reason than to let my mind travel back to our stay in Barcelona, now with the added thrill of imagining myself communicating in the Catalan language.  "Hola!" I will say, "Com estàs?" "Eu dic Linda Calk."  "Com et dius?"  And I promise myself not to panic if I actually get a response in Catalan!