The term "Language Attrition" has a fairly unpleasant ring to it, doesn't it? I hesitate to admit it, but falling victim to Language Attrition has risen to the top of my personal worry list.
Attrition is defined as the wearing away of something. Language Attrition is the term linguists use to describe a natural decline in a person's language skills due to insufficient use or environmental changes. (In other words, "Why is it that I used to carry on a conversation in Spanish but now find myself groping for words?") I'm not concerned with losing my first language, English, because I use both the oral and written forms all day, every day. But I am becoming very concerned about the loss of Foreign Language skills.
An inordinate part of my life has been devoted to learning Foreign Languages. Through the years, I have taken countless language courses, completed college degrees in languages, and taught languages and linguistics. I would have thought that given the amount of time and energy I have devoted to Spanish and Portuguese that at least those two languages would have a permanent place in my brain. Surely the languages I have been most intimately connected with are not beginning to recede in my memory! But I fear they are.
The first hint of trouble appeared as I was doing a daily round of exercises recently on Duolingo, my favorite free, online language learning program. I have worked on Duolingo with at least one of six languages every day for over 1700 consecutive days. On some busy days, I have completed just a Spanish exercise. On others, I have plowed through Spanish, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Welsh and Irish. I typically do Spanish and Portuguese back to back to avoid mixing the two Romance languages.
When you get the right answer on Duolingo, you receive a pleasant sound as a reward. When you make an error, the correct answer appears in a red box at the bottom of the screen, and, depending on which version of the program you are using, you lose a segment of the much dreaded "health meter." (Loss of too many health segments potentially stops your progress for a period of time.)
I noticed that I was making more and more errors in Spanish and Portuguese. And the errors weren't with big issues, like obscure vocabulary items or intricate grammar points. The mistakes appeared with commonly used words and concepts.
Who would have thought I could mix up the Spanish and Portuguese words for "the"? Spanish uses "el" or "la" for singular "the" and Portuguese uses "o" and "a" for the same concept. How could I forget that the Spanish word for "bus" is autobús but ônibus in Portuguese? How often did I have to remind students that the "they" form in Spanish ends in "n" (ellos beben) but in "m" in Portuguese (eles bebem)? I feel Language Attrition setting in.
I can recommend to myself many paths for maintaining languages to keep attrition at bay. Unfortunately, I no longer lead a life style that allows frequent practice with native speakers of other languages. (Granted that living on the border with Mexico in El Paso, Texas gives me some contact with Spanish, but we are in truth a bilingual city.) Of course, videos, movies, radio, music, newspapers, and novels could fill the void if I would just make time to use them.
I'm not sure I like the conclusion I have arrived at in writing this post about Language Attrition. Counteracting it is going to take much effort on my part, along with losing weight, exercising, practicing the baroque recorder and guitar, not to mention decluttering the house.
But instead of whining about being one of the many victims of the disappointing phenomenon known as Language Attrition, I'm going to begin reading a Graham Greene novel translated into Spanish, Nuestro Hombre en La Habana (Our Man in Havana). It's one small step, but at least I feel like I am doing something. Now on to those other life challenges!
