What do you mean, there aren't any jobs out there? In this post, Fluent demolishes the fifth language myths and compiles some great tips for getting the edge in your job search.
Read moreFive myths about language learning: Myth 4
Why bother when everyone speaks English anyway?
Okay, so before I sit down and watch the highlights of last night's opening of the London Olympics, I had better get this blog post covered. Not lastly, the topic of our Myth 4 is rendered pretty current by such an international event, because now we're looking at one of Britain's absolute favourite reasons to avoid language learning: the belief that "everyone speaks English". Some of the parties that like to promote this myth are tabloid papers, right-wing politicians (often guising it as "holy crap! people dare enter our country and bring their own languages!") and, scarily enough, some of the learners themselves.
Language learning is about connecting with people, making your own life easier and understanding more about how people express themselves and what for. It should go way beyond parroting "Where is the supermarket?" and "I have a brother and two sisters", and be seen as a way of reflectively engaging with how people communicate. If you're only ever going to view another language as a means of obtaining basic necessities during a brief stay abroad as a tourist, then you're losing 90% of the benefit. Take, for example, the intricate system of Japanese honorifics or the special German terms referring to 20th century history (Ossi, Wessi, Ostalgie etc). Language evolves with society, and that's what's amazing about it: You'll get to know another place's history, values, food, traditions and so much more. And you don't even have to travel there.
Or you would love to cycle through Spain, haggle 40% off a cashmere scarf from your local Indian market stall, get in touch with your Gaelic roots? It certainly worked for me, studying my way through the lyrics of Pulp's whole musical oevre with a dictionary by my side.
One final point: Yes, a very large part of the world now learns English as a second language. It's an also-ran official language in countries like India, Nigeria and Cyprus. Having said that, this doesn't mean that it is the international community's preferred language. Even the British Foreign Office seem to have recognised that you miss out if you're the monolingual guest at the world's multilingual party. The amount of literature, film, theatre and music from another country that doesn't even make it into an English-speaking country is staggering. It's like looking at a painting and only seeing one colour.
Luckily, the many other positive reasons for picking up a foreign language are only a google away. No one says that this is something you have to do, but just think how fun and enriching it would be to start seeing in colour.
Five myths about language learning: Myth 3
I don't have the language gene.
This is one that I picked up from a gentleman called Benny, promoting his easy tips for language learning online. Some great stuff in this video, a Tedx talk summarising his approach to languages.
What Benny is essentially doing is removing the apprehension from language learning. It's awesome, and exactly how it should be done. Watch the video for a good demolition of various excuses (you may recognise the myths already, for example !), a positive account of how you can pick up languages, and some great tips. I particularly agree with Benny's point about vocabulary - when I learnt Spanish, I spent so many conversations just falling back on English or French words and pronouncing them in a Spanish way. It almost always works, and no one's going to care about the 5 times when it doesn't.
The guy is no genius. He's not smarter than me or you. In fact, his grasp of eight languages is not even that unusual - I'm confident that I can speak in seven, and I haven't even lived abroad that long. The one thing that Benny has done and you haven't if you're still worried about the "difficult languages" is this: he's stopped being scared. Now sit down, write down all your excuses and really examine them. I hope you can feel your language gene waking up.
Hey there world! Remember this recent post on my blog, taking on the most prevalent language myth that I know? What do you know, I'm not the only one around. The linguistic genius of adults takes a really close look at some of the reasons why you are actually much better positioned to pick up languages than toddlers and children are.
Five myths about language learning: Myth 2
i only really need a native speaker boyfriend/girlfriend
This one addresses the belief that when you're learning a foreign language, it's best to just have a native speaker talk to you. You will then magically pick it up. Now, this may be true for some of the truly gifted specimen of mankind, but I must say that my own experience hasn't done much to make me believe in magic. As one half of an international couple, I've often been advised to just teach him my native language by talking to him in foreign. So I tried, and trust me, it doesn't go well! We have things to organise, we're tired from work, we may just want to relax together - and suddenly I make him concentrate really hard on understanding a quarter of what I say? Really. It is a myth.
Having said that, the grain of truth behind this belief is that immersion does work. Immersion doesn't mean someone just speaking at you in their language. Rather it stands for getting you to use the language yourself. So get creative! Listen to music in your target language, try and read a few posts in an online forum, get a penpal, greet your mum on the phone in French for a week or listen to a podcast. (I use "Speaking Russian" by Olga Mitchell.)
For some instant French flavour in your day, try out these immersion tips:
Dig out your copy of Amélie- Type French into last.fm for today's great music. You can listen to their tag radio for free
- Visit my French Learner's board on Pinterest
- Get out the dictionary and post-its and label everything in your bathroom in French for a day
- Get cooking that cuisine française, for example with some Tarte Tatin
- Call everyone you meet by a French pet name. How about "mon lapin" (my rabbit), "mon chéri" (my dear - call her "ma chérie of course if she is a lady) or "mon loup" (wolf)?
Here's why Grammar Rocks
The word "grammar" can strike fear into the mind of even the most motivated language learner. Do we really have to stare at pages and pages of verb tables and learn a whole new set of words like "gerund" or "noun"? What good is grammar when all I want to do is talk?
Well, let me tell you one thing. Grammar is awesome. It's like the supporting walls and girders in a beautiful house - maybe not what makes it beautiful, but the place would not stand up for long without it. The grammar structures in the languages I teach are usually quite similar, which gives you the most important starting point for making it your friend: Get to know your own language! It might not seem natural to you at the beginning to think you have to understand your native language in order to learn a new one, but trust me on this one - it's so helpful.
In some of my sessions, I will help students to find out more about their own language and then see what structures are working for helping us say what we want to say. So don't be surprised if you find that learning your new language is more than you bargained for and ends up making you a better native speaker too. You can only win!