{"id":5145,"date":"2020-02-03T19:21:04","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T15:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cudoo.com\/?p=5145"},"modified":"2022-10-12T16:30:51","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T12:30:51","slug":"getting-fluent-in-a-second-language-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/getting-fluent-in-a-second-language-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Fluent in a Second Language: Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s think back to when you were 1 year old, then 2 years old, then 3, and then 4. Do you remember being 4? Even if you don\u2019t, we\u2019re sure the adults around you remember. You understood just about everything everyone said, and if you didn\u2019t understand an idiom, you asked, and it was explained.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every word you learned, you watched people\u2019s mouths on how to form the sounds. You did this for approximately 8 hours a day for 2 years until you started making the words. You started slowly, perhaps with the word \u2018No\u2019 or \u2018Water\u2019 or something else you wanted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How did you learn this first word? You learned it through context. You don\u2019t remember it, but your mother or father probably asked you a hundred times, \u2018Do you want water?\u2019 or \u2018Do you want juice?\u2019 before you ever were able to say the word \u2018water\u2019 or \u2018juice\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, you were able to understand it and respond with your head: yes or no. And how did you learn about nodding? You learned the meaning in context. When your parents gave you the water, they were nodding \u2018yes\u2019, and when you didn\u2019t get it, they were nodding \u2018no\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our brains, without our physically feeling it or purposely doing it, are storing these small encounters and categorizing them in our brains, tucking them away to use later, in order to survive and get what we want and need.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, fast forward to being 15 years old and starting to learn a foreign language for the first time. Technically, it\u2019s the second language you learned, but you don\u2019t really remember learning the first one, right? If you did remember, then you would likely learn the second one much more quickly, because you\u2019d realize it has to do with exposure to the language, learning in context, using the language to express your needs as much as possible, and nothing at all to do with grammar.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Let\u2019s focus on these points:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Exposure to the language<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learning in context<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using the language to express needs as much as possible<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nothing at all to do with grammar<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>EXPOSURE TO THE SECOND LANGUAGE<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If every child in the world has a 100% success rate with their first language, then why do we learn our second language in the opposite manner? Why do we start with grammar rules and vocabulary lists, instead of watching stories, TV, listening to conversations, and letting it soak in? Well, because we\u2019re adults, and we want to know right away what something means. We want to jump to the dictionary and look it up, and we want rules, lots of rules. We want to know why the ending changes from the first person singular to the third person plural. Even though we knew none of these things and did none of these things to learn our first language, we feel it is how we should learn our second. We make it academic, and in doing so, we actually completely take away the main component: exposure to the language.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conjugating verbs will most definitely help you understand the mechanics of a language, but it will not directly help you understand the spoken language or help you be able to speak it. Absolutely, a mixture of reading, writing, listening, and speaking practice is key (if your goal is to be writing a lot in the language). But most people spend very little time practicing the language and stay in the safe space of reading or learning grammar rules.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is exposure, but it won\u2019t be the same as if you HEARD something and had to SPEAK and RESPOND to someone. Now, THIS is an experience to be remembered. This brings us to our second point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>LEARNING IN CONTEXT<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sure, the safety of a vocabulary list to memorize each week, is, well, safe. It\u2019s easy. Of course, it takes time and devotion, but it\u2019s not like watching TV or ordering food in a restaurant or trying to speak in your second language for an hour with your online native-speaking instructor. Watching life happening and listening to the words and sounds that people make while it is happening will teach you not only about how the language is truly spoken (as opposed to how you\u2019ve been translating it in your head), but also the culture, the body movements of the people who speak that language, and how people react to various happenings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can memorize grammar structures and conjugations, but you can internalize, like a native speaker, if you do more risky, or, otherwise known as, difficult activities and learn in context. Forcing yourself to watch TV in Spanish, for example, is torture if you\u2019re a beginner. Heck, it\u2019s torture if you\u2019re even low intermediate, but allow your brain this time to categorize words and sounds, just like when you were a child.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learning in context also ensures that information truly sticks. You\u2019ll remember a funny scene in a TV show much longer than you\u2019ll remember a word on a vocabulary list. Learning in context allows you to internalize the language, and not remember it on the surface. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Watching TV and talking to people will also make sure that you hear the MOST common words used on an everyday basis. We actually only use a couple thousand words each day, for the most part, so why not learn those first? And make sure they stick in your memory forever.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>USING THE LANGUAGE TO EXPRESS NEEDS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As children, we don\u2019t care what we look like and we don\u2019t feel embarrassed about how we speak. As adults, however, we\u2019re terrified of sounding silly when we speak, so in our second language, we basically become a mute until we\u2019re a year or two into lessons, after we\u2019ve memorized rules and read books for hundreds and hundreds of hours. But it should be the opposite. We should START with speaking, not wait a couple of years after reading and learning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like children, we should listen for as much as possible, soaking in the language, letting our brain categorize words and sounds in context. Start by repeating what you hear from lesson one. Try to learn how to express what you need. Learn the most used words first, and think to yourself, \u2018what do I need to be able to say today in my regular life?\u2019 THAT\u2019S what I want to learn in Spanish today!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also, putting yourself in situations where you have to speak, like working with a private tutor, is an excellent example of forcing yourself to talk. Sometimes, in my Japanese classes, I sit there for a whole 30 seconds, working out how to express myself in Japanese. The patient teacher waits for my brain to get there (just like children&#8217;s brains!) and eventually I find the words that will get close to what I want to say. But I very badly want to tell my story to the teacher, and so I slowly work through it, getting corrections in the end, but ultimately, very challenged. Every time I push my brain in this way, I am getting more fluent. Students MUST practice expressing what they want to say for hundreds of hours before they get to a basic fluency level, so start this from day 1.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH GRAMMAR (But we love it so!)<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When do we start learning grammar rules in school? 6th grade? At age 12? And before that time, what was happening? We didn\u2019t speak for 12 years? Of course not. Now, are 12-year-olds fantastic writers? Not necessarily. They might spell some words wrong, or write took instead of taken for the present perfect. But for the most part, they speak the language pretty darn well. To be honest, we\u2019re already at a very high level even at ages 5 and 6. And guess what, we never learned a grammar rule. So why do we speak so well? How did we learn grammar if we don\u2019t even know it exists yet?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because we repeat what we hear! We don\u2019t create a new language; we just repeat what the TV says and what our parents say. If our parents say, \u2018I did it\u2019 to talk about something they did yesterday, then we will also say, \u2018I did it.\u2019 and not \u2018I do it\u2019 to talk about something we did yesterday. Parents are also always correcting their children, so they are tutoring them on how to speak correctly every minute of every day, with gentle corrections. Or the tactic of repeating the sentence again in the correct way so that the child hears the way it should be. We don\u2019t need a grammar class to learn grammar if we speak with someone who speaks correctly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re taking a conversation practice class, your instructor will constantly be taking notes in class and telling you ways to speak more correctly. Do you need to know WHY in order to speak correctly? Nope. If you have a desire to learn all of the grammar rules, we invite you to do so. But, if you want to get fluent, try not to get TOO caught up in remembering rules, and get more involved with PRACTICING those structures in real-life conversations. Or, learn the rules and put them into practice right away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conclusion\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Getting fluent in a second language takes dedication, humility, hundreds of hours, and patience with yourself. Understand that it will not be quick. You have to put your ego aside for the greater goal and push forward. Make sure you are constantly asking yourself, \u201cDid I speak with someone this week for at least an hour? Did I learn in context by watching a TV show or movie? Did I learn essential words that I\u2019ll use every day that will help me get what I need and want? Did I learn a new grammar rule and put it into practice right away?\u201d Focus on these activities, and you\u2019ll be fluent in no time.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Author Bio<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Micah Bellieu is the Founder of Fluency Corp, providing language training globally for multilingual corporations, and TruFluency Kids, a Spanish immersion program for elementary children in Dallas, TX. She has acquired, through conversation and context, Spanish, French, and Japanese. Next, she will be humbled by Russian. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s think back to when you were 1 year old, then 2 years old, then 3, and then 4. Do you remember being 4? Even if you don\u2019t, we\u2019re sure the adults around you remember. You understood just about everything everyone said, and if you didn\u2019t understand an idiom, you asked, and it was explained.\u00a0Every [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":5150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5030,240,5028,5027,5025,5029,5026],"yst_prominent_words":[5015,5022,5014,646,5019,54,5016,23,5020,203,5024,5018,5012,5023,229,268,5021,5013,60,5017],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5145"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5145"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6062,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5145\/revisions\/6062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5145"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=5145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}