7 Common Misconceptions About Language Learning
by Steve Kaufmann

There are over 6,000 languages in the world. Some are more important than others, not better or more advanced, just more important. Why? Because they are spoken by more people, in more countries. That does not mean that Finnish is not important to the Finns, and Maori is not important to the Maoris. It is just that these languages are not so important to the rest of us.

 

On the other hand, Mandarin Chinese is spoken by over one billion people. Chinese origin words account for 60% of Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese vocabulary. Knowing Chinese will help you learn these languages too. It helped me. Chinese culture has influenced the world for thousands of years with its art, philosophy, technology, food, medicine and performing arts. Today China’s economy is booming. Chinese seems well worth learning.

 

Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese are essentially dialects of the same language. If you learn one, you can learn the others. I did. If you learn Spanish, you open the door to the culture, music, history and possible business dealings with 800 million people in 60 countries, including the US and Canada.

 

If you get ambitious you could try Russian, as I have been doing for the last two years. Once you have Russian you can probably communicate with other Slav speakers.

 

But hold it here! Before getting carried away, let’s look at the present situation of language teaching. According to one Canadian survey, after 12 years of daily French classes, only one high school graduate out of 147 (0.68%) achieved “intermediate” proficiency. Another survey of immigrants learning English in the US showed that “classroom instructional hours” had little impact on progress.

 

If we cannot teach our own official languages in North America, what hope is there for other languages like Chinese or Spanish, let alone Russian, Arabic or Hindi?
As a speaker of 10 languages I know the benefits of speaking more than one language. We simply have to change the way we go about teaching languages. To start with we need to dispel seven common misconceptions about language learning.

1. Language learning is difficult
It is only difficult to learn a language if you don’t want to. Learning a language takes time, but is not difficult. You mostly need to listen and read. Believe me, it is that simple. I have done it many times. Soon you feel the satisfaction of understanding another language. Before you know it you start speaking. It is the way languages are usually taught that makes language learning hard to like.

 

2. You have to have a gift for learning languages
No you don’t. Anyone who wants to, can learn. In Sweden and Holland most people speak more than one language. They can’t just all be gifted at languages. Foreign athletes in North America usually learn to speak English faster than people in more formal learning environments. In language learning it is attitude, not aptitude, that determines success.

 

3. You have to live where the language is spoken
Some immigrants to North America never learn to speak more than halting English. Yet we meet people in other countries who speak flawless English. In 1968, I learned to speak Mandarin fluently while living in Hong Kong, where few people spoke it. With the Internet, language content is available to anyone with a computer, and you can download it to your iPod and listen. Where you live is not an obstacle.

 

4. Only children can learn to speak another language well
Recent brain research has demonstrated that our brains remain plastic well into old age. Adults who lose their eyesight have to learn a new language, braille, for example. Adults have a wide vocabulary in their own language and are better language learners than children. I have learned 4 languages since the age of 55. Adults only need the child’s willingness to experiment and desire to communicate, without the fear of ridicule.

 

5. To learn a language you need formal classroom instruction
This is the crux of the problem. Classrooms may be economical to run and a great place to meet others. They have the weight of history and tradition behind them. Unfortunately, a classroom is an inefficient place to learn a language. The more students in the class, the more inefficient it is. Languages cannot be taught, they can only be learned. Theoretical grammatical explanations are hard to understand, hard to remember, and even harder to use. Drills and exercises are annoying to most people. A majority of school kids graduate unable to communicate in languages that they study for 10 or more years.

 

6. You need to speak in order to learn (and I have nobody to speak to)
Speaking the language is usually the goal of language learning, but speaking can wait. Once you have acquired the language, you will find the opportunity to speak. When you are learning the language it is more important to listen. Trying to just pick up a few “handy” phrases to say is likely to just get you into trouble. If you meet a native speaker, you will inevitably spend most of your time listening unless you already know the language. You do not need to speak in order to learn, you need to learn in order to speak.

 

7. I would love to learn but I don’t have the time
How about the time you spend waiting in line, commuting, doing things around the house, going for a walk? Why not use that time to listen to a language on your iPod? Once you get started, even 10 or 15 minutes a day will soon grow to 30 minutes a day, or one hour. If you believe you will achieve significant results, and if you enjoy doing it, as I do, you will find the time.

 

 

外語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)中的7種常見誤區(qū)

簡(jiǎn)介
大部分人在學(xué)習(xí)外語(yǔ)的過(guò)程中都會(huì)存在著一些錯(cuò)誤的想法，這篇文章舉出了其中最常見的7種誤區(qū)。

在這個(gè)地球上大約有著超過(guò)6000種不同的語(yǔ)言。其中的一些語(yǔ)言往往要比其他的語(yǔ)言更為重要，這并不是因?yàn)樗鼈兪且环N更高級(jí)的語(yǔ)言。為什么？因?yàn)橄啾绕渌�的語(yǔ)言，這些語(yǔ)言有著更廣泛的使用人群。當(dāng)然，這并不是說(shuō)芬蘭語(yǔ)對(duì)芬蘭人來(lái)說(shuō)不重要、毛利語(yǔ)對(duì)毛利人來(lái)說(shuō)不重要。只是因?yàn)檫@些語(yǔ)言對(duì)于地球上其他的人們來(lái)說(shuō)，它們并不是那么重要。

另一方面來(lái)說(shuō)，地球上有超過(guò)10億人在使用中國(guó)普通話。在日語(yǔ)、韓語(yǔ)和越南語(yǔ)的詞匯中，有60%都是來(lái)自于漢語(yǔ)。因此學(xué)習(xí)漢語(yǔ)對(duì)于你學(xué)習(xí)這幾種語(yǔ)言也是有幫助的。中國(guó)文化通過(guò)藝術(shù)、哲學(xué)、科技、食物、醫(yī)學(xué)已經(jīng)影響整個(gè)世界幾千年了。當(dāng)今的中國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)正在持續(xù)發(fā)展，這樣看起來(lái)漢語(yǔ)是很值得我們?nèi)�學(xué)習(xí)的一門外語(yǔ)。

從本質(zhì)上來(lái)說(shuō)，西班牙語(yǔ)、法語(yǔ)、意大利語(yǔ)和葡萄牙語(yǔ)屬于同一語(yǔ)系。如果你學(xué)會(huì)了其中的一種，那么剩下的對(duì)你來(lái)說(shuō)也很簡(jiǎn)單。至少對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)是這樣子。學(xué)習(xí)西班牙語(yǔ)等于你打開了一扇門，在門的另一面是分布在60個(gè)不同國(guó)家中的8億西班牙語(yǔ)使用者，其中包括美國(guó)和加拿大。

如果你很有抱負(fù)的話你可以試著學(xué)習(xí)下俄語(yǔ)，正如我過(guò)去的兩年中所做的一樣。當(dāng)你學(xué)會(huì)了俄語(yǔ)之后，也許可以與其他的使用斯拉夫語(yǔ)言的人們交流。

但是這里要打斷一下！在你進(jìn)入狀態(tài)之前，讓我們先來(lái)看看目前的語(yǔ)言教學(xué)形勢(shì)。一個(gè)加拿大人的調(diào)查表明，在經(jīng)歷了12年的日常法語(yǔ)課程教學(xué)之后，一所高中里只有147人（約0.68%）能夠達(dá)到“中等”水平。另一個(gè)有關(guān)美國(guó)外來(lái)移民學(xué)習(xí)英語(yǔ)的調(diào)查表明，“課堂教學(xué)”對(duì)語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)的提高并沒(méi)有太大作用。

如果我們連自己的官方語(yǔ)言教學(xué)都搞不好的話，那么對(duì)于別的語(yǔ)言來(lái)說(shuō)希望在哪里？譬如漢語(yǔ)或者西班牙語(yǔ)，更別提俄語(yǔ)、阿拉伯語(yǔ)或者印度語(yǔ)了。

作為一名掌握了10種語(yǔ)言的語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)者，我很清楚學(xué)會(huì)更多的語(yǔ)言所帶來(lái)的好處。但是我們應(yīng)該改變一下目前的語(yǔ)言教學(xué)方式。開始之前我們需要先驅(qū)除有關(guān)語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)的7種常見誤區(qū)。

誤區(qū)1、學(xué)習(xí)外語(yǔ)是一件很困難的事情
只有當(dāng)你不想去學(xué)的時(shí)候它才會(huì)成為一件困難的事情。學(xué)習(xí)外語(yǔ)并不困難，它只是需要時(shí)間。大部分時(shí)間你需要做的是聽和讀。相信我，就是這么簡(jiǎn)單。我已經(jīng)這樣做了很多次。不久之后你就會(huì)因?yàn)槔斫饬肆硪环N語(yǔ)言而感到滿足。

誤區(qū)2、你必須要有學(xué)習(xí)外語(yǔ)的天賦
不。不需要天賦。只要你想學(xué)，你就沒(méi)問(wèn)題。在瑞典和荷蘭，大部分人都至少掌握了2種語(yǔ)言。他們不可能每個(gè)人都具有語(yǔ)言天賦吧？與那些在常規(guī)學(xué)習(xí)環(huán)境下學(xué)習(xí)英語(yǔ)的人們相比，從國(guó)外來(lái)到北美的運(yùn)動(dòng)員學(xué)習(xí)英語(yǔ)的速度更快。態(tài)度決定一切，在語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)中也是如此。

誤區(qū)3、你必須生活在使用那種語(yǔ)言的地方
我們可以看到，一些來(lái)到北美的移民在居住很久之后依然說(shuō)著蹩腳的英語(yǔ)，而在另一些非英語(yǔ)國(guó)家卻有人說(shuō)著流利的英語(yǔ)。1968年，我在香港學(xué)會(huì)了一口標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的普通話，雖然在那里很少有人講普通話。通過(guò)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)你可以下載到很多聽力資源進(jìn)行練習(xí)。不管你住在哪里，這都不會(huì)成為你學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言的障礙。

誤區(qū)4、只有兒童才能很好的掌握一門外語(yǔ)
最近一個(gè)有關(guān)大腦的研究表明，即使在我們年紀(jì)很大的時(shí)候，我們的大腦依然保持著它的可塑性。譬如，那些在成年后失去視力的人們必須要學(xué)習(xí)一種新的語(yǔ)言：盲文。與兒童相比，成年人有著更大詞匯量，他們是更好的語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)者。在我55歲之后我又掌握了4門外語(yǔ)。在外語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)中，成年人所需要的是兒童那種對(duì)溝通的渴望，自發(fā)的嘗試，以及對(duì)嘲笑的免疫。

誤區(qū)5、你需要通過(guò)正規(guī)的課堂教學(xué)來(lái)學(xué)習(xí)一門外語(yǔ)
這個(gè)就是問(wèn)題的關(guān)鍵。在課堂上你可以輕裝上陣，這里也是一個(gè)認(rèn)識(shí)別人的好地方。不幸的是，課堂教學(xué)并不是一種有效的語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)方式。教室里的學(xué)生越多，學(xué)習(xí)的效率越低。語(yǔ)言不是被“教”會(huì)的，它們只能被“學(xué)“會(huì)。語(yǔ)法的種種理論讓人難以理解，難以記憶，甚至難以使用。絕大多數(shù)人都不會(huì)喜歡那些課后練習(xí)題。有很大一部分學(xué)生，學(xué)習(xí)一種語(yǔ)言10年或者更久的時(shí)間，但是當(dāng)他們畢業(yè)之后卻無(wú)法使用這種語(yǔ)言與人溝通交流。

誤區(qū)6、學(xué)習(xí)外語(yǔ)你必須要注重口語(yǔ)練習(xí)（而我卻是一個(gè)人，沒(méi)有人陪我練習(xí)口語(yǔ)）
說(shuō)外語(yǔ)通常外語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)的主要目的，但是這個(gè)目標(biāo)可以先緩緩。一旦你學(xué)會(huì)了這門語(yǔ)言，你就會(huì)很容易找到說(shuō)這門語(yǔ)言的機(jī)會(huì)。當(dāng)你學(xué)習(xí)一門外語(yǔ)的時(shí)候，”聽“的重要性要更高一些。如果你遇到一個(gè)說(shuō)這門外語(yǔ)的人，很有可能在你們的交流過(guò)程中你的大部分時(shí)間都是在”聽“，除非你已經(jīng)掌握了這門外語(yǔ)。你沒(méi)有必要為了學(xué)外語(yǔ)而去”說(shuō)“外語(yǔ)，你應(yīng)該是為了更好的”說(shuō)“而去學(xué)外語(yǔ)。

誤區(qū)7、我很想去學(xué)一門外語(yǔ)但是我沒(méi)有時(shí)間
你花費(fèi)在排隊(duì)、上下班、散步上的時(shí)間有多少？為什么不在這些時(shí)間里聽聽你IPOD里的聽力練習(xí)。一旦你開始，從最初的每天10分鐘或者15分鐘，很快就會(huì)變成每天30分鐘，或者1個(gè)小時(shí)。如果你相信你會(huì)得到一些有意義的收獲，或者你能從中得到快樂(lè)，就像我一樣，那么你肯定能擠出時(shí)間來(lái)學(xué)習(xí)外語(yǔ)。

本文來(lái)自：逍遙右腦記憶 http://www.portlandfoamroofing.com/waiyu/yingyuxuexi/13302.html

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