The eighth week, quota met – fourteenth post

Another productive week.

Apart from all the memorization, this week also saw me getting to a point where I created confidence.

Last week, I mentioned how strongly dependent language is on culture. Last week I asked a native speaker to say a few things naturally, things like usually everyday language like “como fue tu dia?” or “tuve un dia pesada” (how was your day/ I had a heavy day). It started me thinking.

Just like a toddler, I need to rely on native speakers to walk me through the language and I should direct much of my curiosity at them, asking how they would express an idea (of course getting at least 3 options from them).

A result of this input, I am speaking more naturally, more confidently and just simply more often. Even to my English speaking friends. I think this is where I need to take my studies.

As testament to progress, I have added up all the words in my language notes too see how many words I have in my memory. Please take into account that it is difficult to get an accurate number as by the third week I was memorizing entire phrases, also not everything that I have memorized is noted down in my book.

Ok, now the disclaimer is finished, please remember that in my first post I pointed out that toddlers had a 'vocabulary explosion' at 18 months old. This levelled out at an approximate number of 400 lexical items. Although, now that I'm looking for it I'm finding different number (much lower) http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/language_development.shtml

and my original link to the chart isn't working any more. Bummer. 

Anyway, I have added up my lexical items and after 8 weeks of study, the number is between 850 – 1000 words. Its hard to say as there is a discrepancy between words one can identify passively and actively produced words. Just the act of me counting reminds me about the words. Putting the count at a definite minimum but with a cautious maximum.

This meets my expectations of language acquisition. 

Step 1 - memorising vocabulary to establish a strong enough 'reference bank' (list of vocabulary with which to compare all linguistic input against)

Time needed: Approximately 2 months (vocabulary of 800 plus lexical items)

Step 2 – familiarisation of general language functions so as to be functional on a general level (that is agreeing/ disagreeing/ giving opinions/ etc. and basic expression of time and tense)

Time needed: Approximately 4 months

At this point, the learner is able to function in almost all environments with a high level of accuracy.

 

Step 3 – more intensive study than previous required to be able to reproduce long pieces of native language effortlessly. Although 90 percent is understood, the production of the language is not as natural/ native as it needs to be.

Time needed: Approximately 6 months

These are not only my predictions but also my goals. To be native by the end of a year is a tall order...lets see how it goes.

The next week?

As per regular studies, introduction of another +/- 60 words into the memory, now that there are many words, its time to start revising too. Also I need to write lists of language to people how it is said here. This list will focus on the situation (contextualising the answer, I'm not looking for a grammatical translation) and how to express various ideas in more than one way.

We'll see how it goes. So far so good. The first check point has come and been met with success.

The cultural relation - 13th post

Recently, there has been a lot of hype over the research and conclusions drawn by Dunn, M., Greenhill, S. J., Levinson, S. C., & Gray, R. D. (2011). Their research draws conclusions about language families and tries to run in opposition to Chompsky's Universal grammar theory.

Its a good read if you are interested;

http://www.economist.com/node/18557572

but if you want the scientific stuff;

http://www.mpi.nl/publications/escidoc-95245/

I want to use this moment to better define the organic language acquisition by stating how it relates to this news and how it differs.

The state of affairs

Many linguistics spend their time trying to understand where languages came from, finding the root language and whatnot.

There is actually a list of unsolved linguistic problems which defines/ consumes linguistic research throughout the world

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_linguistics

once you have read it, ask yourself which are the most relevent.

OK, so what's the take then?

Simply put, anything which helps an individual learn a language is considered priority. Therefore, language acquisition research is crucial. Not that other research is irrelevant merely a lower priority.

It's a strong stance but it has its reasons.

The explanation?

Easy....cultural relativity. What defines a language, how can one analysis it and therefore seek order amidst the chaos?

I once read that some linguistics believe that language can either determine how a person will think/rationlise or influence how they think/rationalise. These theories are called linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity respectively. The language you speak will, at minimum, influence how you think....sound right? Not to me.

How about this, culture is was once defined as the things that people have in common, which include but is not limited to; weather, history,language, beliefs, religion, superstition, food, art, manners, behaviour, etc.

Considering that people can break away from their culture and choose what people to associate with, it stands to reason that there are many layers to the phenomenon of culture

national culture (patriotic pride)

regional culture (north vs. south)

city culture (NYC vs Miami)

area culture (north London vs. south London)

family culture (family names and honour)

personal culture (hobbies and institutes defining the individual)

race culture (for countries and areas lacking racial variety/ have a strong sense of racial pride)

you get the idea.

So, what's the point?

Well, a person has choice, thereby trumping cultural determinism, hence the best fit and the most rational is cultural relativity. Meaning that culture influences how a person thinks.

Research done into this is extremely compelling, and I am aware of an author whose books illustrate some interesting insights into cross-cultural communication: Richard Lewis

http://www.crossculture.com/services/cross-culture/

check out the diagram.

Here he explains how different cultures prioritise values.

Crude examples could be, British English being overly polite contrasted with American English which is considerably more direct, displaying how on culture values politeness and non-confrontational behaviour whilst the other values directness and efficient usage of time.

Or how about Arabic nations valuing a speaker who raises his voice, and displays what could be considered as anger, as a passionate speaker. (without the displays, people might consider him passionless and therefore bad at what he does)

Or how about Latin cultures (pretty much all of them) valuing the personal relationship with business partners to the point of having long meetings where a lot of time is spent just purely developing the relationship i.e. talking about life and family and whatever else.

The conclusion, please?

Ok, ok!! enough already. Basically it relates to studying a language. A culture can completely change the rules of the language and lexical items within the language.

To have a craft = to be good enough with your hands to rely on your skill as your profession

to be crafty = to be devious

The etymology of the word will tell you they once had the same/ similar meaning, but thanks to drift of meaning or "catachresis", meaning changes and people don't really pay attention.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catachresis

Grammar too. “love” is defined as a stative verb which cannot be used in the continuous tense. i.e. “I know her”, not “I am knowing her” or “I believe in God” not “I am believing in God”.

However, popular culture has changed this, i.e. McDonalds “I'm loving it” or “I am loving the new season of the Simpsons”.

Culture strongly influences language (collocations), thought (rational), values (priority of what is important) and linguistic forms (grammar).

Therefore, to learn any language, you must study it from within the culture. Otherwise what you study is a neutered alternative of the original healthy specimen. Thereby creating two different versions of a language; the classroom neutral and the culturally relative. (depending on how many cultures, there might be more than one, such as British English vs. American English.

Cultural relativity is the stance of this approach.

The seventh week - twelfth post

weeks results?

OK, so the usual memorisation of 30 words, lexical items relevant or difficult to recall the names of.

My active study was partially different than intended. I started thinking of why I was not speaking as much as I wanted. I realised something. But more on that later.

For now, let me just say that I bought a Hellboy comic which I have the translation of. This idea of comparative learning is proving quite successful.

How exactly? Background first!

The memory needs two things for sufficient recall: context and form.

Context? What does the item mean, does it has a positive or negative connotation, where can one use it?

Form? How many words, how many syllables, any contractions, special grammatical features, etc.?

Once the brain has these things it just needs to repeat the item/s enough to imprint them on the long term memory. Most effective if the item is also given context by the person in reality (meaning the person uses it of hears it often in real life too)

So how exactly?

Simple. There have been many circumstances where I have thought too myself that I can communicate myself, but I do not know how it should be communicated (therefore a lack of knowledge). I have decided to actively ask Argentines around me to fill me in and give me an example dialogue (which I of course note down). Now the brain has an authentic example which can now be compared with what is encountered in everyday life. Basically, get a model of what you need and you will be more confident, more accurate, more flexible and more alive to any variations (such as a twist for humour).

The Hellboy comics provide context for items which are only contextualised by items around them.

For example, Aun. Basically just emphasises something. “tienes mucho camino por delante” - you have far to travel/ you have much road (path) to travel. Adding “yet” or “still” to this sentence adds emphasis. This doesn't change the context but adds a more natural tone to the language. “Aun tienes mucho camino por delante” - You still have a long way to go/ you have a long way to go yet.

This idea of comparative learning is definitely an efficient way to learn that raises awareness of language items you won't encounter in everyday life, but also means you are much more accurate in your production of language. Now, talking about language learning I could venture a phrase like...”aprendo Espanol pero tengo mucho camino por delate aun” - I'm learning Spanish but still have a long way to go. The context for this was Hellboy's quest in Africa, a great story :)

The nature of errors and error correction

This is a part to say that although I have been waxing lyrical about how much I'm learning, lets keep it real by looking where I have messed up. 

1 - In one of my first posts I bragged the correct prediction of the verb 'to joke'. I said that from the phrase “estoy bromeando” (I'm joking) and exposure to other vocabulary that one could guess the correct forms of the verb and noun. I guessed bromo (which was in actuality broma) and bromer. However the verb is also wrong. I was corrected by my inspiring proficiency ladies that it is “bromear”.

2 - In my video from the previous post, I stated that “la semana que viene” was “the past week”. This is really the opposite. It means the week which is coming (next week) I did the equivalent of saying “Tomorrow I went to the bank”.

3 - I asked a policeman for directions by using the phrase I studied 3 or 4 weeks ago and said “Donde puedo llegar a la calle Peru?” I thought I said it correctly, walking away with a self-righteous smirk on my arrogant face. 10 meters later I realised that I had changed it around and used “donde” instead of “como”. I asked him “where can I arrive at Peru street?” instead of “How do I get to Peru street?” Hehehe, what a dope :) That policeman must've been fighting hard to control his laughter.

So, you are really shite at this?

On the contrary. Mistakes and all their embarrassing emotions are the things which solidify something in your head (the context has such a strong emotion,motivating you to remember the mistake and correct it). I will never forget these errors. And if I ever make them again, no doubt my mind will remember and correct itself. Embarrassment is a friend :)

This 'policeman' incident also shows the workings of the mind. I had two expressions usable in this scenario: “donde es el calle Peru?” and “como puedo llegar a el calle Peru?”. Of course my brain fumbled and mixed them. Sound familiar? Happens all the time. No need to get stressed and freak out, but an opportunity to better define things.

Next week?

More comics, more authentic dialogues, more vocabulary, more, more, more!!!

Chau

the sixth week, video time – 11th post

Progress?

Well,this week saw me waste a lot of time, not many new vocabulary items from my own studies. Having said that, I spent a lot more time speaking Spanish this week than previous weeks. I read all my (Spanish) comics. I got an X-men and a Sin City comic. Tomorrow I think I'll buy a Hellboy.

The point being that even when I haven't had enough time nor energy to do active study, the passive stuff comes through a great deal. As well as gaining more confidence with speaking (I'm ordering take out over the phone now) I find that the words I have previously learnt, though not as fresh in the mind, require little effort whatsoever to recall them.

New items?

During the week, whether with pupils, at home or out and about, I have encountered new strange words. Puddle for example (Charco). It takes a conscious effort of less than 5 repetitions and 2-3 minutes to commit to memory. If the effort is active in acquisition, time is minimised.

http://voxy.com/blog/2010/12/brain-learns-new-words-in-less-than-15-minutes/

I believe with context and/or mnemonics, you don't need this much time and could accomplish 100% with much more complex phrases.

Such as the 3 minute effort with (granted it took more) 10 repetitions to memorise the phrase “no te vallas por las ramas” - stay on point/ topic, don't stray.

As suggested, I am going to start inserting video clips to track my progress. Please be gentle with comments and understand how humbling it is to do this. Having said this, I will only put on up every four posts so that greater difference between videos can be seen.

Here is the first

Please leave comments on this blog and not on youtube (I'll  try disable the comments on the video anyway).

Next week?

More vocabulary actively studied. Continuing with the active indicative verbs. More passive stuff such as comics, songs, movies, etc. I think it should be good :)

The fifth week, if it ain't broke... - 10th post

Success?

“What we put our attention to is what we become aware of”. A nice quote with lots of truth. Focussing on a section specific of the language (the past week it was singular, simple verb conjugations) worked very well. Actively, I was able to recall from memory all simple, singular, indicative verb conjugations with a 90% accuracy for 10 common verbs! Not bad I'd say.

It was not a week of hard study but rather a week of slow enjoyable – paced learning. I also set out to memorise 30 adjectives to describe personality as well as 30 nouns connected with food. Not a problem. All in all a very successful week.

More passive re-enforcement

Previously I mentioned the notions of passive study and active study. While I feel the active study is going very well (there is always room for improvement) the passive study I am able to do is not enough. I need to re-enforce current knowledge by watching, reading and listening more. I need a TV. I am reading comics and re-enforcing a lot but I need to step it up with more exposure. This will definitely speed things up.

Also, I have decided that, for the moment, it is a good idea to once a week review all the material that I have memorised/ come across. Just an extra step to keep things fresh.

Another 30 words?!?

In keeping with a method which is working, I will choose this week to memorise 30 adjecttives describing positive and negative attributes of a situation/ gathering/ meeting. As well as 30 more nouns connected everyday objects (I think it will be a mix of cloths, household things and cooking appliances)

Reference Bank Theory

In keeping in line with the previously mentioned idea of the brain functioning in a way that it is constantly comparing and contrasting information, I have re-examined the idea of the “word spurt” (see 2^nd post). The reason of this explosion of lexis is not necessarily given but lends to the notion that with enough exposure and repetition of a word, the child acquires it. With enough of the common words and structures, the child begins to predict words/ linguistic features of the language.

With this said, it makes sense that one needs enough words/ linguistic items in the memory before on can experience this explosion. Creating a reference bank (many words, linguistic features) seems to be an effective one to be able to achieve this explosion. Hence the additional 60 words per week to help grow the lexicon.

More verbs ?!?!

Yes, I would like to continue with a maximum of 10 new verbs, staying with the indicative form. I will try this week to prioritise the singular forms, but in an attempt to add another level, I will add the plurals as well. The plurals will be an added bonus which, if it proves to be a busy week or too much material, can be dropped. Lets see how it goes.

Until next week