Yesterday, I talked about how language acquisition was not just a matter of memorizing countless sentences, and how the claim that language learning ability is dependent on super-human memorization skills is a fallacious claim.
The astute observer, at this point, would be asking, “what about all the vocabulary in a new language? — Don’t I have to memorize that?” The short answer is, yes you do. However, this is not the gargantuan task that many like to claim (while recusing themselves from doing it). We saw before that language learning, unlike most anything else you might study, actually has corresponding part of the brain pre-wired and dedicated to this task. Additionally, vocabulary learning does not require the amount of mental “space” that one would initially expect.

There is fierce debate amongst linguists and SLA (second language acquisition) theorists over how the bilingual brain partitions vocabulary. The basic question we ask is whether L2 (second language) vocabulary is stored 1) with the corresponding L1 (native language) vocab; 2) separately from the corresponding L1 (native language) vocab; or 3) (in the case of adult learners) only accessible through the corresponding L1 (native language) vocab. Now, let me make it clear: we don’t know for a fact which model is correct. For all we know, it could be a little of each. That being said, I’m going to lay my cards out on the table and show which camp I’m in, and then defend why. It is my belief that most FL vocabulary is stored with (and/or develops immediate connection with) L1 vocabulary. In the case of adult learners who learn via dictionaries and translation, it seems apparent that there would be a close connection between the two. Even if you learned a vocabulary word through L2 connections (i.e., it’s explained to you or you received examples in the FL context), for 90+% of vocabulary, there is already an existing conceptualization of the idea stored in your brain, labeled with your native language. Remember to my previous post about thinking in images, not words. It is probable, that when you initially hear a new word in the target language, it goes something like this FL word ===> native language word ===> mental representation. Through frequent use/repetition, one learns to skip the middle step, and you develop a straight connection between the FL word and the mental representation.
The important thing concerning memory use is that the mental representation is pre-existing. In all types of study, it is well-acknowledged that having related background knowledge is a huge plus in accelerating and facilitating the learning. For example, if one already knows how to drive a car, it would follow that one could learn to drive a semi-truck with much more ease than someone who has never been behind the wheel of an automobile. As different as driving a car and a semi would be, there are parallel concepts and actions, which merely require adjustment and adaptation between the two vehicles, whereas the novice driver has to learn the very concepts. Our brains are wired for efficiency, so creating two completely separate processes for very similar tasks makes very little sense from a neurological point of view.

Post note: there are still some interesting effects in how we manage to create these vocabulary to image connections. Experienced language learners may be aware that the “image” triggered by vocabulary of different languages may vary. For example, my mental image of the English word “cross” and the Spanish word “cruza” are stylistically different. While some argue that this is “proof” of a separate representation of the vocabulary, it is likely that this merely reflects experience at the time of learning. We can often recall specifically of learning and/or internalizing vocabulary. This is often connected to and image, situation, and/or experience, and can influence our mental recall processes when we next hear the word.
Additionally, any language you study is likely to possess words without immediate translations into your first language. In these cases, you do have to create a new mental representation. This is generally held to be one of the hardest tasks in learning.

This is much too big of a topic to address in a single blog entry… I very well may revisit this issue at regular intervals…

All too often overheard comment: “I’d love to learn a second language, but my memory is just not good enough.”

The above statement betrays two fundamental misunderstandings of the language learning process.

The first problem is that it seems to assume that FL learning is merely the act of memorizing sentences and/or vocabulary. While memory certainly plays a role in learning of any type, the idea that we merely memorize our way to language fluency is absurd at its face. This mistaken assumption was unceremoniously dumped by psychologists and language professionals decades ago, but seems to have held on rather tenaciously in public opinion. As Noam Chomsky pointed out in 1957, humans are constantly producing utterances that they have never heard before (i.e., “Stalin’s cousin, Bob, is going to the Mets game tonight to whack Spongebob Squarepants with a sock filled with pennies” — I’m going to casually assume that no one on Earth has ever heard that particular statement before, yet it’s perfectly comprehensible). Furthermore, children (and nonnative speakers, for that matter) frequently produce language forms that they could not possibly have “overheard. For example, anyone with small children has probably heard some variant of the phrase “I eated.” They are certainly not picking that up from parents!
Chomsky’s solution to this observation was to hypothesize the existence of a “language acquisition device” in the brain (i.e., a natural, in-born human function) which allowed us to recognize and learn to utilize syntactic patterns, thereby allowing us an infinitesimal number of expressions, merely by freely dropping in acquired vocabulary into blank syntactic patterns.

“But,” you protest, “doesn’t that still mean I have to memorize all these patterns and vocabulary words?” Yes you do, but this leads us to the second fallacy in the “my memory stinks” argument. Language learning, unlike most other learned skills, is an activity for which humans are equipped with an inborn capacity. There is much argument amongst linguists over how much (if any) of the LAD capacity is still available to adult learners, but most to all would agree that we still learn via awareness of syntactic patterns — not by memorizing overheard sentences. Additionally, as an adult learner, you have the added benefit of background knowledge and metalinguistic awareness (and sometimes, of formal instruction).

Still, wouldn’t learning a new language require a lot of memory space in order to fit all those vocabulary words in your brain?
Not as much as you would think… I’ll explain tomorrow…

It’s inevitable, once one goes abroad to study/practice their chosen foreign language… Just when you think, “hey, I’m really getting the hang of this language,” you will come across the ultimate lesson in humility — children!!!!
No offense to pint-sized readers, their parents, or their friends, but meeting children can be one of the most discouraging events that an FL learner will face.

Why children stink:
1) They speak better than you do, and they’re only 4…
2) You can’t understand a single word they say, but everyone else can…
3) They mercilessly point out the deficiencies in your own FL speech — often openly laughing at you..
4) The surrounding adults, most of whom would never in a million years have said anything negative towards your efforts in the target language, will often join in on the laugh.
5) Despite openly mocking you, they may still want to “play” or sit in your lap or otherwise prolong contact, and thus prolong your linguistic misery.

You may laugh, but this is all too real! Now, don’t mistake this as getting mad at the child — most people do not; but children do tend to hold up a particularly unflattering mirror to our remaining areas of foreign language incompetence. Despite the frustration they bring, it’s better to concentrate on the advantages of encounters with knee-biting FL natives.

First, to assuage your ego, remember:
The child, despite being a little “language sponge,” is far from perfect in his/her own language. Honestly, how many children do you know who speak perfectly? Little ones make mistakes all the time (e.g., “I eated all the ce[w]eal… All gone!”), so it’s sort of the pot calling the kettle black. Even if your FL ability is very low, you will still be on a “different plane” of sorts from kids. While kids may display better grasp of syntax and phonetics, your superior background knowledge actually allows you to discuss more complicated subjects. No matter how eloquent the kid is, he/she is still a child. you will probably retain an accent, but you can discuss adult matters inaccessible to that little bundle of chocolate mild stains and carpet burns. Ironically, this superior background knowledge in ways works against you in gaining FL proficiency, as it sets the bar higher. You want to be able to explain much more complicated things. If your world consisted of eating, sleeping, occasional bath time, and decking your little brother/sister, you’d learn the FL pretty quick too… Your final trump card: you may sink at the FL, but you are a fluent speaker of your own language, and everyone knows it.

Next, turning the child encounter into an advantage:
These encounters with kids, humbling as they are, can help immensely. Having someone to point out your errors is actually quite a good thing. If you never know the mistakes you’re making, you’re going to assume that everything is ok, and probably fossilize this incorrect language. Adults tend to be pretty reticent about correcting other adults’ speech, outside of formal contexts (i.e., classrooms). Occasionally, you’ll find the close friend who is willing to point out such mistakes to you, but by and large, if they understand you, most people will never correct. This is the advantage of kids. They love to correct! They’re not typically being mean. They are merely proud of the fact that they know the rule themselves (and have often just learned it), so they want to teach you as well. The child mind is intensely aware of how difficult the language is, as they are mired in learning it themselves, and they still are quite aware of the distinction between adult speech and their own, so it can be jarring to them to hear adults making what they know to be errors. Learn to accept these encounters as the learning opportunities that they really are! It’s actually quite good for your language skills to get some feedback.
Some worry that their deficient speech causes them to be lessened in the child’s eyes. I’ve never seen any real indication of this in literature, though. Kids are still intensely aware of the difference between themselves and adults. Your language faults do, however, help to endear you to children, who will see that as something you “have in common.”

Final note:
As for not understanding child speech — keep in mind that it’s often difficult to understand children in your own language. As their speech is often piece-meal and ungrammatical, it can take some exercise in deductive reasoning to understand kids. Don’t worry overly about understanding them. By and large, the more time you spend with someone (of any age) the more clearly you understand their speech. New people are almost invariably more difficult to understand, but as you get to know them, their speech becomes more transparent. Think in terms of children — who always understands them best? Mom (or the primary caretaker) of course! Degree of understanding positively correlates with amount of time spent together in communication…. (to put it in nerd-speak)

Have you ever heard people saying something along the line of “you know that you’re fluent when you can ‘think’ in the foreign language?” Me too… What exactly does “thinking” in an FL mean, how do we do it, and does it really indicate FL-learning success?

First, we need to dispel a horrible myth… You do not think in language!!! Language cannot be a prerequisite for thought. Do you think that baby’s do not think. Do they spend all their waking hours going “…..”? The chances are, if you monitor yourself, you will tend to think in images. Words are a way of labelling and even classifying ideas, but they have no intrinsic link to ideas. Hence, we have the 7000+ languages which all come up with markedly different labels for the same concept (i.e. dog, perro, chien, inu, gou — it doesn’t matter what you call it, he’s still furry and will either lick you or bite you according to his temperament).

Right about now, you may be thinking, “Hey! I think in words all the time.” Do you really? You may rehearse dialogue with yourself, you may talk to yourself, (- heck, you may even talk to yourself out loud,) but do your conceptual thoughts really come in words? We can show that as infeasible simply by the above-mentioned baby example, or the “tip-of-the-tongue” phenomenon where you have a concept clearly in mind, but fail to recall the right word to express it. This happens to all of us… Clearly we are capable of thought without language. Furthermore, language stimulates mental representation.
Pink and Purple Fluffy Zebra!!!!
You just imagined the above. When you read those lines, you suddenly constructed a mental image. Curiously, every reader will imagine a different zebra with the same qualities, based upon your own inclinations (i.e., was the zebra seated or standing; what landscape was he in; etc.).

So what does it mean to “think” in a language?
Generally, this expression means that you have (for the most part) ceased to actively translate units in your mind. When someone says “perro,” for instance, if you are thinking in English, your thoughts will look something like this.

hmmmm…. “perro”
perro = “dog” in English
“dog”
Mental image of a dog pops up in the brain

However, if you are “thinking” in Spanish, you can bypass the translation — i.e., the word “perro” will automatically cause an image of a representative of Canis lupus familiaris family to come to mind.

Does this mean that you’re fluent???
Maybe…. It all depends on context. We gain this ability in vocabulary and grammatical structure gradually, bit by bit, so it depends on what’s being discussed… Surely a beginning student will probably recognize a “bonjour” or “hola” within days, but more convoluted, arcane, or academic language will be recognized much later. Additionally, receptive and expressive language follow separate time tables. I feel pretty confident in Spanish… I certainly am comfortable listening to it, but when speaking, occasionally, I have to mentally run through verb conjugations — especially in less commonly used, heavily inflected constructions such as a pluperfect conditional. What does this mean towards my fluency? If anything, simply that I’m not perfect… My mother will confirm this emphatically….

What about “dreaming in the FL?
Err… no… This means very little. Dreams are strange mishmash recaps of our days. I’ve dreamed segments of languages that I don’t even speak (but are usually traceable to things I overheard that day), and been able to verify that they came out correctly in my dreams. While this can be exciting to language students, generally this just shows what we already knew — that your subconscious mind has a better memory than your conscious one.

Why is foreign language proficiency in, say, French or German considered defacto normal, but learning Chinese or Russian is considered “much to difficult for me?”
First, a mild disclaimer: there is a very real effect of the “distance” between languages and the difficulty of learning them. For example, an Italian will learn Spanish faster than an Englishman would, simply because the target language greatly resembles the language he/she already knows.
But that does not by itself explain the irrational paranoia that people show towards some languages but not others.
I would like to propose that we (Americans, Westerners, possibly humans in general) have a general fear of unfamiliar script. Whenever the writing system of a language varies from the Roman alphabet, we automatically assign that language a difficulty level far exceeding those that do use the Roman alphabet.
This is highly irrational. Most languages are very regular in their writing systems (much more so than English, at least), and foreign scripts can usually be learned within a month or two. It’s not the painstaking process we may remember from elementary school. Simply by being literate in your native language, you have already jumped far ahead in developing reading strategies, and the cognitive knowledge of concepts as simple as graphemic signs on paper representing sounds and words.
This is not to say that it’s “easy.” One can “learn” most scripts within a month or two, but it will take more time (and acquisition of vocabulary) to learn to read smoothly. Even in languages that use the Roman script this is true. As a former teacher of French and Spanish, I can tell you that, despite being well versed in script, students mess up the sounds of foreign words (most usually defaulting to how the word would be pronounced in their native tongue) all the time when reading. A foreign script will at least save you that pain. Just like in any language, learning to read fluently in a foreign script depends greatly on knowledge of vocabulary. This is why 1st graders don’t often read Hamlet. Nonetheless, an unfamiliar-looking writing system should not be a major impediment to learning another language.
There are some things to watch for however….
First, as you study be aware of what type of writing system it is. There are three major types: alphabetic (English, Greek, Thai), syllabic (Japanese, Cherokee), and logographic (Chinese). The best means (learning strategies) of learning/studying the written language will vary considerably with the type.
Second, for students of Chinese (or languages such as Japanese or Korean that still employ Chinese characters): yes, this writing system is a bear to learn. While most languages employ from about 20-100 distinct characters, the logographic Chinese writing system has a different character for each word — meaning thousands upon thousands of different characters to learn…
But don’t despair! It’s still doable. The remarkable thing about the human brain is that it still has this capacity. The characters are interrelated — with parts in common. In reality, you’re more learning various combinations of only about 100 different characters (much more doable!).
Third, don’t get distraught by high numbers of individual signs. English has a fairly low number of letters (26), but if you think about it, you know a lot more signs. When you see no-parking signs, or cross-walk signs, you’re using the same mental processes as reading, even though these signs don’t spell out their messages phonetically. In reality, these are logograms — just like Chinese! If Chinese people can manage an average of 10,000 characters in active memory, who are we to complain at learning 100 (50 x 2 different systems) for Japanese, or the 44 consonants (along with 18 vowels and 6 diphthongs) in Thai.
Just get to it! The sooner you gain literacy in your chosen language, the sooner you can take advantage of that avenue of learning, and enjoy all the benefits that the culture has to offer…

Sorry for the delay in the post. This weekend struck with a vengeance.
Today we’re going to look at the phenomenon of “balanced” bilinguals and codeswitching. Strangely enough, and contrary to most people’s ideas, a bilingual does not equal two native speakers. Bilingualism seems to subtly influence the brain, and the speech of a bilingual is distinct from that of a monolingual. One of the most noticeable aspects of this is what is called codeswitching — lit. seemingly random switches between the languages. These switches are actually not random at all. The more balanced someone’s bilingualism is, the more naturally their brains will switch between the two languages. While most people learn to “control” their vocabulary production to avoid annoying/antagonizing their monolingual friends, this is how their brains arrange their thoughts, and in relaxed (familiar) settings, they will naturally switch in and out of their languages. This is very typically a variant of the language they use in family settings. A few examples may be in order:
My wife and I, while neither of us qualifies as raised bilinguals, both tend to blend our conversations together with generous heapings of English (my native lang.), Mandarin (her native lang.), and Taiwanese (which she uses mostly with her immediate family). We don’t expect very many people to completely follow what we say. Even people familiar with all three languages will occasionally have trouble following our conversations because what has been created is a familiar language of intimacy that is all our own. This happens to some extent even with monolingual couplings. Think of the term “couple talk…”
I have a Latina neighbor who was raised in LA. While she is strongest in English, and has no trouble whatsoever speaking entirely in English, having been raised by Spanish-speaking parents (and raising her own children partly in Spanish) has made Spanish a language of intimacy to her. Much like pulling on a favorite old sweatshirt when you’re home, she visibly relaxes when letting drop random Spanish phrases. The more relaxed she becomes, the more codeswitching she uses. This is not dependent on audience. While I speak Spanish and my wife doesn’t, she is just as likely to drop terms like “mija” (text note: col. “mi hija” “my daughter”) on my wife (whom she adores) as she is on me. This sometimes requires a quick translation on my part, as these terms invariably confuse my wife, who usually thinks she is misunderstanding English. Therein lies the dilemma. While I can appreciate this case as our neighbor letting us into her circle of intimacy, her vocabulary choice can potentially confuse or antagonize those without understanding of the meaning of the utterance.

Today we’re going to look at the following scenarios:
2) People speak to you in the target language, but every time they reach a word that they remember in English, they suddenly switch, thinking that this will “help you to understand better.”
3) People switch back and forth between languages with you.

In situation #2, some of the same principles from part 1 may apply. Simply put, a lot of speakers of different languages have a hard time believing that you will actually understand them. They probably think that they’re helping out. The again, they may simply be accessing old language training, and seeking your approval as to whether or not they have remembered correctly. Either way, it’s usually best to nod politely, and carry on with the conversation. You may want to respond with the foreign language equivalent of what they just said in English to 1) acknowledge that you understood (thus making them happy that they successfully recalled the English phrase or word); and 2) it allows them to see that you actually are quite aware of the term in their language. After doing this a few times, they tend to take the point, and speak more directly in their own language.

Situation #3 is much more “hairy.” Usually, this occurs when there is no clear indication as to who has the superior command of foreign language. If your proficiency in the language is roughly at the same level as your conversational partner’s command of English, it only makes sense that the conversation will alternate from one language to another. You can take advantage of this, as I often find that when I’m lacking a vocabulary word, it’s almost guaranteed that the other person will know it and vice versa. This type of mutual level of proficiency (or ignorance, as the case may be) and mutual goal of language development often makes for great friends. I often found myself much more able to relate to people in the target language if they had made serious study of another language themselves. This way, they at least could appreciate the difficulty of my situation. People with some foreign language ability tend to be the best conversational partners, especially when you’re at a low proficiency level. They will be more adept at circumlocution (explaining “around” vocabulary gaps, whether by pointing or explaining the concept) and explanation.
The other possibility of a “serial switcher” is that the person is a very balanced bilingual. People who grow up speaking two languages, or who use a foreign language regularly in their day-to-day life tend to “code-switch” with regularity. They may or may not even be aware of how much they do it, and they are certainly not trying to “hijack the conversation” away from the language you are trying to practice. These people have merely gotten so used to at least certain aspects of the language, that they think in this mixed style. They are simply verbalizing their direct thoughts. A few examples…

Everywhere I’ve ever travelled, I’ve noted that expats (English speakers living in the countries) tend to mix certain expressions from the local language into their daily conversation — regardless of their command of the language! Some of this is innocuous — it would be difficult and confusing to consistently translate place names and food items (for example). Some of the items would take much too much effort to translate or describe, and doing so could lead to misunderstandings. Imagine trying to translate “enchiladas,” for instance. Even if a direct translation equivalent exists, it’s unlikely to be used consistently by expats, to allow a distinction between Anglo and foreign concepts. For example the Chinese and American versions of “chicken soup” are completely different, so in Taiwan, the Chinese type was consistently labeled as “ji rou tang” (lit. “chicken soup”).
Additionally, certain expressions from the local language may become “trendy” and get regularly used and abused by expats. It seems that the lower the expat’s level of proficiency in the language, the more likely he/she will use these types of “buzzwords.” It can actually get quite irritating to those who are pretty proficient in actual language use. An example of this would be the over use of terms like “daijoubu” (lit. “ok”) amongst expats in Japan.

There is an additional type of switcher — the person who actually grows up speaking the two languages (often referred to as a “balanced bilingual”). We’ll look at these people tomorrow….

A few thoughts on the biggest date night of the year…

Saint Valentino was Italian, so tell your significant other “Cara mia, ti voglio bene!“

The etymology of the word “love.”
O.E. lufu “love, affection, friendliness,” from P.Gmc. *lubo (cf. O.Fris. liaf, Ger. lieb, Goth. liufs “dear, beloved;” not found elsewhere as a noun, except O.H.G. luba, Ger. Liebe), from PIE *leubh- “to care, desire, love” (cf. L. lubet, later libet “pleases;” Skt. lubhyati “desires;” O.C.S. l’ubu “dear, beloved;” Lith. liaupse “song of praise”). Meaning “a beloved person” is from c.1225.
(from etymologyonline.com)

When you discuss language learning, inevitably someone will mention that the best way to learn a language is to get a boyfriend or girlfriend who speaks the language. There is something to be said for this, but language proficiency does not inevitably follow a romantic encounter like “B” after “A.” It still takes the same amount of work, but you will have two advantages: 1) steady motivation (there’s no motivation like wanting to communicate more fully with someone you love); and 2) a willing partner for practice. Just two words of caution as you go out looking for that international match made in heaven: first, it’s likely that you’ll meet people who are just as eager to learn your language as you are to learn theirs. Compromise is part of love, and this will be a good opportunity to practice it. Secondly, always be careful when learning language (expecially new expressions) from your romantic partner. A lot of languages have major differences between male and female speech. You don’t want to sound like the wrong one. Additionally, in romantic situations, it’s common for people to use expressions that are much too informal for everyday use. So be careful before using expressions you heard from your girlfriend/boyfriend.

Here’s a list to get you started!

Afrikaans - Ek het jou lief
Albanian - Te dua
Arabic - Ana behibak (to male)
Arabic - Ana behibek (to female)
Armenian - Yes kez sirumen
Bambara - M’bi fe
Bangla - Aamee tuma ke bhalo baashi
Belarusian - Ya tabe kahayu
Bisaya - Nahigugma ako kanimo
Bulgarian - Obicham te
Cambodian - Bung Srorlagn Oun (to female)Oun Srorlagn Bung (to male)
Cantonese/Chinese Ngo oiy ney a
Catalan - T’estimo
Cheyenne - Ne mohotatse
Chichewa - Ndimakukonda
Corsican - Ti tengu caru (to male)
Creol - Mi aime jou
Croatian - Volim te
Czech - Miluji te
Danish -
Jeg Elsker Dig
Dutch - Ik hou van jou
English - I love you
Esperanto - Mi amas vin
Estonian - Ma armastan sind
Ethiopian - Ewedishalehu : male/female to female Ewedihalehu: male/female to male.
Faroese - Eg elski teg
Farsi - Doset daram
Filipino - Mahal kita
Finnish - Mina rakastan sinua
French - Je t’aime, Je t’adore
Gaelic - Ta gra agam ort
Georgian - Mikvarhar
German - Ich liebe dich
Greek - S’agapo
Gujarati - Hu tumney prem karu chu
Hiligaynon - Palangga ko ikaw
Hawaiian - Aloha wau ia oi
Hebrew - Ani ohev otah (to female)
Hebrew - Ani ohev et otha (to male)
Hiligaynon - Guina higugma ko ikaw
Hindi - Hum Tumhe Pyar Karte hai
Hmong - Kuv hlub koj
Hopi - Nu’ umi unangwa’ta
Hungarian - Szeretlek
Icelandic - Eg elska tig
Ilonggo - Palangga ko ikaw
Indonesian - Saya cinta padamu
Inuit - Negligevapse
Irish - Taim i’ ngra leat
Italian - Ti amo
Japanese - Aishiteru
Kannada - Naa ninna preetisuve
Kapampangan - Kaluguran daka
Kiswahili - Nakupenda
Konkani - Tu magel moga cho
Korean - Sarang Heyo
Latin - Te amo
Latvian - Es tevi miilu
Lebanese - Bahibak
Lithuanian - Tave myliu
Malay - Saya cintakan mu / Aku cinta padamu
Malayalam - Njan Ninne Premikunnu
Mandarin Chinese - Wo ai ni
Marathi - Me tula prem karto
Mohawk - Kanbhik
Moroccan - Ana moajaba bik
Nahuatl - Ni mits neki
Navaho - Ayor anosh’ni
Nepali - Ma Timilai Maya Garchhu
Norwegian - Jeg Elsker Deg
Pandacan - Syota na kita!!
Pangasinan - Inaru Taka
Papiamento - Mi ta stimabo
Persian - Doo-set daaram
Pig Latin - Iay ovlay ouyay
Polish - Kocham Cie
Portuguese - Eu te amo
Romanian - Te ubesc
Russian - Ya tebya liubliu
Rwanda - Ndagukunda
Scot Gaelic - Tha gra\dh agam ort
Serbian - Volim te
Setswana - Ke a go rata
Sign Language - ,\,,/ (represents position of fingers when signing ‘I Love You’
Sindhi - Maa tokhe pyar kendo ahyan
Sioux - Techihhila
Slovak - Lu`bim ta
Slovenian - Ljubim te
Spanish - Te quiero / Te amo
Surinam- Mi lobi joe
Swahili - Ninapenda wewe
Swedish - Jag alskar dig
Swiss-German - Ich lieb Di
Tagalog - Mahal kita
Taiwanese - Wa ga ei li
Tahitian - Ua Here Vau Ia Oe
Tamil - Naan unnai kathalikiraen
Telugu - Nenu ninnu premistunnanu
Thai - Chan rak khun (to male)
Thai - Phom rak khun (to female)
Turkish - Seni Seviyorum
Ukrainian - Ya tebe kahayu
Urdu - mai aap say pyaar karta hoo
Vietnamese - Anh ye^u em (to female)
Vietnamese - Em ye^u anh (to male)
Welsh - ‘Rwy’n dy garu
Yiddish - Ikh hob dikh
Yoruba - Mo ni fe
Zimbabwe - Ndinokuda

I hope you all find someone to practice these with today!!!
I’ll get back to language switching tomorrow, but tonight, I’m off on a date with the wife!!!

A frequent complaint I hear from language learners is having problems actually convincing native speakers to talk to them in the foreign language. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone:

1) People always insist on speaking English to you, claiming they want to “practice” their English.
2) People speak to you in the target language, but every time they reach a word that they remember in English, they suddenly switch, thinking that this will “help you to understand better.”
3) People switch back and forth between languages with you.
4) You listen to someone droning at a painfully slow pace in English. You are positive that you could have a much better conversational experience by switching into that person’s native language, and even make several attempts, but the person simply is not taking the hint.

This week we’re going to look at these situations, some possible causes, and what you can do to alleviate this (and hopefully to get more opportunity to practice your foreign language speaking skills).

In the first scenario, there are several possible reasons why everyone may address you in your native language instead of the language you’re trying to learn.

The first reason is that you may just not be as proficient in the foreign language as you think you are. Be honest with yourself! The goal of most interaction with people is communication, and if the person you’re speaking with happens to speak English (or whatever your native language may be) at a much higher level than you speak your foreign language, then it will make very little sense to speak the other language — unless the primary goal of the interaction is merely to practice your FL skills… While this may be a bitter pill to swallow, if this is the case, it’s probably best to just continue speaking in English, and look for other more remedial opportunities for language practice.

The second reason this may be happening is dependent upon where you are and what language you’re studying, but sometimes the person may decide on racially or culturally-based criterion that there is no possible way that you could ever proficiently speak their language. By and large, I’ve found that speakers of Western languages to be fairly used to foreigners studying and speaking to them in their languages. If you happen to study a non-Western language (often referred to as “less-commonly taught” languages) — especially if you study a language that is typically spoken by a single national/ethnic group (such as Korean, Japanese, etc.) then you may very well find that natives of that language simply do not expect outsiders to be able to communicate in their language beyond a most cursory level. It can be a struggle to get people to believe that you really are capable of a normal conversation. There are a lot of people who will be honestly shocked at people who demonstrate proficiency in their language. A Hungarian I used to work with was tripping for weeks after meeting an American on the streets of Taiwan who spoke proficient Hungarian (Mormon missionary, of course…). This disbelief at the notion of people gaining proficiency in your language can also sometimes cause people to not even recognize their own language when it is spoken to them by someone who is not expected to know it. I’ve had many a run-in with Japanese or Chinese people who got so flustered and nervous when I approached (probably ransacking their brains trying to remember English phrases) that they didn’t even notice when I spoke to them in fluent Japanese/Chinese. When you come across this type of person, it’s very frustrating, but just stick to your guns. Sooner or later, they’re going to realize that you can communicate, and that will be a great life lesson for them.

Final reason (for tonight): The person you’re talking to may simply be really motivated to learn your language. This can be interpreted as being “greedy” (i.e., hogging the conversation time). If it really bugs you, and it’s a person whom you want to/have to continue to deal with, it is well worth your time to talk to the person about this. Most of the time, they simply see you as a God-sent opportunity to practice, but have never really considered that you’d like to learn as well. If you’re spending your time and money trying to learn a language, the person should honor that. Ideally, you may want to set up a time for regular language exchange, which will benefit both of you. The key to language exchanges is to be extremely rigid in approach to when to use each language (for example, if we meet for two hours, the first hour can be in English, and then the next hour in the other language — but stick to the schedule, and make sure to keep the full amount of time).

More tomorrow….

Ah Disney!!! The magical kingdom!!!

Only in a land of singing mermaids, Fairy Godmothers, talking furniture, and the like, could you possibly find such galling examples of linguistic implausibility. Leaving aside the talking animals, there are two recent Disney films that simply aggravate me through their callous disregard to the real travails of learning another language. These films treat learning another language as something that can be done almost instantaneously. While this certainly helps to advance the plot, it galls me that Disney can’t be bothered to press for anything concerning accuracy as far as language is concerned.

The worst of Disney language faux pas:

2) Tarzan: He basically learns fluent English in the period of a musical montage. While this technically could be any length of time, given the time period of Jane and co.’s research stay in the Jungle, this seems to be no more than a couple of weeks. Mind you, there’s the implication that he could have been aided by some residual memories of childhood, before the death of his parents.

However Tarzan’s two week achievement of language fluency pales in comparison to the all time language-learning land speed record of….

1) Pocohontas: By listening “with her heart,” Pocohontas learns a language previously never spoken before on her entire continent in about 3 seconds flat!!! Wow! Talk about your gift for languages! No wonder she can communicate with raccoons and hummingbirds as well! This lady is magic… Seriously, I about coughed up a lung at that scene… Does Disney truly expect us to swallow this tripe? Mind you, the Pocohontas movie had enough geographical and historical errors to fill up the better portion of the grand canyon. This movie’s been critiqued to death, but I just had to put in my two cents. If all we had to do to learn a language was to listen with the heart, I’d be out of a job….