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Questions
about Spain?
Write to David at:
dbolton99b@yahoo.es
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Listening and understanding:
How NOT to get frustrated along the way. |
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Last summer, I had an English pupil who was a bit out of the ordinary. Most
of my students are college-aged, or, if they are older, they are
professional people who need English for their work. Luis, on the other
hand, didn't necessarily have to learn English, he simply liked doing so. He
was 46 years old, and an officer in the Spanish Army. Not surprisingly, he
always learned in a disciplined manner, and preferred to progress as
methodically as possible. He had been learning English on his own for only
about two years, yet I was surprised at all he knew about both grammar and
vocabulary, and at how well he could speak - but then, as you already know,
discipline, patience and perseverence will always get you far!
The reason he wanted to have classes with me is that whenever
he watched an American or British film, he was frustrated since he couldn't
understand everything. Of course, if you have never had much practice
speaking, and have never lived in a country where your target language is
spoken, comprehending everything you hear in a film is certainly not easy:
the actors speak quickly, they don't always enunciate well, they employ
colloquial expressions that a foreigner wouldn't know, and so on.
I told him in the beginning that a couple of months of
classes (only twice a week) wasn't going to enable him to understand
everything in a film, but that he should continue to listen to as much
English as possible between classes - films, radio, tapes, whatever.
A few weeks later, his frustration seemed to have lessened as
far as "total comprehension" was concerned. He explained to me that he had
merely changed his attitude: instead of intensively trying to
understand every single word he heard in a film (or on an audio tape), and
thus never being content, he had decided to be happy if he simply understood
something - maybe a complete sentence here, a few words there -
without worrying about knowing everything that was said. After listening to
a tape once, he'd then listen to it again the next day, and maybe a couple
of more times during the week. He said that each time he listened to it, he
picked up more of what was being said, until he could understand at least
the gist of it.
Indeed, sometimes we can make life a lot easier by not
demaning too much of ourselves. True, our final goal is EXCELLENCE. Yet
besides our "grand goal", we should have lots of little goals along the way:
learning so-and-so many new words every day, systematically learning the
elements of grammar, etc. And on that path, we should not confuse our final
goal - excellence - with our daily goal - doing something, however
small, in order to make definite progress.
It would be an unrealistic goal for Luis to expect to
understand everything he hears in a film. But it is a very realistic goal to
expect to understand something. And if you approach this in a relaxed way,
you will often be surprised at how much you can pick up.
Take me, for example, in my many-year quest to learn French.
I had about a year of it back in college, back in the 70's; after that, I
returned to it a few times, yet never had the opportunity to live in France,
or to have long conversations with French people. As a result, though I can
get by with what I know, my French is lousy. I have satellite TV here in
Granada, and there is one French station I watch sometimes, to see what I
can grasp. Whenever I really actively try to understand, I find that
I get a bit tense, frustrated, and am sorely tempted to change to another
channel. But when I simply relax and listen, I understand a lot more.
The more you listen to your target language, the more you
will pick up, especially if, at other moments of the day, you are learning
your daily "quota" of new words, expressions, verb forms, etc. Allow
yourself to be pleased with what you already know, instead of getting
totally frustrated about how much you don't know. (You'll note that I say
"pleased", not "satisfied", for if you are satisfied, you might not keep on
learning!) When you get a chance to spend a few months in a country where
your target language is spoken, you'll find that you will progress very
rapidly... that is, assuming that you make it a point to associate with the
"natives", and don't spend all your time hanging around with English
speakers!
That last point is of supreme importance. I can never
understand why some people put out the money to go to a foreign land to
learn the language, and yet spend the better part of every day with friends
from their own country. Well, okay, I do understand...
psychologically, it's a lot more comfortable being with people like you, who
speak your language. But when you make the leap and go to another country,
ALWAYS REMEMEBER that you are there to learn a foreign
language, not simply to
feel comfortable. A bit of initial discipline in this respect will reap you
magnificent rewards: by speaking only your new language with native
speakers, the progress you make week by week will be notable, and after
about a month or so, even though you will still be having some difficulties,
you will find it quite natural to converse in that language. At this
point, you will be well on your way to being truly bilingual. And that's
definitely worth the effort, isn't it?
Next:
11)
The Absolute best Way to Learn a
foreign Language quickly |
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