There are many opinions within the language learning community on the part of teachers and learners regarding grammar.
Some people believe that a grammar-based approach is key to efficiently learning a language. They claim that a thorough grammar study is necessary for understanding the structure of the language. They insist that without understanding grammar, a language would be a jumble of words difficult to decipher. Some go as far as to say that they first need to have a good grasp of grammar even before starting learning the language. I call this a purelyanalytical approach.
On the other hand, others believe exactly the opposite: that grammar books are an unnecessary obstacle that slow down the learning process. Grammar rules should be exclusively inferred by the language and not vice-versa. According to this vision, a student should start “attacking” the language as soon as possible. Massive exposure and deduction are key factors here. I call this a purely inductive approach.
A definition of Grammar
I found a rather interesting definition of grammar. Grammar is “the structural foundation of our ability to express ourselves. The more we are aware of how it works, the more we can monitor the meaning and effectiveness of the way we and others use the language. It can foster precision, detect ambiguity and exploit the richness of expression. This can help anyone, not only language teachers, but all teachers of everything”.
What struck me was the phrase: The more we are aware of how it works. I don’t think we need to be aware of how it works. We just have to make it work. Once a language flows and is accurately expressed, we have learned its grammar. Five year old kids are not even conscious of the word grammar, and yet they are able to string together full, correct sentences in their native tongue They have internalized it unconsciously.
Breaking the code
Our goal is to communicate. We are not seeking to do well at grammar exercises and related matters . Grammar will be internalized if the learner works in a truly efficient manner.
I view languages as codes. Each language has a different code. Languages are ways which human beings “encode” sounds and words to convey a message. If we communicate efficiently, we have broken the code.
In order to break a code, we need to figure out its patterns. That’s the key.
Once you have broken the code, the language unfolds and everything gets easy and enjoyable.
How to break the code?
The main question is, how to break the code? How to find a method to put all this into practice?
Let me give you an example of analysing and inferring.
Let us consider the following sequence of integer numbers, called the Fibonacci numbers :
0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13…
Instead of giving you the explanation, I can give you a hint: there is a precise and simple pattern between adjacent numbers, considered in pairs. Did you figure it out? If you didn’t, try again, it is well worth the effort.
Ok, have you found the solution the solution? Don’t you feel a sense of satisfaction?
Now, imagine that I had simply given you the following definition:
The first two numbers in the Fibonacci sequence are 0 and 1, and each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two. In mathematical terms, the sequence Fn of Fibonacci is defined by the recurrence relation:
Fn= Fn-1 + Fn-2
With seed values F0 = 0, F1 = 1.
With this, you will only have to insert the numbers the initial seed values and obtain the sequence. You have learned the notion of the Fibonacci series, you have been told how it works. In the first case,, instead, you have figured it out by yourself. If you did, the brain will have made the effort to find a pattern. That effort is important in that it causes neural networks to form. Inferring things with a little help from the outside is important.
My Techniques
I am very goal oriented person, and I make 100% sure that I can comfortably communicate in the target language.
In order to do that, I cut out all the fat and only concentrate on what is necessary to use the language. I simply choose texts which suit my interests and intuitively try to understand the grammar by observing the actual language of native speakers. I am calm and relaxed because I am aware of the fact that very single sentence contains all the grammar I need to know to express a particular thought, just as the Fibonacci sequence contains the key to its encoding in just a few numbers. Less is more in my method.
For anyone of you who is interested in using it, I can show you exactly how to achieve what I have achieved over many years of successfully learning languages by “coaching” you throughout the whole process.
The details will be in a book I am currently working on, which is tentatively scheduled for release by June, 2013.
Since I started making videos on YouTube, one of the most common questions has been: how did you learn to speak American English that way? Some people suggested that I must have an American mother or that I simply lived in theUSwhen I was a little kid. Flattered by these suggestions, I decided to share my story with you, hoping that it will inspire other language learners.
I was born and raised in Rome, Italy, in a 100% monolingual household.
The school system and language learning
I started learning English at the age of 10, when I started attending Junior High school (the so-called Scuola media).
The Italian school system is quite decent in general, but in my humble opinion it still teaches languages in the wrong way.
1. The role of the teacher.
It is commonly accepted that teachers should teach kids a language. Languages cannot be taught, they can only be learned. A teacher shouldn’t lecture or patronize kids but give them interesting content, help them understand it, motivate them, and guide them through the process. Essentially, a teacher should teach his/her students how to learn a language and motivate them to do so over a long period of time.
2. Wrong approach towards learning.
Being able to speak and understand a language is an ability that we acquire by trial and error over a certain period of time. In school, languages are often considered as a subject to study instead of an ability to acquire. This approach generally leads to a harmful fragmentation of the language into separate categories (grammar, pronunciation, words) that instead should be treated as a unique block and learned as such (a new article and video are coming out soon on this topic). The result is that kids often finish talking about the language instead of learning it directly.
3. Unprepared Italian teachers.
Let’s face it. A lot of teachers don’t have the necessary preparation to be a teacher. I don’t think you have to be a native speaker to “teach” a given language, and you don’t need to have a perfect accent, but you need to speak the language well, to have a good overall knowledge of it. Other than that teachers need to be able to “connect” with their students, and to do so, they need to understand their needs, their doubts, their limits and potential. It is not easy to find this combination of abilities in a teacher. Moreover, inItaly they are underpayed and frustrated. Good teachers should receive a much higher salary, because the school, together with our family, plays an important role in forming future generations.
Unfortunately, my teacher was not prepared. Her knowledge of the English language was far from excellent, and she had a very thick Sardinian accent. The books that we were using were boring, and we were constantly doing even more boring grammar exercises. At the end of the third year, I could barely speak, and my pronunciation was terrible. I was 13.
A breakthrough named Susan
My mother decided that it was about time for me to learn proper English. A friend of hers had heard of an American girl named Susan, and hired her to be my private tutor. She is fromChicago. She was kind, supportive, understanding and sensitive to my language needs – all attributes you need to make an incredible teacher.
She brought me interesting articles, corrected my essays, recorded movies for me. She corrected my mistakes in a gentle and encouraging way. I spent 2 wonderful years learning American English with her. As I have written, she didn’t “teach” me American English, but guided me through the process. I met with her once a week, and apart from our weekly lesson, I was learning new things every day by myself.
Reading is key
Some months after starting the classes with her, I began to read books. The first ones were quite small and simple, and I wanted to try something much longer and challenging. I went to a bookstore with my mother and while browsing there, I came across a huge book by Stephen King’s, IT. “I want it” – I remember having said. The owner took one look at me, a little kid, and told me that the book was too difficult for me. I insisted that I wanted that book and I eventually bought it.
I was happy that I bought it. The book was engaging, a real page-turner, as are most King’s novels. Although I was struggling with the text, constantly searching for the meaning of new words, I kept reading it, and finished it a few months later. After that book, reading had become easier, and it was a real passion. I read hundreds of books and this helped me enormously broaden my vocabulary. Reading makes you connect the dots.
Now, if you are wondering why I learned American English, instead of British, or Australian, I can only offer you the simple answer: it is simply because American English chose me, not the other way around. In general, the Italian society, especially after World War II, has been enormously influenced by the American culture. The symbol of this “collective infatuation” is the famous 1950’ movie “Un americano a Roma”.
It is a scene that every Italian knows. This has lasted until now. The influence thatAmericahas on Italians is still strong, especially through TV series and movies.
Having friends can change your world
I had an American private tutor, watched American movies, read American novelists and writers. In 2003, I met two of my best friends, one from Philadelphia(Garret) and the other one from Chicago (Rachel). I hung out quite a lot with them, and contact with native speakers helps you not only polish up on your pronunciation and active skills, but it also helps you to understand a different mentality. It presents another way of looking at the worldand expressing thoughts and feelings. A new world had opened up for me.
I have never been to the US before, but Americawas around me all the time. That’s why I think that attitude is what counts the most in speaking a language fluently. Even if I lived in Rome I was constantly searching for contact with foreigners. That’s why I don’t think it is strictly necessary to leave your own country if you want to learn a language well, and this is even more true in the Internet era.
Communication, not perfection is key to leading a wonderful life
Now I’ve told you my story with American English. I don’t think I speak like a native, like many people suggest. I do make mistakes, both in pronunciation and grammar. I gladly accept my limits. The point in learning a language is not communicating perfectly, but communicating efficiently. Many people use the misleading word “perfection” when they refer to the knowledge of the language. Perfection does not exist. It is not human. The goal of learning a language is communication. Being able to convey a message with elegant simplicity and with a clear soundingaccent is what we should all aim for. The rest are details.
I am glad and proud that today I can tell you all of this in another language.
Making YouTube videos gave me the possibility to come into contact with amazing people. One of these is, without a doubt, Richard Simcott.
On the 16th October of 2008 the following video came out on YouTube:
I was very impressed by Richards language skills and I decided to contact him. He was kind enough to quickly reply some of my questions. The very first thing that struck me in his response was his kindness. We moved quickly on to Skype conversations and he didn’t disappoint me: the kindness and humility that he displayed in his email shone through on Skype.
We have been speaking a lot over the last 3 years, and we have developed a sincere friendship. We talked above our passion for languages in our common languages. Our Skype exchange gave us a change to practice but, above all, it gave us the chance to share the inevitable moments of euphoria and sadness that life throws at us. This is, above all, a story of friendship between two people.
In April 2010 we finally decided to meet in person. Richard invited me toChester,UK, and I accepted his invitation with joy. We spent a wonderful week speaking languages, talking about them, browsing libraries, visitingChester,Manchester, Liverpool, and even the beautiful landscape ofWales. SKYPE is a great tool, but meeting somebody in person is another thing. Every time we went into a shop, Richard managed to strike up a pleasant and interesting conversation with pretty much everybody he talked to. It was great to witness the way he deals with people. During my stay, spent a lot of time together, and we had discussed the possibility of making a video. The end of my stay came so quickly. The night before I went back toRome, we decided to do a multilingual interview:
After that Interview, I always thought that I needed to return the favor by interviewing him. He represents an extraordinary story, both human and linguistic, and I wanted to share it with people. We tried to do such an interview some time ago but experienced some technical problems. A few days ago, we finally managed to organize another interview. This time there were no problems.
Being a polyglot is not a label, a title, a prize that one wins and then puts in the drawer. It is a way of life, a path to follow, a philosophy of life. It is a constant work and reflection on one’s limits and possibilities but first and foremost a journey into the richness of humanity. Richard is the perfect example of a polyglot, in this respect. He has a story of extraordinary strength and I am happy to share it with you today.
Written by Luca Lampariello
MULTILINGUAL INTERVIEW WITH POLYGLOT RICHARD SIMMCOTT (SCRIPT)
ENGLISH
L: Hallo everybody, I wanted to do another interview with a very brilliant polyglot, we tried to this some time ago, but we had some technical problems so we had to “abort the mission”. So here we go again, I am with Richard Simmcott. For all those who have already seen him on Youtube..he is a very famous polyglot and he made a very famous video where he speaks 16 languages and for those who have already seen him..well you already know him He’s pretty famous in the field of languages..So h Richard how are you doing?
R: Hi Luca, I am doing well thank you, how are you?
L: I am doing fine, the weather is great here so..I cannot really complain. Ok, let’s start with a very common question that I always ask polyglot: can you briefly talk about your life and your inguistic background?
R: Yeah sure. Well, thank you for the lovely introduction, I live up to some of the words that you said about me. Well I was born and raised in the UK and my first language is English, and then I had French from a very early age in fact I don’t really remember not being able to speak it and then later on I had Welsh spoken around as I grew up on a border area in Whales. Part of my family come from the Welsh side, in fact my grandmother’s parents learned English as a foreign language although it didn’t stay as a first language in my family, I picked it up and learned it a lot growing up. And I also had some exposure to Thai as a child too because my father remarried, we had family in Thailand. As a young boy I used to speak bits and bobs of Thai. It was never really really fluent but it was certainly enough when I went there. I could make some polite chit-chat with people. Sadly a language I have never ever used since I left home, since University.
FRANCAIS
L: Alors je vais te poser une question en français, comme c’est une interview multilingue, et je veux te poser une question assez classique, combien de langues parles-tu et à ton avis que signifie “parler” une langue etrangère?
R: D’accord. La première question est assez difficile pour moi parce que..je ne sais pas. J’ai étudié plus que 30 langues dans ma vie. Moi je dirais que je suis capable de parler presque comme l’anglais 5 autres langues, ça serait le français, l’espagnol, l’allemand, le néerlandais et le macedonien, Et donc..pour moi ça serait les langues que je parle bien en fait. Après ça, j’en parle plusieures à un niveau “assez” elevé, mais enfin, parler.. je laisse aux auditeurs decider ce que je parle en fait, pour moi ce n’est pas très important de dire un numero.
L: Ce qui est toujours un choix assez sage
R: Oui. Et puis, qu’est-ce ça veut dire parler une langue étrangère? Pour moi ça veut dire être capable d’utiliser une langue pour le travail, pour les études, pour moi ça signifie parler vraiment courrament une autre langue. C’est bien possible de dire par exemple “je suis parti en vacances j’ai pu communiquer avec tout le monde, je sais pas, notre langue, et c’est bien parler mais enfin, si je dis “je parle” pour beaucoup de monde ça veut dire vraiment parler courrament, donc, pour moi c’est ça.
РУССКИЙ
L: Я знаю что это типичнй вопрос для полиглот, как тебя но, я хотел тебя спросит, где же эта страсть к языкaм пришла? Ты помнишь конкретннй момент твоей жизни, когда ты сказал себе, что ты хотель узнать много яызков?
R: Просто нет. В начале это было просто так. Я говорил по-француски, по-испански, а потом я прожил в университете, я изучал португальский, итальянский и чешский, и так дале, это было просто так. Я люблю языки, я я всегда любил их, но я не сказал что на пример, я хотел быть полиглотм, это нет. Я, но..просто я рад что могу гороть на многих языках а это для меня возможность говорить и коммуникавать то что думаю, то что могу сказать
L: Да самое главное на самом деле, это всегда самое главное
DEUTSCH
L: jeztz auf Deutsch..Abgesehen der simplen Kenntnis der Wörter und der Stazstruktur, diejenigen, die deine Videos geschaut haben, waren besonders beeindruckt von deiner Gabe, den verschiedenen Akzenten praktisch perfekt nachamhmen zu können. Und ich wollte dich fragen Richard..wie entwicklest du solch eine Fähigkeit? Besitzts du eine besondere Mehode oder kommt es dir einfach natürlich vor? Was würdest du unseren Zuhörern empfehlen? Was sollten sie eigenltich machen, um einen “Akzent” zu kriegen, sozusagen?
R: Es ist immer nett zu hören, wenn jemand zu mir sagt, du spricht fast akzentfrei aber das ist niemals mein Ziel gewesen. Ich denke eigentlich, was für mich wichtig ist, eine Sprache zu deutlich auszusprechen und damit die Leute da im Land verstehen, was ich sage. Das ist mir allerwichtigste Sache, wenn ich eine neue Sprache lernen möchte. Also, wenn ich dann eventuell, also fast wie ein Muttesprachler für die Leute, es ist schon gut aber ich hab’ keine besondere Methode, um sowas zu machen. Ich versuche nur, so zu sprechen, wie ich das von den Leuten, die es als Muttersprachen haben, etwas zu hoeren und das auch noch zu machen, zu koperien, aber..ja für mich, ich meine, ich hab’ zum Beispiel angefangenmit Schweisch gemacht, da war, da mussten wir an der Uni nur die Aussprache zu studieren, weil es ziemlich kompliziert war. Sie hat mehr Vokale als auf Englisch und das war ja schon ein bisschen schwieriger oder? Aber normalerweise geht es mir eigentlich keine Mühe, mach es einfach so.
ESPANOL
L: Vale..y también queria preguntare..que piensas de personas que hablan, que se dice – que hablan 20, 30,40 hasta 50 idiomas. ¿Crees que es una cosa posible, o que son leyendas y que todas estas discusiones sobre los falsos o verdaderos políglotas – que parecen profetas – surge de un malentendido sobre la palabra “hablar” y sobre todo hablar “con fluidez”. Y, otra pregunta que queria ponerte es si has encontrado en tu vida a personas que sepan hablar verdaderamente mas que 5,6 7,8 idiomas, que sepan hablar con fluidez, con el concepto de fluidez de que hablamos normalmente, o sea mi concepto, MI idea de fluidez
R: Vaya que pregunta!
L: Es chungo eh,ahora..?
R: La verdad es que, no sé..yo no conozco a mucha gente así con tantos idiomas pero bueno si alguien me dice por ejemplo “yo sé hablar 20 o 30 idiomas” pues, suerte. Porque..para mi no tiene..no significa mucho, porque decir un numero asi, hay que pensar.. ¿hasta que punto sabes hablar este idioma? Pero bueno a mi no me importa, porque yo tengo mi trabajo, sigo con mis cosas y pués..sigo así. Pero la verdad es que en mi vida real..no, he hablado a lo mejor con 2,3,4 personas con tantos idiomas..con 8 o más. Con 5,6 si que hay, hay bastante gente..pero más de 8, esto ya..no tanto.
L: Es difícil
R: Es difícil encontrar a una persona así con tantos idiomas, y con un nivel asi avanzado, digamos por ejemplo un nivel avanzado seria un nivel C2, C1 o C2, que seria bastante dificil. Pero bueno, si alguien me quiere decir “yo sé hablar 20 idiomas, pues..suerte”
L: Pero es que por ejemplo con personas como Mezzofanti no que es considerado “la leyenda” de los políglotas, no tenemos pruebas y no sabemos como hablaba sus idiomas, pero es una curiosidad de saber porque, de todos modos, si uno hace unos calculos es muy difícil hablar con fluidez ya en 10 idiomas, imagínate 30,40,50, y por esto me estaba pregustando es una leyenda o una exageraccion o qué, sino es verdad pero es un individuo extraordinario en la historia de la humanidad, como Einstein para la fisica.
R: nunca digo no, pero bueno la cosa es esta que..hablar 10, 15 idiomas, ya es dificil
L: Es que todo depende de la palabra “hablar”, no? Si tu dices “hablo un par de frases” pues si, puedes hablar unos cientos
R: unos ciento no. Pero c1 o C2, si que seria bastante difciil. Hay gente, mucha gente con, no sé, 5 o 6 idiomas pero mas de 8..no sé. Estas personas estan todas escondidas
ITALIANO
L: Allora adesso dunque sempre sull’argomento della “quantità” delle lingue dicevamo poco fa nella domanda precedente apunto che le persone che arrivano a parlare, ce parlano 10,15 lingue ad un livello avanzato nel quadro di riferimento europeo sono molto poche. Tu però sei fra quelle eccezioni che ne parlano più di 10 e a un livello avanzato..lo posso testimoniare io che ti parlo tutti i giorni.. Quindi puoi dare una prospettiva straordinaria non tanto rispetto all’apprendimento delle lingue, quello naturalmente fa parte del tuo bagaglio, cioè come le hai imparate, ma soprattutto come tu riesci a conversare queste lingue, perché..quando si parla di “parlare” va bene uno le ha imparate però.. come si fa a gestire quotidianamente 10, 15 lingue? E’ una bella domanda questa!
R: Si. E’ difficile, quindi io non direi mai che questa sia una cosa facile da fare però insomma, con internet adesso possiamo praticare tantissime lingue, per esempio con te noi parliamo varie lingue ogni giorno, questo è un metodo abbastanza buono per non dimenticare tutte le lingue. Per me specificamente, io sono in Macedonia adesso, e nella città uso magari 4-5 lingue per comunicare con la gente, l’albanese, il macedone il turco, a volte il serbo. Quindi fuori di casa ci sono queste, e poi a casa ne parlo anche 4, il macedone con la moglie, con la figlia parlo in inglese, in francese, e anche in spagnolo e tedesco, quindi io le uso per la mia vita personale e anche per il lavoro. Quindi per il lavoro uso altre lingue slave, o magari anche l’italiano a volte, l’olandese, non so, e poi così posso mantenere un livello abbastanza alto in varie lingue, e poi c’è anche la televisione. Io ce l’ho sull’I-pad quindi se voglio guardare qualcosa in un’altra lingua c’è sempre un video con la tele, quindi questo è anche un altro aiuto tantissimo
L: Quindi diciamo, tu adesso ti sei costruito una vita in cui grazie al lavoro, grazie alla famiglia e all’ambiente riesci a parlare bene o male almeno 7,8 lingue al tutti i giorni, o almeno 10 durante nell’arco di una settimana, almeno una volta, per esempio con me almeno una volta lo svedese. Magari adesso un po’ di meno, ma comunque se riesci a parlare una lingua almeno una volta alla settimana non la dimentichi.
R: Si, certo. Quindi questo è possibile per me anche con la televisione, per esempio io prendo un film, lo guardo in inglese, italiano o in un’altra lingua e poi metto i sottotitoli in svedese o danese, solo per leggere un’altra lingua. Questo è un altro metodo che uso per non dimenticare le lingue, per avere questo livello che voglio avere per la conversazione con gli amici, per viaggiare o per lavoro, per me è una cosa essenziale, e dopo ci sono anche gli studi della lingua, io devo anche leggere dei libri, tutto questo anche per migliorare a volte il livello di una lingua.
L: Certo, quindi diciamo che la tua vita ruota intorno alle lingue.
NEDERLANDS
L: In het nederlands nu. Ik heb nog een vraag. Je hebt een kind dat al een heleboel talen spreekt,kan je kort verklaren hoe het is voor een vader om zo’n kind meertalig op te voeden? Dat is de eerste vraag. En ik wilde ook, ik zou ook graag willen weten of er grenzen zijn voor de aantal talen die je kindkan leren en of je als je vader verantwoordelijk bent voor het leerproces. Jekan me ook vertellen hoe het voelt om je eigen kindje om elke dag nieuwe dingen te leren zien. Dat zou een heel interessant ervaring zijn. Ik ben nog geen vader maar..ik wet dat het echt interessant is, om een vader te zijn.
R: Het is ook gaf hoor.. Ik moet zeggen, aan het begin, ik dacht, ik wil niet meer dan 3 talen met haar doen. Die talen waren maedonisch, engels, frans. Toen ze 1 jaar oud was, ze sprak heel goed hoor voor een 1 kind van een jaar, ze sprak wel, ja, een paar woorden in het frans, ook in het engels, en ook in macedonisch, en dat was voor haar geen problem, dus… dan dacht ik ja, dan gaan we misschien een paar anderen talen toegeven, en toen dacht ik ja, even zien hoe het gaat. Toen ze 16 maanden was, we begannen met Duits en Spaans en we hebben wel 1 uurtje per dag in het Duits en in het Spaans gespeeld, en we doen dat nog steeds. Nu spreek ze wel.. ze is 4 jaren oud, ze spreekt vloiend engels, spaans en macedonisch en zekankan alles in het spans en duits begrijpen, ze geeft ook antwoord mar zekan niet zo vloeiend spreken, een conversatie voeren, zoals in anderen talen. Ze zijn niet eerste talen voor haar, ja of ze vreemde talen zijn dat weet ik ook niet. Al seen vreemde taal voor je is, dan je moet het echt leren, en ze heft het niet gedaan, ze is gewoon, ja natuurlijk, heeft ze het opgepickt hoor. Op te pikken en leren, er is een groot verschil, en de proces is een beetje anders dus..of er en grens is voor talen dat weet ik niet, ik zou haar niet te veel talen nu, tegenwoordig geven, omdat ze moet dan wel..even kijken hoe het gaat met de talen die ze heeft, dan misschien wel Dankan ze wel anderen talen leren, dat is voor mij geen problem, maar..als ze will, ze vindt het wel goed om anderen talen te spreken, en dat is wel leuk en voor haar is het nog een speel en ze vraagt nog soms.. ze wil albanischkan spreken, want ze heeft vrienden die albanisch spreken en ze will ook chinees leren, maar..ik moet zeggen, ikkan die anderen talen nog niet met haar, Ik vind het, ik vind het te veel.. 5 voor een kind is wel genoeg. Dat is genoeg, en dat vind ik ook goed zo, ik will geen “mini-Richard” maken dat is niet de bedoeling, nee..
SVENSKA
L: Pä svenska nu. Tycker du att för att tala ett språk riktigt bra bor man bo i landet dar språket talas? Eller verkligen är det en absolut nödvändighet eller..flytande även om man stannar i sitt eget land, det är okså interessant..
R: Ok..har du bott i Sverige Luca?
L: Nej, jag har aldrig bott i Sverige men jag pratar med dig varje dag, eller, vet inte, kanske inte varje dag men i alla fall vi pratar ofta och det ger mig möjlighet för att öva språket.
R: Ja så då, Jag kon aldrig säga att det ar nodvändigt att bo i ett land för att prata ett sprak bra, jag tänker att det inte daligt, att bo till exempel i Sverige och lära sig svenska i Sverige, det vore coolt att göra det, men det är inte nodvändigt, jag inte eller har bott i Sverige men jag har studerat det på universitet i Storbritannien och jag pratar det varje dag och har okså användat for mitt job,det är fint, jag tror att att bo I ett land till exempel det ar ibland att bo det är battre for att […] så..för att mankan fårsta bättre det man säger. For det är kanske bättre, men jag skulle aldrig saga att man behöver att bo i ett land for att prata deras språket bra..inte alls.
PORTUGUES
L: E’ verdade. Agora vou a falar português. Todas issas linguas que tu falas são indo-europeas, porque é que nunca te aproximaste das linguas asiaticas, ha alguma razão especifica o simplemente nunca ainda não tiveste tempo?
R: As línguas que falo agora são línguas que tenho estudado na universidade e também na escola e tal, isto é uma coisa natural, eu também, quando morava nos diversos países em Europa eu queria falar as línguas dos países, não tenho morado em um pais asiático, então é por isso… o motivo porque não falo chinês ou japonês muito bem, mas estou agora… estou a fazer um curso de turco e isto também se qualifica como uma língua asiática, mas… é uma língua que a gente aqui fala também diariamente aqui em Macedónia e tal, e agora estou a fazer isso. Gosto muito da língua turca, e penso que é uma língua… é muito bonita também porque tem muito vocabulário macedónio com o turco e também o turco tem muitas palavras francesas, então resulta em uma língua muito como… não sei como dizer… mas como ja “conhecida” duma maneira, sabes o que quero dizer? Assim que não… por exemplo, eu nunca queria falar… fazer uma lista de todas as línguas do mundo e dizer “eu tenho absolutamente que falar uma língua asiática ou algo assim”, para mim não era muito importante fazer isso, para mim era somente uma questão… uma pergunta… de falar com a gente onde morava e também para o trabalho.
L: entendo, acho eu também. Nao tem sentido de fazer listas, de toda maneira, nao è?
ENGLISH
L: Back to English now for the final question..so what are your future projects in terms of languages? I know that you are learning Turkish right now so how is it going with Turkish, and..do you have any plan on learning..what is your next language going to be? If I can ask you that. If you have already something in mind. That’s a tough question!
R: Ok..well at the moment my priority is Turkish..you know it really is, so it is a tough question..my first priority is definitely to continue Turkish, I really want to bring it to quite a good level because I can use it where I live and it’s almost like a free maintenance language because I don’t have to make much of an effort to maintain it once I’ve learned it so it makes sense for me to speak Turkish so I will finish the A2 Course which should end in April I guess, March/April, I will do the exam and carry straight on with B1 and then I’ll have the summer off and then concentrate on my Polish. At the moment I just maintain my Polish at a kind of A2/B1 level and then I will take Polish to a kind of a B2, maybe a C1 if I am very very lucky, and I manage to get a lot of study in and a lot of practice done. And then I’ll come back to Macedonia and carry on with Turkish and do the B2 and possibly the C1 and C2 as well next year, and that will take me to June 2013 and then apart from that, well..I will carry on with my Hebrew keep it ticking over, possibly possibly keep carrying on with Chinese but..it’s a backburner language for me really, I don’t have anyone to use it with and it’s not a priority unfortunately and then then other things that I want to do, I want to refresh my Icelandic because I do hope to go to Iceland for the Esperanto Conference which should be there in a year and a half or so. So I will have to keep my Esperanto up too..
L: Well Richard, what can I say? Thank you very much for this brilliant interview
R: You are welcome, thanks for interviewing me, for having me along and it’s always a pleasure to speak to you
L: Always a pleasure to speak to you too, bye everybody!
Una volta assimilata a grandi linee l’introduzione fonetica sulla meccanica delle singole parole (si guardi parte 1/3 e 2/3) il passo successivo consiste nel cercare di “afferrare”, sempre a grandi linee, la dinamica della lingua.
Dinamiche dell’accento in una lingua: esempio di analisi fonetica (italiano)
Definisco la tecnica che uso “analisi fonetica”. Essa consiste nell’analizzare e “decifrare”, per mezzo di un ascolto ripetuto e concentrato, il modo in cui le varie parole vengono legate le une alle altre e pronunciate all’interno di una fase. Qui di seguito viene proposto un esempio di come mettere in pratica questa metodologia su un testo in italiano. Prima di fare ciò, tuttavia, è necessario, come per qualsiasi lingua, fare una breve introduzione sulle caratteristiche dell’intonazione in italiano, e su quelli che io definisco i “marcatori” che servono a definirne e specificare le singole caratteristiche.
L’INTONAZIONE IN ITALIANO E I RELATIVI MARCATORI
1. L’accento tonico e l’accento di frase.
L’italiano ha due caratteristiche importanti quando si considera la complessità fonetica di una frase: l’accento tonico e l’accento di frase. E’ quindi importante che questi due elementi vengano distinti attraverso dei marcatori specifici.
L’accento tonico si riferisce alle parole considerate singolarmente. La sillaba su cui cade l’accento tonico presenta una vocale il cui tono della voce “cade”, letteralmente, arrestandosi momentaneamente: è questo un aspetto fondamentale delle parole italiane. Mantenendo l’esempio dei toni del cinese mandarino, si potrebbe quindi dire che l’accento tonico corrisponde (a grandi linee e con le dovute differenze) ad un quarto tono cinese: le vocali su cui esso cade verranno quindi marcate nel seguente modo: à,è,ì,ò,ù. Il marcatore corrispondente sarà [ ` ].
càsa cantàre caffè
Come negli esempi sopra, l’accento tonico può cadere sia all’inizio, che all’interno o alla fine di una parola.
Ciò che precede l’accento tonico viene in genere pronunciato, sempre in base a un confronto con i toni del cinese Mandarino, con un tono elevato che, a grandi linee, corrispondente ad un primo tono (tono alto e continuo). Il marcatore sarà quindi [ ¯ ], da porre sopra le vocali con una matita.
cāntàre cāffè
Ciò che segue l’accento tonico è invece un tono “neutro”, in cui la voce rimane bassa dopo lo “stop” imposto dall’accento tonico. Data la “neutralità” vocalica, in questo caso non si userà alcun marcatore.
E veniamo ora al cosiddetto “accento di frase”, ovvero l’accento tonico di una parola ma considerato nel contesto di una frase intera. Si tratta della parola, per così dire, “più in risalto” nella frase, ed è quella che condiziona la configurazione vocalica delle parole che le stanno attorno. E’ come se su di essa, l’intonazione della frase si arrestasse. Il marcatore corrispondente sarà la sottolineaturadella parola in questione:
Com’è buono questo caffè! > Cōm’ē_ buòno quēstō_cāffè!
Che persona simpatica! > Chē_pērsōnā_ sīmpàtica
Mi piacerebbe tanto tornare in Italia. > Mī_piacērēbbē_ tànto tōrnārē_īn_ Itàlia
Come vedremo nel prossimo paragrafo, la prima frase presenta due blocchi di parole aggregate, e qui l’accento di frase cade su “buòno” perché si vuole enfatizzare la qualità dell’oggetto di cui si parla (il caffè). La stessa cosa vale nel secondo esempio: la parola che viene enfatizzata è “simpatica”. Come si può notare, la frase viene pronunciata considerando le 3 parole che la costituiscono come se fossero un blocco unico, e tutto ciò che precede l’accento tonico sulla sillaba “pà” di “simpatica” viene pronunciato con un tono di voce abbastanza alto. Nel terzo e ultimo esempio, viene accentuata sia la “quantità” del desiderio (accento di frase su “tanto”) che il luogo in cui si vuole andare (“Italia”).
2. L’aggregazione di più parole e le “micro-pause”.
Un altro importante fattore da considerare nel pronunciare una frase in italiano è la tendenza di questa lingua ad “aggregare” gruppi di parole. In poche parole, all’interno di una frase in italiano, gli articoli, gli aggettivi e altre particelle minori vengono pronunciati come se fossero come un unico blocco. Questo ha una rilevanza particolare sul modo in cui il tono di voce viene modulato (elevandosi, abbassandosi o bloccandosi) all’interno di una frase. Il marcatore corrispondente sarà il simbolo [ _ ] che verrà posizionato tra una parola e l’altra (si vedano gli esempi del paragrafo precedente).
Una volta considerata l’aggregazione di più parole in gruppi ben definiti, bisogna poi distinguere questi gruppi con delle “micro-pause”. Queste fungono infatti da breve cesura tra un gruppo e l’altro, e servono anche a conferire alla frase la giusta intonazione e il giusto tempo. Q ualora non siano specificamente marcate (da virgole o punti e virgola), queste “micro-pause” verranno rappresentate con il marcatore //, che serve appunto a marcare il limite fra i gruppi di parole.
EX: Mio padre si chiama Davide e conosce un sacco di cose è Mio padre // si chiama Davide // e conosce un sacco di cose
3. Il caso delle consonanti doppie.
Le consonanti doppie sono una peculiarità della lingua italiana e cambiano la configurazione della vocale che le precede: il marcatore corrispondente sarà [✓], da inserire al di sopra delle consonanti doppie.
Esempio: nella parola “polo”, la “o” in “po” è pronunciata aperta, con un tono che cade (accento tonico) ma che dura di più rispetto a “pol” nella parola “pollo”, in cui la o viene pronunciata più chiusa e più rapida, per dare poi “forza” al blocco della doppia consonante
Polo > Pò-lo
✓
Pollo > Pol-lo
4. Particolari segni di interpunzione.
E’di vitale importanza fare attenzione all’intonazione della frase qualora termini con segni quali [?] oppure [!].
Il primo (?) è il simbolo usato per l’interrogazione: qui il tono di voce tende a salire (tono ascendente del cinese mandarino), e quindi il marcatore corrispondente sarà [ ].
Che cosa hai fatto oggi? è Che_cōsa_hāi_ fatto oggi?
Il secondo (!) è il simbolo per l’esclamazione: il tono di voce tende a scendere (tono discendente del cincese), il marcatore corrispondente sarà [ ].
Vado a casa di Luca > Vādō_ā_cāsā_di_ Lucìa(frase con intonazione neutra)
Che bella giornata! > Chē_bēllā_ giōrnàta! (frase con intonazione discendente)
ESEMPIO CONCRETO DI ANALISI DI UN TESTO
Consideriamo ora, invece che singole frasi, un intero testo in italiano.
Ne riporto qui sotto la trascrizione per poi fornire la relativa analisi fonetica.
Il pasto di metà giornata, si chiama pranzo. In Italia, è generalmente il pasto più importante della giornata, anche se occorre registrare una recente variazione della consuetudine, soprattutto nelle grandi città, che, per esigenze di lavoro, hanno trasformato il pranzo in un leggero spuntino consumato fuori casa.Nella sua forma tradizionale, il pranzo comprende più portate: un primo piatto, di solito pasta, un secondo piatto, maggiormente carne, e un contorno di verdure o patate, seguito da un dessert o frutta.
E ora lo stesso testo analizzato su carta. Potreste fare l’analisi fonetica anche sul computer, ma vi assicuro che leggere direttamente su carta e scriverci su con una penna o matita è un’operazione “romantica” che conserva ancora oggi i suoi privilegi, nonostante ci troviamo nell’era dei computer e di Internet:
Conclusione: lo scopo principale dell’analisi fonetica.
L’analisi fonetica di un testo, come vedrete se deciderete di applicarla, prende tempo. Appena l’avrete completata, tuttavia, vi sarete accorti di una cosa importante: e cioè di aver ascoltato moltissime volte lo stesso testo. E’ questo un tempo ben speso: insegna ad osservare con grande attenzione dei dettagli che in genere sfuggono, e, soprattutto, a capire i “pattern” vocali, e cioè i percorsi che l’intonazione della voce segue nel trasmettere certe informazioni (enfatizzare, introdurre, fare una domanda, ecc.). L’analisi che propongo è applicabile a qualunque lingua, ed è a mio avviso utile per imparare non solo come pronunciare le singole parole, ma anche e soprattutto a come pronunciarle (e gestirle) all’interno di un intero enunciato. Il resto è solo una questione di pratica, ed è con la pratica che riuscirete anche voi ad acquistare un accento simile a quello di un madrelingua!
Una delle domande più ricorrenti che mi viene rivolta sul mio blog e sul mio canale YouTube è la seguente: “è possibile imparare più lingue allo stesso tempo e come?”
E’ un argomento interessante e quindi volevo cercare di spiegarvi qual è stato il mio approccio in questi anni e come intendo affrontare le mie prossime avventure linguistiche.
Nel corso degli anni, non ho mai sentito la necessità di imparare più di una lingua alla volta. Ripensandoci ora, questo mio approccio è fondamentalemnte dipeso da 3 fattori: 1) perché non avevo fretta; 2) perché la lingua che sceglievo mi coinvolgeva così tanto che non mi veniva la voglia di affrontarne una seconda; 3) perché imparare solo una lingua alla volta mi dava la possibilità non solo di dedicare ad essa il giusto tempo e la giusta concentrazione (lavorandoci su tutti i giorni), ma anche di dedicarmi al mantenimento e al miglioramento di lingue che avevo imparato precedentemente. Vediamo più nei dettagli questi tre fattori.
1. Non avere fretta è una condizione che permette di rimanere rilassati e concentrati. In italiano esiste tutta una serie di proverbi e frasi fatte sull’effetto nocivo che spesso la fretta può avere sulle nostre vite: “la fretta è cattiva consigliera”, “chi va piano va sano e va lontano”, e così via. Trovo l’ossessione per il “tutto e subito” particolarmente deleteria: il momento più delicato dell’apprendimento della lingua, infatti, sono proprio i primi 6 mesi. Occorre dedicare alla lingua un’attenzione giornaliera e doverla dividere fra due, tre, o addirittura quattro lingue, va sicuramente a enorme discapito della qualità dell’apprendimento. L’idea che imparando più lingue contemporaneamente risulti come un’ottimizzazione del tempo sul lungo termine può rivelarsi come una pericolosa illusione se poi non si sa come affrontare un studio di tale entità..
2. Il coinvolgimento, emotivo, didattico, esistenziale che si stabilisce con una lingua è un aspetto spesso poco discusso ma molto importante nell’apprendimento. Ogni lingua porta con sé non solo suoni, parole e frasi, ma anche e soprattutto ricordi ed emozioni. I primi 6 mesi di un percorso linguistico contano anche in questo senso..
3. Il fatto di imparare attivamente una lingua non impedisce di coltivare ed espandere quelle che si sono già apprese e che, per ovvi motivi, si trovano ad un livello superiore. è quello che ho fatto negli ultimi anni decidendo di imparare 1 lingua ogni 2 anni, ossia dedicarmi a due lingue contemporaneamente su un arco di tempo di due anni. Questo mi ha permesso di portare tutte le lingue che ora conosco fino a un livello relativamente alto nell’arco di 10-20 anni. Ovviamente è una strategia a lungo termine e che comporta un abuona dose di pazienza..
L’esempio dei due studenti
A questo proposito, vorrei farvi un esempio per cercare di spiegarvi meglio il concetto.
Supponiamo che uno studente A e uno studente B scommettano su chi tra i due riuscirà a imparare 10 lingue nella maniera più “rapida” dato un certo lasso di tempo. Supponiamo anche che venga fornito loro un limite di 10 anni. Ora, lo studente A decide di seguire il metodo da me suggerito imparando 2 lingue ogni 2 anni; mentre lo studnete B decide di impararle tutte e 10 in contemporanea per 10 anni. Il risultato?
Ebbene, alla scadenza del limite dei 10 anni, lo studente A parla 10 lingue e ha avuto modo non solo di impararle, ma di gestire, migliorare e mantenere quelle precedenti. è in grado di conoscerne tre o quattro molto bene, e le altre decentemente. Ha livelli diversi, ma ha acquisito una competenza importante: è arrivato alla soglia in cui nel suo cervello si è formato un “nucleo” per ciascuna delle lingue che ha affrontato. Questo “nucleo” gli permette di avere una base solida in una lingua, sebbene non l’abbia praticata molto, e di portarla col tempo a un livello superiore. Questo non avviene nel caso in cui ci si è limitato a una conoscenza basica e poco approfondita..
Lo studente B, invece, ha studiato le 10 lingue dedicando ad esse la stessa quantità di tempo. Il risultato è che le parla tutte più o meno allo stesso livello, ma non è un livello molto elevato. Spesso fa confusione fra lingue simili, e in quelle che ha tralasciato (sarebbe raro, infatti, riuscire a dedicare lo stesso tempo e dedizione a un’attività per 10 anni!) sono regredite allo stato embrionale..
Alcune linee guida e qualche consiglio su come imparare più lingue contemporaneamente.
Il consiglio che do sempre a tutti è di imparare una lingua alla volta, concedersi un certo lasso di tempo per impararla e poi passare a quella successiva. è la strategia che ho seguito per le mie prime sette lingue straniere. Dal 2009 in poi, invece, la mia strategia è cambiata e ora consiste nel considerare due lingue alla volta. L’ho fatto con il cinese e il portoghese, e ora lo sto facendo con giapponese e rumeno. è una scelta che consiglio a coloro che hanno:.
una discreta quantità di tempo a disposizione
una buona dose di volontà
una certa esperienza nell’apprendimento delle lingue
una buona capacità di gestione del tempo.
Per chi pensa di avere la voglia ed il tempo di affrontare questa sfida multilingue, ecco dunque alcune delle linee guida che ho seguito e che penso possa risultarvi utili:
1. Cercate di scegliere un massimo di 2 lingue alla volta. Già tre lingue possono rilevarsi un carico di lavoro eccessivo e la qualità del vostro apprendimento ne risentirebbe pesantemente..
2. Scegliere due lingue diverse fra loro. Il periodo iniziale in cui si forma il “nucleo” di una lingua è molto importante, sia in termini strettamente linguistici (acquisizione di parole, suoni, strutture, ecc.) che in termini di esperienze e sentimenti legati alla lingua che si sta imparando. La diversità fra le lingue evita conflitti e sovrapposizioni che si possono rivelare nefasti. Tutti coloro che hanno imparato lingue simili, anche a distanza di tempo l’una dall’altra, hanno in qualche modo riscontrato simili conflitti. Immaginiamoci poi se si imparano, in maniera per giunta confusa e disorganizzata, due lingue simili e allo stesso tempo. Imparare spagnolo e francese o italiano, oppure tedesco e olandese, allo stesso tempo non è una buona idea..
3. Cercare di scegliere una lingua “facile” (dove per “facile” intendo dire una lingua “simile” alla vostra lingua madre) e una lingua “difficile” (ossia molto “diversa” dalla vostra)
4. L’aver scelto due lingue diverse e con un livello di complessità differente vi permette una gestione del tempo piuttosto flessibile ed efficace: potrete dedicare il 70-80 per cento del tempo a quella difficile e il 20-30 per cento a quella facile. In questo modo porterete avanti entrambe le lingue in maniera efficace..
5. Il segreto rimane studiare entrambe le lingue tutti i giorni. Ogni sessione sara divisa in 2 parti. Prima si affronta la lingua difficile e poi quella facile, calibrando il tempo e la quantità di materiale da dedicare alle due lingue a seconda della loro difficoltà..
Conclusione
Ricapitolando, in genere l’acquisizione di una lingua è una lenta maratona che richiede tempo e una certa qualità nell’approccio che si applica nello studio. Il mio consiglio è quello di imparare sempre una lingua per volta. Se tuttavia vi trovate in una serie di condizioni po necessità particolari, e siete già navigati nell’apprendimento delle lingue, il mio consiglio è cimentarvi nello studio di massimo due lingue diverse con un’adeguata gestione del tempo e delle energie da dedicare a ciascuna di esse.
A question most people ask me on my Blog and YouTube channel is the following: “Is it possible to learn more than one language at the same time, and if so, how should I go about doing it?” Well, the answer is yes, it is possible to learn more than one language at the same time. But, before I give tips and guidance on doing this, I want to share a few of my thoughts on this interesting topic.
Until recently, I never felt the need to learn more than one language at a time. Now that I think about it, my strict “one language only” approach was mainly for three reasons: (1) I was never in a hurry to learn languages; (2) once I chose a language, I was so involved in the learning process that I had no desire to deal with others; and (3) learning only one language at a time gave me the opportunity to polish the ones I previously learned. Now, I’ll discuss these factors in detail.
1. Haste is your enemy
The modern world is obsessed with a “here-and-now” compulsion which is particularly harmful to language learning. It is no wonder that in Italian, as well as in many other languages, a long series of proverbs exist on the pernicious effects that haste has on our lives. For example, “Haste is a bad counselor,” “Slow and steady wins the race,” and so on. The first six months of the learning process are the most delicate, and one needs to focus on a given language daily and dedicate to it quality work. Time is a luxury that modern men lack, so if you split it between two, three, or even four different activities, the quality of your learning will suffer. Therefore, I personally recommend learning one language at a time.
2. Building a language core
The language learning process involves the use and memorization of words, structures, and sounds; however, emotions, colors, images, and memories are also involved and contribute to what I call a “language core.” Acquiring this language core is extremely important if one wants to keep the language alive in their head, even long after not having used it. Moreover, it takes time to build a language core, so attempting to speed through the learning process with multiple languages can cause language cores to overlap, or simply prevent even one from forming.
3. Optimizing your time
Picking up a new language doesn’t prevent one from keeping and even refining the ones he previously learned and are obviously at a higher level. The trick is having good time management skills. By trial and error, you want to find a sustainable schedule to learn languages.
THE TWO STUDENTS’ RACE
In order to better illustrate what I mean by “managing one’s time,” here’s a story I call “The Two Students’ Race.” Two students (both Italian) decide to compete for a challenging and ambitious goal: learning ten foreign languages. The judges give them a ten year “time budget,” and the rest is up to them.
Student A decides that he will pick up two languages every two years. He starts by learning English and Spanish. At the end of the two years, he picks up French and German. While learning French and German, he enjoys conversing with native speakers in both English and Spanish, languages he now speaks with a certain level of fluency. He also loves reading books. By the end of the fourth year, he is relatively fluent in German and French, so he starts learning Portuguese and Swedish. At the same time, he moves to Pariswhere he gets the chance to use the four languages he learned and continue to actively learn Portuguese and Swedish. At the beginning of the sixth year, he decides to learn Mandarin and Romanian. Two years later, he finally picks up Japanese and Dutch. Then ten years later, when time is up, he speaks English, Spanish, French, and German fluently; Portuguese, Swedish, Mandarin and Romanian well; and Japanese and Dutch decently. He has weak languages, but he reached the admirable goal of building a core in more than five languages. Moreover, he will never forget these five languages. He could get rusty in them, but they will quickly come back to him.
Student B goes for the same languages, but opts for a completely different strategy—he starts learning the ten languages all at the same time. Over the years, he lacks the consistency and patience to hold onto all the languages he is learning. Sometimes he learns five, sometimes six or seven, but never ten per day. He might have brought some languages to a good level, but for the most part, his languages are at a basic level. He confuses languages such as Italian and Spanish, and Dutch and German. Many of his languages are destined to regress to a very basic level because the student did not build a linguistic core for any language.
Now, the example is a bit extreme, but it gives you the general idea. People delude themselves into thinking that doing multiple things at the same time will accelerate the learning process when, in fact, it damages the learning process. Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? Well, be the tortoise. Patience and aiming for a long-term goal will bring you success.
TIPS AND GUIDANCE FOR LEARNING MULTIPLE LANGUAGES AT THE SAME TIME
For the last 20 years, I was similar to Student A in that I picked up a new language every two years while refining the ones I knew. Now, I learn two languages every two years, while refining the ones I know. So, although I suggest learning one language at a time, if you decide to take on this “multi-language challenge,” make sure you have the following:
- A fair amount of time to dedicate to language learning
- Willpower
- Some experience in language learning
- Good time management skills
GUIDELINES
If you decide to take on this “multi-language challenge,” here are some useful tips.
1) Choose a maximum of TWO languages at any given time. Three languages is excessive and will impair whatever language core you’re trying to build.
2) Choose two languages that are distinct from each other. Languages that are similar can overlap by way of words, grammar, emotions, memories, and other factors, thereby causing confusion. Therefore, learning Spanish AND Italian, Dutch AND German, or Portuguese AND Romanian at the same time is not a good idea.
3) Try to choose an “easy” language and a relatively “difficult” one (I explain this concept both in English and Spanish on YouTube)
4) If you choose two languages that are at fairly opposite ends of the complexity scale, give the difficult language 70-80% of your budgeted time, and give the “easy” one 20-30% of your budgeted time.
5) Study both languages every day.
CONCLUSION
Be the tortoise. Language learning is a slow marathon that takes time, quality work, and patience. Every language is an adventure. I usually suggest learning one thing at a time, but there are no set rules. If you decide to embark on multiple adventures, contemplate the conditions you will face. If you think you can make it, keep in mind the above-mentioned five tips. And good luck!
This article was conceived and written by Luca Lampariello
Amir Ordabayev is an outstanding polyglot whom I got to know on the Internet, namely, on YouTube, where he started posting his videos 3 years ago. He’s a very nice person with a huge passion and drive for languages, as well as a very clear vision on how to deal with them. You can listen to his very interesting opinion on language learning in the video below:
After getting in contact with him, I had the chance to know him better, and our exchange wasn’t only limited to speaking languages. We decided to do a brief interview and exchange some ideas on culture, languages and life in general. We will most probably make another one on how he goes about learning languages – his techniques in terms of language acquisition and in sound perception and reproduction, something which is very good at!
MULTILINGUAL SCRIPT
L: Hallo everybody, this is Luca, as you know. I am here with my friend Amir, he is a polyglot, he has made some very interesting videos on Youtube speaking some of his languages. So, without further ado, I would like to talk directly to him, he is here. Hi Amir, how are you doing?
A: Hi Luca I am doing well
L: How is the weather inKazakhstan?
A: Well..it has been cold lately, plus 2 plus 3, not too cold
L: Here in Paris it is cold, but not as cold as thought so it’s ok. So could you tell us a little bit about your cultural and linguistic background and share with us some further details on the countries you lived in, or the experience that you had and the like?
A: Yeah sure. I was born and raised in Almati, which is the formal capital of Kazakhstan. I used to speak Russian and Kazakh until I was 6. Thereafter I was enrolled in elementary school, everything was taught in Russian and of course as I was progressing, I was speaking more Russian at home as well. Yeah, the only foreign language I studied at school was English but the truth is, I started taking it seriously only when I turned 16. I did my bachelor degree in Canada, I left Kazakhstan when I was 18, I spent the last 4 years in Canada when I was studying Bachelor and Business Administration Program and I was studying other languages at the same time.
RUSSIAN
L: Ты из Казахстана. Как ты уже сказал ты говоришь и по-казахски и по-русски. К сожалению, я очень мало знаю о Казахстане. Я знаю, что Казахстан – огромная страна, конечно! И что там много природных ресурсов. Расскажи нам, пожалуйста, о твоей стране, о твоей семье если ты можешь. И расскажи нам о культуре твоей страны. Представь себе, что Казахстан очень интересует наших слушателей и что они бы хотели туда поехать в будущем.
A: Да, Лука, ты прав! Казахстан – достаточно таки большая страна. Девятая в мире по площади, если я не ошибаюсь. И когда я только-только приехал в Канаду я был удивлён то что столько народу даже не представляют где на карте находится Казахстан хотя Казахстан является независимым государством на протяжении 20 лет. Что касается культуры страны – то я бы сказал что такая присутствует тюрксткая идентичность ну и конечно же присутствует влияние Российской Империи то есть людям, которые планируют поехать в Казахстан и провести тут время я думаю было бы интересно!
ITALIAN
A: Quindi adesso ti faccio qualche domandina in italiano. Si può dire senza dubbio, almeno per quanto mi riguarda, che tu sia un “poliglotta”, cioè una persona che è in grado di parlare varie lingue secondo la definizione. Effettivamente può sembrare una domanda banale, ma ti vorrei chiedere la “classica” domanda, quante lingue parli e da dove viene soprattutto questa bellissima passione che hai.
A: Beh, diciamo che adesso sono in grado di esprimere i miei pensieri in 8 lingue. Russo e kazako sono 2 lingue che ho imparato da piccolo. Per quanto riguarda le lingue romanze io parlo italiano francese, spagnolo e un po’ portoghese. Inoltre parlo inglese e tedesco. Adesso sto imparando attivamente il cinese e il turco, quindi c’era la voglia di imparare una lingua esotica diciamo. Già non era il caso con il turco giacchè parlo kazako ma con il cinese mi fa piacere scoprire le cose nuove. Da dove viene questa passione? Ricordo molto bene che quando ero adolescente mio papà mi ha regalato un libro chiamato “Твои возможности как человек” che vuol dire le tue capacità come essere umano, si tratta delle persone che erano capaci di dire quale giorno della settimana sarà fra 20 anni e altre cose di questo genere, ma questo non mi affascinava molto. Mi affascinavano molto le persone che erano capaci di parlare qualche lingua e quindi c’era questa consapevolezza che un giorno potrei diventare un poliglotta anch’io, forse.. c’era qualcosa dentro di me
SPANISH
L: Pues te ha animado mucho. Sé que eres un apasionado del fútbol. Y yo siempre digo que si uno puede aprender observando y haciendo lo que más le gusta, puede lograr grandes resultados. Quizá sea gracias al tanto seguir las gestas del Milán y del Real Madrid que has llegado a ser tan bueno en todos los idiomas? O tu has hecho algo mas, a parte de ver noticias de fútbol?
A: Pues tienes toda la razon, no? Esto es verdad pues esta manera, pues, haciendo lo que mas le gusta a uno puede llegar muy lejos, uno se siente mas animado. Para mi eran la entrevista con los jugadores y con los entrenadores, porque siempre queria saber lo que ellos dicen después de los partidos, del futbol no? Me dí cuenta de que no solo hablan del futbol sino tambien de sus sentimientos, sus actitudes. Es cierto que viendo las entrevistas con ellos pues he aprendido muchas cosas. Por lo general pues son gente madura, y el hecho de que me gusta mucho el futbol me da la posibilidad de disfrutar de la lectura y de la escucha
GERMAN
L: Also ich muss sagen, es gibt einen grossen Unterschied zwischen den ersten Videos, die du vor 3 Jahren auf Youtube gemacht hast, und denen von Heute. Deine allgemeinen Sprachkenntnisse sind deutlich besser geworden. Aber auffällig ist, dass deine Intonation sich so stark verbessert hat, was ich sehr beeindruckend finde. Genügt es deiner Meinung nach nur aufmerksam zuzuhören, um eine gute Aussprache und Intonation zu erreichen, oder hat es auch etwas mit deiner Haltung dem Lernen/der Sprache gegenüber zu tun?
A: Also ja, danke schon es ist ein echtes Kompliment von dir. Na ja, nach meiner Meinung ist Intonation enorm wichtig, und ja, das muss man unbedingt erkennen. Ich glaube, am Anfang muss man sich nicht zu viele Sorgen machen. Richtig ist, ja, die positive Stimmung zu bleiben und richtig ist, geduldigzu sein. Aus meiner Sicht ist es besser Schritt für Schritt denken und zuerst vielleicht muss man gleichzeitig seine Aussprache verbessern, und, ja, was die spezielle Anhaltung der Sprache angeht, ich bin kein Spezialist. Das einzige, was ich sagen will..man muss überzeugt sein, dass man eines Tages eine Sprache wirklich fliessend sprechen wird.
FRENCH
L: C’est tout à fait vrai. En en plus je voulais te demander alors ..quand’ on avait bavardé tu m’avais dit que maintenant que t’as terminé les etudes, le moment est venu de chercher un travail. Ca c’est evident. Tu comptes le trouver dans le domaine des langues ou autre? Vers quel champs profesionel comptes tu t’orienter? Ca c’est une question qu’on pourrait demander à tous les gens qui parlent plusieurs langues. Je suis sur que beaucoup de gens trouveront ça interessant
A: Voilà, pour moi cette question aussi ça reste une question ouverte, je viens de terminer les études, comme tu sais j’ai étudié administration au Canada et j’ai reussi à apprendre quelques langues. Maintenant je suis ouvert à des proposition. C’est très important pour moi de réussir sur le champs financier. Peut-etre ca serait important d’utiliser mes langues en travaillant mais sinon ça serait pas grave, j’espère que j’aurai une opportunité de continuer mes etudes…
PORTUGUESE
L: Muito bem. Se que ultimamente você começou a aprender chinês? Você acha isso difícil? Que você recomendaria para aqueles que queram estudar o chinês agora?
A: Então..eu acho que, è uma pergunta muito interesante. Eu tenho visto uma situacão que dice que cada punto de vista è incompleto. Tu falas italiano como lingua natal, eu falo ruso. Para noscos seria mas facil estudar alemão, mas para noscos o chinés è uma lingua que fica muito longe, mas para a pessoas que falam, por exemplo, japonés como lingua natal é mais facil estudar o chines. E’ verdad, cada punto de vista è incompleto. O que estou utilizando é ASSIMIL, è um livro…Le Chinois sans peine.
ENGLISH
L: Back to English now for the final questions. I am going to ask you..Ok, You are learning Chinese as well as Turkish but are you interested in other languages, what are your future projects? Because you are still very young so I can imagine that your thirst for languages..you are going to learn other languages, I am pretty sure. So I just wanted to ask you which languages, do you have something in mind already?
A: Well definitely. I think that people who enjoy languages are always curious, are always experiencing this “hunger” for new things. As for me, I would like to add some exotic languages, For me those would be Japanese and Korean, these are 2 languages I am really interested in
L: Ok. So Amir, thank you very much for this multilingual interview!
Did it ever occur to you to see a person on YouTube or face-to-face who speaks Chinese surprisingly well? The first reaction you will probably feel is one of admiration and surprise. Admiration then gives way to doubt: how did they reach such an incredible level in the language?
Until a few years ago, Mandarin Chinese was surrounded by an aura of mystery. It was considered an exotic language, undoubtedly difficult to learn. Foreigners as well as the Chinese themselves thought that mastering Mandarin Chinese was indeed an impossible goal to reach. Then came Dashan.
In this short documentary, it is shown how Dashan shocks the audience by speaking flawless Chinese on a TV program watched by half a billion people. As a result, Dashan becomes an instant celebrity in China.
Many things have changed since that distant 1988, and the number of foreign students coming to terms with the Chinese language and living in China has grown dramatically over the last 20 years. It is no longer unusual to come across a “wairen” (foreigner) in Mainland China. Yet, many students keep having problems when it comes to speaking Chinese, and this is mainly due to an aspect often considered “dramatic” from a Westerner’s perspective: Chinese tones.
When it comes to speaking about tones, two things immediately to mind:
1) Why are Chinese tones perceived as being so difficult?
2) Is there a proper way to learn them?
The difficulty of learning Chinese tones
Let’s address the first issue. It is important to emphasize, once again, the following point:
Chinese is a tonal language. This doesn’t only mean that tones make up the words, but also that the meaning of the words themselves relies on their tones.
In non-tonal languages such as Italian or English, tones do exist. We are not aware of that simply because the meaning of the words does not depend on their variation. So, in theory, the same tones can be used to visually represent syllables that make up the words in non tonal languages.
The very first thing you’ll be confronted with when it comes to speaking Mandarin Chinese is the tones. The following charts show, in detail, the four “heights” of a syllable in Chinese.
One is generally told to look at the chart, listen to the corresponding sound and try to repeat it. It seems like a logical approach: one starts by the basic building blocks (the syllables) and then moves on to words (which can be mono-, bi- or trisyllabic) and finally to whole sentences. In engineering and computer jargon one would speak of a “bottom-up” approach: one builds a wall starting with the base, brick after brick. Although techniques have been developed that seem to adopt a very successful approach among students (*see footnote), learning Chinese can’t be done using a simple algorithm. ‘A good start is half the battle’, they say. Unfortunately, things are not as simple as they might seem. (If you want to learn more about this issue, my friend Vlad wrote an excellent article about this on his blog)
Now, imagine that you want to learn Italian, and that your teacher imposes the aforementioned bottom-up approach. So, one should start from the sound quality of syllables and then move on to words and sentences. After tedious explanations and charts, imagine practicing the following sentences:
Ma che hai fatto oggi? ==> Mā chē hā-ī fàt-to ŏg-gí?
Ma dove sei andato? ==> Mā dō-vē sē- ī ā-ndàtó?
Imagine the gigantic effort in trying to utter a whole sentence by looking at the tone of every single syllable. Things get even worse when it comes to thinking about a sentence, in that one should also remember every single tone!
And even if you are great at pronouncing the tones, the sentence would still sound ‘robotic’ to a native speaker. The reason for this is that a sentence is not the simple aggregation of individual sounds. When we talk all the single components follow the general intonation of the sentence, and a ‘tonal shift’ takes place (you can find more information here). This “tonal shift” means that the pronunciation of the syllables making up a word change according to the positions occupied by that word in a sentence. In Italian (as in other languages), the same word has different tones if it is at the beginning or at the end of a sentence.
La pōlĕntá* è un cibo tipico dell’Italia del Nord. (‘Polenta’ is a typical dish of NorthenItaly)
Mi piace la pōlènta.* (I like ‘polenta’.)
As you can see, the word “polenta” at the beginning of the sentence sounds like a first-third-second tone, while it becomes a first-fourth-fifth (neutral) tone when at the end of a sentence.
It is obvious that this approach to learn Italian would be a disaster. None, fortunately, would dare adopt such an approach. Yet, even considering the big difference between Italian and Chinese, this IS the only approach adopted in the vast majority of Chinese courses, be it at university or in private schools. Now, is there an alternative to all this?
Some advice on how to learn Chinese tones.
Very often the combination of Chinese tones and characters causes a lot of students to give up too soon. Yet more than one and half billion Chinese, as well as a vast number of foreign students speak impeccable Chinese, showing that Chinese tones are not impossible to learn.
We often tend to see children as the best and fastest language learners, and attribute their success to a brain plasticity and flexibility that we adults no longer possess. One might quibble with the definition of “brain plasticity”, but a key factor in the learning process is often omitted: the way they acquire a foreign language is different from ours.
Children hear whole sentences. They don’t start with syllables. They simply hear chunks of a language and then identify the single components by themselves. As adults, we tend to think that we can figure out the structure of a language by analysing every single aspect of it, and we lose sight of the general, broader picture. As adults, we still have the capacity to hear, but we have partially lost our capacity to listen.
In order to restore this capacity one needs patience and a bit of open-mindedness.
Only a few months after starting learning Chinese “the traditional way”, I realized how important it was to listen to whole sentences. This thought dawned on me when I first used a special software in which a native speaker utters a sentence, and you have to repeat it. The software program then compares both sentences and gives you a mark ranging from 1 (very poor) to 7 (perfect).
Even though this was a machine with all its flaws, the exercise was fun and interactive, and before I knew it, I had tried more than 300 hundred sentences this way. I was repeating sentences without even thinking about tones.
The bottom-up approach had suddenly turned into a top-down approach: one starts by uttering a whole, simple sentence and then moves downward towards its individual components.
Based on my experience I would suggest that one follow these simple steps:
1) Read the introduction on phonetics: it is always helpful to know that Chinese is a tonal language anyway, and that it has 5 tones (4 + a neutral one). This will always be a good reference. Furthermore, at the early stage, one should learn immediately how to pronounce consonants, taking special care in differentiating retroflex consonants (such as zh, ch, shi) from normal ones (z, j, s), and aspirated (p, t) from non aspirated ones (b, d).
2) Once you have a general understanding of Chinese phonetics, start considering very simple sentences. Listen to the sentences dozens of times, and repeat them with your eyes closed, without looking at the tones that make up the individual words.
3) Then consider the individual words, and try to focus on them when they are “embedded” in the sentence. If necessary, write down a list of the words as long as you learn them.
4) Move on to more complex sentences (main clause + relative clause/conditional clause, etc.)
In addition to the tones, it is important to point out that Chinese also has a general pitch (the way a sentence flows) which has to be taken into account. There is a very interesting video on YouTube by my friend Marco on this subject:
Marco explains that Chinese introduces breaks in certain positions in a sentence. These breaks, which I represent by the symbol “/”, give one a sort of guideline on how to pronounce a Chinese sentence, other than the tones. It is part of the ‘Phonetic Analysis’, an approach to pronunciation and pitch which I use to teach languages to my students (via Skype and face to face)
1) Finally, after having learned how to listen, you have to simply… start listening! Do this at least half an hour a day, preferably an hour, and when you are ready, try to spend even more time on this activity. It is key to speaking native-like Chinese. Starts with audio AND the corresponding script.
Quality at the beginning followed by quantity at a later stage is a great way to reach an excellent pronunciation!
Conclusions
The tones of Mandarin Chinese are undoubtedly a challenge, but they can be learned with the proper approach. The one I propose is simple: consider a whole sentence and listen to it, try to figure out how it sounds as a whole without focusing on the tones. You’ll find that it is an efficient approach to acquiring tones in a natural way.
This article was writte by Luca Lampariello
(*) In 2006, Harold Goodman, author of three audio courses created an approach to color-code Mandarin tones. In addition to colors, each tone has also an accompanying gesture. For example, for the sound ā your thumb moves in a straight, lateral direction, index finger points upward for á, The index and middle fingers form a V sign to indicate the third tone (ǎ), and so on. This approach was tested with volunteer students in theUS and they seemed to recall tones very well. For more information, please refer to:
Since it is a language that does not have a strict phonetic alphabet, Chinese scares many students due to its particularly challenging writing system. Chinese characters (汉字hanzi or “Han characters”) are more properly known as logograms, where each symbol represents a morpheme (or a meaningful language unit), and are mainly used to write Chinese, and partly Japanese, and other languages. It is one of the longest writing systems known. The number of Chinese characters in the famous Kangxi dictionary (康熙字典 Zìdiǎn Kangxi, whose compilation was ordered by Emperor Kang Xi of the Qing Dynasty), is approximately 47,035. So, what makes Chinese characters so difficult?
First of all, we need to clarify what knowing a Chinese character means:
1) recognizing its meaning from its shape
2) knowing tone and pronunciation depending on context (the same character may have different pronunciations)
3) knowing how to write it (stoke order)
In the case of the character 爱, for example, you need to recognize its meaning, i.e. “love”; know that its pronunciation is ài with the 4th tone (descending tone), and finally, also know that this character consists of 9 strokes which should be written from top to bottom and from left to right.
The first barrier of Chinese is the total absence of any point of reference. A beginner student may come across the following sentence:
我是意大利人 (I’m Italian)
He wouldn’t be able to pronounce it, unless he has it in digital form or he uses a software to pinpoint how each character is pronounced, or he has a text with pinyin, a system for the phonetic notation and transliteration of Chinese into Latin characters (see here to also hear the sounds).
The classic question speakers or students of Chinese are asked is: “How many characters do you know?”
This is an issue that reflects a common idea – most often wrong – about Chinese learning, namely that the number of characters you know is representative of your actual knowledge of the language. Well, this is a false myth that must be debunked.
In any case, before talking about the writing system and analyzing its difficulties, we should first talk about the nature of the Chinese language. Chinese is considered an isolating language, i.e. a language that does not have neither inflections or declensions, with an almost nonexistent morphology. If we think about the morpheme as being the smallest unit that defines meaning, it is defined in isolating languages that words cannot be broken down into smaller morphological units. More often than not, these languages are not expressed through word modifications (suffixes, endings, etc.), but according to the position words occupy in a sentence. Clearly, the fundamental brick of a language such as Chinese is actually represented by its single Chinese characters. This aspect is even more evident in classical Chinese, where every idea corresponds to a single syllable and, thus, to a single character, whereas modern Chinese tends to form compound words of two or three syllables.
A traditional way of approaching the study of Chinese characters hinges on the fact that they are considered stand-alone entities: one learns and memorizes them by repeatedly writing one after another. This rote-memorization is based on lists that order them by difficulty and/or frequency. This is the way various language courses and universities deal with Chinese characters. They are often considered separate from one another and out of context. This approaches misses the main goal of learning how to use a given language as a tool of communication. Thus, learning in this aforementioned way is not only of little use, but will also slow down the acquisition of the language itself.
I should also point out that deciding to learn how to write Chinese Characters by hand through sheer rote-memorization is rather demanding and tiring, especially in the early stages of learning. In fact, this type of “kinaesthetic” activity might be useful for the retention of Characters (the brain connects the movement one makes to write them in order, tract by tract, with the overall form of the Character), but this systematic effort entails a huge load for our memory. One should, in fact, not only remember how to write each character (number of constituents, stroke order, etc..) but also its meaning, pronunciation, and tone.
A new proposal
What I propose here is a dynamicstudy of Chinese characters, which has turned out to be much more effective and much less pedantic than the academic approach. The study is articulated in (according to) the following phases:
Phase 1 –Text Analysis
In the so called Analysis phase one reads a text in the target language (L2), analyzes each part of it in detail (words, structures, etc), and then transfers it into their native language (L1). The key point, especially in the case of Chinese, is to always equip yourself with text that includes characters, pinyin and audio. The main goal is to find yourself in the best conditions to understand what you are learning. In this regard, the advent of the Internet has completely revolutionized the study of languages. It is still, a “silent” revolution, in that the majority of the people haven’t figured out yet how to take advantage (make use) of this huge resource.
I’ll try to show you a part of this resource. If you find a text in Chinese characters on-line, there are very useful and valid tools to not only convert the whole text into Latin letters (Pinyin) , but also show the meaning of every character or pair or trio of characters (if the word has 2 or even 3 syllables) through pop-ups. The whole text can be printed and accompanied by a glossary at the end! (Mandarinspot).
And there is more! If no audio is provided, you can also copy and paste the text and put it into the appropriate boxes for a speech synthesizer to read it for you. An example can be found here. And last, but not least, Google Translate provides a rough translation of the text. The software works particularly well with languages that have a rather simple syntax such as Chinese
If you don’t have the text in its digital format, and you are working with a simple textbook which provides a translation into your native language, the procedure is pretty much the same: one has to read the text in Chinese (L2) and understand and analyze the overall meaning and its single parts by comparing the two languages.
It is very important to point out again that the ability to translate text, accompanied by explanations of words and grammar rules, is revolutionary, in that it allows the student to avoid the use of dictionaries. Looking up a word in a Chinese dictionary can be quite a long and painful experience. One should be able to extract the so-called “radical” from a character and then look it up on the basis of the number of its strokes.
2. The Synthesis Phase
In the synthesis phase, you read the text in your native tongue L1 and translate it back into the target language (L2). In the case of Chinese, it is recommended to work on the computer using a typing software. For Chinese, the easiest and most intuitive tool is undoubtedly Google Pinyin Google Pinyin ( http://www.google.com/intl/zh-CN/ime/pinyin/). You could alternatively add the Chinese language bar in Windows (Control Panel> Regional Options language> tab “Languages”> “Details”> “add”).
This technology allows you to write directly in Chinese on a Word file by typing in Latin letters, that is, in pinyin. If you know how to pronounce characters, you can easily write Chinese text in a word processor. Carrying out this operation is very useful. By doing so you not only continue to assimilate the pronunciation of characters (through numerous sessions of reading and listening) but it also helps you discern and recognize the right characters among the many that correspond to the homophones. The repletion of this effort allows the brain to form the link between the sounds (Pinyin) and forms associated to it (hanzi) in a less stressful and much more effective and natural way, than the out of context rote memorization done in more) traditional studies .
Once you have gotten hold of these tools, you only need to set up a practice routine, a cyclic and dynamic way that allows you to address, session after session, a text in many ways . The steps (steps) in how to deal with a given text can be done as follows:
Session 1 – listening and reading (comparing with the translation sentence by sentence in L1)
Session 2 – Analysis (phrase by phrase, showing unknown structures and terms)
Session 3 – repeating (listening and reading, only pinyin)
Session 4 – L1 translation (sentence by sentence, without looking at the translation available)
Session 5 – Repeating (listening and reading)
Session 6 – L2 synthesis (translation, sentence by sentence pinyin and final verification of errors)
I strongly advise to ignore Chinese characters during the first 3-4 months of study, focusing exclusively on phonetic writing (pinyin). The primary objective in the beginning, is to first learn the sound of a word (and also its meaning), and only later the character, or characters associated with it.
Thus, in the first months, you will only write back the translation in pinyin, without using Google pinyin. You can simply indicate the tones with a number (ex: 我是意大利人: wo3 shi4 yi4da4li4 ren2).. Once you become familiar with pinyin, you can make the next step and use Google pinyin and write the real characters. At this point, you can look back and check out the old texts by looking at characters this time, and translating them with Google Pinyin.
On a final note, if you need to perfect your handwriting in Chinese (for exams at university or other reasons), you can add two more steps to the above schedule:
Session 1 – listening and reading (comparing with the translation sentence by sentence in L1)
Session 2 – Analysis (phrase by phrase, showing unknown structures and terms)
Session 3 – repeating (listening and reading, only pinyin)
Session 4 – L1 translation (sentence by sentence, without looking at the translation available)
Session 5 – Repeating (listening and reading)
Session 6 – L2 synthesis (translation, sentence by sentence pinyin and final verification of errors)
+
Session 7 – copy the text into characters by hand
Session 8 – write the text characters from a version in pinyin
Finally, if you need to know the stroke order of a certain character, you can use Arch Solo Travel , which provides stunning animations on how to write it, as well as inform you on a variety of information about it (compound words, phrases containing it, etc..).
The number of characters to remember remains high, but the Chinese writing system is quite rational, and once you have figured out the way the single components are assembled together, the acquisition of characters becomes easier and faster. It is just a matter of practice, having the right tools, and motivation..and the rest will come.
Stay tuned for the next post: tips on how to learn tones the right way from the very beginning
Conceived and written by Luca Lampariello e Luca Toma
This is a interview mainly on phonetics that you can also find onVlad’s blog
Dear all,
a few weeks ago my good friend Luca Lampariello was kind enough to do an interview with me on his blog and I am very happy to say, that I can now return the favor and do an interview with him in return. Luca is a friend of mine who I met about 3 years ago and based on our mutual passion for foreign languages and I think mutual respect as well, we became good friends. He speaks several languages at a C2 level and has been by many people proclaimed to be one of the best polyglots on youtube – a statement to which I fully subscribe.
I was thinking for a while about the topic, that would suit our interview best, since I didn’t want to talk about motivation or general language learning strategies, but rather something more specific, something that would be interesting and useful at the same time. I know very well, that I have lost the capability to acquire a 95-100% native pronunciation in a foreign language, but I think Luca is one of those people that still can do it and since it is something that interests me very much and something I personally can learn a lot from, I decided to ask Luca questions related mainly to his accent acquisition techniques and native-like pronunciation development.
For any further information about Luca and his projects, feel free to visit his blog with a lot of useful information about acquiring correct pronunciation or language learning in general, or take a look at his youtube channel with language instructional videos or videos of Luca speaking several languages. Enjoy
Hello Luca, could you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your language background and life in general?
I am Italian, and I come fromRome. I was born in a monolingual household and Italian was the only language I had been speaking until the age of 13. I lived inSpainfor about 6 months and I currently live inFrance. During all these years, while acquiring a mainly science based education (I hold a degree in Electronic Engineering), I have been developing a huge passion for languages. I have been “breathing” them in for more than 17 years now. Although I spent most of my life inRome, I have always managed to create an environment around me where I could listen, read, speak and write the languages that I have been learning over the years. Currently, I am a private language tutor here inParis(I give lessons both on-line and in person) and I am studying at ISIT in order to become a conference interpreter.
Why did you choose to learn foreign languages and what was the first foreign language you’ve learned?
My family has always put culture to the forefront. My house has always been full of books, and this “cultural turmoil” around me fostered an intellectual curiosity that was channeled towards languages at the ripe age of 13. It was mainly thanks to my grandma and later to my aunt that I started learning languages. I remember that well before learning Latin at high school my grandma had me study it in downtime, while on vacation at the beach house. If from one side my grandma created the background, it was my aunt who sparked my interest for languages by giving me my first book in English. I have never stopped learning languages since then. The very first language I came into contact with was English, followed by French. Two years later, I started learning German as a self-taught learner, at the age of 13. After the first difficulties, I came up with the method that I still use for acquiring languages.
How many languages do you speak and what does it mean for you to really speak a language?
As you yourself know, the term “to speak” is rather unclear and vague, but in general I am not the kind of guy who “dabbles” with languages: once I decide that I am going to start a certain language on day X, I never stop actively learning it, until I reach a level where I can keep fluency. I am very demanding of myself when it comes to “level”, and according to my humble opinion, “really speaking a language” means that one is able to enjoy the language in all its aspects, ranging from reading a book without worries to watching a movie and understanding what is going on, to interacting with native speakers. I think that one interesting test one can do to determine where he/she stands in terms of language proficiency (both active and passive) is to take part at a dinner (or lunch) with native speakers. It is a great opportunity to not only interact, but also witness the interaction among native speakers. I often have lunch with my girlfriend’s parents here inFrance, and I have come to realize what it means to really “breath” a foreign language in all its aspects. The puns, the cultural and historic references. It is amazing to witness how native speakers manipulate their language. In order to fully grasp all these aspects, books are not enough: one needs people, places and situations.
Which one was the most difficult one and why?
On the spur of the moment, I would say Chinese. But I would add Russian and Swedish. Every language is a world apart and poses various difficulties depending on our mother tongue. As a “Westerner”, Chinese poses a number of problems: in the first stage of learning, the most obvious are Chinese characters and tones (which are made to be even more difficult by traditional study methods which I find didn’t adapt to the Internet revolution). The worst, though, is yet to come, and one is confronted with serious issues when first venturing into the real language. Chinese, in fact, hides a growing complexity, that unfolds as long as we progress into the language and this becomes evident when it comes to speaking idiomatic Chinese in a live and real context. To make a long story short, we often can’t apply a direct translation from our own language into Chinese (as we normally and unconsciously do with most of European languages). One should learn to express himself all over again, and, if necessary to learn certain expressions by heart.
* The issue of acquiring tones: the majority of the students who are confronted with tones tend to learn them the “traditional way”. They are told there are 4 tones, and they are shown graphics of how the tones are supposed to be pronounced. It seems logical to start this way – one builds the capacity to pronounce a given language by deciphering the “bricks” that make up words and sentences. Imagine, though, to learn Italian, Spanish or French by starting to learn to utter every single syllable this way. The brain would spend a considerable amount of energy concentrating on the pieces, losing “the bigger picture”, and one would end up pronouncing a sentence robotically, far from the smoothness native speakers speak their language with. Very often, the difference is stressed between “tonal” and “non-tonal” languages, but it is not difficult to prove that the majority of languages (if not all) possess tones. What I suggest to all those who are about to tackle Chinese (and an entire post will be dedicated to this issue on my blog) or any other tonal language is to consider phrases, and try to focus on how the whole sentence sounds, rather than its single constituents. In other words, it is a “top-down” rather than the traditional “bottom up” approach.
As far as Russian is concerned, the main problem I encountered is the memorisation of new words and the extremely complex structure: it is nota n exaggeration to say that Russian is one of the most complex languages in the world from whatever perspective one might look at it, even from a slavic language speaker one.
And finally, Swedish is the language that posed the most problems in terms of pronunciation: the way the Swedish language is “sung” is rather elusive and needs special care and attention. I remember I gave little importance to it at the beginning, and this lack of accuracy showed up some years later, when, thanks to the feedback I got from the Internet, I realized that something was wrong in the way I uttered phrases. Obviously, it is much more challenging to close this gap and that’s the main reason why I’ll never get tired of stressing how important it is to acquire good pronunciation since the very beginning.
In general, if you start learning a new language, do you consider pronunciation important?
Yes I do. Pronunciation is an integral part of the language, it plays a huge role in communication, in building an empathy with your interlocutor, as well as creating a virtuous, motivational circle: native speakers’s surprise at your pronunciation is an enormous boost for improving yourself and keep learning the language.
The most critical moment for pronunciation always takes place at the beginning: learning how to “listen to” the sounds and reproduce them correctly and gradually is key to a good pronunciation. “A good start is half the battle” – they say.
Do you consciously concentrate and learn how to pronounce new sounds, especially vowels, or do you do it by feel?
Until a few years ago, I used to rely exclusively on my ears. I have always stressed the importance of creating a link between the sound and the corresponding word. I find it very useful to read and listen, especially at the beginning. Once this link is established, I only need to hear the sound, without having to read the text. Starting to produce those sounds myself “closes the circle”, thus providing the last piece of information I need in order to finally “hear” what I wasn’t able to hear before by simply listening.
Recently, however, I started to approach pronunciation and intonation more methodically. The language which I paid more attention to in terms of pronunciation is Chinese. It was the first time that I worked on pronunciation in a conscious, pragmatic way, and that’s where the idea of my “Phonetic Analysis” came from, which I am now applying to Japanese.
Do you relate the sounds of a language that you study to something you already know or try to develop a completely new sound register for it?
I think that, one way or another, we can always start from a point of reference, something we already know. What I try to do when I tackle new sounds is not taking anything for granted, and ask for native speakers’ advice as soon as possible. Being given feedback is always important. However, as you learn more languages you build an even bigger repertoire of sounds, and everything becomes easier.
How do you go about learning vowels that do not exist in any of the languages you already know?
I have always approached the study of vowels “the traditional way”: by listening and repeating, possibly asking to a native speaker for feedback and correction. This “static” aspect of vowels, though, has never posed big problems.
I find the “dynamic” aspect of vowels to be the most difficult to both understand and produce. Without going to much into detail (which you can find on my blog and on a series of videos I published on the Internet), a “vocal shift” happens in every language, something which is never taken into account in language courses or by teachers. The main reason of for this omission is probably the fact that the dynamics of a sentence is a rather complex matter not only to understand, but also to represent and, finally, to reproduce. Many deem it as “a waste of time”. When one starts learning, say, Italian, they are said that there are 5 vowels, but it is never stressed that every vowel is “sung” in a different way according to its position within the word and the sentence. This “vowel shift” is the main concept for grasping the intonation of every language. I take care of this aspect since the very beginning with the “Phonetic Analysis” mentioned earlier. It is often stressed how important it is to listen, but I think that one should learn how to do that. It is an important starting point, from which one can absorb the way a give language sounds.
If you find a new sound that you didn’t hear before, do you immediately recognize it, or does it happen often that some sounds have to be introduced to you as completely new, because you didn’t notice them before?
I don’t necessarily recognize a sound straight away. I can spot it as a new sound, of course, but it doesn’t bother me that much if I can’t “hear” it. What I try to do is reproducing it in order to “close the circle”. This recognition has its foundation in the mirror neurons, which is the main reason why the listening procedure consists of numerous steps: listening, listening again, and then repeating, and listening once again, according to a feedback scheme.
If you try to reproduce a new sound, do you consciously try finding the correct position of the tongue/vocal chords or do it by feel and concentrate purely on the sound?
To be honest, I never focused on vocal chords or the position of my tongue when uttering a sound. As I said before, I find the sound-word association to be much more efficient, both in retaining the word and the way it is pronounced. That is why I tend to always listen AND read a text at the same time. I focus exclusively on sounds only at a later stage, when the mind “sees” the image of the letter whenever it hears a given sound. I think that one of the secrets to acquiring good pronunciation is not to be in a rush to understand everything immediately, but to let the brain absorb sounds and words as long as we venture into “the language maze”.
Doesn’t the visual image of the letter in your mind interfere with a sound from a language you already know?
No, it generally doesn’t. This is probably due to the fact that I always try to learn one language at a time, and treat them as stand-alone entities. When I “think” and read “in” a given language, it seems like the brain uses only the area where that language is stored, and this prevents interference with other languages. This doesn’t mean that I never experience interference between languages, but this doesn’t seem to involve the sound-word link that I develop by listening and reading at the same time.
Can you hear all the new sounds immediately?
I “do” hear them, that is, my brain realizes that it is being confronted with a new sound, but it takes time to fully grasp the complexity of the sound itself. By “fully grasp” I mean that one also needs to be able to produce a given sound in order to fully understand how and why it sounds that way. For some sounds this “realization” might take a long time.
What makes a sound difficult for you? Is it the fact that it is so distant that you maybe even didn’t notice that it is different or is it the fact that you need a lot of “new movement” of your speech organs?
From my personal experience, I find certain consonants or clusters of consonants difficult when you need to use the tongue or the facial muscles (and the teeth) in a way you have never done before, so it mainly relies on using new organs (structures), so to say. As for the vowels, once again, it is the “new” usage of certain structures such as the glottis that makes things hard (the Arabic “ain” or the german “glottis stroke” come to mind).
How about correction? Do you rely on yourself or others to correct your pronunciation?
Being corrected is a key factor for acquiring a native-like accent. The 4 main pillars my strategy hinges on are: flexibility, attention, curiosity and a big smile. In order to speak like a native speaker one not only needs to distinguish the sounds, but also to be flexible. You should always wonder if what you produce with your mouth does actually corresponds to what you hear. That’s why it is important to be curious and flexible, other than reacting positively to possible criticism and/or judgment on the part of a native speaker. Asking somebody to evaluate our intonation and pronunciation can lead to disappointment if we set the bar too high. When we hear something we didn’t expect to hear, the best thing is always to consider the feedback extremely valuable, and a starting point for improvement. Positive mentality is key not only to acquiring a good accent in a language, but also to improving the way we lead our life in general. It is always great to react with a big, radiant smile… and move on.
What about the most difficult vowel that you encountered and why?
Again, I don’t recall having problems with reproducing vowels statically, but I did find some problems in figuring out the right configuration of tones when uttering a sentence. I have never formally learned Arabic, but I did try to utter the vowel “ain” a couple of times, and the result was not very pleasing. I think that I’ll give it my full attention if I decide to learn Arabic one day.
How about consonants?
Consonants are mechanical sounds by nature: intonation mainly relies on vowels. This simplifies things, because consonants do not “shift” in a sentence, they are always produced the same way. I learn them according to the aforementioned “feedback scheme”: I listen and repeat, I record my own voice and ask for a native speaker’s advice. And then I repeat again.
In general, I find consonants easier than vowels. There are obviously exceptions. A glaring example of how the sheer mechanical production of a consonant can be complicated is the “r”. It varies wildly from language to language. It posed some problems with Dutch. I finally realized the difference between the dutch “r” and American “r” after posting my Dutch video in Youtube. Before then, I thought it was basically the same sound, while in fact it is slightly different, and the difference lies on a somewhat different position of the tongue. It is the demonstration that one can always improve, even after getting the sound wrong for years. The key word here is without a doubt flexibility.
What was the most difficult consonant that you encountered? Why?
I remember trying to pronounce the czech “Ř” while on the car with Richard. I tried to copy his Czech R, but I found it rather difficult. Then he patiently explained to me how to put my tongue and how to use my teeth and I felt like I was improving. I think my brain “heard”, or “saw” the sound, but I also feel like the only way to fully grasp it is to try… and try again. As of now, I am not sure at all that I picked up the sound right, but I am “on the right track” and I hope to get a convincing Czech R if I was to learn this beautiful language in the future. Needless to say, it always takes time for the brain to absorb, understand and reproduce a sound due to their phonetic complexity.
You often talk about “sentence accent”, it is a complicated issue, but could you in general describe what it is, why it is important and how you learn it?
It is indeed a complex issue to deal with and describe, but it is fascinating and it is worth going into details. In the last year I have been wondering why it is so difficult for an adult to sound like a native speaker in a foreign language. I wondered what happens in our brain that impairs the quality of our oral production and if there is a way to “soften” this problem, if not to solve it.
Almost each and everyone of us knows the concept of “stress” within a word. The sentence accent is a less studied and known aspect of a language, and it is often only discussed in very specific academic publications. Every sentence has sentence accent, that means that the voice “falls” on one or more important words, that is why it is called “stress”: some words are the pillars a sentence hinges on and they condition they way all the vowels are “sung”.
To make a long story short, every language has its its “musicality”: the voice raises, falls, stops. All this relies on vowels, which are pronounced with different heights (tones) and lengths (short or long vowels). As said before, tones can be applied to non tonal languages. Let’s consider the following sentence in Italian:
Mā chě stāi fācěndó?
But what are you doing?
What on hearth are you doing?
It seems that adamantly concentrating on the single syllables is folly: the system is too complex to be efficiently acquired on conscious way. In this regard, the “Phonetic Analysis” offers the main guidelines on how to understand how a sentence sounds. I use special markers to identify the main blocks within a speech, and I use other markers within the block to explain how to “sing” the block itself.
It is much easier to do it than to explain it, and it is a very pragmatic way to roughly represent how a sentence sounds. The first step towards reproducing a sentence is to figure out how it is produced.
In other words, through this “analysis” one becomes aware of what it means to “sing” a sentence correctly. It is an important starting point, to which I add a lot of listening at a lager stage: quantity + quality is always guarantee for success.
On a final note, I’d like to add that I don’t like selling miracles. It is a fact that most of the learners don’t reach a native-like pronunciation. But this doesn’t mean that it is not feasible. It only needs a lucky mix of ingredients, such attention, concentration, patience. And above all, faith. You have to believe in something if you want to reach it. An old Japanese saying goes: “A thousand mile track always starts by a first step”.
Future projects?
As far as learning new languages is concerned, my short-term goal is to speak fluent Japanese. As for language learning in general, I am trying to collect all these ideas on this complex topic (plus many more that I have written down but not published yet) in a structured form, that might be useful to the my readers
Luca
