What prevents to learn a foreign language
Today there are many successful English learning methods. I want to insert my three kopecks on the other hand: say what prevents the language from learning.
One such hindrance - we teach it the wrong place. This is not about parts of the body, but about areas of the brain. There are Wernicke's and Brock's zones in the prefrontal cortex, which are associated with the perception and production of speech ... In adults, they are responsible for receiving acoustic signals, for the very possibility of speech activity.
And children of five or seven years old learn another language with surprising ease! This is despite the fact that their brain is really immature. The formation of the cortex ends by the age of twelve or fifteen - and then the person acquires the ability to complete logical constructions, “enters the mind,” as they say ... At this time, the Wernicke and Broca zones mature and begin to respond to human speech activity. And what happens before the maturation of the cortex, which we heavily load when learning a foreign language?
The usual methods of teaching a foreign language are not very productive by themselves - many of them were trained in them, but did not acquire knowledge. These techniques give results when, for some reason, they manage to activate the deep areas of the brain, its ancient sections, which are successfully used by children.
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We can quite consciously approach the study of a foreign language: read and translate, replenish vocabulary, learn grammar. But the language is assimilated (if assimilated) on a subconscious or unconscious level. And this seems to me to be a trick.
The second obstacle: the very methods of learning a second language. They are copied from the lessons of learning native. Children teach literacy in primer — at school or at home everything starts with the alphabet, with the simplest words, then phrases, then grammar, then it comes (if it comes) to the stylistics ... In all schooling, the interests of the teacher (not as individuals, but as education system): how many hours, in accordance with the approved methodology, was spent on this topic, what result in the form of various tests was obtained ... behind all this there is an accurate record of time and money spent. By and large, the language itself, raising love for him, assessing how he “entered” the student, and whether he stayed for a long time — that is, the student’s main interests — remain behind. All learning is too rational and superficial. This lesson education system comes from the Middle Ages, it took root in the industrial period, when standardized training and knowledge assessment was in price. With all this, you can somehow agree - there are no perfect methods. Bureaucracy rules with objective prerequisites. But! One huge difference: a child who improves his native language at school already knows how to explain it! What can you say about a student who has embarked on a new language from scratch ... Here, the traditional system of education yields quite modest results - remember your experience and the experience of your friends.
As an addition to this point: how does the child understand that this is a kitten? What is this - chicken? An adult can be given a translation from one language to another, to associate a word with a word. For a neytiv speaker, the same phenomenon and concept are connected differently.
The third reason. A group of well-known American neurophysiologist Paola Tallal (Paula Tallal) found that about 20% of people in the population cannot cope with a normal rate of speech. (this also includes such troubles as dyslexia, dysgraphia and other troubles). These people do not have time to perceive and understand what they hear. The cerebellum is responsible for the process - this “motherboard” of our brain is not able to cope with the processing of incoming information in real time. This is not hopeless: you can train in slow motion and eventually reach normal speed. In most cases it succeeds. But you need to know that there is such an ambush that requires special approaches.
Reason Four: Elementary Confusion in Concepts. It was for me the most poisonous, perhaps. What do we do with the second language? We LEARN him. I did a good job at school with math and physics and in the same way I approached learning English. It is necessary to learn words and grammar, and what problems can there be if everything is well learned and well remembered? The fact that speech activity has a fundamentally different nature and by its physiology is much more diverse than speculative (without offensive subtext) constructions, I felt only after many years.
The reason for the fifth - part intersecting with the fourth. This is the ego. If I know the words and grammar, why repeat the phrase I read many times? (“Am I stupid?”). It touched pride. However, mastering a language is not knowledge, but a skill that can only be formed as a result of multiple repetitions, and against the background of removing criticism. Psychological trick - reducing reflection - also often burdens an adult. It was difficult for me to reduce self-criticism.
Summarizing, I would like to know about your experience in learning English (I am trying to work out a technique for learning a language that would somehow remove the listed and other possible limitations). And the question arises: how important is it for a programmer to master English over a professional minimum, the possession of which (minimum) is simply inevitable? How important is extended language proficiency at the rate of traveling, changing locations, being temporarily in English or more widely - a different cultural environment where English can be sufficient for communication?
One such hindrance - we teach it the wrong place. This is not about parts of the body, but about areas of the brain. There are Wernicke's and Brock's zones in the prefrontal cortex, which are associated with the perception and production of speech ... In adults, they are responsible for receiving acoustic signals, for the very possibility of speech activity.
And children of five or seven years old learn another language with surprising ease! This is despite the fact that their brain is really immature. The formation of the cortex ends by the age of twelve or fifteen - and then the person acquires the ability to complete logical constructions, “enters the mind,” as they say ... At this time, the Wernicke and Broca zones mature and begin to respond to human speech activity. And what happens before the maturation of the cortex, which we heavily load when learning a foreign language?
The usual methods of teaching a foreign language are not very productive by themselves - many of them were trained in them, but did not acquire knowledge. These techniques give results when, for some reason, they manage to activate the deep areas of the brain, its ancient sections, which are successfully used by children.
')
We can quite consciously approach the study of a foreign language: read and translate, replenish vocabulary, learn grammar. But the language is assimilated (if assimilated) on a subconscious or unconscious level. And this seems to me to be a trick.
The second obstacle: the very methods of learning a second language. They are copied from the lessons of learning native. Children teach literacy in primer — at school or at home everything starts with the alphabet, with the simplest words, then phrases, then grammar, then it comes (if it comes) to the stylistics ... In all schooling, the interests of the teacher (not as individuals, but as education system): how many hours, in accordance with the approved methodology, was spent on this topic, what result in the form of various tests was obtained ... behind all this there is an accurate record of time and money spent. By and large, the language itself, raising love for him, assessing how he “entered” the student, and whether he stayed for a long time — that is, the student’s main interests — remain behind. All learning is too rational and superficial. This lesson education system comes from the Middle Ages, it took root in the industrial period, when standardized training and knowledge assessment was in price. With all this, you can somehow agree - there are no perfect methods. Bureaucracy rules with objective prerequisites. But! One huge difference: a child who improves his native language at school already knows how to explain it! What can you say about a student who has embarked on a new language from scratch ... Here, the traditional system of education yields quite modest results - remember your experience and the experience of your friends.
As an addition to this point: how does the child understand that this is a kitten? What is this - chicken? An adult can be given a translation from one language to another, to associate a word with a word. For a neytiv speaker, the same phenomenon and concept are connected differently.
The third reason. A group of well-known American neurophysiologist Paola Tallal (Paula Tallal) found that about 20% of people in the population cannot cope with a normal rate of speech. (this also includes such troubles as dyslexia, dysgraphia and other troubles). These people do not have time to perceive and understand what they hear. The cerebellum is responsible for the process - this “motherboard” of our brain is not able to cope with the processing of incoming information in real time. This is not hopeless: you can train in slow motion and eventually reach normal speed. In most cases it succeeds. But you need to know that there is such an ambush that requires special approaches.
Reason Four: Elementary Confusion in Concepts. It was for me the most poisonous, perhaps. What do we do with the second language? We LEARN him. I did a good job at school with math and physics and in the same way I approached learning English. It is necessary to learn words and grammar, and what problems can there be if everything is well learned and well remembered? The fact that speech activity has a fundamentally different nature and by its physiology is much more diverse than speculative (without offensive subtext) constructions, I felt only after many years.
The reason for the fifth - part intersecting with the fourth. This is the ego. If I know the words and grammar, why repeat the phrase I read many times? (“Am I stupid?”). It touched pride. However, mastering a language is not knowledge, but a skill that can only be formed as a result of multiple repetitions, and against the background of removing criticism. Psychological trick - reducing reflection - also often burdens an adult. It was difficult for me to reduce self-criticism.
Summarizing, I would like to know about your experience in learning English (I am trying to work out a technique for learning a language that would somehow remove the listed and other possible limitations). And the question arises: how important is it for a programmer to master English over a professional minimum, the possession of which (minimum) is simply inevitable? How important is extended language proficiency at the rate of traveling, changing locations, being temporarily in English or more widely - a different cultural environment where English can be sufficient for communication?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/447464/
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