In 2010, when I went to Jordan for my first three-month visit, I also started with my first Arabic language course. For a native Dutch speaker, Arabic is not the easiest language to learn, yet it is not impossible. Besides learning the language itself, another path of exploration and discovery unfolded on how to learn a language. That is what this blog is about, 8 revelations that I have discovered in my attempts to learn to speak a new foreign language.
I have to choose a method that suits me (and not the other way around).
This is by far my most important and most valuable lesson. In 2010 I started with an Arabic course at the Kelsey Arabic School in Amman. The method they use I would describe as thorough, solid and traditional: English-Arabic, lots of grammar and memorising lots of vocabulary. I hated it: for me, it is hard work, not fun to do, slow progress and bad for my self-esteem. My mind frame goes then: “I am stupid, I am lazy and I have zero talent for foreign languages”
After a full year of struggling, I discovered there was more available on the market when I bumped into the Komensky Language Center. I was really so pleasantly surprised when I got introduced to their language teaching method. No longer learning from an “English - Arabic” language template, but using a “picture - Arabic” learning template: listening to pre-recorded stories full of everyday useful Arabic content (instead of repeating over and over again -partly useless- vocabulary) and discovering grammar structures in a natural way by listening (instead of having to memorize them). A whole new world has opened up to me: language learning can actually be fun, easy and does not have to be struggling, hard work and headache difficult.
So my first conclusion is: “It is not me, it is the method”. To be able to learn to speak Arabic I simply needed a different teaching method. Not everyone has the same learning style and learning preferences. So my advice to anyone wrestling with a foreign language is: choose a method that suits your personality and your learning style.
I have to make sure I enjoy the language-learning process.
For me it works quite simply: if I don’t like I won’t do it. Yes, I will do it for a while but then in the end I give up. Switching to another language-learning method, in this case, did the trick. So spend some time on the internet, visit some language schools, compare methods and choose the one that is the easiest and most joyful way to do it.
I have to set my language goals.
Maybe an open door, but when I started learning Arabic at Kelsey the course included reading, writing and talking. This combination was too complicated for me since Arabic has a totally different script. Besides that my spoken and written Arabic would not be exactly the same since my choice is the Jordanian dialect (written Arabic is Modern Standard Arabic).
My Arabic language goal was (and still is) when I am in Jordan I want to be able to communicate in everyday life, I want to be able to understand people and be able to express myself in Arabic. So my focus is on learning how to speak and postponing the reading/writing part to “somewhere in the future”.
I will start talking in the outside world when I feel ready for it.
Reading on the internet I have found conflicting advice on this. Some say “Talk from day one” Others say first spend some time listening to get familiar with the sounds and pronunciation before starting to talk. My choice is, I will start talking when I feel I am ready for it. I have tried the opposite, but I only got frustrated: taxi drivers who did not understand my pronunciation or when I asked a question in a shop (which I had carefully prepared) I did not understand anything of the reply I got. Learning the 10 survival sentences out of a travel guide is easy, the problem is the outside world almost never replies in the same 10 simple beginners understandable answers. So my choice is first to have a solid foundation, to have a basic understanding of the language and then actively start using the language in everyday life.
I need listening material in the new language
These were the biggest mistakes I made when I tried to learn Italian and French, years ago. I followed several courses, memorized all the vocabulary and understood the most important grammar rules. But still I could not communicate in the new language. Since I don’t want to make this mistake again, I have now chosen a totally different learning approach for my Arabic. Language learning is not about knowing all the grammar rules and the vocabulary, it is about using them in the everyday spoken language.
I need to make my language learning part of my everyday life experience
I used this approach to improve my English language skills and only works when you some understanding of the new language already. So a bit of side road from my Arabic learning experiences. Yet, sharing it in this blog anyway.
In 2007, while I was living in Groningen (the Netherlands) and several life changes took place, I decided I wanted to have a more international life. My first impulse was “I have to improve my English”. Instead of doing another English language course, I surrounded myself with a daily English language environment as much as possible: any book I want to read ever since I read in English (or listen to in case of an audiobook) At that time, I also got myself involved into a local international organization called Connect International. What started with visiting their weekly coffee mornings, meeting up with people from all over the world chatting in English (of course) eventually evolved into volunteering and working for this organization. So socially and professionally making my life English and International. The essence of it is that it was both useful and joyful. Doing what I wanted to do, doing it the way I wanted to do it and at the same time while doing it improving my English language skills. So do what you want to do anyway and figure out if it is possible to do it in the new language you want to learn or want to improve.
I have to set up a language learning structure that is a fit for me.
I am not suitable for full-time language learning programs. When I started at the Kelsey Arabic school in 2010, it was 5 days a week, 4 hours of class in the morning and spending your whole afternoon on homework. It was too much for me, every evening I felt exhausted and had a headache. So later when I moved on to the Komensky Centre, I switched to two-hour classes 3 times per week with a learning interval of one day doing the class, the next day doing the homework etc. So more of a part-time language learning experience that you can do aside from other things. Yet still learning the language and making progress, but not in a way it is taking over my whole life.
Also at the Kelsey Arabic Centre, classes started at 8.00 AM sharp. I hated that I am not a morning person. Actually I prefer to be able to make my own schedule, do the classes when they suit me and not have to adapt myself to time tables of language schools. Also this got solved when I moved on to the Komensky Centre. Here I started taking private lessons that I could schedule in myself (of course after consultation with my teacher) . This was in 2011. Since then online technology has moved on and nowadays any course I do I prefer to do within an on-demand-life-time access construction to have total freedom when to do what, where to do it, in which speed etc.
Finally, the most important thing I have learned from my attempts to learn a new language is not to give up when things get difficult or when things are not working. Instead, start exploring which particular part is not working or what is creating the difficulty and see how this can be tweaked in ways that it will bring back the joy in language learning.
Comments