Lingualogue Blog

I found  a couple of very interesting articles in the Brownsville Herald online newspaper today about the history of the Spanish language and how different parts of the Spanish vocabulary were formed. Not the place I expected to find these kinds of articles if I’m honest, but it shows what I know, and just goes to show that you can find good information in the strangest of places.

The article is split into two parts:

The Spanish Language part 1: How it came to be

The Spanish Language Part 2: names and namings

Definitely worth a read if you have an interest in Spain or a general interest in the history of language.

Following on from the previous post, I am finally realising how big this language exchange idea really is. If you are an English speaker wanting to learn Spanish then you can guarantee that there is someone sitting in front of their computer in Mexico who would love to teach you their language in exchange for your English. On the other hand, if you are a native speaker of Spanish who is looking to learn Russian, then again you know that someone in Russia is on the web willing to help. As long as you are willing to teach him your language of course.

This language exchange craze seems to have really taken off, and is in my opinion possibly the best application that the internet has ever realised. What better way to make use of the global reach of the world wide web than for people to share their languages and cultures with those of differing languages and cultures.

It is what the web was made for. It has restored my confidence in people’s use of cyberspace. I see too many people use the web to tell me what they had for dinner, or what their favourite chocolate bar is, and lets be honest I don’t really care. However, if people are using the web to share real information–language–then they have found a fan.

I was surprised to see how many of these language exchange sites are available. As well as the Moccha.com offered in the last post, we have Babbel, Palabea, Worldia, and Lingopass. These all offer language exchange with others within their network and are an excellent addition to any language learning course.

If you are learning a language and don’t make use of free language exchange sites, then you are mad. You are certainly missing out on a great experience.

I may well do a review of language exchange sites at a later date and post it on the main site.

Is it possible to learn a foreign language using social media? Well probably not using it exclusively, but it certainly can be a valuable tool to help you along the language learning path.

Applications like Facebook, Myspace, Hi5, and even Twitter can give you exposure to a foreign language that you might not usually get. You can make friends with people from different countries and share your languages, giving you added incentive to learn the language as well as a means of doing it.

There are also specialised social media sites such as LiveMocha where you meet friends based solely on the languages you each wish to learn. This can be an excellent resource for helping you learn your foreign language – make new friends and study at the same time.

So can you learn a foreign language through social media? If used correctly and wisely they can be very effective language learning tools indeed.

When learning a new language, one of the things you have to be careful of when formulating sentences is being ambiguous. This can only lead to misunderstandings and confusion.

You only have to look at the English language to see how ambiguity can arise. Many words in English have more than one meaning: The word “round” apparently has over 70 different meanings depending on how it is used and this can cause great confusion…or great hilarity. Even native speakers often misuse the language to a degree where ambiguity becomes humerous.

Below are a few examples I found across the net of how easy it is to be lax in language use and create humerous ambiguity.

• Poster: Dog For Sale: Eats anything; especially fond of children.
• Menu: Dinner Special – Chicken or Beef $2.25; Turkey $2.35; Children $2.00
• Poster: For sale: An antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.
• Advertisement: Wanted: Man to take care of cow that does not smoke or drink.
• Advertisement: We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand.
• Advertisement: Now is your chance to have your ears pierced and get an extra pair to take home too.
• Advertisement: Used Cars: Why go elsewhere to be cheated? Come here first!
• Advertisement: Auto Repair Service. Free pickup and delivery. Try us once, and you’ll never go anywhere again.
• Advertisement: Mixing bowl set designed to please a cook with round bottom for efficient beating.
• Advertisement: And now, the Superstore – unequalled in size, unmatched in variety, unrivalled inconvenience.
• Poster: Illiterate? Write for free information.
• In a Vienna hotel: In case of fire, do your utmost to alarm the hotel porter.
• In a Zurich hotel: Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose.
• In a Rome laundry: Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time.
• Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand: Would you like to ride on your own ass?
• In a Bangkok temple: It is forbidden to enter a woman even foreigner if dressed as a man.
• In a Norwegian cocktail lounge: Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar.
• In the office of a Roman doctor: Specialist in women and other diseases.
• In a Japanese hotel: You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.
• Outside a Hong Kong tailor shop: Ladies may have a fit upstairs.
• In a Bangkok dry cleaner’s: Drop your trousers here for best results.
• In an Acapulco hotel: The manager has personally passed all the water served here.
• Church bulletin: The rosebud on the altar this morning is to announce the birth of David Alan Belzer, the sin of Rev. and Mrs. Julius Belzer.
• Church bulletin: This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.
• Church bulletin: The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind and they may be seen in the church basement Friday.
• Outside a farm: Horse manure: 50p per pre-packed bag, 20p do-it-yourself
• Seen at the side of a Sussex road: Slow cattle crossing. No overtaking for the next 100 yrs.
• Notice in a field: The farmer allows walkers to cross the field for free, but the bull charges
• Message on a leaflet: If you cannot read, this leaflet will tell you how to get lessons
• Sign at Norfolk farm gate: Beware! I shoot every tenth trespasser and the ninth one has just left
• Spotted in a toilet in a London office block: Toilet out of order. Please use floor below
• Seen in a watch shop: Please wait patiently to be served. I only have two hands

Newspaper headlines

• Federal agents raid gun shop, find weapons
• One-armed man applauds the kindness of strangers
• Autos killing 110 a day; let’s resolve to do better
• Dr. Ruth to talk about sex with newspaper editors
• Enraged cow injures farmer with ax
• Eye drops off shelf
• Iraqi head seeks arms
• Juvenile court tries shooting defendant
• Killer sentenced to die for second time in 10 years
• Kicking baby considered to be healthy
• Two soviet ships collide — one dies
• William Kelly was Fed Secretary
• Kids make nutritious snacks
• Milk drinkers are turning to powder

Lexiophiles is compiling the best 100 Language learning blogs of 2009  and it is an ideal resource for finding information on learning your new language.  Of course Lingualogue  blog has not been nominated as we are too new, but I would still advise everyone to check it out and see if there is anything you can use.

You can still visit the Lexiophile site and vote for your favourite

I came across a language learning blog (well actually two) the other day that posed the question of whether making mistakes in language learning is useful or detrimental. The first of these discussions was on Antimoon.com and the author was very adamant that making mistakes is an unnecessary, even a detrimental aspect of language learning. I can see his point: He argues that a language is not like a new business where trial and error is a necessary part of the learning process, instead languages are tried and tested and regularly used. Therefore he says that there is no reason to make mistakes; with enough studying and careful practice you can formulate sentences devoid of errors and therefore not develop any bad habits.

This is true. I agree with the basic sentiment that being able to not make mistakes would be fantastic. However I also think it would be a very dull way to learn a language. Languages are difficult enough and many people lose interest rather quickly because of the difficulty; one of the fun parts of language learning, however, is using it. Chatting with shopkeepers, friends, taxi drivers, whoever.

I certainly wish I didn’t make mistakes, but if that meant I had to sit at home studying the language for a year  before I even got out there to practice my sentences, i think I would go mad. Of course I would still have to take time to practice speaking the ‘theory’ I had learned at home. Theory and practice are two very different fish.

Another website I found echoed the sentiment of Antimoon– Spanish-only.com, but this one had a comments section. I felt I had to post. I do have to commend the author of the site (Ramses) however–he replied the next day. Very quick.

My reply to his views was as follows:

An interesting post Ramses and I actually read this one after reading the Antimoon version. I do however disagree with both of you. Perhaps if fluency is your only goal and you don’t mind waiting an inordinate amount of time to achieve it, then the slowly-slowly approach might work. I would say though that I would consider it a rather sterile and boring way to learn a language: Language learning should be fun, and for it to be fun you need to use it. Sitting at home learning grammar rules and vocabulary is enough to send most people running for the hills.

I don’t believe you should fear mistakes. Sure you should try and reduce them, and definitely learn to correct them when made, but I do not believe that once made they become more difficult to eradicate. If you are a person that is constantly learning and not too proud to realise you are wrong, then consciously recognised holes in grammar and vocabulary can be filled at a later date. Without conversation, however, these holes are rarely found.
I agree that unintelligible output should be avoided wherever possible, but a few mistakes here and there lay good groundwork for becoming a more confident and fluent speaker. After all, children make mistakes all the time and they turn out alright.

As to the reference to immigrants whose English skills remain below par after many years. I would contend that this has nothing to do with making mistakes with native speakers and not being corrected, but more to do with limited contact with native speakers while living in a community of fellow expatriates and primarily speaking their native tongue. I see plenty of immigrants who have integrated fully and speak fluent English, which is certainly comparable to the average native speaker.

Thanks for your time. I did like reading your posts.

Check out his reply at the link above for Spanish-only.

When I was at school in England (which is a few more years ago than I would care to admit) I was taught French. Now I have to admit I didn’t really want to learn French, nobody asked me to learn French, and I personally didn’t see the benefit of learning French in the first place. But they taught me nonetheless.

If I remember correctly, I first started studying basic French in the last few years of primary school (grade 4 or 5?).  It seemed like an enormous chore and even through high school I never had a particularly rosy feeling about French class (even though I was fairly good at it).

What I don’t fully understand is why we started so late.  Now many people may argue that grade 4 is not exactly late, and that a 9/10 year old should be able to learn a foreign language with ease. Now it is probably true that at 9 years old I did a much better job at taking it all in than I do at my current age (35) but it is also true that I would have done an even better job had I started the French osmosis at an earlier age.

Studies show that children have an innate ability to learn a language from the moment they are born (possibly even earlier), and can learn at a startling rate with ease. They will soak up the vocabulary and automatically figure out grammar rules with no need for specific instruction. This ability, however,  switches off at around the ages of 10 – 12 when language learning becomes increasingly difficult and grammar rules must be learned and remembered rather than instinctively constructed.

My question therefore, is why do we (or did we) begin teaching new languages to children with only a year or two left before their learning abilities begin to wane. What’s wrong with starting to learn French (or Chinese, or Spanish, which are probably more appropriate today) in grade 1 (or even earlier by parents)? Get them early. For one  the students will have at least five years of learning at their peak capacity and should be able to get an excellent grounding in whatever language they are learning; and two, if taught well, students could learn to enjoy the language and appreciate the benefits of being able to speak a second language.

I am pretty sure if I had been taught earlier I would still be able to hold basic conversations in French rather than retaining inane phrases like ‘I live in a big town in the centre of England’. I still have never found a use for it.

Everyone knows you can learn a foreign language at a school with a qualified native speaking teacher, and most people also know that you can learn a language at home with an appropriate language course.  Some people, however, manage to learn a new language through the strangest of places: be it a fortuitous meeting with a friendly native speaker, or simply a friendly gathering with a range of language speakers.  If you want to learn a language you must be ready, and willing, to grab the opportunity when it arises.

My case in point comes from a letter to the global online football game ‘Hattrick’ of which I too am a member and a regular participant. I was surprised to see this letter in truth, because  although I knew Hattrick had a huge multilingual player base, I had never viewed it as a possible forum for learning a language before.  The letter was as much a surprise to me as I hope it will be for others.

The letter was written by Volkl and posted to express his delight at how using the Hattrick forum changed his life. Volkl, unlike most people, took the bull by the proverbial horns and used his multinational forum brethren to request a native Spanish speaker to teach him the language. He got a reply, and after a tentative and uncomfortable beginning through chat, developed a burgeoning friendship and learning format with his new Argentinian penpal.

Volkl closes by explaining that he has already been to visit his new friend in Argentina, and is now looking to move there to find work and put his Spanish skills to the ultimate test.

Although I am sure that most language learners aren’t looking to up-sticks and move to a new country, this letter still proves that the learning of a foreign language can be found often in the most surprising places. If you are willing to take the chance when it comes.

The full letter from Volkl to Hattrick can be found here