#001 – The number one trick to learn a foreign language.
Welcome to the Learning Languages in Society with Gabi podcast, where it’s all about the fascinating world of languages and culture. Let’s rock.
Hi everybody, and welcome to my show. I’m your host Gabi and here we are in the very first episode of your new favorite podcast, learning Languages in Society with Gabi. So what is this show about? This show is mainly about learning foreign languages in the most effective way, making sure you’re using those new language skills in real life situations.
The key of this podcast and what sets it apart from other language podcasts is that I will teach you how to put those language skills into practice. In other words, I want you to be able to speak fluently, and most importantly, I want you to be able to express yourself using the exactly the right type of language in the right type of context, right from the beginning of the learning process.
This podcast was created for all of those people who may need or who wish to learn to speak fluently, a foreign language, people who are excited to learn about a new culture, discover the traditions, and find out about the history of a foreign culture.
And incidentally, people who may be interested in various topics related to the science of language. So maybe you are relocating to that exciting new country for a new job opportunity, or maybe you’re moving into a new country because you’re planning to be with that special person you met on the internet.
Or maybe you are simply like me. I fell in love with languages and cultures a long time ago, and I keep learning them for fun. So whatever your personal circumstances and reasons may be, you are in the right place. I want to make it a commitment to share with you all the secrets you need to know in order to learn languages. It’s not hard, trust me.
Forget about all those boring grammar lessons and get straight to the point. Let’s get down to business. Furthermore, I would love to share more about the interplay, between languages and culture, because this element right here is where the magic happens.
Now, say you’re on a vacation, you are excited to be traveling to a new country. Your dream has come true. And let’s say you happen to be in a situation in which you need to dust off in real time. One of those grammar structures that you are sure you’ve learned from an old textbook back in school. You are sure you have studied a way of saying something in Russian, for example, but for some reason, the grammar structure you’re looking for isn’t coming out. You’re looking forward to remember a grammar structure, but you just simply cannot seem to remember it. You can’t recall how to say what you want.
So in a nutshell, you know your grammar structures, but they’re completely fossilized somewhere in the back of your mind and thus are completely useless. So here we have several fictional examples, which could easily, easily be situations in real life.
Okay? So imagine you are stuck in a coffeehouse in a small village in southern France. You realize everyone around you speaks only French, and you want to try to order that coffee you saw on the menu in French.
The waiter comes, you get nervous, you hesitate, and then you mumble. You mumble something, the waiter doesn’t get it, he’s in a hurry. And then you decide to just forget about it, and you nervously switch back to English and order your coffee in English. So your moment of glory is now gone. Right now, you’re just puzzled. You don’t know what just happened, and you’re discouraged and helpless. Now, you don’t understand why the French seem to have such a hard time understanding you in French. So things are not looking good for you in that coffeehouse right now.
Here’s another example. You are in Rome for a few days in a business trip, and suddenly you get a call from your new boss who is Italian, and you don’t know him, you don’t know him yet, but you realize that it’s a good moment to shine and make a first good impression.
So you decide to try to use your Italian and answer the call. Long story short, you mumble something, your boss doesn’t get what you’re saying, and oops, the situation has suddenly become awkward for both of you, and then you go back to English and apologize. Right? So not very good either. Okay?
And here’s the last example. You are finally meeting this cute Russian girl you talked to on your local language exchange program, on a chat, for example. You have only written to her, but you have never spoken to her. So your communication has been basically all through a chat. She suddenly turns up to meet you at the local library, only for you to realize that your Russian pronunciation sucks. She can barely understand what you say, plus you brought her no little present and your date is doomed. You are doomed, my friend, but have no fear because Gabi here, and in this podcast, you’re going to turn all those situations into small victories, one at a time.
So who am I? Well, as you can guess, my name is Gabi, and I am a professional translator and interpreter. I graduated back in 2017 from the UAB Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. I studied in the faculty of translation studies and interpreting. I studied English and Russian back then. And although I enrolled in university at age 27, I had long started learning languages and traveling by then. So in reality, by the time I started going to college, I already spoke six languages.
And guess what? I am here to give you all my tips and support to turn you into a real polyglot. You too can become a polyglot. You too can nail those job interviews. You too can fluently converse about food in French and art in Italian, just like a local, okay? So at the faculty of translation studies and interpreting Spanish was my language, A, A language, right?
A as in apple. So A is simply a way to signal that Spanish was my mother tongue. So English was my B language, and Russian was my C language. Now, for those who don’t know what this means, I’ll explain. In translation studies, you basically learn how to translate from the language you’re learning into your mother tongue. So you gotta take into account that you’re only supposed to translate into your mother tongue, which is Spanish again, in my case.
So I took English as my, as the main language of my degree, the language I would translate, from mainly. So that’s called language B. And then I chose Russian along the way, my degree, which in turn is called or was called language C. So essentially this all means that I’m qualified to translate and interpret from those long from those two languages into my mother tongue, however, and a big.
However, as you will notice during the following episodes, I also speak French, Italian, Portuguese, and Catalan. For those who don’t know, Catalan is the regional language of Catalonia, which is where I live. All right, so what is coming in this episode and in the following episodes. So, most of the episodes in this podcast will be divided in two sections.
First, we’re gonna discuss how to put into real practice in everyday situations with real and pragmatical examples, your language skills. We’re going to have you test your language skills with real people. And second, we are gonna talk a little bit about the science of language for those who might be interested in this aspect of language. And here’s a quick win for you. By the time this first episode ends, you will already have learned the most important trick to learn a new language.
So please stay tuned and please don’t forget to hit the subscribe button. Okay? So how do you start? How do you start? How do you go from zero to hero in the world of languages? You might wonder, well, hmm, hmm, I can only appeal to your common sense right here. Okay?
What do I mean by that? I mean, well simply think that in order for you to learn how to speak a new language, what you should do is duh, start speaking it right from the onset of the learning process.
And that’s a quick win, right?
There it is, right. So start speaking right from the onset of the learning process. That’s a real, that’s the trick. Okay? So, uh, how do you exactly do that? I mean, where exactly do you start? If when you open a grammar book, the first thing that you will see is almost unreal conversations, right?
And language apps hardly make any sense, to be honest. So it just seems like a little puzzle right there. Hmm. Well, first of all, look at it this way. We as humans do not learn languages from grammar textbooks when we are children. As you might have guessed, you might wonder how it actually happens then. Okay? Well, don’t get me wrong.
First of all, I think that learning grammar is a fundamental part of the process too, but the key is to start using the grammar structures right away. So I’m gonna insist on that. You must start practicing those grammar structures with native speakers, if possible, straight away. The linguistic knowledge in your mind must be uttered through your mouth so that there is a connection between the two, right? So those verbs, adverbs, nouns, those sentences, that new vocabulary, all of it, otherwise it won’t work, just won’t work.
And so that’s, that’s my, that’s my advice there. The most important advice I can give you. Okay? Although much has been said and written on the topic of language acquisition, the truth is that it isn’t yet crystal clear how your average person or child learns a new language from scratch. Okay? There are certainly many ways in which you can pick up a new language as an adult. And people, people usually go about doing this in different kind of ways, right?
So you gotta take that into consideration. Okay? But before we go on, um, I would like you to, I would like to introduce a little bit of theory right here, okay? And I’m gonna give you a big disclaimer. Uh, this, uh, podcast is a necessarily scientific, okay? But I thought it’d be fair to outline a few, uh, ideas here.
So a little bit of theory here, okay? The theory of language here, okay? So what is grammar first of all? First of all, what is grammar? Hmm, that’s a good question right there. Well, grammar in the world of linguistics could be explained as the set of language rules that you use most of the time unconsciously to create phrases and sentences that convey meaning. So basically, every native speaker of the Spanish language, for example, uses Spanish grammar unintentionally as they speak, in other words, without knowing it in order to speak properly, right? So you don’t make a conscious effort, it just comes out naturally.
A common contemporary definition of grammar is grammar, is the underlying structure of a language that any native speaker of that language knows intuitively. So the systematic description of the features of a language is also grammar. These features are the phonology.
So the study of the sound system of language morphology, the system of word formation and syntax, the system of patterns of word arrangement under what constraints. We put words together kind of thing. And then there’s semantics, the meaning of words, okay? So depending on the grammar’s approach, a grammar can be prescriptive for that is, uh, provide rules for correct usage.
So it tells us how to use language, or it could be descriptive. That is, it describes how language is actually used, okay? Now, the traditional focus of inquiry has been on morphology and syntax. And for some contemporary linguists and many traditional grammarians, this is the only proper domain of the subject. Interesting, right?
But let’s take it little by little. What is linguistics? Now the Linguistics Society of America says, and I quote, in a nutshell, linguistics is the scientific study of language linguistics.
It Applies the scientific method to conduct formal studies of speech sounds and gestures, grammatical structures and meaning across the world’s 6,000 plus languages. Interesting right there. So that is what linguistics is. Right? Now, you might have heard about Avram Noam Chomsky, I’m going to introduce Chomsky to you. Chomsky is an American public intellectual, first of all. So, according to Wikipedia, he said to be the, the father of modern linguistics. He’s also known for his work on political and social activism. So you might have heard about Chomsky’s political views on a number of topics. And he’s one of the founders of the field of cognitive sciences, right?
So Chomsky and others have suggested for a very long time that there is such concept as universal grammar. Okay? The universal grammar hypothesis, and I’m quoting Chomsky here, is the idea that human languages as superficially diverse as they are, share some fundamental similarities, and that these are attributable to innate principles, unique to language that deep down there is only one human language.
Okay? Hmm, interesting definition right there. So that was Chomsky in the year 2000. Alright? Now he explained, uh, further universal grammar is taken to be the set of properties, conditions, or whatever that constitute the initial state of the language learner. Hence the basis on which knowledge of a language develops. So that’s pretty interesting too.
That comes from, comes from rules and representations, Columbia University press 1980. And so, so what is universal grammar? Hmm. So universal grammar, grammar is essentially a theory that presupposes that human beings are biologically endowed with a natural capacity to learn languages. So we are, in other words, as humans, biologically hard-wired to learn new languages. Uh…
So according to Chomsky, what is the commitment of the study of language then? Okay, so I’m going to quote him right here. He says:
”to restate the same commitment, in essence from a different point of view, I assume that our aim is to assimilate the study of language to the general body of natural science. So linguistics then may be regarded as that part of human psychology, which is concerned with the nature, function and origin of a particular mental organ. We may take universal grammar to be a theory of the language of faculty, a common human attribute genetically determined: one component of the human mind through interaction with the environment this faculty of mind becomes articulated and refined, emerging in the mature person as a system of knowledge of language”.
Okay, very cool. So in essence, this mental organ fully blossoms when exposed to the environment. There you go. That’s in essence, uh, what it is right? Now. The principles and parameters, theory of syntax. So what is this? Principles and parameters is a framework within generative of linguistics in which the syntax of a natural language is described in accordance with the general principles. That is abstract rules or grammars and specific parameters, that is, markers and switches that for particular languages are either turned on or off.
For example, the position of heads in phrases is determined by a parameter. Whether a language is head initial or head final is regarded as a parameter, which is either on or off for particular languages. That is English, for example, is a head initial, whereas Japanese is a head final. Principles and parameters was largely formulated by the linguists, Noam Chomsky and Howard Lasnik. Many linguists have worked within this framework, and for a period of time it was considered the dominant form of mainstream generative linguistics.
Okay, that’s cool. So, a little bit of education right here. I’m going to try to explain a little bit some of the, some of the terms that I just mentioned. So, generative linguistics is a linguistic theory that regards linguistics as a study of a hypothesized innate grammatical structure. All right?
What is a natural language?
Now, a natural language, it’s a language that has emerged naturally in a human community. For example, Spanish is a natural language, but Python is not a natural language, right? So now the head is the element that determines the category of a phrase. For example, in a verb phrase, the head is a verb, okay? Therefore, head initial would be: verb object languages, and head final would be: object verb languages, okay?
So English, as I mentioned before, would be a head initial language, and Japanese would be an object verb language. It would be a head final language. Okay?
So that’s, that’s interesting, a little bit of theory right there. Now keep in mind that the principles and parameters theory of syntax also suggests that all human beings are genetically endowed with the capacity of knowing the set of universal principles shared by every human language.
These principles specify the constraints on the grammars of all human languages. In other words, what is true of all human languages and what all human languages share in common, and the parameters which specify the different set of options for grammatical variation.
So the knowledge of a particular language then consists of knowledge of the settings of a finite number of parameters, which define exactly how those universal principles need to be applied in order to construct grammatical sentences. So technically, if you found all the parameters which rule all human languages, then a specific human language could could completely be described by the values it assigns to each particular parameter.
So in that case, it would be the only language with those parameters exactly set or switched in that specific way. ah… that’s cool. Now, if the parameters, according to which languages may vary, could all be found, then a given human language could be completely described by the values it assigns to each parameter.
It would be the only human language with that or with those parameters set in that way. Now, however, as it turns out, things are not as simple as one would hope. And as the scientific framework involving universal grammar has developed during the past decades, it has also increased the list of set principles. Okay? There are subsystems of principles and overriding principles which further constrain what is supposed to be true of all human languages, right?
And with respect to parameters, there doesn’t seem to be an agreement on a concrete list of parameters shared by all scholars. Likewise, it is argued that there doesn’t seem to be a list of lexical categories and a list of features which can be applied to all languages. But instead, generative linguists seem to propose specific ones when they study a language; that is, a specific language. So with that in mind, it is becoming harder these days to agree if universal grammar exists and what it actually contains.
So Chomsky’s work is quite extensive and I’m not going to go into all of it, obviously, right? I’m going to give you here a list of his work in case you might be interested:
Syntactic structures in 1957;
Current issues in linguistic theory, 1964;
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, 1965;
Cartesian Linguistics, 1965;
Language and Mind, 1968;
The sound pattern of English with Morris Hall, 1968;
Reflections on language, 1975;
Lectures on government and binding 1981;
On the minimalist program, 1995.
I’m only going to be summarizing in the next episodes some of his main ideas and also name some of the currents in linguistics, which offer counter arguments and counter evidence to these ideas, such as a paper written by Ewa Dobrowska a cognitive linguist, which we’re going to be examining.
Now, she believes that there is very little agreement on what universal grammar really means, or what the evidence for it is. Okay? She thinks that it is more productive to think in terms of language making capacity rather than thinking in terms of an innate set of language properties.
So we’re going to be talking about all this really exciting stuff.
Anyway, thank you so much for listening. You’re awesome.
And please stay tuned for the next episodes, and don’t forget to subscribe. Bye-bye.
#002 – Quick way to hack Italian phonetics!
Welcome to the Learning Languages in Society with Gabi podcast, where it’s all about the fascinating world of languages and culture. Let’s rock.
Hi everyone, this is your host, Gabi, and welcome back to your favorite podcast. This is episode number two. So today we’re gonna warm up with some really fun and easy ways to start delving into the mysteries of the pronunciation of Italian.
I know this sounds like a lot, but I thought it would be really interesting and useful to make you start using your tongue and start getting used to new sounds and ways to speak. And I found the perfect solution for these guys. So that’s tongue twisters. Yes, tongue twisters.
But before we begin with the tongue twisters, we’re going to talk about the alphabet, the Italian alphabet. Yes, the alphabet. But hey, why? Well, we all think we know the alphabet, right? Short answer, no, we don’t.
The pronunciation of the English language, as we all know, isn’t exactly straightforward. And very often words aren’t pronounced the way they are written due to multiple facts during the evolution and history of the English language.
So it is a real relief to finally learn the alphabet of a phonetic language, which, essentially means that the words are, for the most part, pronounced the way they are written, with some exceptions.
Now, this makes learning the Italian alphabet super fun and easy. It’s incredibly important, in my opinion, for beginners to first learn the alphabet of the language they’re learning. You need to know how to read and write words in the language you’re learning and understand the phonetic rules. This is a, like warming up for an athlete before he goes running in a competition. But not only that, guys, you need to get acquainted with the spelling and sounds, and most importantly, you need to start getting an overall feel of the language.
Okay, so let’s start with the word alphabet. In Italian, this word is typically expressed or represented with three different words, namely, l’abbicì, which are essentially the first three letters of the alphabet itself. That is A, B, C. Alfabeto, the direct translation of the words, the alphabet. And then you have a related word, L’abbecedario, which is a book usually illustrated, used to teach children how to read and write.
So without further delay, here we go with the alphabet, A as in Albero, B as in bocca, C as in casa, D as in dubbio, E as in erba, F as in fiore, G as in giocattolo, H silent as in hotel, I as in idea, l as in luna, M as in mamma, N as in nanna, O as in orologgio, P as in pepe, Q as in quadro, R as in ramo, S as in sole, T as in tutù, U as in uva, V as in viola, zeta at the beginning of of the word as for example, in the word zero. Or it could also have that the ts sound in the beginning of a consonant as in the words scherzo, ragazzo.
Now we have foreign consonants in Italian as well. We have j lunga, as in Jersey, we have K cappa as in kursaal. We have W doppia as in Washington. We have X as in xilofono. And then we have ypsilon, as in ypsilon. There are five vowels in Italian, a e i o u, a as in aereo, E as in educazione, I as in isola, o as in hotel, and u as in occhio.
In Italian, we place a diacritic or diacritical mark, often called accent on the vowels a, e i, o, u accents don’t really change the pronunciation of the words. Rather they signal where the word is stressed, phonetically stressed. Now, there are double consonants and single consonants in Italian, just like in English. Double consonants are pronounced slightly longer. Examples of this would be casa casa and cassa cassa. So notice the, the first, word casa house.
Notice the intervocalic /z/ sound in the first word, casa, as opposed to the word cassa, cassa, which means receptacle or container. So the S in between two vowels would have a slightly different sound. That would be casa and the double /s/, the double consonant would be a longer sound, such as in the word cassa.
Now we have another pair: caro, caro and carro, carro. Caro means dear, as in dear friend, caro amico and carro means wagon or carriage. So notice the difference right there as well. Now we have another pair: sono, sono and sonno sonno. So the first word, sono is the first person singular, and also the third person plural of the verb to be: io sono Michele. I am Michael and loro sono Piero e Giulia, and they are Piero and Gulia.
And then notice the difference with the second word, sonno, sonno, which would be roughly translated as the noun sleepiness typically expressed in English, as in the phrase, I am sleepy. Okay? This is expressed in Italian as in io ho sonno. I have sleepiness, io ho sonno, I am sleepy.
Another pair now nona and nonna. Nona and nonna. So notice the difference as well. the first is a shorter sound nona, as in the ninth gate. So ninth as in the title of the horror movie with Johnny Depp, and the second word nonna with double N as in mia nonna era un’ottima cuoca. So my grandmother was a great cook.
Here we also have the word ottima with a double T sound. So that makes it slightly different as a sound ottima right now, another pair, C and G, which is C and G when followed by a o u, we have a hard sound. Examples of this would be casa, cosa, cuoco. And then you have G with a, o, u: gatto, gonna, guido.
And then you have the combination C + E c plus E as in the word cedere, and C plus i c + i as in the word cimitero. Same goes for G. We have geografo and gioia. So ge geografo and gi gioia.
And then last but not least, we have the sounds che and chi formed by additional placing and h in between vowels. That is C plus H plus i CI, che as in the word che and C plus H plus I. So C plus H plus I c + h + i as in the word chi.
Examples of this would be cherubino and chiarezza, c h e, cherubino and, c h i, chiarezza.
H is silent as in as in the word hammam and hotel. And Zeta is pronounced /tse/ as in piazza or pizza. But it could also be pronounced as /dz/ in words like zero and zaino at the beginning of the word. Okay?
Now there are, digraphs, which are a group of two successive letters whose phonetic value is a single sound. This is the case of sveglia, sveglia.
So notice the /gli/ sound right there, which is formed by GLI. Okay, GLI Then we have another word that would be gnocchi, gnocchi, which is also formed with the letter G plus N in this case, gnocchi. Then we have double G as in aggiungere, aggiungere, so a double G right there. And then we have, g, plus i, girare, and, g plus E, gente.
Now. So for those of you who wish to practice the alphabet, here is a list of words. You can try to write down and and let me know if if you had a hard time doing it or if you thought it was easy. I’m going to try to go slowly with this, because I know it’s a little hard. But try to, try to make an effort and try to do it right. Okay, here I go with the list first.
ANDARE
BISOGNO
CARINI
DEBOLE
ISTRUIRE
LAMENTARSI
MUCCA
NOCCIOLO
OCCHIATA
PASSIONE
QUALITÀ
RIDERE
SUBIRE
TRARRE
URRÀ
VERO
ZIGZAGARE
JUMBO
KARATE (KARATÈ)
WHISKY
XEROGRAFIA
YOGURTERIA
There you go. So that’s the little list of words I want you to try to write down. Now, as I promised here, you have some common tongue twisters, or as we say in Italian SCIOGLILINGUA ITALIANI you can leave the, or you can try to write down the translation if you want to. And then, and then let me know how you, how it all went. Okay, so here we go.
1. Trentatré trentini entrarono in Trento, tutti e trentatré trotterellando.
2. Sopra la panca la capra campa, sotto la panca la capra crepa.
3. Apelle figlio di Apollo fece una palla di pelle di pollo.
4. Tutti i pesci vennero a galla per vedere la palla di pelle di pollo fatta da Apelle figlio di Apollo.
5. A quest’ora il questore in questura non c’è.
6. Li vuoi quei kiwi? E se non vuoi quei kiwi che kiwi vuoi?
7. A che serve che la serva si conservi la conserva se la serva quando serve non si serve di conserva?
8. Sette zucche secche e storte stanno strette dentro al sacco.
9. Due tazze strette in due strette tazze.
10. Al pozzo dei pazzi una pazza lavava le pezze. Andò un pazzo e buttò la pazza con tutte le pezze nel pozzo dei pazzi.
So I hope you had fun doing this little thing right here. Try to pronounce the words, little by little, and try to make the best effort to, to have your tongue twisters aligned with the right pronunciation. Okay?
Now we have finally come to the second section of our episode Number two, the science of language.
I know that you’re excited, some of you might like this section more than others, but let’s try to, let’s try to make it fun. Let’s try to make you get a little bit more in touch with the science of language and understand how interesting it is. Okay?
As I hope you recall, in our first episode, we spoke about the word linguistics and what this word actually means. That is the scientific study of language. We spoke about the structure of language or the systematic description of language.
In other words, we spoke about phonology. So the system of sounds in language. We spoke about morphology, the system of word formation. We talked about syntax. So the hierarchy between words and the patterns in which these words are arranged in language and put together. We talked about semantics, the meaning of words and language as well.
We introduced Noam Avram Chomsky as the founder of Modern Linguistics, and as the founder of the, of the Universal Grammar Hypothesis, okay? We said that essentially universal grammar is conceived as the innate mental and cognitive capacity that all human beings have for the simple fact of being human beings.
That is, we are endowed with the capacity to learn natural languages, and it is the exposure to spoken language around us as we, as we grow up from being babies into adults, which essentially triggers this capacity and turns it into a fully functional, undeveloped language in adults. Okay? So far, so good.
Very interesting stuff so far. However, as they say, life is not peaches and cream, and there is a never-ending rainbow of grays in it as it is. So, why do I say this? Well, it seems like the universal grammar hypothesis has been having a lot of pushback over the past decades from all corners of the world of linguistics.
And many linguists are very vocal in their disagreement with Chomsky and other generative linguists. There are a number of arguments in support for universal grammar and there are also a number of counter-arguments. So we’re going to start with the first argument in favor of universal grammar, and then we are going to talk about the counter-arguments, okay?
So we’re gonna be doing the same for other arguments in favor of universal grammar. Now, the first argument in favor of universal grammar, that would be the concept of universality or ubiquity in human languages. That is the fact that all languages seem to share some common features or characteristics. Now, this view, however, is not shared by most typologists for example, Evans and Levinson in the year 2009, gave a lot of counter-examples to virtually all proposed universals, including major lexical categories, major phrasal categories, phrase structure rules, grammatically means of distinguishing between subjects and objects, the use of verb affixes to signal tense and aspect, and so and so on.
So, the conclusion is that the, the vast differences in languages across the world shouldn’t be explained in terms of universals, but rather in terms of differences or more broadly speaking, under the heading of linguistic diversity. Okay? So that would be the counter-argument to the concept of universality or ubiquity in human languages.
Now, there’s another argument right here that would be number two, the argument is called convergency. So this argument, what does it say? It says that most speakers of a language share the same grammar despite being subjected to different input from the outside world, okay? So the convergency claim is said to be taken as self-evident.
However, it doesn’t seem to be supported with any real evidence. So it’s not really supported. It has been shown in different studies that adults do not in fact have the same knowledge of the grammar of their own language.
That is, they have different degrees of knowledge of complex grammar, constructions, passives, morphology, et cetera. And I suspect that the level of education also has something to do with this. So I guess that the more educated a person is maybe the, the better knowledge of the grammar of their own language they have, right?
Now, let’s talk about the third and most famous argument in favor of universal grammar. So what does this argument say? It says, it’s called the poverty of the stimulus, okay? Poverty of the stimulus. So it states that children aren’t exposed to sufficiently rich or varied linguistic data in order to acquire and master all the properties of their first language or mother tongue. So basically children aren’t exposed to all the knowledge that they actually have of their grammar, which would be essentially pretty strange.
So, for them to acquire such a huge knowledge of their grammar and speak perfectly without actually being exposed to every sentence around them. So that’s a very interesting thing. Now, however, as, as I mentioned before, there is a huge counter-argument here. There is a lot of studies that contradict this argument, constructionist and cognitive grammars state that languages can in fact be learned from input. So they give a number of ideas, and there’s a number of studies that contradict this very argument.
So that’s that for the counter-argument of the three most prominent, let’s say, arguments in favor of universal grammar. Now, there are other arguments in favor of universal grammar. We have the first one called species specificity. So it is said that language is specific to humans, so only humans can speak in an elaborate and abstract way.
But then this disregards the fact that only humans share some other cognitive processes specific to our species as well, such as collaboration, cultural learning, the use of complex tools, and the list goes on. So, for example, functional linguist, Michael Tomasello, suggests that language is best understood as a tool for communication, and as such should be taken into account the speaker’s and the hearer’s side and their communicative needs. So the social and cultural role of language prevails.
In other words, it is the need to understand and cooperate with each other, which enables language to emerge. Okay? So they take a different view, they take a different standpoint. they understand that language emerged as, as the need, the human need to cooperate with each other, right? So to collaborate with each other for cultural learning, for the use of complex tools. So all of these, human needs actually were the ones which enable language to emerge.
So we take a different view from the classical generative perspective of innate cognition, right, of innate capacity to learn a language. That’s pretty cool. Now, there’s there’s an article that I read recently, which, um, struck me as being very interesting.and it says the following, it’s an interesting speculation in the, in the article, and it basically says that, syntax, so we remember what syntax is, syntax was borrowed from stone toolmaking. So in short, some scholars proposed that the development of tool technologies, as in like our ancestors, you know, using tools, right? Stone toolmaking, those tool technologies or the development of those two technologies relied upon the development of hierarchical control, and were thus selected for computational capacities that made it possible for hominins to fluently use hierarchically structured sentences.
So that’s mind-blowing stuff, right? That’s one thing I did not expect to, to read.
So, stone toolmaking, right? Stone toolmaking. So in short, some scholars proposed that the development of tool technologies relied upon the development of a hierarchical control and were thus selected for computational capacities that made it possible for hominins to fluently use hierarchically structured sentences. I don’t know, but that’s, that’s just something I didn’t expect to read. Very interesting stuff.
So the conclusion would be that the computational machinery which supports hierarchical structure evolved to serve the development of technological skills. So how cool is that? Right? Very interesting. Now, there are, however, obviously a few counter-arguments here to these hypothesis.
The first one would be that both syntax and toolmaking share both common predispositions that are prior to both, that predate both. Okay? So that would be, the first counter-argument. The second would be that it is also possible that the early emergence of proto-grammar helped develop Brocca’s area in a way that further facilitated the development of toolmaking.
So remember that Brocca’s area is an area in the brain that’s associated with the processing of language. Okay? So that would be number two. It says that it is also possible at the early emergence of proto-grammar helped develop Brocca’s area, okay?
So in a way, it facilitated the development of toolmaking, right? Interesting stuff.
Now, number three, that’s another argument. It says that it is possible that syntax or language more generally could have been also subject to natural and sexual selection pressures, and could have contributed to the genetic makeup of humans, which in turn could have contributed to the further development of other cognitive phenomena.
So you see, they take a different stand right here and as you can see, for every great hypothesis there’s counter-arguments and very hard to disprove and so very interesting stuff.
Anyway, so I would’ve never imagined that language had anything to do with toolmaking or any of these things I didn’t think about the counter-arguments either. So, quite interesting stuff.
Anyhow, now we’re gonna talk about child language acquisition. So this is another powerful, argument in favor of universal grammar. So it is often said that children acquire great amounts of grammar and lexical knowledge by being merely exposed to some language input without explicit teaching, which essentially means that children just basically learn their first language or mother tongue in a very relaxed manner without the need of having a formal teaching of the grammar of their own language.
So basically, they don’t have a teacher in front of them, teaching them the grammar of their own language. They just basically just pick up the, you know, the grammar instinctively of their own language and they just put together words and pieces and, and make it make sense.
So, very interesting. However, as I said before, life is not peaches and cream, and there’s a counter-argument for this, which is pretty powerful, apparently. They say that if you make an account of the vast amount of hours that children are exposed to verbal experience by means of watching television, listening to the radio, listening to music from the ages raging from one to five years of age, while they get millions, and I mean, literally millions, literally millions of words over the period of four years, you see, so, well, that would be a great counter-argument actually, if you, if you looked at the data that way.
Moreover, it is demonstrated that the mere exposure is not enough as children of, for example, deaf parents do typically underperform in their linguistic abilities unless exposed to the right kind of input. So there you go, that disproves again this powerful argument in relation to child language acquisition.
Now, there’s another argument called uniformity. So what is uniformity? It is said that children acquire language following a similar path dictated by an innate program, but cross-linguistic studies show that depending on what language they learn, the different grammar structures are learned at different ages.
For example, the passive forms in English will be learned at earlier stages compared to the passive forms in say, Hebrew. Likewise, the age frame references to wide and vague, and thus misses the point that very small age differences can be quite significant for infants and different learning styles in children give rise to different rates and quality of linguistic production.
Okay, so there you go. There’s another huge counter-argument. We actually never think about it this way, but 2, 3, 4 years in the life of an infant is quite significant. So taking into account that very fact makes or disproves a lot of these arguments right from the start. So that’s the way it goes.
Now, we have another one which is called maturation effects. So that’s another argument and here it says that exposition to different input in the environment show that linguistic knowledge is heavily influenced by social settings. And while maturation in the brain of the infant plays an important role, the environment and the linguistic exposure with which the child grows makes a significant change in his learning process.
So, there you go. That’s another counter-argument which is that the environment, again, we put emphasis on the environment and the linguistic exposure of the child.
We say that makes a huge change in their learning process. So as you can see, the counter arguments are based on different premises, more based on the environment and other more cultural premises rather than the innate ones.
And last, but not least, we have one called language and cognition. So that one argument seemed to be a pretty powerful one. But then no again, no, there’s a big counter-argument right there. Basically when you compare children who are diagnosed with specific language impairment and children who are diagnosed with William Syndrome, now, when you compare them, if we look superficially, we could make the wrong conclusion that the latter, that is children with William Syndrome may have good language skills, but impaired cognition, and on the other hand, specific language impaired children may have bad language skills and good cognition.
Now, studies have shown that William Syndrome children do in fact, have impaired language skills when we take a closer look at their knowledge in grammar, compared to their peers, and that their learning process also and unfortunately, follows a different course. Now, specific language impaired children, on the other hand, are specifically language impaired, but actually they also have other kinds of cognitive impairments.
So the distinction between language and cognition isn’t quite clear in these examples.
All right. Anyway, thank you so much for having put up with me in episode number two. I hope you had a great time. I had a great time, explaining to you these things. And I really hope to hear from you later on in the future.
Please do not forget to subscribe to my channel and I really hope to see you in the future. Guys.
Hit the subscribe button and see you in episode number three. Bye-bye, guys. You’re awesome!
003 – Discover the fascinating Italian articles!
Welcome to the Learning Languages in Society with Gabi podcast, where it’s all about the fascinating world of languages and culture. Let’s rock.
Welcome back to your favorite podcast, my dear friends. This is episode number three. Yes, my name is Gabi, I’m your language coach, and I’m here to show you some really cool and fun ways to learn different languages. Today we will be speaking about Italian and what makes it a truly beautiful language.
But before that, we’re going to learn some good old basic Italian grammar so that you start building sentences and start feeling more at ease with the language. So stay tuned for more. In our last episode, we had a quick look at the Italian alphabet and learned some new words too. In this episode, we will learn the basics of Italian articles and we will start reviewing the conjugation in the present tense of regular verbs. You will see with your own eyes as we move forward, how we start building the grounds of what will become a solid house.
Now, articles play a huge role in the Italian language, and learning a few rules to use them will be of much help to start speaking Italian in a correct manner. For those who do not know what articles are, I will explain: articles are words that identify a noun as being specific or unspecific.
For example: ‘please give me a hammer and some nails to fix this chair’. So in this statement, a hammer would be the indefinite article. A, would be the indefinite article. And it means that any hammer could be of potential use for a given purpose. In this case, fixing the chair. Now, compare that to: ‘please pass me the hammer and the nails from the shed to fix this chair’. In this case, the hammer, definite article, tells us that we know exactly what hammer we are talking about. In other words, only that specific hammer is the one we need.
As you know, in English, we only have one definite article, the, and one indefinite article, a, pronounced often as, a, simple.very simple, right.
Now, other languages have multiple articles, and this is the case of Italian. Let’s have a look. So to begin with, in Italian, we have the definite article, l’articolo determinativo, the indefinite article, l’articolo indeterminativo, the partitive article, l’articolo partitivo, and we will learn how to use them properly in this section.
So let’s get down to business.
Let’s review some grammar. First, in Italian, we have two definite articles for the singular masculine, namely, IL and Lo, we use IL when we have a noun that starts with a consonant. Example: IL PITTORE, the painter, IL RAGAZZO, the boy. And then we have LO. LO is used in front of words that begin with S followed by another consonant and not by a vowel. For example: LO STRUMENTO, the instrument.
IL VIOLINO È LO STRUMENTO PIÙ DIFFICILE DEL MONDO, The violin is the most difficult instrument in the world.
The clusters of consonants, GN, PN, and PS. So GN is pronounced /ɲ/ examples.
LO GNOMO, the gnome as in: LO GNOMO È UNA FIBA DEI FRATELLI GREEN, the gnome as in the gnome is a tale by the green brothers.
LO PNEUMATICO, as in LO PNEUMATICO DELLA MACCHINA, the car tyre.
LO PSICOLOGO as in LO PSICOLOGO ITALIANO, as in the Italian psychologist.
Words starting with X and Z as in LO XILOFONO NON FUNCIONA PIÙ, the xylophone no longer works.
LO ZAINO È PIENO DI COSE, as in the backpack is full of things.
LO YOGURT, LO YOGURT È BUONO PER LA SALUTE, Yogurt is good for health.
L’AMICO, L’AMICO DI LUCA FA L’INSEGNANTE, Luca’s friend is a teacher, and:
L’UOMO, L’UOMO È ALTO, as in the man is tall.
Now singular feminine LA before consonant LA CASA, the house, LA GONNA, the skirt, LA STRADA, the street, L apostrophe before vowel L’UNIVERSITÀ, the university, L’ISOLA, the island. So that would be la universita, L’UNIVERSITÀ, LA ISOLA, L’ISOLA.
Now plurals, we’ve got plural masculine of IL, that would be I in Italian.
Now remember we have IL PITTORE, and now we have the plural, I PITTORI And the same goes for IL RAGAZZO, plural: I RAGAZZI. And then we have the plural of LO, which would be GLI, before vowels and before S when followed by a consonant or before a Z. In other words, where the singular was LO.
Examples:
LO XILOFONO, GLI XILOFONI. LO ZAINO, GLI ZAINI, LO STRUMENTO, GLI STRUMENTI.
And now in plural the xylophones, the backpacks, the instruments. Same goes for per feminine. Remember we had LA CASA and then plural feminine LE CASE, LA GONNA, LE GONNE, LA STRADE, LE STRADE. L’UNIVERSITÀ, LE UNIVERSITÀ, LA ISOLA, L’ISOLA, AND LE ISOLE. And then we have GLI ARTICOLI INDETERMINATIVI. In English, we would say a dog, as in I see a dog. And in Italian we would say UN CANE, as in IO VEDO UN CANE.
So we use UN in Italian before consonants and vowels. For example, UN PADRE, a father, UN RAGAZZO, a boy.
UNO before words that start with S plus A consonant. And before Z. Examples, UNO STRUMENTO, UNO ZAINO.
Then we have the singular feminine UNA DONNA, UNA CASA. Before vowel we used the apostrophe, for example, UNA ARANCIA, so we would put together the two words with an apostrophe UN’ARANCIA.
And then we have the partitive articles, GLI ARTICOLI PARTITIVI, in English. This could be roughly translated as some or any which we use when we refer to an unspecified amount or quantity when it’s not specific. So we would use the the partitive articles.
An example would be: VUOI MANGIARE DEL POLLO O DEL PESCE STARSERA. Would be would you like to have some fish or some chicken this evening? Of course in English, these sentences would be better translated as, would you like to have fish or chicken this evening? So the quantity is not specified. Okay? So this is when we use the partitive articles.
Now the partive articles are formed by combining the DI plus the corresponding definite article IL, LO, LA, I, GLI, LE.
An example of that would be:
DI plus IL, DEL, VORREI MANGIARE DEL POLLO, I would like to eat chicken.
DI plus LO DELLO, MI SERVE DELLO ZUCCHERO PER QUESTA RICETTA. I need some sugar for this recipe.
DI plus LA, DELLA, HAI MANGIATO DELLA FRUTTA CANDITA E DISADRATATA. Have you eaten candid and dehydrated fruit?
DI plus I DEI. CI SONO DEI RAGAZZI BIONDI NELLA SQUADRA TEDESCA. There are some blonde boys in the German team.
DI plus GLI. DEGLI. HO MANGIATO DEGLI GNOCCHI RIPIENI DI FORMAGGIO, I ate dumplings stuffed with cheese or gnocchi stuffed with cheese.
DI plus LE, DELLE. NELLE FIABE CI SONO DELLE STORIE ALLUCINANTI. In fairytales that are hallucinatory stories as in amazing stories.
Okay, now let’s have a quick look at the conjugation of regular Italian verbs. All Italian regular verbs can be divided into three different groups, as classified according to the ending of their infinitive forums.
Verbs in the first group or first conjugation, end in ARE, such as ABITARE, MANGIARE, PARLARE, O LAVORARE for example, ABITARE to live:
io abito
tu abiti
lui abita
noi abitiamo
voi abitate
loro abitano
So I leave you live, he, she leaves, we leave, you leave, they leave. Example: IO ABITO A ROMA E MIO PADRE A FIRENZE, PERCHÈ ROMA È MENO CARA, I live in Rome and my father in Florence, because Rome is less expensive.
Now, MANGIARE.
io mangio
tu mangi
lui mangia
noi mangiamo
voi mangiate
loro mangiano
I eat, you eat. He, she eats, we eat, you eat, they eat. For example: you guys, plural, eat some chicken and potatoes could be roughly translated as VOI MANGIATE DEL POLLO CON DELLE PATATE okay.
Now, PARLARE.
io parlo
tu parli
lui parla
noi parliamo
voi parlate
loro parlano
I speak, you speak, he she speaks, we speak, you speak, they speak, we speak French, Italian and Spanish. NOI PARLIAMO FRANCESE, ITALIANO E SPAGNOLO.
Now, CUCINARE.
io cucino
tu cucini
lui cucina
noi cuciniamo
voi cucinate
loro cucinano
I cook, you cook, he cooks, she cooks, we cook, you cook, they cook. An example would be: Luigi Cooks great Greek food, LUIGI CUCINA DEL BUON CIBO GRECO.
Now verbs in the second group or second conjugation end in ERE such as the case of PERDERE and CORRERE.
PERDERE
io perdo
tu perdi
lui perde
noi perdiamo
voi perdete
loro perdono
I lose, you lose he, she loses, it loses, we lose, you lose, they lose. Italians lose their Italian accents when they live in America, GLI ITALIANO PERDONO L’ACCENTO ITALIANO QUANDO VIVONO IN AMERICA. Now verbs in the third group or third conjugation end in ire such as DORMIRE and APRIRE.
io dormo
tu dormi
lui dorme
noi dormiamo
voi dormite
loro dormono
I sleep. You sleep. He, she sleeps. We sleep. You sleep. They sleep. Maria and GIADA sleep well in the evenings. MARIA E GIADA DORMONO BENE LA SERA.
io apro
tu apri
lui apre
noi apriamo
voi aprite
loro aprono
I open, you open, he, she it opens, we open, you open they open. Example, the Italian women open the yogurts for the foreign students LE DONNE ITALIANE APRONO GLI YOGURT PER GLI STUDENTI STRANIERI. The main characteristic of the third group is that some verbs such as CAPIRE add the suffix ISC between the root and the declination. An example of this would be the verb CAPIRE.
io capisco
tu capisci
lui capisce
noi capiamo
voi capite
loro capiscono
I understand, you understand, he, she, it understands, we understand. You understand, they understand. Okay, great. Now we’ve come this far. So, so good. Hey, now we’re gonna translate a few sentences.
So I’m going to give you a little exercise for you to practice. I am going to speak out a few words, a few phrases in English, and I would like you to translate those sentences into Italian. Try to use all the, all the information given, and let’s see how it goes. So the first would be:
1. I eat candid and dehydrated fruit in the evening, and you eat pizza. That’s our first sentence, second sentence:
2. Luca’s friends speak Italian, but they don’t understand English. Number three:
3. the boy eats GNOCCHI filled with cheese on the girl eats salad with tomatoes. Number four:
4. xylophones are expensive instruments. Number five:
5. Alberto and Federico always miss their flight.
6. The skirt on the backpack are at home. There you go. So translate those sentences into Italian. Now let’s see how it goes.
Now we have come to the second section of our episode, namely the science of language. Yes, great stuff. Okay, in our previous episode, we spoke about the arguments in favor of universal grammar and we also spoke about the counter arguments for universal grammar. We said things like universal grammar is not exactly taken as the only viable hypothesis to explain language in human beings.
We spoke about arguments in favor, such as child language acquisition, convergency, uniformity, language and recognition and poverty of the stimulus among others. We gave the counterarguments for each one of them. So if you wish to recall what these were, please refer to the second section of episode number two, but now it is time to open up the doors of agreement and welcome a new take in the situation at hand.
So why do I say it? All this? Oh, well, I recently read a paper written by Stefan Hartman and Michael Player named: constructing a consensus of language Evolution? Convergences and Differences between bio linguistics and usage-based approaches., pretty interesting stuff is coming.
So why do I think this is a paper worth talking about? Mm-hmm.
Okay, well, there are currently two main approaches when it comes to language evolution. The first could be summarized as biolinguistics, which essentially states that language is based on a more general genetic foundation. And the other one, or rather the other ones, could be grouped in the usage-based approaches.
In such theoretical approaches, domain general cognitive capacities, social cognition, and the interaction between humans are the key to understand language evolution. So you see the differences right there. At first glance, both could appear to be in opposition to one another or be just simply incompatible.
However, recent studies have shown that both paradigms might not be incompatible after all and the nature versus nurture dichotomy could be potentially erased. Both views focus primarily on the evolution of language.
So let’s keep that in mind.
However, these two views have completely different takes on issues such as modularity domain specificity versus domain generality, as well as innateness and development. I will explain each one of these said issues in detail a little later, but for now, just keep these words in mind.
Okay, so modularity domain specificity versus domain, generality, innateness and development.
Both views have become interdisciplinary and empirically minded in their way of thinking, which has in turn made their conceptual evolution more alike. Both views have integrated results and new data from the cognitive and biological sciences, such as evolutionary developmental biology and complex adaptive systems. This fact seems to have made both perspectives come closer together.
So take into consideration, that the definition in this paper for biolinguistics and usage-based approaches are gross idealizations according to the authors. Alright? Now, the differences in the conceptualization of what language is, how it is represented, how it is acquired, and how it evolves among others is quite different and might not have a solution.
Nevertheless, the point of the paper is to focus on where and how these two approaches converge. All right?
First, there will be a definition of what both perspectives are, and then there will be an explanation on where they converge and where they diverge In this episode of the science of language, and in the following episode, we will follow the following scheme:
First, we will discuss modularity and domain specificity, and then we will discuss emerging trends in the way innateness and development are conceptualize in biolinguistics and usage-based approaches.
Second, we will take a look on how these recent developments influenced the way these approaches investigate the biological and cultural evolution of language. And then number three, we will then review how theoretical and methodological differences in both views set them apart. And lastly, there will be a summary of the convergence and divergence and the potential bridges for communication.
Okay. So usage based approaches are essentially frameworks which share a number of important assumptions and are often grouped together under the umbrella of emergentism.
Some of these frames are cognitive linguistics, construction, grammar, and functional cognitive approaches. So in a nutshell, we could say that usage-based approaches assign a key role to language usage, meaning is use, and thus structures emerge from use.
So that would be the premise: meaning is use, and thus structures emerge from use.
Now, linguistic knowledge and knowledge of constructions basically emerge when abstracting actual language use in context resulting in big chunks of language as well as cognitively set abstractions.
These views reject universal grammar and the concept of innateness, obviously they reject the fuzzy concept of a mental organ, and thus they reject the concept of modularity, which I will explain later on. Why? Well, because language is seen as a continuous. Language according to this view can be described as a complex adaptive system.
Although usage-based approaches have traditionally focused on the cognitive organization of language in present day speakers or on developments in the traceable history of human languages, the view of language as a complex adaptive system on the processes of cultural evolution in language history could have led to the very emergence of language.
Now, there seems to be a possible connection between the complex adaptive system view of language on those trends of language evolution research that focused on the cumulative cultural evolution of language such as iterated learning, which is a theoretical approach in language evolution.
Now, iterated learning, for those who don’t know what it is, it describes the process whereby an individual learns their behavior by exposure to another individual’s behavior who themselves learned it previously in the same way. So it could be seen as a key mechanism of cultural evolution.
So Michael Tomasello, the famous researcher I mentioned before, has proposed an elaborate theory of the evolution of language as well as cultural cognition and suspicious specific symbolic behavior more generally.
Okay, so that is it for now. Thank you so much for having listened to me again, and I hope you really enjoyed this episode as much as I I did making it.
And we will be reviewing the second part of this really interesting paper. We’ll be discussing all the matters of the science of language and I really hope that you enjoyed it.
And please, don’t forget to subscribe to my my podcast and try to do the exercises and learn the different kinds of articles we have in Italian.
And, and lemme know if you have any doubts later on. Bye-bye.
004 – Interview with Laura Couch Polyglot
Speaker 1: (00:00)
Hi everybody. my name is Gabi, and here we are with the first interviewee of my podcast. I’m going to introduce you, introduce her to you guys. Her name is Laura, so please go ahead.
Speaker 2: (00:17)
Hi, guys. . Yeah, I’m happy to be here. My name is Laura. I have a YouTube channel called Couch Polygloy, and I love languages. It’s like my passion, so that’s why I created my YouTube channel.
Speaker 1: (00:30)
That’s, that’s great. Laura, I’ve been following your YouTube channel, and I’ve been listening to some of your stuff, some of your clips, and I think they’re great. Oh, I think you do a great job. Could you tell us a little bit about what languages you speak and what sort of, what’s your, what’s your YouTube channel about?
Speaker 2: (00:53)
Yeah, sure. What, I mean, I come from Barcelona, so where you live, so now I’m a little jealous. I would love to be there now, but, um, yeah, so I come from Barcelona. I grew up in Catalan and Spanish, and then I learned English at some point, and I actually realized, well, I didn’t know I liked languages.
It was more like, Hmm, I like what I can do with languages. Like, I was able to access music. I was able to access certain books without needing a translation or anything. So, and yeah, at some point I came the time to, to decide what to do with my life. So I decided to study translation, and I studied French at university. Uh, then, um, I started studying, German on my own and then after my studies, I moved to Germany and it just kept happening.
Speaker 2: (01:43)
Like I didn’t plan on learning more languages. I actually felt like, Hmm, maybe it’s too much now. Like I shouldn’t continue. But it just kept somehow happening. Then I met my partner who, whose family speaks Russian. Then we, so I was kind of not forced, but I felt like, well, I should learn Russian.
And so I learned it and yeah. Uh, when the pandemic hit, um, I decided to learn Italian because I was, I don’t know, I was feeling anxious and I wanted to be in control somehow and be like, Hmm, I always wanted to learn Italian, and I know it’s a stupid idea, but I’m gonna do it. I mean, I felt like it was a stupid idea just for context, because I was like, you cannot retain that many languages. It’s, it’s a bad idea, you know? So I was like, I gotta be rational.
Speaker 2: (02:29)
I also remember when I chose to study German, I actually was on the fan zone studying German or Italian, and I felt like, well, German is more difficult. And I was like, well, I will learn Italian when I retire. Right.
And, um, yeah, because I was like, well, this is, you know, it’s fun, but it’s too much. Um, and then I realized, well, you can actually keep several languages. I mean, sometimes you will forget a bit, one language or a bit the other, but yeah, you can actually learn. I don’t know if there’s a limit. I guess there is, but it’s not six languages, .
Speaker 1: (03:06)
No, no, that’s for sure.
Speaker 2: (03:07)
Yeah, you can speak more than that and it’s fine. And then, um, yeah, so that’s also when I started my YouTube channel, because I, yeah, I felt a little bit frustrated and I thought I would love to have my own project to, to be honest, at the beginning I was like, I wanna be distracted from Covid.
Speaker 1: (03:24)
Yeah.
Speaker 2: (03:24)
Yeah. So that’s how it started, basically. And because your,
Speaker 1: (03:28)
Your thing started in during the pandemic? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: (03:30)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like April, 2020. Mm-hmm. . And, and then like, I started with this experiment actually to learn Italian. I was like, Hmm, how much Italian can I learn in a week? Then how much can I learn in a month? And, um, yeah. And then it turned into a year and I was using the, um, natural approach or, you know, the, um, input, uh, comprehensible input method. Mm-hmm. , uh, there’s this, uh, YouTube channel called Italian Automatico.
There are others. Um, but this is like the first one I found. And this guy, uh, Alberto, uh, he talks a lot about, um, yeah, comprehensible input. And this was something I had been using before, but I was never really conscious of it. Like, wow. Yeah. So it just kind of opened my eyes and I was like, wow, this works. And so , um, right now, like my channel is a little bit focused on that, like trying to give people, um, input and also tips on how to learn languages, but just randomly, also sometimes just randomly talk about a certain topic, uh, for instance, in Catalan or Spanish or, or German, and you can just activate subtitles.
Speaker 2: (04:41)
And then at some point I realized, well, um, like I do multilingual content, but I have a lot of people who are asking for more Catalan content. So I was also kind of asking myself, Hmm, should I change my channel to like, just Catalan? But it didn’t feel right to me because when I started it, I am a polyglot, I love languages and I love variety.
So I would feel like I’m a little bit like betraying myself if I just speak one language, right. So I figured I just, okay, I will create a, a Catalan podcast, so it’s only in Catalan for people who need more, more staff in that language. And at the same time, I just keep my multilingual channel. Right. Uh, so that’s what I did. And yeah, so sorry for the long answer.
Speaker 1: (05:28)
No, not at all. I mean, um, uh, thank you so much for your feedback. That’s, that’s exactly what I was thinking about because yeah, I realize you do have this, uh, podcasting in Catalan, which is great. You know, you are your, you know, your fierce right there representing the Catalan language, and the traditions and all that. And I think it’s beautiful that, you know, languages that are probably not as, uh, spoken by, you know, all those many million people across Europe are still alive. And, and there are people that show interest in learning them. Uh, yeah.
And, you know, languages that are certainly in danger like Catalan or Sardinian or, you know, so I think it’s, I think it is, I think it is quite, you know, quite a challenge mm-hmm and it’s beautiful for you to do that. So that’s that. I wanna thank you also in a way to. No, thanks, you know, to for, for your, for doing all this, all this working Catalan, uh, great stuff. Now, uh, you said, uh, you said you have, uh, different, you know, methods or techniques to learn languages, which would be mm-hmm. , the three more, um mm-hmm. The three techniques that you use the most in order to learn languages, what would you say they are?
Speaker 2: (06:41)
I mean, I rely a lot on listening, so I do lots of, um, like I said, comprehensible input. So, um, I know some people are like, ah, you just put on some content. Well, you need, it needs to be comprehensible. You need to be able to understand, if I would just play something in Chinese, it’s not comprehensible because I don’t have any, right. Any yeah. Sort of idea of that language. So, but if I would do that with Portuguese, it would work. I actually understand Portuguese pretty well.
Exactly. Yeah. So, um, so it always depends on that. For instance, when I started, uh, learning Swedish, um, I relied a lot on comprehensible input because Swedish is quite similar to German. So that was possible for me, for Swedish, for instance. Um, if I were to learn, I don’t know, Polish, because I speak some Russian, then I guess I could do the same, right?
Speaker 2: (07:34)
So yeah, if you have some sort of basis through another language, then you can do it. And if you don’t, well then I would take a course, so mm-hmm. , the first strategy would be, okay, like, what’s your level? And see what your situation and if needed. Sure. If you, you don’t know anything, then I would recommend taking a course.
And then the thing I do use a lot, and I think it has like many layers, um, why this, this works so well is music. Because music mm-hmm. , well, you have, you know, repetition mm-hmm. up until a certain point you have, uh, pronunciation, um, yeah. You have, um, emotional connection. So it’s not only, yeah, oh yeah, I am doing this boring exercise, but it’s like, wow, this song, it’s just, you know, it’s just impacting my feelings in a way. So it’s just not exactly.
Speaker 1: (08:24)
Yeah.
Speaker 2: (08:24)
So mm-hmm. , it’s mu So I think music is perfect for language.
Speaker 1: (08:28)
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 2: (08:28)
Yeah. You can also sing along. It also helps, uh, pronunciation. Yeah. . Yeah. . And, uh, one thing I always also recommend is, uh, self-talk, because I feel like, um, people sometimes struggle with speaking, and I think it’s a lot easier. Like, they go from not speaking at all to speaking to a group of people, and this is really, really, really difficult. And if you’re an introvert, I think it’s really challenging. And then maybe, so they never speak, they’re afraid of speaking, then they speak, uh, in front of a group, and then they are not that good. Well, how should they be? Right. They didn’t practice. Yeah.
Speaker 1: (09:08)
So, exactly. Yes.
Speaker 2: (09:10)
So I think when it comes to speaking, it’s about, well, self-talk, talking to a person maybe you, you trust and where you’re Yeah. You know, in a safe space where you don’t feel, uh, ashamed or anything.
Speaker 1: (09:23)
Exactly. Yeah. People are gonna like,
Speaker 2: (09:25)
Or something. Yeah. Yeah. These steps. But it’s like people would prepare for an, you know, for an interview, for a job interview. Like, why wouldn’t you prepare for conversation? Um, and I think self-talk is really a great technique. Um, that’s a great technique, but at the end of the day, you know, those are my tips. That’s what works for me. But what I always say is, everyone’s different. I know Polyglots were like using more, I don’t know, like, uh, reading or, um,
Speaker 1: (09:52)
Textbooks and Yeah,
Speaker 2: (09:53)
Textbooks. For instance, Luca Lampariello, he uses, um, I think he also uses translation. He has his notebooks where he takes notes. So everyone’s different. So don’t
Speaker 1: (10:03)
Exactly. I
Speaker 2: (10:04)
Wouldn’t listen to those gurus say, I found the way to learn language. That’s
Speaker 1: (10:09)
Not the way. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. There is no one way to do something. I met this, uh, Russian guy when I was very young, and, uh, I remember I was about 16 years old. I was living in France at the time, and he spoke pretty fluently, seven languages. And I, and I asked him what he is, you know, technique was because mm-hmm. , I had learned English at the time, just by listening to people speak to me in English and try to make an effort to talk to them in English as well. So, uh, it was pretty much a, a matter of, of need, you know, to be understood.
And, and I, and, and then he said to me something that was, uh, that was quite shocking at the time. He said to me that he learned languages, right from textbooks, grammar textbooks. Mm. And I was like, wow. So it’s possible, , you must so well, yeah, it’s possible you master so well a language you understand so well, how to learn a language and what to do with it that you can, you know, with retrieve the information from textbooks and then, and then use it, you know, and then use it out there and talk to people. And so it is possible. It’s, it’s what you do with the information, what is actually important.
Speaker 2: (11:17)
Yeah. I think it’s what, what drives you. If you are really interested in grammar, you can learn a lot from it. But the problem is mm-hmm. when you take one thing and you make it the standard for everyone.
Speaker 1: (11:28)
Yeah,
Speaker 2: (11:28)
Exactly. Mm-hmm. That’s what happens in school, basically, because it’s, well, maybe not anymore. We’re, we’re not that young. Right? Yeah,
Speaker 1: (11:34)
Exactly. I I was gonna ask you Yeah. . Yeah, I, I was gonna ask you that. How do you, what do you think about how, you know, how people usually teach languages, uh, uh, at school, you know, the traditional methods to learn languages at school. What do you think about it?
Speaker 2: (11:50)
Well, I mean, I think it’s changing, and it’s also interesting to compare different countries. Um, but when I was growing up, it was very theoretical and there were a lot of mm-hmm. , you know, yeah. Grammar exercises. And I felt like most of my peers didn’t learn English, to be honest. And I didn’t learn it at school. I didn’t learn it at school. I learned it with Harry Potter books and with music , to be honest. Like I, of course it helped maybe a bit, but, um, yeah, after studying English for like 10 or longer, 10 years or longer, people don’t speak it.
And if you look at other countries, I mean, in Germany it’s not like people speak it perfectly either, but yeah. Young people have a better level in general. So there might be, yeah. Something they’ve done. I mean, sometimes, okay. Right now a lot of people watch YouTube on, uh, in English, I think it helps a lot. It just depends on the country. But when I was in Portugal, I noticed, well, Portuguese people speak very well. English. Yeah. And also Spanish, so it’s like, yeah. Um, people say it’s quite a surprise,
Speaker 1: (12:54)
Right? People say,
Speaker 2: (12:55)
Yeah. Because some people be like, well, I mean, in Sweden or in Finland, you know, their system is completely different or whatever. But no, in Portugal they speak better English than in Spain. Yeah. Or
Speaker 1: (13:05)
In, exactly. Yeah. So,
Speaker 2: (13:07)
You know,
Speaker 1: (13:07)
I think it’s a matter of necessity in a way. It’s a matter of being in, uh, of needing to be able to express yourself in that language so that you become more international and you potentialize your possibilities out there in the world.
Speaker 2: (13:19)
Yeah. And maybe it has to do with the fact that Spanish is like a bigger language, let’s say, from the point of view of number of speakers. Yeah. And people feel like, why would I bother learning English? Right. But yeah, I don’t know, like, maybe,
Speaker 1: (13:35)
And at this, at this point, what’s your favorite language?
Speaker 2: (13:38)
Oh, favorite language. I love them all. right now. I mean, I think, I don’t know, Swedish. I think it is Swedish.
Speaker 1: (13:47)
It’s so beautiful. I love Swedish. Yeah. I, I love Swedish music and all the thing is beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. It’s like a song. It’s like the Italian of the Scandinavian languages. Right? Exactly.
Speaker 2: (13:57)
Yeah. It’s beautiful. I, I really love it. But I was in love with Italian for a long time too, and I mean, , even when people say German sounds so ugly, I all, I’m, I’m hurt. I, I don’t know why I like
Speaker 1: (14:10)
It. He doesn’t actually. Yeah. I kinda like it too. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think you get the liking for all of those languages because you know how beautiful they are, you know, they are, they’re just like, they’re different. And, and, you know, the difference in each one of them is what makes them truly beautiful. Yeah. Like, I listen to languages in, uh, in, uh, areas in Africa, and you’d say, wow. Mm-hmm.
They’re completely different, you know? But, but they, they sound so cool. The, the cadence of the words and everything, they’re beautiful as well, so mm-hmm. You need to get used to the fact that not every language is gonna be, you know, uh, beautiful in the same way. So each one of them is beautiful in its own different way. And what, what word, um, what word would you say is the, is your favorite word in Swedish?
Speaker 2: (14:53)
Uh, in Swedish? Mm. Uh,
Speaker 1: (14:56)
Or the most interesting word you would say in, uh, or in any language you would say that, that you think mm-hmm. , that, that’s a beautiful word right there. Well, and I, I can tell you why
Speaker 2: (15:06)
Right now, it’s, uh, funnily enough, like, uh, I’m learning Swiss German, which is completely different from German. Mm-hmm. .
Speaker 1: (15:14)
Okay.
Speaker 2: (15:14)
And, uh, this is, there’s this word, um, hu wait, it’s difficult chuchichäschtli And it’s like Dhi, it’s like chuchi like the kitchen, right? The kitchen. Mm-hmm. , uh, häschtli . It’s like, um, how can I translate häschtli ? Well, it’s like a kind of wardrobe from the kitchen or something.
Speaker 1: (15:39)
I get it. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 2: (15:41)
And it’s like chuchichäschtli, it’s sounds so sweet. And in here, um, in Swiss German, there’s like things like, um, when it’s a diminutive, it ends with Lee. Okay. So, for instance, um, uh, in German we have the word frost Boyer, which is for someone who, um, who’s called a lot, you know, when it’s, I don’t know, it’s, they’re, they’re freezing or whatever, right? Uhhuh, . And then, uh, in Swiss German, it’s thirdly.
Speaker 1: (16:11)
Okay. . Yeah. It’s
Speaker 2: (16:12)
Quite, it’s also nice, quite, I dunno, I like it. I like this lee at the end.
Speaker 1: (16:16)
Yeah. Yeah. It sounds, sounds, sounds nice. Yeah. That’s it. Is that or something, right? Yes. What is it? Mm-hmm. Okay.
Speaker 2: (16:23)
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: (16:25)
So, what’s, what’s been the, in your opinion, or in your experience, what’s the hardest language or what languages have been the hardest to learn and why?
Speaker 2: (16:34)
I mean, for me personally, Russian has been the hardest one to learn, um, even though it’s in the European, but it’s, and in the European language. Yeah. Yeah. It’s actually difficult for me, for the whole, the declensions and things and so on. Right. And I mean, I, I always struggle. And
Speaker 1: (16:50)
You have them in German too, anyway.
Speaker 2: (16:51)
Yeah. It’s a little more complex, but I would love, like, a part of me would love to learn Japanese, but I feel like it’s too difficult. Like, I mean, I know I could, it’s not like I’m saying mm-hmm. , I couldn’t, but it’s just the investment of time.
Speaker 1: (17:08)
Right. Yeah. I
Speaker 2: (17:08)
Don’t, like, I, I don’t wanna say it’s not worth it. It’s just a very personal decision. Um, but yeah, I feel like, wow. And for instance, I like, I like, I don’t know, accessing languages very fast and being able to read about interesting topics very fast. And I feel like, yeah, with Japanese I could be like, it could be years before I can,
Speaker 1: (17:33)
That’d be a lot harder to achieve. Yeah.
Speaker 2: (17:36)
Maybe I’m just saying things like, I don’t know, the house is nice, or things like that that I’m not interested in. You know what, like you cannot Yeah. Talk about philosophy or things, I don’t know. It doesn’t even need to be philosophy, but, you know, something beyond read the newspaper, 8:00 AM and, and just, you know, I don’t know. Like, that’s the thing. If there was a chip I can buy in the future, ,
Speaker 1: (18:01)
Japanese chip , you know, maybe like even being able to read the newspaper or read the news, that would be enough, you know? But with languages such as Chinese or Japanese, you know, it just takes a real long time to learn. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it’s, uh, anyway, I get it. Uh, just a second. Uh, uh, can you hear me?
Speaker 2: (18:23)
Yes.
Speaker 1: (18:24)
Okay. Can you hear me? Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure. So I was gonna ask you some more things. Um, could you tell me, um, an anecdote or something funny about translation or or learn, you know, learning languages that would you, you would, that you would think? It’s interesting to know.
Speaker 2: (18:43)
I mean, um, I think you shouldn’t be afraid to make mistakes, because that’s how we learn languages. And I mean, if you’ve lived abroad, you’ve had these situations. I remember my first, uh, mistake was when I was in Australia, uh, and learning English. And I somehow said something like, I’m gonna lie in the couch or something. And the guy, this guy was laughing so hard, and I was like, so
Speaker 1: (19:09)
Mean.
Speaker 2: (19:10)
I think I was thinking, you’re a monolingual dude. .
Speaker 1: (19:13)
Yeah, exactly. What are you laughing at? Yeah.
Speaker 2: (19:16)
Yeah. But I mean, uh, at that moment, I remember I was 19 or 18, and I was like, I felt hurt, like, oh,
Speaker 1: (19:25)
That’s he
Speaker 2: (19:26)
Saying like, but right now we’re like, haha. Like I made a mistake. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: (19:30)
Who cares? You wanna share? Yeah. , yeah. You wanna share what’s funny about it. That’s, that’s really cool. Tell me a little bit about the, tell me a little bit about your, your language journey. What languages do you speak? How, when did you start learning them and mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. .
Speaker 2: (19:46)
Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, like, um, I mean, I grew up in Catalan and Spanish, then English came along through school, but also through content I was interested in. Then French, I started Okay. When I was 16. Okay. High school. Uh, and then I continued, um, so when I was studying translation, I, I took mm-hmm. , English and French. Um, okay. And then in parallel, so
Speaker 1: (20:07)
You studied translation and interpreting, right? You, you studied the same thing. I did. But you studied at a different school Pompeu Fabra, that was your university, right? So you were there for five years, 4 years, I would say. Right? Four,
Speaker 2: (20:17)
Four years. Yeah. Four
Speaker 1: (20:18)
Years. Right. Okay.
Speaker 2: (20:19)
Uh, then I was, uh, so in parallel,
Speaker 1: (20:22)
What did you take there?
Speaker 2: (20:24)
Uh, so it was just English and French.
Speaker 1: (20:26)
English and French, okay. Okay.
Speaker 2: (20:27)
Through Spanish and Catalan. And then I was, um, in parallel, I went to the a EOI like scholar, uh,
Speaker 1: (20:35)
Yeah.
Speaker 2: (20:36)
Yeah. So, and I was studying German there. Okay. And I did some short stays in Germany, like a month in the summer in Berlin, um, things like that. Um, and then, yeah, so when I left Barcelona, it was probably, I don’t remember exactly, but maybe it was 2011,
Speaker 1: (20:59)
Uhhuh
Speaker 2: (20:59)
2012. Right. Um, and I, uh, yeah, so I moved to Hamburg in Germany, so I was focusing a lot on my German. And the funny thing, I, I don’t think like, um, learning languages is like a linear thing where it goes up or it just progresses all the time. No, it’s not, like when I moved to Germany, I almost forgot my French completely. So
Speaker 1: (21:23)
, yeah.
Speaker 2: (21:23)
Yeah. And then I didn’t use it for a long time. Then I got back to it, like I, I enrolled in a, like B2 test, so that I had some sort of motivation , right. Yeah. Some sort of goal. And, um, so then I got back with French. And actually, uh, then at some point I started also working in French in Germany. Like, not only in French, but like French, German, English, and Spanish. So mm-hmm. I’ve always tried to integrate language use in my daily life. Uh, um, so that’s why I always wanted to have a multilingual job, basically.
Speaker 1: (22:01)
Job. Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s great. And I, I think languages are like a, a friend of mine once told me or once said, uh, languages are demanding lovers, you know, they, they get
Speaker 2: (22:11)
Attention right now. Yeah. You don’t take care of them
Speaker 1: (22:13)
. If you don’t take care of them, they just disappear. They fade away. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s great. So you’ve always worked in, um, multinational or multilingual environments, right?
Speaker 2: (22:24)
I guess, I mean, when I, before I started working, ah, I forgot to tell you about this. So before I started to work at the company I’m working at right now mm-hmm. I worked as a teacher for two years, no, even three years. Wow. Um, great. Hmm. Like there was a program
Speaker 1: (22:40)
You taught Spanish
Speaker 2: (22:40)
Or, yeah, uh, the first year I taught Spanish, I was, uh, well, there’s this program called like, Hmm, uh, in, in Spanish is . Auxiliar de conversación
Speaker 1: (22:52)
. Okay.
Speaker 2: (22:53)
So I don’t, I wouldn’t know how it’s called in English. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: (22:56)
Like language assistant or something like that.
Speaker 2: (22:57)
Something like that. Yeah. Um, so I, so I got this, um, yeah. Uh, opportunity to, yeah,
Speaker 1: (23:04)
I’ve heard of it.
Speaker 2: (23:05)
Mm-hmm. . Yeah. It’s like a grant or something. Yeah. And I was doing that in, in Hamburg. Um, and then I actually, also, after that, I, that’s when I started my master’s because I also got a grant to, to do a, like mundus program. Uhhuh. Great. So it took place in different,
Speaker 1: (23:22)
What did you study?
Speaker 2: (23:23)
Uh, yeah, to become a teacher, Spanish teacher. Oh, okay. Great. Mm-hmm. So it was like a master degree in teaching Spanish, and That’s great. So it was really interesting. And I mean, I got paid for it, so it was really nice because, um, yeah. I didn’t have to work , so, yeah. Um, so I was leaving, uh, the first semester I was in Bilbao. The second semester I was in Barcelona. And the third and fourth semester I was in Berlin. Wow. Great. Mm-hmm. . So, um, it was a nice international program mm-hmm. . And then I actually got a position as a Catalan teacher in, uh, German University. Um,
Speaker 1: (23:59)
Nice one.
Speaker 2: (24:00)
Yeah. That, that was during two years. And I actually thought when I got that, I thought I wanted to Yeah. To become like a professor.
Speaker 1: (24:09)
Pursue Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: (24:11)
Pursue some sort of, um, yeah. Academic, academic career. Yeah. Um, but I didn’t I realized, oh, okay, this is maybe not for me. Like, I never found a topic I was passionate enough, um, about to mm-hmm. to create a PhD on like , I don’t know. And I felt like it was kind of forced. It was like, and I also felt in a way, okay, I’ve, that’s the only thing I’ve seen so far university, and I wanted to see something else, and then I found this job mm-hmm. at an international company.
And I think, well, it’s, it suits me. And yeah, like I was telling you before, now I got to reduce my, um, working hours to four days, so 32 hours. And that’s a really, I have a balanced life. Like, I have my project with, uh, couch Polyglot, my YouTube channel, and I just have my job. So it is sounds great. It, it’s, it, it fits me well, .
Speaker 1: (25:07)
Yeah. No, no, no, it sounds good. Uh, yeah. You need to find a balance between your, your personal projects and, and obviously your, your daily job, right? You need to do mm-hmm. Things that make you feel whole and, and make you feel good about yourself and about what you’re doing. So, so it’s great that you were given this opportunity to do both things.
And, um, I understand also what you said about, um, you know, the university career. There’s something about it that’s, that’s very, um, there’s, there’s, uh, there’s an, there’s, there’s something naive about pursuing, you know, the academic, uh, path in the sense that you never get sort of, uh, I don’t know. This is just an impression that I have. You never get to actually feel the taste of real life when you’re in a
Speaker 2: (25:51)
Yeah. I mean,
Speaker 1: (25:52)
Within the premise
Speaker 2: (25:53)
Of university, this, you know, paper writing papers and Yeah.
Speaker 1: (25:58)
It’s a bit,
Speaker 2: (25:59)
I mean, you, you do have a job and it’s well paid, paid and everything,
Speaker 1: (26:02)
But Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: (26:04)
It feels like cheating . It’s like, it’s not real life, it’s just university law. It’s
Speaker 1: (26:09)
Yeah. There’s something, exactly. There’s something that’s not quite , let’s say. It doesn’t quite feel real in the sense that real life feels real when you have a job and you are dealing with people
Speaker 2: (26:19)
Real. Yeah. You have to talk about your salary. You have to deal with certain Yeah, it’s true. Like you, when you, I don’t know, maybe it depends on the country, but such jobs, you just, you have no way to Yeah. To negotiate your salary. You have no way to negotiate maybe your vacation or work well, working hours probably. Yes. But I mean, it’s just a, a different kind of world, and I wanted to see it’s
Speaker 1: (26:45)
A different kind of world. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: (26:48)
Yeah. And one thing that I don’t like about it, like I, I, I have thought about becoming a teacher, but I feel like it’s like the same rules apply to everyone, and then there are people who do nothing and Okay. Get the same rec, uh, like the, the same money and everything, you know what I mean?
Oh, okay. Like there’s this, okay, you’re, you’re a teacher, you’ve been working for three years and this is your conditions for, you know, it’s like everyone gets the same and not everyone’s putting the same work, not everyone’s Yeah. Putting, putting, yeah. Same passion. So if you are going to a private company, um, depending on your performance, then you can ask for
Speaker 1: (27:28)
More. You keep the job or not. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And not
Speaker 2: (27:31)
Only money wise, just changing positions or, um, doing something maybe you’re more passionate about, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: (27:40)
Uh, yeah,
Speaker 2: (27:40)
Absolutely. Yeah. But, sorry, we’re changing the topics. I forgot. So you asked me actually
Speaker 1: (27:44)
No, no, no. That’s great. That’s great. I love how, you know, the conversation is going on, and I think it’s quite interesting you say you’re comparing these two worlds. I mean, basically one thing is to learn a language within a university, you know, university premises and a different things is to be out there in the world, and experience, what it, what it feels like to actually speak to people, native speakers. Mm-hmm. , uh, in, in real life, in their native Yeah. In their native tongue.
And trying to make yourself understood. That’s when you really get the feel of what it feels to be in a culture, uh mm-hmm. , what it feels, what it feels to be, uh, within that, you know, social group of people who speak that language and, and what, what they feel in their hearts when, when they speak that language, when you really see the nuances of the language, when you feel the emotional pain, when they don’t understand you or when you don’t get the jokes or Yeah.
Speaker 1: (28:38)
You know, there’s so many things that you learn out there in the world that you would probably not learn, maybe not as fast anyway, uh mm-hmm. within, you know, your university premises or you know, in a university classroom. So that’s, that’s very true. Mm-hmm. . Um, yeah. No, that’s great. Uh, I think, um, we’ve covered most of, most of the ground so far, so mm-hmm.
So anyway, uh, Laura, thank you so much for your, for your efforts, for everything that you’re doing for , for languages, and for all those people who love languages. And, and, uh, I don’t know if you wanna add anything else, any question, or anything else you wanna add?
Speaker 2: (29:17)
No, I think, um, yeah, I was happy to talk to you. I am always, I try to answer the questions, but then I just get caught up in the moment, .
Speaker 1: (29:25)
No, they’re great. I love it. I love it. I love it. Um,
Speaker 2: (29:28)
But yeah, anyway, um, but it’s what I was telling you, like my project is kind of very spontaneous, so, but yeah, it’s always good to have a script,
Speaker 1: (29:37)
Yeah.
Speaker 2: (29:38)
I know. Uh, thanks a lot. Um, I was happy to meet you and to be here with you. Thank you. Um, thanks for
Speaker 1: (29:45)
Inviting me. Thank you for coming. Thank you for coming and it’s, it’s been a great conversation and I really hope to talk to you. Talk to you again. Yeah. All thank you so much, Laura. Bye-bye, . Big hugs. Bye-bye. Big,
Speaker 2: (29:56)
Big hugs. Bye.
#006 – check out the cardinal numbers in Italian!
Welcome to the Learning Languages in Society with Gabby podcast, where it’s all about the fascinating world of languages and culture. Let’s rock.
Hi everybody, my name is Gabi, and welcome back to my show. In our last episodes, we covered the Italian alphabet, we learned useful vocabulary, we learned the articles and the conjugation in the present tense of regular verbs. And today we’re going to explore the cardinal numbers in Italian and we’re going to learn by heart a little dialogue between two individuals who both speak Italian and who both live and work in Madrid, Spain.
Depending on the number of digits, numbers can be divided in ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, etc. First, we are going to learn one digit numbers, also called ones.
So from zero to nine, here’s a list:
numeri a una cifra:
zero, uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei sette, otto, nove.
So that would be 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
Now we are going to have a look at two digit numbers or tens. So take into account, these are irregular numbers. So from 11 to 19:
Numeri a due cifre irregolari:
undici, dodici, tredici, quattordici, quindici, sedici, diciassette, diciotto, diciannove, so that would be 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19.
Now let’s have a look at tens, one digit numbers plus a zero. So from 10 to 90
numeri a due cifre con uno zero:
dieci, venti, trenta, quaranta, cinquanta, sessanta, settanta, ottanta, novanta, so that would be 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90.
Now, in order to add a number at the end, just write the whole two digit number first, plus the digit you wish to add. For example, if I wish to say 42, I would first say 40 plus two. In Italian this works the same way. Quaranta più due: quarantadue.
Take into account that these numbers are written in one single word in Italian. So quarantadue is just one word. 26 would be twenty plus six, so in Italian, we would have venti più sei, ventisei.
73 would be 70 plus three. And in Italian, settanta più tre, settantatre, which is also written in just one word.
Now be mindful that the number one and the number eight, both start with a vowel. So if you add them to a number ending with a zero, and thus ending in vowel, remember not to write nor pronounce the last vowel. So 40 plus one, quaranta più uno quarantuno, 50 plus eight, cinquanta più Otto, cinquantotto.
Now we have hundreds, cento, duecento, trecento, quattrocento, cinquecento, seicento, settecento, ottocento, novecento, so that would be 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900.
As you can see, it is very simple. Just be sure to add the unit plus the word hundred or cento. If you wish to add an extra unit, just add the number at the end.
Example, 254 would be duecentocinquantaquattro, also written in just one word 254. Now, 699 would be seicentonovantanove so just one word as well, the number 100 and all the hundreds, 200, 300, 400, etc, in fact, do not lose the final vowel. We will then write the following numbers as follows. So 101 centouno; 108 centootto; 308 trecentootto; 401 quattrocentouno; 408 quattrocentootto.
Exceptions: the numbers made up of hundreds plus 80, for example, 180, 280, 380, etc instead return to lose the final vowel. We will therefore write one hundred and eighty, two hundred and eighty, three hundred and eighty, eight hundred and eighty as follows:
one hundred and eighty: centottanta.
Two hundred and eighty: duecentottantotto.
three hundred and eighty: trecentottantotto.
eight hundred and eighty: ottocentottantotto.
Okay, now here we go with the thousands, 1000, Mille. For the rest, we just changed the vowel e to a,
Examples: 2000 duemilla; 3000 tremila; 4,000 quattromila; 5,000 cinquemila; 6,000 seimila; 7,000 settemila; 8,000 ottomila; 9,000 novemila. And as usual, just add one digit number at the end to make your number.
For example: 1,888 mileottocentottantotto; 1,443, milequattrocentoquarantatre and then we have un milione, so 1 million; due milioni, 2 millions.
Good. Now, I’m going to give you a few numbers in English, and I want you to please write down the numbers in Italian. Remember the rules and exceptions. So the list goes on like this, 7, 13, 11, 12, 15, and 20, 21, 28, 25, a hundred, a hundred sixty seven, a hundred eighty eight, 1,874, and the last one, 1,181.
There you go. So try to write down those numbers in Italian. Just take into account, as I said before, the rules and exceptions, okay? Okay. Now, as I am going to read to you a very short and simple dialogue.
Ideally, I want you to memorize this dialogue, so I want I want you to learn the dialogue by heart. The vocabulary should be easy to understand with your previous lessons. Okay? Now, the dialogue is between Giulia, a French language teacher who lives in Madrid, Spain, and Gianni, an Italian engineer who also happens to live in Madrid, Spain. So they both meet in Spain, but they, they speak Italian to each other.
Okay, so here we go:
Giulia: Ciao! Mi chiamo Giulia! Piacere! Come ti chiami?
Gianni: Mi chiamo Gianni. Piacere!
Giulia: Di dove sei, Gianni?
Gianni: Sono italiano, di Bologna. E tu?
Giulia: Sono Giulia, francese di Parigi.
Gianni: Quanti anni hai?
Giulia: Ho 33 anni. E tu?
Gianni: Ho 31 anni.
Giulia: Che lavoro fai?
Gianni: Faccio l’ingegnere. E tu, che lavoro fai?
Giulia: faccio l’insegnante di lingue.
Gianni: Dove abiti?
Giulia: Abito a Madrid, in Spagna. E tu?
Gianni: Anch’io abito a Madrid.
Giulia: Perché sei in Spagna?
Gianni: Sono in Spagna per lavoro.
Giulia: Anch’io sono in Spagna per lavoro.
Gianni: Ci vediamo presto!
Giulia: Con piacere! A presto!
Okay, there you go. So you have to learn this little dialogue by heart. Okay. I think it’s pretty, pretty easy, and I hope you, you can translate it without any problems.
Good, good. Now we are in the second part of this episode called the Science of Language. In the last episode, we were reviewing a paper written by Stefan Hartman and Michael Player called Constructing a Consensus on Language Evolution Convergences and Differences between Biolinguistic and Usage-based Approaches.
We said that that although there are significant differences in the way that both approaches view the following concepts: modularity, domain specificity versus domain generality, as well as neatness and development, there are recent approximations between the two as both approaches have integrated evolutionary developmental biology theory and complex adaptive system theory.
Now, we are going to have a look at the approach known as biolinguistics.
Biolinguistics could be traditionally associated with the generative theory of language in which the biological foundations of language is taken into account and view it from an interdisciplinary perspective.
However, there is a new version of it called biolinguistics 2.0 Wow, in which there is a characterization of a methodological approach of productively and explicitly combining research from different fields such as evolutionary biology, psychology, and related disciplines.
Now, in this paper, the version of biolinguistics that will be taken into account is the first and most traditional version, namely the generative, uh, biolinguistic enterprise. Now, bear in mind that the Biolinguistic enterprise is closely related to the minimalist program initiated by Chomsky 1995.
Now, the key commitment of the minimalist framework is the reduction of the computations and theoretical operations needed to explain language and this is done by the intention of explaining the evolution of language with a key conceptual component called merge.
Okay? Merge is what? Merge is a syntactic operation. It takes two syntactic objects and creates a new one out of them. Now, the new syntactic object created by merge inherits the features of one of the components.
Okay? Now, what is modularity?
Modularity mainly refers to the idea that the mind is sectioned into different specialized modules. Okay? Now, each module takes care of a specific cognitive role, so to speak, between usage based and bio linguistic approaches.
The main disagreements revolve around what components exactly of language are specific to this particular cognitive module. Now, language shares many mechanisms with other species, such as concepts and categories which underlie semantics, voluntary control over vocalization, which underlies phonology or sequencing and work in memory, which can be seen as underlying syntax.
There is nevertheless disagreement to what extent they belong strictly to the linguistic phenotype. Now, traditional biolinguistics define a cognitive module as a genetically specified computational device in the mind that works pretty much on its own, on inputs pertaining to some specific cognitive domain and provided by other parts of the nervous system.
Now, the modules typically proposed in traditional biolinguistics include a mental lexicon and a module containing abstract compositional structures.
Now, they argue that many of the modules relevant for language are specific to language, but concede that they may or may not be separate, separately represented in neural tissue. We can distinguish two different aspects of modularity that play a role in bi linguistics. On the one hand, the idea that language is a distinct module of the mind, and on the other hand, the idea that this module is characterized by a modular structure in itself.
However, some linguists do not favor this theory because they argue that a highly modular faculty of language could only have evolved via natural selection, which would have taken much longer than the 50,000 or 100,000 years since language first emerged.
So they, they would discard that theory. Okay? Now we have the concept of domain specificity, which links to that of modularity. Okay? Domain specificity is a theoretical position in cognitive science that argues that many aspects of cognition are supported by specialized, presumably evolutionary specified learning devices.
The class of objects and properties that it processes information about is circumscribed in a relatively narrow way. Now, in usage-based approaches, it is said that language is not shaped by any domain specific factors, but rather by processes of human interaction along with domain general cognitive processes.
So basically as you can see, both approaches take a different stance in the sense that in usage-based approaches, the general cognitive capacities we have as humans for communication, et cetera, are enough to explain the tools of the makeup of the faculty of language. And in the case of traditional biolinguistics, the theoretical framework of modularity and domain specificity explains it.
Okay, so that is it for now. In the next episode, I’m going to try to explain domain generality, so what the differences are between the two approaches. I’m going to try to explain innateness and development as well. Anyhow, I really hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did making it, and please be sure to subscribe. Big hugs. Bye-bye.
#008 – Can mindfulness meditation help you learn a language? Say what!?
Hi everyone! Welcome to my show. My name is Gabi and today we’re going to have a slightly different kind of episode. Today we’re going to speak about mindfulness and why it is relevant as a tool to learn a new language.
I, myself, have been practicing mindfulness meditation for about two years and a half.
Today, I posted a new article on my website about the topic of learning a new skill, in this case, a new language, with the help of a technique that is many times overlooked. We’re talking about mindfulness meditation practice.
I thought that it would be a good idea to clarify in a new episode on my podcast as well why I think it is a good practice to take into account in order to learn any new skill, including a new language.
There is a fuzzy concatenation of different concepts and ideas related to the world of mindfulness such as awareness, concentration, living in the present moment, awakening and so on.
People use these terms interchangeably and sometimes this could be confusing.
A bit of history here:
The Buddhist term we use in English as mindfulness has its origin in the Pāli term sati and in Sanskrit smṛti. This term could be roughly translated in English as remembering or recollection. In the sense that you collect yourself, your thoughts and ideas, and recall or remember what your own priorities are.
In the Satipațțhāna-sutta the term sati means to maintain awareness of reality, whereby the true nature of phenomena can be seen. the Satipațțhāna-sutta is one of the most celebrated discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism, which is, in turn, the foundation for contemporary vipassanā meditational practice.
Mindfulness is a kind of an awareness of what you are paying attention to. And attention is its own thing, attention is like a limelight you place on the object of consciousness you want. In mindfulness meditation we often speak about objects of consciousness which include the breath, sensations in the body such as itching or back pain, or the sounds you hear from the world around you, for example, the sound of birds chirping in the trees, cars outside in the streets, dogs barking out and so on.
As you make progress in the practice you start noticing that in fact you happen to be lost in your own thoughts most of the time you are awake. You happen to realize that the reality that you live in isn’t exactly real, but it is more a kind of dreamlike state of mind. An interpretation of reality. Your own bias. The glasses with which you see the world. Your past experiences, happy and sad moments, your traumas and dreams sculpt your reality.
However, if you take a closer look at those past experiences, you will soon realize that these are just mere thoughts. Mere attempts to explain the world. Imperfect attempts that is. Thoughts aren’t real in the sense that they are merely electric impulse from your own neurons. They simply aren’t objective reality. You start to realize that thoughts, as well as emotions, sensations and sounds appear in your mind by themselves. You do not create your own thoughts. They simply appear and vanish. This means that there is no thinker of thoughts. There is no one thinking them, they merely appear in consciousness.
As you practice more and more, you start becoming curious about this new world that is opening before your eyes. You get less and less distracted by thought each time. Your mind becomes very quiet, the sense of Self disappears, and consciousness starts to become alive somehow. You are no longer bouncing around in distress by your own thoughts, but somehow you merge with consciousness.
This discovery alone triggers great insights into the nature of consciousness and the concentration you start to have in order to achieve your own goals becomes greater each time and it starts enabling you to focus more and more deeply on your own studying of language.
This is just a short episode, but I thought it’d be good to include it here.
Thank you bye-bye and don’t forget to subscribe.
#009 – Has any book of literature made you change your point of view about a language you’re learning?
Welcome to the Learning Languages in Society with Gabi podcast, where it’s all about the fascinating world of languages and culture. Let’s rock.
Hi everybody and welcome to my show. My name is Gabi and today’s episode is going to be very very short and the purpose of it is to refer you to my latest article on my blog called Literature, emotions and language… a reckless marriage?
Today I am going to focus on the world of literature. And I am going to formulate a question to you, which you can answer in the comment section under the article I just mentioned on my blog.
I just wanted to make a few observations about a book that I read about a decade ago by a famous author now dead unfortunately. His name was Milan Kundera. He was Czech and he died at age 94 in Paris, France, on June 11 this year. So about a month and a half ago.
The novel I read is called The unbearable lightness of being. A novel I read in French which, I confess, left on me a profound and indelible mark.
Kundera left his homeland for France in 1975 after being expelled from the Czech communist party —despite being an enthusiastic member when young— and had a notorious career for half a century as a short-story writer, playwright, essayist, and poet.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being takes place in Prague in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It starts in the Prague spring of 1968 and during the Soviet Union invasion of what was called back then Czechoslovakia.
The novel explores the philosophical idea of the concept of eternal recurrence (the idea that the universe and its events have already occurred and will occur again ad infinitum.
On one hand, one of the main characters is called Tereza and she implicitly believes in the idea of recurrence, which imposes a type of heaviness in the way she lives her life. As if every decision she makes matter. This heaviness could be a type of burden or a type of benefit depending on the person’s point of view.
On the other hand, Thomas, her husband, loves her but can’t help but to be a very light-spirited adulterous man. He and his mistress, Sabina, both represent the lightness of being. They implicitly believe that things happen only once in a lifetime and thus a light way of being is therefore a much more satisfactory way of living life.
Does it make sense to live a life carrying the heaviness of being or does it instead not make sense to live such a life? if we interpret life’s occurences as merely happening once in our life are we constrained in favor of the principles of the lightness of being?
Has any book of literature made you change your point of view about a language you’re learning?
#010 – Easiest way to learn the Italian adjectives!
Welcome to the Learning Languages in Society with Gabi podcast, where it’s all about the fascinating world of languages and culture. Let’s rock.
Hi everybody and welcome to my show. My name is Gabi and today we’re going to speak about the Italian adjective.
The adjective is a part of a speech that expresses the attributes of quality, quantity, et cetera, of the person or thing indicated by the noun to which it refers. It also agrees with the gender and number of that noun.
There are three possible endings for adjectives in the masculine singular, and then for the feminine and plural of adjectives they are formed by simply changing the final ending of the masculine singular.
| Masc. Sing. | Femm. Sing. | Masc. Plu. | Femm. Plu.
1° gruppo | -o (caro) | -a (cara) | -i (cari) | -e (care)
2° gruppo | -e (triste) | -e (triste) | -i (tristi) | -i (tristi)
3° gruppo | -a (egoista) | -a (egoista) | -i (egoisti)| -e (egoiste)
MASCHILE SINGOLARE
-co (greco – stàtico)
-go (largo)
-scio (liscio)
-io i when stressed (pìo)
–io i when it is not stressed (gàio)
«bello» before nouns beginning with a vowel (bell’albero), with s + consonant, z-, gn-, ps- (bello sport, bello psicologo…) or far away from the position of the noun (il cane è bello) «bel» before all other nouns that begin with a consonant (bel cane)
rosa – blu – (il maglione rosa)
FEMMINILE SINGOLARE
–ca both if the accent is on the penultimate syllable and if it is on the antepenultimate (Greca – stàtica)
-ga (larga)
-scia (liscia)
–ìa (pìa)
–ia (gàia)
«bella» (bell’isola, bella spiaggia, bella ragazza, la casa è bella…)
rosa – blu – (la felpa è blu)
MASCHILE PLURALE
–chi if the stress is on the penultimate syllable (antìchi) –ci if the stress is on the antepenultimate syllable (stàtici)
–ghi (larghi)
-sci (lisci)
-ii (pìi)
-i (gài)
«belli» or far away from the position of the noun (i fiori sono belli, belli questi pantaloni…) «begli» before nouns that begin with a vowel (begli alberi), with s + consonant, z-, gn-, ps- (begli sport, begli psicologi…) «bei» before all other nouns that begin with a consonant (bei cani)
rosa – blu – indaco (i pantaloni indaco)
FEMMINILE PLURALE
–che in ogni caso
–ghe (larghe)
–sce (lisce)
–ie (pìe)
–ie (gàie)
«belle» (belle cose, belle isole, belle psicologhe)
rosa – blu – indaco (le orchidee rosa)
Good. Now, agreement of adjectives. The adjective always agrees with the noun to which it refers. And this is nothing new. But what if there is more than one noun?
If the nouns have the same gender, then the adjective maintains the gender and takes the pearl number.
For example:
La maglia e la gonna di Maria sono belle.
Il duomo di Milano e il Colosseo romano sono belli
Now, the position of the adjective, this is important. In Italian, the position of the adjective is not fixed, therefore it can be found before and after the noun to which it refers. Now, the position, however, can completely change the meaning of the sentence.
For example, adjectives that express physical characteristics such as tall, old, or new respect their physical meaning when they follow the noun they refer to, but they take on a completely different meaning if they proceed it. So I’m going to give a few examples:
Un dirigente alto is a senior executive who happens to be tall, okay? So notice that we would say alto after the noun. So it’s a man of tall height who holds a role in management, right? While in the second example un alto dirigente is a is just a senior executive, that is, a man who holds a high level position in a company.
Now, second example, un amico vecchio, it’s a friend of advanced age. In other words, a friend who happens to be old while un vecchio amico is an old friend, a friend I have known for a long time, maybe from childhood, but not necessarily somebody who’s old un auto nuova is a new car, as in a brand new car. While if i say voglio comprare una nuova auto That would mean that I want to buy a new car as in a newer car, a newer version, right? Than the car that I already have. Okay? So just another car.
Now, un buon insegnante is a good teacher, as in a competent teacher, right? A teacher who teaches well, and then un insegnante buono is a teacher who happens to be a good and kind person.
Now, our last example un pover’uomo is an unfortunate man, a man with no luck. And then if I say un uomo povero that we refer to a man who happens to be poor. Okay?
Ci sono, poi, degli aggettivi che vanno sempre dopo il nome. Si tratta di quelli che indicano: nazionalità
so there are adjectives that always go after the noun. For example, those who refer to nationality.
So if I say la capitale inglese, so the English capital city, right? I would be speaking about London. So notice that I place the adjective after the noun. So that’s for nationalities also for apartenenze ad una categoria an adjective belonging to a certain category.
And then, so for place and position as well, we would say la mano sinistra , we would not say la sinistra mano. Okay? Now for color, form and material, that would be colore, forma, materia: un rosa bianca. So a white rose; una tovaglia tonda. So that’s a round tablecloth. Okay? So remember that in these cases you would place the adjective after the noun. Now, I want you to write the plural forms of the following adjectives:
Immerso
Fanatico
Critico
larga:
Forte:
blu:
fiammingo:
pazzesco:
Okay? So just try to write the plural forms, both in masculine and feminine of those adjectives right there. Okay? Now I’m going to read out a small fairytale, plenty of adjectives, which I would like you to translate into English, okay? So I’m going to read it slowly, and so I would want you to try to translate it into English and try to learn it by heart as well.
Here we go:
Pulcinella e sua moglie sono molto poveri. Abitano in una brutta casa, vecchia e fredda, vicino al mare. Non hanno niente da mangiare. Non hanno soldi. Pulcinella allora prende una vecchia canna, un secchio vuoto e va a pescare. Dopo un poco di tempo Pulcinella prende un pesce grandissimo, è felice ma il pesce gli dice: – Non mangiarmi! Io sono un pesce magico. Lasciami libero in mare e io ti darò tutto quello che desideri. Pulcinella butta il pesce in mare e torna a casa. La moglie vede il secchio del pesce vuoto e si arrabbia. Sulla tavola ci sono due piatti vuoti. – Cosa mangeremo adesso? – grida la moglie di Pulcinella. All’improvviso i piatti non sono più vuoti, sono pieni di spaghetti caldi e saporiti: il pesce magico ha mantenuto la promessa.
There you go. So I want you to write, try to write it down. Try to learn it by heart and try to translate it into English, okay?
Now we have come to the second part of our episode called the science of language. So today we are going to continue with the paper that we started a couple of episodes ago. So, I want to refer back to the fact that as you could see, the key controversy is always whether we have a special form of computation that deals with language alone, and if that new mechanism is biologically encoded.
So we were talking about this in our last episodes. We were trying to see whether language it’s just a special form of computation in the brain and if that mechanism is actually encoded in your biology, right? So whether that is a biological thing, okay?
Now, the radically usage-based complex adaptive system view of language states that language is not shaped by any domain specific factors, but rather by processes of human interaction along with domain general cognitive processes. In other words, as I have pointed out before, whether language is more a socially and culturally constrained phenomenon rather than merely a biological one.
So now we are referring back to the same kind of thing, the same kind of overarching question. So we’re asking whether language is not just shaped by a domain specific factor, but it’s rather built or construed along domain general cognitive processes, right? So in other words, whether it is a social and culturally constrained phenomenon or is a biological one. Now there is likewise a debate around the fact that many cognitive adaptations are not specifically for language, but for communication more generally, right?
So now according to studies on language development in ontogeny, including atypical development and on the genetic basis of language, by Ambridge and Lieven, language can neither be completely domain general, nor an entirely modular system. And modular approaches in general have also become more complex so that there is more overlap with non modular views of cognition.
Okay? So in other words, again, as studies make progress or make headway in the two different main approaches that is usage-based approaches and biolinguistics approaches, we’ve realized that they’re coming closer together, right? So overall, this more recent biolinguistic view on modularity is therefore much more in line with usage-based approaches, which is what I just mentioned. And it is also consistent with and informed by neuroscientific evidence that linguistic processing might recruit other neural circuits for sequence processing, forming associations, work in memory and others. Okay? So that’s also an important part right here.
We need to understand or we need to find out whether there’s specific adaptations only for language or whether there’s more sort of like wide cognitive capacities that recruit other neural circuits for sequence processing, forming associations, working memory and others. So there might be an interaction between the two. That’s my guess.
Now, in other words, both approaches are starting to come together, okay? An important argument in favor of domain specificity, however, in generative linguistics has been structural dissimilarities between the operations assumed to be at work in universal grammar and what has been described for other cognitive domains.
Okay? So there seems to be a discrepancy right there. There’s a difference right there. They say that there are structural dissimilarities between the operations that seem to be happening in the brain , in universal grammar, in the frame of universal grammar as opposed to those described for other cognitive, more general cognitive domains.
But then again, the number of operations that are assumed to be part of a language faculty has been reduced substantially in current biolinguistic approaches compared to the early days of generative grammar. So again, both views seem to be approaching. So in every front there seems to be a consensus that both approaches are starting to come together. For example, it has been noted that FLN, so the faculty of language in its narrow sense is limited to recursion, which is supposed to be a uniquely human and domain specific adaptation.
But what is recursion? Recursion is the repeated sequential use of a particular type of linguistic element or grammatical structure. However, Chomsky argued that optimally recursion can be reduced to merge. So I explained merge in the last episode too. We said what it was. And now in contrast to the view of recursion as domain specific for language emergentist approaches have suggested that recursion arises from combined activities of memory, lexicon, discourse and role activation.
Biolinguistic and usage-based approaches agree that there is a suspicious specific linguistic capacity and that this capacity has biological foundations. The point of contention is what exactly these biological foundations entail, and to what degree they are specific to language.
So pretty interesting stuff. Now, MacWhinney 2015, writing about the mechanisms of language emergence stresses the importance of a cognitive mechanism of composition and explicitly remarks that the emphasis in universal grammar minimalism on the merge process is compatible with emergentist accounts. However, MacWhinney also stresses that compositionally is not a feature specific to language, but it’s also required for non-linguistic tasks such as basic action processing for example.
This is a possible divergence between usage-based approaches and biolinguistics. However, as merge is often seen as a mechanism for combining concepts as well, we do see broad compatibility between usage-based approaches and biolinguistics acknowledge merge like mechanism to operate in non-linguistic tasks such as action processing or concept formation and human hierarchical processing as well.
So you see, merge is a concept that can be taken into account in other fields, right? The fact that is a mechanism that combines different concepts as well. So it’s not just a linguistic thing, but it goes beyond the linguistic fields, right? So in non-linguistic tasks such as action processing or concept formation and human hierarchical processing as well. So there are other domains beyond language in which we could use the concept of merge.
Now, language is not only biological because the human brain, the language ready brain is one important aspect, not only for of biolinguistics or for biolinguistics, but also for evolutionary approaches to language more generally. Other important questions regard the evolution of the language ready social settings. So there is questions regarding the interactional, non-genetic and cultural processes that give rise to language and linguistic structure.
So as we can see, the, the language ready brain isn’t just important for language, but it also goes beyond the domain of language, right? So now this is how these two approaches seem to be coming together, okay? We’re going to leave it for now. We’re going to be talking about the last part of the paper or the last parts of the paper in our in our next episode. For now, thank you very much for having put up with me and I hope to see you next time. Don’t forget to subscribe. Bye-bye
#011 – Listening and comprehension exercise in Italian!
Welcome to the Learning Languages in Society with Gabi podcast, where it’s all about the fascinating world of languages and culture. Let’s rock.
Hi everybody and welcome to my show. My name is Gabi and today we’re going to do a listening and comprehension exercise. I’m going to read out four short texts in Italian. Then I’m going to ask a true or false set of questions about the two first texts. For the third text you’ll have to choose between A and B. For the 4th text you’re going to have to answer the questions yourself.
So listen up carefully and try to understand and then answer the questions correctly.
Il cappuccino: una buona abitudine italiana
Il cappuccino è una bevanda italiana preparata
con caffè espresso e latte montato a schiuma. Il
cappuccino non si consuma a casa, ma si prende
al bar la mattina, di solito accompagnato da
cornetti o altri prodotti da forno o di pasticceria.
Preparare un cappuccino perfetto può sembrare
facile perché gli ingredienti sono pochi, ma in
realtà non è una cosa semplice. Innanzitutto
occorrono una macchina per caffè espresso, un
bricco, cioè un contenitore in acciaio per il latte, e
infine una tazza di ceramica bianca bassa e larga.
Le quantità di latte e caffè devono essere precise:
125 ml di latte e 25 ml di caffè.
Per ottenere un buon cappuccino italiano il barista
deve preparare un perfetto caffè espresso nella
tazza, scaldare con il vapore il latte nel bricco e versare
il latte caldo sopra il caffè espresso. È
necessario mettere schiuma e latte caldo in parti uguali.
La schiuma inoltre deve essere compatta,
vellutata, senza bolle.
Il nome “cappuccino” deriva dal colore marrone
che la bevanda assume quando si mescolano i
due ingredienti: il latte e il caffè. È lo stesso tipico
colore del saio1 dei frati cappuccini. La leggenda
racconta che un frate cappuccino ha mescolato per
primo latte e caffè.
Negli ultimi anni sono nate le moderne tecniche della
latte art e molti baristi sono esperti nel decorare il cappuccino.
Con il bricco del latte il barista fa un disegno
sulla schiuma: una foglia, un fiore, un cuore, una mela,
un coniglio o una farfalla.
All’estero il cappuccino è molto conosciuto e amato ed è
buono a tutte le ore, ma è spesso molto
diverso dal cappuccino italiano, a iniziare dalle dimensioni
del recipiente. Se in Italia la tazza da 200 ml è bassa e larga,
all’estero è sempre più diffuso il bicchiere di carta piccolo,
medio o grande fino a 600 ml. Il materiale del recipiente dipende
anche dove si beve il cappuccino: in Italia la tazza
di ceramica va bene per il consumo in piedi al banco o seduti al tavolino.
Il bicchiere di carta è pensato invece per portare via il cappuccino, per bere camminando o al lavoro.
In Italia, infine, il cappuccino si beve a colazione, raramente fuori orario e mai durante o dopo i pasti.
ESERCIZI
Indica con una crocetta quali sono le differenze di consumo del cappuccino in Italia e fuori: Rispondi Vero o Falso: V F
Il cappuccino è amato in Italia e all’estero.
Gli ingredienti del cappuccino sono tre.
Il cappuccino si fa con il caffè espresso.
Preparare il cappuccino è difficile.
La parola cappuccino si riferisce ai frati cappuccini.
La tazza del cappuccino deve essere alta e stretta.
Il latte del cappuccino si scalda sul fuoco.
Per fare il cappuccino non è importante la quantità di latte .
In Italia il cappuccino si beve dopo pranzo.
Oggi molti baristi sono esperti nel decorare il cappuccino.
Il ritratto più famoso di tutti i tempi: la Gioconda
Il ritratto più famoso di tutti i tempi? È la
Gioconda di Leonardo da Vinci.
La Gioconda è esposta al museo Louvre di Parigi
e la sua straordinaria bellezza affascina ogni
anno sei milioni di visitatori.
La Gioconda non è un ritratto di grandi
dimensioni, misura infatti 77 x 55 centimetri,
inoltre è un quadro incompiuto.
Eppure, il sorriso della Gioconda è considerato un’opera
divina per la sua perfezione ed è avvolto da
numerosi misteri. Innanzitutto dalle analisi ai
raggi X scopriamo che sotto il dipinto attuale
sono nascoste tre diverse versioni dell’opera.
Leonardo infatti ritocca il quadro più volte. Le prime pennellate risalgono al 1503, quando l’artista si trova a Firenze. Nel 1508 Leonardo lascia Firenze per soggiornare prima a Milano e poi a Roma. Nel 1517 parte per la Francia e vive gli ultimi anni della sua vita al castello di Clos-Lucé, vicino ad Amboise, alla corte del re Francesco I. Nei suoi spostamenti porta con sé anche la Gioconda e continua a fare ritocchi e modifiche.
È proprio in Francia che Leonardo, ormai anziano, vende o forse regala il dipinto
all’imperatore francese Francesco I, in segno di riconoscenza per il soggiorno offerto. Dopo la Rivoluzione Francese, Napoleone decide il trasferimento del quadro al Louvre, dove è ancora conservato ed è l’attrazione principale del museo.
Tra i misteri che avvolgono il capolavoro di Leonardo, due sono particolarmente dibattuti: chi è la Gioconda e perché il suo sorriso è così affascinante.
La Gioconda, detta anche Monna Lisa, è forse il ritratto di Lisa Gherardini, giovane sposa del ricco mercante di seta Francesco Bartolomeo del Giocondo, come ci suggeriscono i due nomi dati al dipinto: Gioconda o Monna Lisa.
Il secondo mistero riguarda l’espressione del volto. Leonardo non ha dato alla Gioconda un sentimento preciso, ma siamo noi che proiettiamo la nostra emozione sul volto del dipinto. Secondo lo scrittore Alberto Angela, Leonardo è stato così geniale da mettere uno specchio davanti a noi.
Rispondi Vero o Falso:
La Gioconda è l’opera più visitata al Louvre.
Le analisi ai raggi X hanno portato alla luce importanti scoperte.
Leonardo ha continuato a ritoccare la Gioconda anche in Francia.
Sappiamo con certezza chi è la donna dipinta nel quadro.
Francesco I decide di trasferire la Gioconda al Louvre.
Leonardo ha cominciato a dipingere la Gioconda a Roma.
Ci sono tre Monna Lisa sotto il ritratto che vediamo.
Il marito della Gioconda è il re di Francia.
Leonardo ha vissuto anche a Milano.
Leonardo è morto a Firenze.
Politica italiana
L’articolo 49 della Costituzione italiana dice: “Tutti i cittadini hanno diritto di associarsi
liberamente in partiti per concorrere in modo democratico a determinare la politica
nazionale”.
Ma che cosa sono i partiti? I partiti politici sono delle associazioni di persone con le stesse idee politiche. In tutte le città italiane ci sono le sedi dei vari partiti, dove discutono e organizzano le attività del partito.
Qual è la funzione dei partiti? I partiti politici mediano tra lo Stato e i cittadini. Grazie ai
partiti politici, i cittadini possono partecipare alla vita sociale e politica del Paese. Prima
delle elezioni, infatti, ogni partito politico propone ai cittadini una lista dei propri candidati e un programma politico.
Durante la campagna elettorale i candidati fanno molti discorsi pubblici e partecipano a vari dibattiti televisivi. Lo scopo di ogni partito è di prendere il maggior numero di voti alle elezioni, per arrivare in Parlamento e influenzare le decisioni politiche del Paese.
Quanti e quali sono i partiti in Italia? In Italia ci sono molti partiti, i più piccoli spesso si
uniscono con quelli più grandi in modo da formare delle coalizioni, cioè dei gruppi di
partiti che hanno idee simili.
COMPRENSIONE
Rileggi il testo e scegli la risposta giusta.
a. Che cosa dice l’articolo 49 della Costituzione?
□ L’art. 49 dice che i cittadini possono incontrarsi e formare liberamente
dei nuovi partiti.
□ L’art. 49 dice che i cittadini devono iscriversi ad un partito.
b. Che cos’è un partito politico?
□ Un’associazione di persone con le stesse idee politiche.
□ Un’associazione umanitaria.
c. Qual è la funzione di un partito?
□ Raccogliere le firme dei cittadini.
□ Permettere ai cittadini di partecipare alla vita politica del Paese.
d. Qual è lo scopo dei partiti politici durante le elezioni?
□ Riunire tante persone.
□ Prendere più voti per arrivare in Parlamento.
e. Che cosa fanno i partiti prima delle elezioni?
□ Presentano il loro programma.
□ Fanno una sfilata
#012 – Does learning a foreign language prevent dementia in old age!??
Welcome to the Learning Languages in Society with Gabi podcast, where it’s all about the fascinating world of languages and culture. Let’s rock.
Hi everybody and welcome to my show, my name is Gabi. Fist of all I have to apologize for being absent in the past week. I had to sort out some issues, but everything is now fine and I’m back on track.
Today we’re going to talk about how learning a new language in childhood or adolescence could be so beneficial for our brain as we get older. As people become older their cognitive capacities, that is, their mental capacities to process information and function in a correct way in the world start to diminish. But we are ever so lucky to have a super powerful weapon against aging, namely, learning foreign languages.
So on top of all the cool things that we can do with languages such as traveling, meeting new people, expanding your cultural perspective of the world, watching movies and reading books in original version we now know thanks to a tone of research that learning languages is also beneficial to help our brain cope with disease and aging. What are the odds?
Now obviously that is great news!
But before we go on, we’re going to give the definition of two important concepts, namely, neuroplasticity and cognition.
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change and grow throughout a person’s life. Until recently, scientists thought that this was only possible in early childhood. After that, scientists believed that the brain “solidified” and became fixed in its habits, which pretty much means they thought we could no longer learn new stuff.
Now we know that is simply not the case. Our brain can find new ways to learn and reorganize itself in order to keep on learning, even after brain injury.
Now, that is good news as well!
Now we’re going to talk about another word commonly used in these contexts, namely, cognition: cognition, or cognitive development, includes the mental processes related to reasoning, memory, problem-solving, and thinking skills.
It is in essence, the ability to perceive and react, process and understand, store and retrieve information, make decisions and produce appropriate responses. So cognition pretty much governs your life. And learning foreign languages when young helps you improve your cognition too.
Great news again!
Since people are getting older nowadays we strive to find new ways to improve their brains without necessarily using pharmaceutics.
Research has proven that bilingualism has been linked to higher cognitive reserve, better performance in executive control, changes in brain structure and function relative to monolinguals and last but no least, delay in the onset of dementia.
And so this is as I mentioned before why learning a new language could be one powerful antidote to prevent the brain from degrading in old age.
Now, let’s get to the details, what is Cognitive reserve? Well it is the idea that people develop a reserve of thinking abilities during their lives and that this protects them against losses that can occur through aging and disease.
Executive control: the ability to carry out goal-directed behavior using complex mental processes and cognitive abilities. For example, if you receive a bad score in an exam but you maintain focus and understand constructive criticism and then you study again and learn and do well in your exam next time, well, it means that you have good executive control. Learning a new language in your childhood or teenage years helps you do that.
Results in recent research tend to suggest that second language learning is associated with improvement in attentional switching, inhibition and working memory.
Attentional switching: it is the ability to flexibly shift “back and forth” between multiple tasks, operations, or mental sets. Basically to be able to do different tasks at the same time and easily switch from one to the other back and forth.
Inhibition : it is the action of inhibiting a process. For example, if you are bilingual, inhibition is the capacity to prevent your mother tongue to come to bother you while you are in the process of speaking your second language.
Cognitive control advantages associated with bilingualism come from having to juggle representations of two different languages in one’s mind. The dual activation theory posits that while a representation of one language is activated, its correlate in the other language is activated at the same time. Thus, a bilingual person would constantly have to inhibit one language while using the other resulting in the betterment of cognitive control. How wonderful.
For example, if you’re speaking Russian with someone and you can’t find a word, inhibition will help you find your word in Russian and prevent English, which is your mother tongue, from popping up and suggesting the word in English.
Working memory: it is the retention of a small amount of information in a readily accessible form. It facilitates planning, comprehension, reasoning, and problem-solving.
So as you can see learning a foreign language early on has all these amazing benefits.
However, let’s keep in mind that cognitive reserve and successful aging have been associated with lifestyle factors, including education, participation in leisure and social activities and or physical exercise. So we could say that a combination of all these factors make the difference.
Some studies suggest that dual-language use has been associated with executive functioning benefits to subjects of all age groups and we can see these results more clearly in older adults because young adults already function at their peak.
Which pretty much means that if we examine older adults who have been bilingual for a long time we will see that their lifelong use of more than one language could lead to enhanced cognition in later life.
A few studies conducted in elderly individuals have evidenced an advantage in episodic memory, letter fluency, semantic verbal fluency, as well as higher general intelligence in bilingual seniors.
We can also see that the differences aren’t only in performance but we can also see them with our own eyes. Why do I say that? Well, neuroimaging studies have also reported differences in brain measures between monolingual and bilingual older adults, showing higher gray matter volume (GMV) in different parts of the brain of bilingual adults.
And this discovery is really cool, check it out:
studies in young adults show increases in hippocampus volume after second language training . As the hippocampus plays an important role in episodic memory, and hippocampal atrophy is widely recognized as a biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease, an increases in its volume, as a result of SLA, could be of significance in the face of age-related atrophy and cognitive decline. Furthermore, older bilinguals have been shown to have greater left hippocampal GMV than their monolingual counterparts.
That’s amazing, isn’t it?
Do you need more reasons to learn a new language??
#013 – Three fascinating short stories in Italian. Can you guess the answers?
Welcome to the Learning Languages in Society with Gabi podcast, where it’s all about the fascinating world of languages and culture. Let’s rock.
Hi everybody and welcome to my show, my name is Gabi. Today we’re going to do a listening exercise. I’m goin to read out for you three articles in Italian. Yeah. And I’m going to then ask you to try to understand them first of all and then answer whether the statements after each article are true or false.
Marco Polo è stato sicuramente uno dei più importanti viaggiatori della storia.
E’ nato (probabilmente) a Venezia nel 1254 da una famiglia di mercanti e con i suoi familiari ha cominciato a viaggiare quando era ancora giovanissimo.
Con il padre, lo zio e i suoi fratelli è partito per la Cina nel 1271, ha attraversato tutta l’Asia e dopo un viaggio di circa tre anni è arrivato dal Gran Khan Qubilai che viveva a Pechino.
Marco Polo ha vissuto in Cina per 17 anni, ha lavorato per il Gran Kahn che apprezzava la sua intelligenza e le sue capacità, e ha avuto modo di visitare numerosi paesi e di imparare le lingue orientali.
E’ tornato in Italia nel 1295 e voleva riprendere il suo lavoro di commerciante. Ma, durante la guerra tra Venezia e Genova, è stato preso dai Genovesi. In prigione ha dettato le sue memorie a Rustichello da Pisa: il racconto dei suoi fantastici viaggi è diventato poi un libro che si intitola “Il Milione”.
Marco Polo è morto a 70 anni: le informazioni contenute nel suo libro sono state importanti per molti secoli ancora. Anche Cristoforo Colombo, quando ha scoperto l’America convinto di essere in India, cercava le meraviglie raccontate dal grande viaggiatore veneziano.
1. Marco Polo è nato a Genova?
2. E’ morto prima del 1300?
3. Aveva fratelli?
4. La sua era una famiglia di commercianti?
5. Marco Polo è andato a Pechino da solo?
6. Prima di tornare in Italia Marco Polo ha lavorato per il Gran Kahn?
7. In Cina Marco Polo è stato molti anni in prigione?
8. Marco Polo è stato nelle prigioni veneziane?
9. Il Milione racconta dei viaggi di Marco Polo?
10. Rustichello da Pisa ha dettato “Il Milione” a Marco Polo ?
Caravaggio è famoso per il suo brutto carattere: era permaloso, litigioso e violento. Ha anche ucciso un uomo (Ranuccio Tomassoni), nel 1606, per un motivo molto banale: un fallo durante una partita a palla.
Noi conosciamo tutti i particolari di una delle liti più famose di Caravaggio, quella con un garzone dell’Osteria del Moro, a Roma, avvenuta nel 1604. Questa è la storia.
Caravaggio entra nell’Osteria. Come al solito porta uno spadone ed ha l’aria spavalda. Si siede e ordina un piatto di carciofi.
Il garzone porta al pittore i carciofi: alcuni sono cotti all’olio, altri invece al burro. Ma quali sono gli uni, e quali gli altri?
Caravaggio chiede chiarimenti ma il garzone come risposta suggerisce al pittore:”Basta odorare per riconoscere quali sono al burro e quali sono all’olio!”
Apriti cielo!
L’artista, irritato per il “suggerimento”, tira piatto e carciofi in faccia al garzone; poi, non contento di aver ferito il poveretto, lo insegue con la spada sguainata per tutta l’osteria.
Chissà se il garzone, dopo, ha cambiato mestiere…
1. Il vero nome di Michelangelo Merisi era Caravaggio
2. Milano è una città vicino a Porto Ercole (in Toscana)
3. L’attività di Michelangelo Merisi si è svolta soprattutto a Roma
4. Alla fine del XVI secolo i pittori volevano rappresentare la realtà, la “verità”, e quindi cercavano i modelli nella strada e nella vita di tutti i giorni
5. La pittura di Caravaggio è tardo-manierista
6. I suoi quadri provocavano scandalo e molte volte i committenti hanno rifiutato le sue opere
7. Caravaggio era permaloso, litigioso e violento
8. Caravaggio è stato ucciso da un uomo (Ranuccio Tomassoni), nel 1606, per un motivo molto banale: un fallo durante una partita a palla.
Okay, there you go, so those are the questions and now we’re going to the third article. I’m gong to read it out for you.
Il 3 gennaio del 1954, dagli studi Rai (Rai, Radiotelevisione italiana) di Torino, cominciano le prime trasmissioni della televisione in Italia.
Giusto cinquant’anni fa.
Nel 1954 gli abbonati alla tv sono 24.000.
Nel 1965 sono più di 6 milioni.
La “prima” televisione italiana è specialmente strumento di informazione e educazione e solo in piccola parte di “intrattenimento“: la serata più importante è dedicata al teatro il venerdì sera.
La pubblicità televisiva comincia nel 1957, ma ha solo uno spazio di circa 10 minuti ed è chiusa in un contenitore che si chiama ”Carosello”.
Dal 1960 comincia il programma “Non è mai troppo tardi”, un corso per insegnare a leggere e a scrivere agli analfabeti, ancora molto numerosi.
La gestione della Rai è, politicamente, tutta democristiana, cioè del governo.
Fino al 1960 nessun leader di partito parla in tv. In seguito comincia “Tribuna Politica”, un programma con giornalisti che intervistano i politici.
Hanno comunque successo i programmi di intrattenimento (il quiz “Lascia o raddoppia?” è un vero fatto storico). Gli sport più seguiti sono il calcio e il ciclismo.
Dal 1961 comincia le trasmissioni anche il secondo canale Rai: il punto di forza del primo canale è il teatro; il secondo canale punta specialmente sul cinema.
La tv produce anche grandi sceneggiati (oggi si chiamano fiction) di altissimo livello: I promessi Sposi di Alessandro Manzoni, I Miserabili di Victor Hugo, La Cittadella di Cronin, fino all’Odissea di Omero, hanno un successo eccezionale.
Dal 1968 (anno delle Olimpiadi in Messico) i programmi sportivi sono trasmessi in diretta.
Negli anni Settanta la Rai diventa importantissima per la produzione cinematografica (115 film prodotti solo nel 1975).
Dopo il 1968 – per circa dieci anni – vanno in crisi gli spettacoli leggeri di intrattenimento compreso il famoso Festival di Sanremo!
A metà degli Anni Settanta nascono i primi canali privati locali (che possono cioè trasmettere solo in ambito locale per non più di 150.000 abitanti). Le emittenti private nel 1976 sono 68. Nel 1981 sono 600!
Dal 1977 la televisione trasmette a colori. Per reggere la concorrenza dei canali privati la tv pubblica si rinnova: eliminato “Carosello” la pubblicità comincia a diventare simile a quella dei giorni nostri. Nel 1979 nasce il terzo canale Rai.
Negli Anni Ottanta la Fininvest di Silvio Berlusconi (che ha tre tv private: Canale 5, Rete 4 e Italia 1) comincia a diffondere i suoi programmi non più a livello locale ma nazionale. In un primo momento le tre reti sono oscurate (perché la legge vieta ai privati di trasmettere a livello nazionale), ma poi il governo fa una nuova legge che permette al gruppo di Berlusconi di trasmettere in tutta Italia. Dopo il monopolio della Rai comincia così il duopolio Rai-Fininvest.
1. Nel 1954 cominciano le prime trasmissioni della televisione in Italia
2. Nel 1965 gli abbonati alla televisione sono più di 10 milioni
3. La pubblicità ha solo uno spazio di circa 10 minuti
4. Politicamente la gestione della Rai è del governo
5. Il punto di forza del primo canale è il cinema
6. La tv produce grandi sceneggiati di altissimo livello
7. A metà degli Anni Settanta nascono i primi canali privati locali
Well, there you go, those are the questions. Try to answer whether true or false. So as you can see this has been a bit of a different episode and I want you to enjoy it and try to understand each one of them articles and try to translate them if you can into English and don’t forget to subscribe. Bye, bye.
#014 –Meditation as the antidote to warfare.
Welcome to the Learning Languages and Society with Gabby podcast, where it’s all about the fascinating world of languages and culture. Let’s rock.
Hi everybody. My name is Gabby, and today I wanna talk about something slightly different in the face of the current events that are sadly hitting our world so hard. I wanna talk about how meditation and insight practices can greatly improve our mental health and make us scope better with this horrible reality. Okay?
Now, first of all, let’s start with the general notion that our minds do not improve with age. We’re gonna talk about meditation here. We believe, for some reason, that our minds just stay the same all the time. And that is a wrong notion. We do, however, believe that we can learn new things. So you can go to school in adulthood, you get to college when you’re older. And we believe for some reason that we can learn new things just based simply studying and learning, basically doing the same learning process we did when we were younger.
But for some reason, we seem to think that our minds stay the same way. That is your mind as such does not improve with age and that’s just, that’s just wrong. That’s a wrong notion.
I wanna also point to the fact that we believe that our physical bodies are different from our physical minds for some reason. So while you could vastly improve your physical health by, for example, running, jogging, cycling, working out at the gym and well for some reason we think that our minds cannot undergo the same type of process and that’s wrong. They do. They can improve, our minds can indeed improve. There are no secrets here, right? We now know that our minds can improve and, simply put, meditation is the way to go in order to improve the health of our minds.
So the concept of mental training is barely entertained generally speaking. But there are things we can do to improve our mental cognition, right? So mental growth is indeed possible. So, as I said, one of the things we can do, and probably the most important thing we can do is try to understand why meditation should help us in that way.
And I wanna point to the fact that meditation has a lot to do with how we perceive the world as well, and, and how that is a hundred percent correlated to how we see, for example, the terrible events that have taken place in Israel and Gaza over the past few days. Okay? So I wanna address that, with the help of meditation, try to see if we can discover new ways to cope with this reality and to understand why these things take place.
Okay? I wanna ask you a question.
When was the last time you had a good conversation with yourself? Or when did we learn to have better conversations with ourselves? Why do many conversations we have with ourselves entail some negative thinking to it? Why is that? Is that like a function of the mind? Or why does that take place? So when did we learn to stop negative thinking from bothering us and from ruining our lives? Well, I guess we never did because for some reason, this is not part of the curriculum anywhere in the academic world. So it’s just vastly assumed that people keep their mental health in about the same state as when they were younger and through adulthood and old age.
But there’s nothing further from the truth there. It is never too late to understand how your mind actually works. And meditation is the key to understand how it works and how to go with it, and how to, how to truly understand why your mind does what it does.
And that’s just, that’s not just an interesting fact. It is something that could vastly improve our lives. So at what age did we learn how to have good conversations with ourselves? When did we realize that the very structure of our thinking is in fact, based on an illusion that has created so much suffering for us?
Okay, we could have bad conversations with ourselves, but we could also have collective bad conversations with ourselves as a community. So there are groups of people in the world that could have a bad conversation with themselves and believe for some reason that the others are the enemy. So, nothing further from the truth. Okay?
Now, why do we allow this to happen? Why do we allow our mental health to be living in this kind of a bubble of negative repeated thoughts that cycle back and forth in our minds?
And why do we allow that to happen? Why do we not realize that it’s pretty much the recipe for a mental prison? We wouldn’t seem to know how to stop that. We seem not to be able to give an answer to that. So I wanna refer to the fact that the fact that a lot of people are basically clueless and unaware of this fact doesn’t make it any less of a problem, okay? So we need to realize that most of the world’s problems and wars, chaos is borne of a lack of insight into our mental world.
And purposeless suffering in the world is just a product of us believing into the lies that our minds punish us with. So the secret is to stop that from happening. People, we can stop that from happening.
We can do it. Meditation isn’t just a tool to improve cognition so that you can learn new languages or learn new skills in general more easily. But it is really a tool to unlock yourself from, um, break free from the prison of your mental life and to help you realize that consciousness is not what you think it is. Uh, it kind of makes us wake you up from this dream, okay?
It helps you realize that the cleaner and clearer your mind is, the more sense you will make, and the better you will see the whole picture. So the better you will see the world. So with meditation, you can decide for how long you can stay angry or sad or unhappy or feel regretful. So it is not like you get angry and then you stay angry. And then every once in a while you have those angry thoughts coming back to you about something that might have happened, an event, a conversation that didn’t go well with your sister or maybe your boss, or maybe a coworker or anything like that.
So meditation does help kind of like clear out the horizon and make you understand there was something that just happened, but you can start again. You can begin again, and you can make things right again. So those thoughts do not condition the rest of your life, and they shouldn’t condition the rest of your life, right?
So meditation helps us modulate the way we treat ourselves in our minds. It makes us aware of what is actually really happening because a lot of this negative thinking takes place without us knowing exactly that it is actually taking place. We are unaware. We’re not conscious of the fact that these things are taking place in our minds. So it does make us aware that this negative thinking is happening and it makes us aware of the fact that we need to stop it. So it doesn’t cut mental noise in general because your mind generates this sort of chattering all the time.
It makes us aware of when our consciousness or our inner thoughts or inner speech goes astray, so we kind of realize that something’s happening. It’s like mindfulness makes you understand that there has to be an alarm that that goes off every time those negative thoughts start, you know, becoming more continuous and make you understand when it is the right time to stop them, right? So that you don’t believe them, and you don’t go into the cycle of negative thinking.
Now, that is in regards to what happens to the mental life of an individual. But this sadly can happen to the mental lives of many individuals that form a community. So you do, you can indeed be part of a community that has negative thoughts about the others. Most of it is just mental noise.
And you need to understand that is wrong. So meditation prevents us from being too emotionally or psychologically involved in the havoc of the world, okay? So it makes you sort of stop and say: not because I’m part of this group or part of this community, which is just a concept, really, I am meant to believe one thing or the other. And I don’t think, and you shouldn’t think that just because you happen to be from a certain country or nationality or an ethnic group, you’re supposed to think one way or the other about the others, right? So it does actually help you cut with the mental mental noise associated to those feelings. And it is clearly the antidote for organized hatred and ideologically driven aggression and war because you no longer believe the lies of separation of self and the rest of the world, you simply realize you are one with it. You are one with the world. So there is no concept of self. There is no you there, there is just the world and that separation that they instill in people. You realize that is just basically ideologically driven and you shouldn’t buy into it.
So just a few thoughts about the current events which have really saddened me and I think have saddened a lot of people and might mark the beginning of a new unhappy era for all of us.
So my thinking or my thoughts about this is that world leaders should understand that taking control over the lives of our minds is the first step to stop the world from collapsing because any hatred, aggression, or any aggression that is motivated by hatred or by ideology is first thought or conceived as a thought. So first of all, it becomes a thought, and then from then it proceeds to be materialized into an action and into something. So the better hold we have of our thoughts and our mental lives as a community and as individuals, the better we will be able to cope with these thoughts and understand that war is not the solution. War is never the solution. Alright? Anyway, guys stay tuned for more and thank you for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe. Bye-bye.
#015 –mindfulness and the self in social situations when speaking a foreign language.
Welcome to the Learning Languages and Society with Gabby podcast, where it’s all about the fascinating world of languages and culture. Let’s rock.
Hi everyone, my name is Gabi and today I want to address our attention to a really cool subject. I would like to talk about mindfulness and the social self when speaking a foreign language.
There is some valuable knowledge from mindfulness one can certainly use when speaking a foreign language within a social context.
Sometimes you happen to be in a situation where you have to speak a different language, you are suddenly surrounded by people who might pay attention to what you have to say but you have very little time to make a good impression and you suddenly feel the rash of anxiety take over, suddenly, you are all thumbs, the words come out of your mouth in an unintelligible way and you realize that you can’t really talk or get your message across even though you know damn well you know those words.
Maybe you’ve known them for as long as you can remember but for some reason you’re just too anxious and they simply won’t come out.
This is exactly where mindfulness kicks in.
Now I’ve said in different occasions that within the realm of mindfulness the illusion of the self is very real however not every self is a mirage. In meditation you are not a thing but you are a kind of process and we all experience different states of self.
I will give you an example:
When I was at school I had the experience of being an older adult in my university so I was cool and knowledgeable and experienced but simultaneously I was painfully old just to be a university student.
So I was both a celebrity and part of me was also ashamed at the same time. So I felt the drastic change from walking from the bar where I would be having a couple of beers with the other students, who were younger than me, into the faculty building and facing my teachers who knew I had probably been a school dropout in the past.
So my perception of my own self changed drastically depending on how the other person saw me, or rather how I imagined the other person saw me.
The other kids from school would look up to me, while some of the teachers would look down on me, but we’re all in this situation in a way.
We all have encounters with people that seem to destabilize us where we feel we don’t have access to our full capacities as humans or to our best version.
So many encounters turn out to be less than perfect, and the degree of dissatisfaction is generally associated to the degree that we are hampered by neurotic self concern.
Let’s say you’re going home for vacation to see your parents and siblings. So it doesn’t matter how hard you try to make them see you under a different light, your family will always somehow manage to reframe you into the old version of you, or who they thought it was you.
And then, as if by pure magic, you might begin to feel the way you used to feel in the past when you lived with them.
Mindfulness could help you in situations like this, but you don’t want it to become a source of self-consciousness when you’re with others your meditations shouldn’t make you become more aware of yourself.
It’s not a mode of inwardness that causes you to recoil even further from relationship. Ideally mindfulness should help you pay more attention to who you’re talking to, and if you’ve broken into a non-dual state of mindfulness then social situations become situations where this change can be appreciated most strikingly.
When somebody is talking to you and is looking at you what are they looking at? in your experience you are not a thing being looked at you are the condition in which they and the world are appearing this is not speaking metaphysically, this is the actual character of conscious experience.
You don’t see your face the only face you get to see actually belongs to the other person who is now talking to you and looking at you if you follow the other’s person gaze back to where you think you are you might suddenly experience that consciousness is just the space in which everything is appearing.
If you look for yourself in that moment you might find that only the world remains but whatever the character of your experience the role of mindfulness at this point is not to prevent negative states of mind to arise, you should go to these situations knowing you’re going to have negative states of mind like self-judgement, self-doubt, annoyance, anxiety, go in like you’re playing a video game, challenges will appear, feel negative emotions, but let them go, don’t act on them, just let them pass you by.
In your next social situation just become interested in noticing one negative emotion and not do anything about it, do not be reactive, just let it pass away, everyone you meet is practically drowning in self-concern.
Just look at them, they’re worried about what others think of them, if you take a step back from feeling implicated, you will realize that you’re surrounded by a procession of human frailty, so compassion is good, we’re all in this sinking boat, whatever is true in the cosmos, this is it for us, however depressing this might sound, this is the only life we have and we have to enjoy it.
Another question: How is it that you feel awkward with some people and so good with others? Why do some people have so much power over your mind?
And none of these changes are who you really are, there’s just a flow of experience, there are patters, but you don’t have to conform to those patters, you don’t have to be the person who felt bad last time in a given conversation, and whatever happens when you leave a social situation, mindfulness allows you not to carry that with you.
You don’t have to finish whatever argument you had with you sister or with your mum or with your parents in your head, you don’t have to finish the conversation with her in your head, the time to talk to her is gone, so who are you talking to now?
#017 – Sports and language acquisition
Welcome to the Learning Languages in Society with Gabi podcast, where it’s all about the fascinating world of languages and culture. Let’s rock.
Hi everybody, my name is Gabi, and welcome to my show again.
So today I’d like to talk to you about the relationship between sports and second language acquisition.
This isn’t going to be a very long episode, but it’s rather going to be a quick reminder of why sports are ever so important for cognitive development and therefore, so important or very important for language acquisition as well.
Take for example, the articles or some articles published in 2018 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, which confirmed the hypothesis according to which the aging of brain cells can be slowed down by regular physical activity. The fact that older people who play sports every day suffer a lot less from cognitive disorders can be considered as evidence in favor of this hypothesis.
Now, the situation is similar for patients who happen to be children. The research results have been published in the Journal Frontiers in Neuroscience, confirming that children who do sports are able to learn much faster, and as a consequence, their performance at school is better from year to year.
So what is this? What does this all mean? Basically what it means that the normal aging of the brain under, for its normal deterioration can be slowed down, which doesn’t necessarily translate into, stopped or reversed, but again, it can be slowed down. And thus, a healthy person who does sports regularly, or who regularly does sports, can enjoy a healthier and richer life.
Now, further experiments have demonstrated that students who actively participate in physical education lessons, so who pretty much who do sports, are the ones who stand out in the classroom as well. So their academic performance improves, and they happen to have a higher level of cognitive abilities when compared to the performance of their companions or counterparts.
So I don’t know if you’ve had this situation happening to you when you were at school, but, some of the students who happen to be good athletes or, good at doing sports, would be pretty good students as well, right?
Because you don’t seem to see those sort of things portrayed in television and so on.
It’s basically the nerdy, you know, student, who, does really good at school, but who really, really sucks at doing sports. But apparently this isn’t always true.
Actually, students who are good at sports can also be pretty good with their academic performance. So you can not just be a really good student, but you can be an athlete at the same time. How is that? That sounds pretty good to me. Yeah. So what is behind this positive influence? Why are sports so important for cognition? Well, firstly, sports improve blood circulation during physical activity. Blood flows faster to the muscles and supplies them with oxygen and glucose. So the brain also receives the same vital components, right?
It has all this blood flowing in. Now, we have to keep in mind something very important. If the training is too hard, and it’s too intense, the blood supply to the brain will decrease dramatically, since the main task of the body during intense physical activity is the removal of excessive heat. So that is why we sweat when we do sports. Why does that happen? Well, basically the body tries to remove life threatening overheating conditions, right? So it tries to prevent you from overheating and dying, basically.
So that’s why we start sweating like crazy when we do physical sports now. So physical activity in general is capable of promoting or enhancing cognitive functions, and consequently, learning is one of these functions. And so obviously language acquisition is a subprocess in within general learning, okay?
Now, we have to keep in mind, as I said, that, exercise and sports in general should be done or should be performed at medium intensity. So we have to do sports in a moderate way for them to actually work, okay? In fact, that is the only case in which we can really absorb and obtain all these benefits from working out basically. Now, there is another important observation regarding the relationship between sports and cognitive abilities and it is the following.
Now, the more mature the brain is, the more it needs sports, since sports are also the catalyst for neurogenesis. Basically, sports facilitate the creation of new brain cells, okay? So as we grow older, we need sports more and more because that’s what’s gonna help us regenerate our brain cells and therefore not get basically sick, you know, or maybe slow down any kind of mental health issue that we may have encoded in our genes, right?
So this is also really important. So basically, sports pretty much mean health in general, okay? So let’s just keep in mind that we have to do sports in a moderate way, but in general terms, that’s why they are so important. There is also another difference between younger students and older students.
So some of these articles show that age is also a factor that affects performance in second language acquisition. While younger students may have the advantage of being able to memorize the input more quickly, and the possibility of achieving a level of proficiency in their second language, very similar to that of a native speaker, older students have it a little tougher, okay? Older students can make use of a repertoire of linguistically useful notions for interpreting the forms of the new language. And so basically what they do is a transfer of knowledge which can result in a positive transfer, or sometimes, it can cause interference, right?
So the fact that an older student learns languages in a different way may affect his performance, right? So if an older student speaks a different language or maybe two or three other languages, what they do is that they transfer that set of knowledge when they learn when they pick up a new language, as opposed to younger students, who kind of learn that new language pretty much as a baby would like a, pretty much like a native speaker. Okay? So that would be a difference between the two as well.
In any case, neuroplasticity diminishes as we get older, okay? So it’s always a really good idea when you are an older, an older person, or you’re becoming of age, to do sports in order to stop the aging of the brain from happening and to enhance neuroplasticity in your own brain.
Now, as it turns out, and as I’ve come to realize in all these articles that I’ve read, basically there is a kind of a package that goes with mental performance in general. And it shouldn’t only be, it shouldn’t just be physical activity, but it should also be social activity, mental activities, and physical activity in general. So basically picking up a new skill, having good relationships with the people around you like friends and family, and doing sports. That would be truly the package.
Now, at the brain level, physical activity or, medium intensity physical activity, prepares people to perceive information better. It also improves motivation and attention. And during the learning process, brain cells and neurons begin to form connections with the help of neurotransmitters. So the most important neurotransmitters in psychiatry are the following ones:
So first of all, we have dopamine, and then what we have serotonin and norepinephrine. Now, serotonin is responsible for the body’s control over itself, since it is a substance that allows you to control emotions, impulsiveness, et cetera. Dopamine, on the other hand, helps to learn as well as to achieve motivation and pleasure. And then, norepinephrine, is a precursor of adrenaline, and it is responsible for motivation, attention, and wakefulness. Okay?
So when a person suffers from psychiatry problems or when a person has a mental problem or suffers from a mental condition, or from mental health, including anxiety, depression, anger, apathy and so on, which could influence very negatively on their cognitive performance and learning abilities, he or she is often prescribed different drugs, right? So pharmaceuticals, however, usually drugs are just capable of increasing the level of one of those neurotransmitters we just talked about and that’s not good because it’s just a temporary solution to a problem. And not only that, it only helps you with one of the neurotransmitters, while physical activity helps you with the three of them, right? So it is so much better to do sports than to basically try to take any drugs.
This, by the way, is just a general advice. It doesn’t necessarily mean that’s going to be your case. You obviously first have to talk to your physician and see what is best for you in your case. Okay, guys, that is it for today. I’m going to be doing another episode on this, on this subject, since I think it’s really important and you should really keep it in mind whenever learning anything in general. So, doing sports plays a pretty, pretty important role in learning in general. So anyway, guys, stay tuned for more.
Thank you for following me, and please don’t forget to subscribe. Bye!
#018 – Sleep spindles and memory consolidation for language acquisition.
Hi everyone my name is Gabi and today I’d like to talk about the relationship between sleep and second language acquisition.
Yeah, that’s right. There is a pretty straight-forward relationship between sleep and the consolidation of learning new languages. Who would’ve thought.
In this episode you will learn why and how sleep in crucial to learn a new language and hopefully you will be able to implement a sleeping routine that helps you improve your memory, because as we will see, memory is key to learn new things.
Recent studies suggest that During sleep, the brain follows a process where it replays experiences we have had throughout the day so as to store them better in our memories.
Research into sleep learning has been debated for many years, yet current studies suggest that having a restful night’s sleep is an essential component of consolidating memories related to language study. It can’t be emphasized enough how vital it is to have adequate sleep in order to stay focused and energetic while forming new habits or making decisions. Being well-rested impacts mood favorably as well as it improves our general cognition.
The ability to acquire a second language depends on memory systems adapted to support language learning. Sleep plays an important role in the formation of newly acquired memory for both declarative memory and procedural memory.
But what is declarative and what is procedural memory?
Declarative or also called explicit memory is devoted to the processing of names, dates, places, facts, events, and so forth. These are entities that are thought of as being encoded symbolically and thus can be described with language. In terms of function, declarative memory is specialized for fast processing and learning.
Procedural memory
Procedural memory refers to cognitive and sensorimotor habits and skills learned through repetition. The repetition of an activity leads to the progressive consolidation of the memory trace of the involved skills, leading to their automation. It is involved in daily activities such as learning to tie shoes, ride a bike, or drive a car.
Sleep happens in five stages: wake, N1, N2, N3, and REM. Stages N1 N2 and N3 are considered non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, with each stage a progressively deeper sleep. A typical night’s sleep consists of 4 to 5 sleep cycles, where a complete sleep cycle takes roughly 90 minutes.
1. The first stage is the wake stage or stage W, which further depends on whether the eyes are open or closed. During eye-open wakefulness, beta waves predominate.
2. This is the lightest stage of sleep. This stage lasts around 1 to 5 minutes, consisting of 5% of total sleep time.
3. This stage represents deeper sleep as your heart rate and body temperate drop. It is characterized by the presence of sleep spindles This stage lasts around 25 minutes in the first cycle and lengthens with each successive cycle, eventually consisting of about 45% of total sleep
4. N3 is also known as slow-wave sleep (SWS). This stage is the most difficult to awaken from, and, for some people, even loud noises (> 100 decibels) will not awaken them. This is the stage when the body repairs and regrows tissues, builds bone and muscle and strengthens the immune system. This is also the stage when sleepwalking, night terrors, and bedwetting occurs.
5. REM or rapid eye movement is associated with dreaming and is not considered a restful sleep stage. This stage usually starts 90 minutes after you fall asleep, with each of your REM cycles getting longer throughout the night. The first period typically lasts 10 minutes, with the final one lasting up to an hour. REM is when dreaming, nightmares, and penile/clitoral tumescence occur.
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is the stage of sleep where most dreams happen. During REM sleep, your brain activity looks very similar to brain activity while you’re awake. REM sleep makes up about 25% of your total time asleep.
Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep, that is N1, N2 AND N3, is involved in declarative memory consolidation, where sleep spindles, which are basically a pattern of brain waves people experience during certain stages of sleep, serve as an important marker of consolidation.
changes in spindle characteristics have been identified in response to both declarative, cognitively complex procedural memory consolidation as well as procedural skills memory.
A potential marker of this learning effect may be theta activity. A wealth of literature has shown that hippocampal theta activity is involved in processes that support the encoding of memories, and in particular, long-term potentiation. Long-term potentiation, or LTP, is a process by which synaptic connections between neurons become stronger with frequent activation. LTP is thought to be a way in which the brain changes in response to experience, and thus may be an mechanism underlying learning and memory
Likewise, sleep supports acquiring a new language through a different channel called offline memory processing.
Offline memory reprocessing has been used to refer to the process during which the brain cuts out normal input from the outside world, and looks for older memories that are relevant to memories from the recent past to see if the older memories can be usefully linked to the newer ones.
Studies have demonstrated that sleep enhances SLL in naturalistic settings, as a whole,as well as specific aspects of language learning including assigning meaning to words, enhancing phonological speech production, speech perception, integrating words into the mental lexicon, and learning implicit grammar.
What are naturalistic settings?
Naturalistic observation involves observing people in natural environments, like their home, work or a place that they enjoy visiting, to understand their normal routines and behaviors, and to avoid anxious feelings that may happen in a clinical setting.
In conclusion we could say two things:
The first thing is that:
NREM sleep has been found to support basic features of language learning such as speech perception. NREM sleep is implicated in aspects of language learning that contain a declarative component, such as assigning meaning to words36 and integrating words into the mental lexicon. REM sleep is important for procedural memory consolidation of rules and strategies: abilities that are important for language processes such as grammatical skills.
The second thing is that:
Sleep spindles may contribute to declarative memory consolidation for aspects of SLL such as word meaning, sounds, and grammar during the early phase of SLL.
Interestingly, other studies have shown that a day-time nap has a positive, consolidating effect on language (i.e., vocabulary or word names) learning which exceeds effects of the same intensity of active rest or interfering activity, possibly due to the slow-wave sleep or REM sleep phases that are absent during mere rest.
Furthermore, recent evidence suggests that a period of sleep such as a short nap after a motor learning task is a relevant factor for memory consolidation. Motor learning involves learning a skilled task and then practicing with a goal in mind until the skill is executed automatically.
It turns out that naps also help learn and retain better new words and meanings. Not all learnt information is retained after sleep however and which memories benefit from sleep and which do not remains to be fully specified. There is increasing evidence that sleep works as a filter by predominantly strengthening memories that are adaptive or of relevance to the future
#019 – The secret of nutrition and cognition.
Hi everybody my name is Gabi and today we’re going to talk about the role of nutrition in language acquisition.
This is going to be the last episode in this three-block series of episodes which includes sports and language acquisition, sleep spindles and memory consolidation for language acquisition and this one last episode, which I named nutrition and cognition.
For starters:Do you know that the foods you eat impact your health?
This is a question we all invariably ask ourselves. And the answer is yes. Absolutely. Food definetely has an impact on our health.
Most importantly, what you eat can have negative effects on the most complex organ in your body: your brain! Amazingly, the food you eat affects neurons, which are the major cells of the brain. In the brain, an unhealthy diet that is rich in fats and sugars causes inflammation of neurons and inhibits the formation of new neurons.
This can affect the way the brain works and contribute to brain disorders like depression. On the other hand, a diet that contains healthy nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, is beneficial for brain health. Such a diet improves the formation of neurons and leads to improved thinking, attention, and memory. In sum, a healthy diet makes the brain happy, so we should all pay attention to what we eat.
Nutrition can affect the brain throughout the life cycle, with profound implications for mental health and degenerative disease. Many aspects of nutrition, from entire diets to specific nutrients, affect brain structure and function.
But The role of nutrition in cognitive neuroscience is complex because, as with all aspects of nutrition, it is multifactorial. The concern is not simply with the impact of a single chemical on the brain but with multiple nutrients, metabolites and interacting factors.
There is a direct relationship between the foods we eat and the functioning of our brains. Proper, healthy nutrition can benefit the brain in several positive ways. A healthy diet can increase the production of new neurons, a process called neurogenesis which is a process ny which neurons are formed on the brain.
What we eat can also affect the synapcitc plasticity which is the ability of the connections between neurons to become stronger or weaker over time.
Synaptic plasticity is simply a measure of the number of connections between neurons. The more the connections between neurons the better they can communicate, and the better we can learn, think, and memorize.
Okay, all of this is fine, we say that nutrition affects cognition?
But let’s take a look at what cognition really means. Cognition refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge and the integration of these processes into responses such as learning, attention, memory, intelligence (intelligence quotient; IQ) and consciousness. Many aspects of nutrition, from entire diets to individual nutrients, have been implicated in cognition, mental health, dysfunction and disease.
Recent research suggests that there other factors are of particular importance: early environment and genetic variability.
When the fetal weight is estimated to be below its gestational age there can be many nutritional deficits.
This problem has both immediate and long-term consequences for mental health because many of these infants are at major risk of impaired neurodevelopment and neurobehaviour, including multiple cognitive deficits in memory and learning. Being born below the right weight has effects on IQ, depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia.
All of these problems seem to affect more men than women so that is why we say they are gender-specific. Likewise, being born below the right weight results in having has a reduced hippocampal volume at term age, as well as less-mature brain function.
Despite considerable controversy, substantial evidence suggests that both maternal and infant nutrition have a critical role in later brain function. Maternal n-3 fatty acid intake at 32 weeks of gestation is directly related to the child’s IQ at 8 years of age.
Genetic variability refers to the tendency of individual genetic characteristics in a population to vary from one another. It may also refer to the potential of a genotype to change or deviate when exposed to environmental or genetic factors.
And this is when the Mediterranean diet kicks in
Mediterranean diet
What is the Mediterranean Diet?
The Mediterranean Diet is a way of eating that emphasizes plant-based foods and healthy fats.
In general, if you follow a Mediterranean Diet, you’ll eat:
- Lots of vegetables, fruit, beans, lentils and nuts.
- Lots of whole grains, like whole-wheat bread and brown rice.
- Plenty of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) as a source of healthy fat.
- A moderate amount of fish, especially fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids.
- A moderate amount of cheese and yogurt.
- Little or no meat, choosing poultry instead of red meat.
- Little or no sweets, sugary drinks or butter.
- A moderate amount of wine with meals (but if you don’t already drink, don’t start).
A dietitian can help you modify this diet as needed based on your medical history, underlying conditions, allergies and preferences.
What are the benefits of the Mediterranean Diet?
The Mediterranean Diet has many benefits, including:
- Lowering your risk of casdiovascular disease.
- Supporting a body weight that’s healthy for you.
- Supporting healthy blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol.
- Lowering your risk of metabolic syndrome.
- Supporting a healthy balance of gut microbiota (bacteria and other microorganisms) in your digestive system.
- Lowering your risk for certain types of cancer.
- Slowing the decline of brain function as you age.
- Helping you live longer.
What are fatty acids and why are they important?
Fatty acids are the building blocks of the fat in our bodies and in the food we eat. During digestion, the body breaks down fats into fatty acids, which can then be absorbed into the blood. Fatty acid molecules are usually joined together in groups of three, forming a molecule called a triglyceride.
These fatty acids enhance memory, mood and behaviour and reduce the symptoms of depression. By contrast, deficiency of n-3 fatty acids is linked with increased risk of dyslexia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.
Fatty acids: n-3 and n-6 are of particular importance for our bodies.
What foods contain omega-3 and omega-6 fats?
- fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, arctic char and trout.
- eggs (including omega-3 enriched)
- flaxseeds and flaxseed oil.
- walnuts.
- soybeans.
- tofu.
- canola oil.
- fortified foods like some margarines, juices and yogurts.
Recent research suggests that it is not simply the level of n-3 fatty acids but the balance between n-3 and n-6 fatty acid intakes that is critical for optimal mental health.
#020 – Fun ways to learn foreign languages!
Hi everybody, my name is Gabi and today we’re going to talk about four fun ways to learn a language that do not involve munching on your grammar textbooks.
1. The first way is by engaging in creative writing.
Yes, that’s right. Writing can be an exciting and very motivating process of learning a foreign language.
All of us are, without exception, creative and inventive.
This is probably the reason we all love platforms such as Netflix, we love action movies, we love soap operas, tv shows and so on. We love to see our favorite actors performing different roles in incredible and exiting fantastic worlds.
Moreover, writing opens up your consciousness in ways you would have never imagined.
Yes, I know this might sound obvious to you but when you write a story your whole mind becomes quickly engaged and excited by the process of creating something beautiful and unique.
A story that only you could have created. You start to look for words in order to create your story, which means you improve and enlarge your vocabulary and you start to wonder about new ways to express a set of ideas using the right grammar.
In other words, Writing is awesome. Especially if it is creative writing. Most often, such texts take the form of poems or stories.
Creative writing normally refers to the production of texts which have an aesthetic rather than a purely informative, instrumental or pragmatic purpose.
One of the chief distinguishing characteristics of CW texts is a playful engagement with language, stretching and testing its rules to the limit in a guilt-free atmosphere in which taking risks is encouraged.
Such writing combines cognitive with affective modes of thinking. As the poet, Ronald Stuart Thomas once wrote, ‘Poetry is that which arrives at the intellect by way of the heart’.
What are the benefits of CW for learners?
There a dozens of ways in which CW will help you improve your language skills. Here are some of them:
Writing combines logic and intuition, which helps you develop a better understanding of how the language works.
- Perhaps you feel like you can hardly construct a sentence in the language you’re learning?
- Well, that may be true but you probably still know more words than you think!
for more of a challenge, you could try to write a short text about a friend. This is more difficult but can also be a lot of fun!
- Focus on describing your friend, their actions and the sequence of events in the story.
- Even if your sentences aren’t perfect, you can probably think of some adjectives to describe them and some verbs to talk about what they’re doing.
Don’t worry about making mistakes, just try to use the words you do know as best you can and form sentences with them.
At first, it’s best to focus on communicating ideas and meaning, even if your grammar is not correct.
You may not be able to construct perfect sentences, but if you can get your meaning across, that’s a start.
Different ways To Say The Same Thing
If you don’t happen to know how to say one thing or describe a given situation, rephrasing what you wish to say in different ways will help you learn to think and use your limited linguistic resources in creative new ways. Forcing yourself to think in different new ways will help you expand your mind.
Writing will help you reorganize chaotic elements and ideas from grammar and turn them into real stories.
Needless to say that in order to consolidate your knowledge in grammar it is a great idea to put some context around it.
If you use your grammar framed with real life situations you will learn it much quicker and much better.
Once you have your first stories ready to go you will gain confidence and start writing more and more.
Writing will also help you identify and target your weaknesses much better. It will make you realize where you need to put the focus of your effort. It’ll help you fix your mistakes and move forward.
Writing can be the prelude of real life conversations. If you write and hone your language skills, you will become much more confident when you have to use your language in real life.
- CW aids language development at all levels: grammar, vocabulary, phonology and discourse. It requires learners to manipulate the language in interesting and demanding ways in attempting to express uniquely personal meanings
As mentioned above, a key characteristic of CW is a willingness to play with the language.
Much of the teaching we do tends to focus on the left side of the brain, where our logical faculties are said to reside. CW puts the emphasis on the right side of the brain, with a focus on feelings, physical sensations, intuition and musicality. This is a healthy restoration of the balance between logical and intuitive faculties.
Perhaps most notable is the dramatic increase in self-confidence and self-esteem which CW tends to develop among learners. Learners also tend to discover things for themselves about the language… and about themselves too, thus promoting personal as well as linguistic growth, which results in self-motivation.
Regular creative writing activities help you to habitually construct sentences in the patterns of the target language rather than thinking in your native language. Grammar is best learned through examples and practice and this makes creative writing a great way to master grammatical rules.
Let’s hop on the second way of learning a foreign language.
2. Reading literature. Reading literature is the sister of creative writing. Reading and writing are two sides of the same coin.
Robert E. Scholes was an American literary critic and theorist. He is known for his ideas on fabulation and metafiction.
According to Robert, what students need is the kind of knowledge and skill that will enable them to make sense of their worlds, to determine their own interests, both individual and collective, to see through the manipulations of all sorts of texts in all sorts of media, and to express their views in some appropriate manner.
He calls attention to the value of literary study in making students more discerning users and consumers of language. In his opinion, the close and careful reading that takes place when students work with the complex and varied discourses of literature helps them to become more analytical about all forms of language.
Active learning, in this sense, means that students participate in their own education and do active things that result in learning . Furthermore, authors such as Joanne Collie and Stephen Slater consider that in reading literary texts, students have to cope with language intended for native speakers and thus they gain additional familiarity with many linguistic uses, forms and conventions of the written mode: with irony, exposition, argument, narration, and so on.
Through literature, students not only see people they might never have encountered or spoken with in ordinary life, they see the world through the eyes of the characters portrayed in a story. This multicultural aspect of literature can be used to teach readers to identify cultural heritages and understand psychological change.
Wow, that was a mouthful!
In essence, we could summarize that reading literature will help you understand your own interests and views of the world. It will also help you analyze different forms of language. Especially language intended for native speakers. That is a double win for you.
An effective way in which you can learn how to best take advantage of reading literature can be performed by forming small groups of language students who will get together in order to learn a new language.
They will all read a story first and then become involved in the process of learning by participating in what is called Active learning through class discussions and Socratic Seminars.
The students could sit in a circle so they can look at each other directly. Lastly, the questions to be discussed can be divided into three categories:
Opening Questions. Normally, the Socratic Seminar starts when the teacher poses a question that any student in the class who read the book could answer. For instance, “This story is really about….,” or “What character did you empathize with and why?
The aim of the opening question is to give every student a chance to talk, be heard, and ideally gain confidence.
The role of the teacher at this point in the seminar is only to listen, not to critique or clarify.
Core Questions.
These questions are rooted in the text but are still open-ended and challenging so as to promote a thoughtful dialogue. “How” and “Why” questions work particularly well, and also questions that induce students to evaluate characters’ actions, relationships, and motives. As the seminar progresses, the teacher/facilitator may intervene to ask follow-up questions if the arguments are not clear and to invite reluctant participants to get involved.
Closing Questions.
The aim of these questions is to encourage participants to apply the ideas presented to their particular experiences and to have them express their personal opinions. Answering these closing questions does not require use of the text but provides students with the chance to share their own perspectives.
Some examples are: “How do the ideas in the text relate to our lives?” “Is it right that society establishes differences between people’s social class?”
Inspiring and encouraging students to become active participants, use the target language to talk about their personal views and see language and literature as tools for self-development are not simple and effortless tasks, but these should be the new challenges for teachers, or at least for outstanding teachers.
It is not about being the source of knowledge but about having students gain the knowledge by themselves as the practice of the Socratic Seminar illustrates.
Now let’s hop on the third way to learn a language:
learning games and activities is by far the most fun way to learn something new.
The best way to learn a new language is to make it fun. The more you enjoy what you’re doing, the more likely you’ll retain information.
And this is why we should play in order to learn.
Here are some of my favorite games:
Charades:
charades plural : a game in which some of the players try to guess a word or phrase from the actions of another player who may not speak
2. Bingo
You can use the popular game of Bingo by using cards in the language you’re learning. To make it more challenging, the Bingo caller can say words in English and the people playing have to identify the term in the language they’re learning
3. Pictionary
Pictionary is a word/sketch game played in teams. Players work in teams and try to get their teammates to guess the secret word by drawing a picture that represents the word, similarly to acting the word out in Charades.
8. Watch a movie in original version.
This can be great language-learning tools because you can hear the words spoken in the language you’re learning as you read them on the screen. This helps not just with vocabulary, but with pronunciation.
9. Listen to music and read the lyrics.
Listening to music in the language you’re learning can help you master pronunciation and learn to sing in that language as well as speak.
#021 – The key to feel integrated in a new culture with Sociolinguistics.
Hi everybody, my name is Gabi and today we’re going to talk about an interesting but controversial subject.
I recently spoke to an acquaintance of mine who happens to be Italian, specifically from Catania, Sicily, about a linguistic and social aspect of Catalonia which I always found to be true and interesting.
This is a controversial subject for many, but as I have come to realize there is always a modicum of truth to be found in controversies and why not sometimes there is even a treasure of wisdom to be found in social and linguistic controversies such as this one.
My acquaintance moved a year ago to Barcelona. He doesn’t speak Spanish very well yet, but he hasn’t failed to notice that there is something off-putting about customer service here. Specifically, in Catalan small businesses.
And what is it exactly, you might wonder?
Well, he says that whenever he goes to buy food to take away from any of those smaller family-run businesses which have small pre-cooked and prepared dishes to take away he encounters the same problem. It goes like this: He first enters the shop and queues up in silence while he looks at the food on display to choose from.
When it is his turn to order he smiles and tries to proceeds to try to order a dish from the employee. He realizes right away that his lack of command in Spanish and Catalan deems him as a very unattractive customer. Possibly regarded as a tourist. Very unpopular thing to be here.
The fact that he cannot read the room yet, that is, the fact that he cannot understand the local social clues in order to know what is actually going on in the room, in a social sense, that is, he cannot read between the lines, makes him stand out from the crowd in a bad way. Well, we could say that there is some prejudice here I guess.
The employee at the counter would typically look at him with disdain and with a grin in their face and keep on talking to the other employee who’s probably standing next to her.
The fact that my friend is incapable of reading the social situation correctly and adjust his behavior and tune his language skills in order to get this food in public makes him feel rejected very often. And this isn’t just a linguistic matter, but it is rather a socio-linguistic matter.
But what is it exactly? Is it an example of xenophobia?
It can’t be racism, for the man in question is caucasian. You could say he looks Mediterranean just like any other Spaniard.
So it must be xenophobia, right?
What is xenophobia?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary xenophobia is : thefear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign. Including a foreign culture or accent. Etc. Okay, interesting stuff.
Anything that seems to be foreign, or strange or different would be a reason for somebody to reject this person. That is xenophobiaNow, is it true that speaking Catalan takes you further in the eyes of the locals? I would definitely say yes with capital letters after living here for over 20 years.
How true is it that those small businesses wish to cater only for locals? Well, very true in my experience I would say.
Is it a good business idea? I don’t think so, but hey if you wish to preserve the identity of the districts this is a good mandatory linguistic restriction, right?
Let’s go back to the story though.
Okay, when he realizes he’s not being well-catered for, he just decides to leave the shop and look for food elsewhere. He feels disrespected and forgotten. He feels the slap of indifference right across his face.
Why is he perceiving in the air that he doesn’t fit? Why? He speaks enough to order food. After all, it is a business and presumably they want customers, right? Mmm…. But ideally, what customers?
I want to put a reference frame to his experience and essentially give you an example of why he might be onto something after all.
I worked many years in the harbor of Barcelona. I worked in a Catalan family-run business. We had a few boats which would tour tourists around the port and along the coastline of Barcelona. When I started working there I noticed a lot of local families would come to take their children on the smaller tours with us.
It had been a family tradition for hundreds of families since 1892 when the company was first founded. Most of the families would speak exclusively Catalan and likewise would indirectly demand employees to speak to them back in Catalan. That was a huge unspoken rule. It was understood it had been that way for more than a hundred years and it was not going to change.
By the same token, my boss, his wife, the accountant, her fiancé and most of the other workers spoke Catalan as well. So obviously people would greet and talk to you in a favorable and familiar manner if you spoke Catalan. They were in a safe space. So to speak.
So, understanding this truth made me realize how history sculpts the hearts and lives of people through generations. How in the times of the Spanish dictatorship Catalan was prohibited and it was the language spoken only within family settings. How polarized and politicized this society is in respect to linguistic matters has become is still mind-blowing to me.
Interestingly, the fact that a newcomer speaks Catalan is not enough. A person who values this language and its social and cultural heritage will indeed integrate this society primarily by means of speaking the language.
But there has to be cultural transformations as well in the person that are not readily available or that are not acquired in a classroom or academic setting, but that can only be understood and properly comprehended through vital experience.
And this is key gentlemen. It is the emotional experience in a linguistic environment which leaves an emotional imprint in the hearts of those who speak a language.
We must understand that languages do not grow in vacuum but grow in cultural spaces.
In other words, there is knowledge to be found and learned when you live in a foreign country that can only be learned there, in the place. By means of befriending a local and making him or her become your best friend.
Or even better, to make a closely nit circle of friends. With all the emotional upheavals that having close friendships like that entail. We need to laugh and cry in that language. You need to truly live it in order to make truly live within you.
What is that mean? Well, it essentially means that you are not to only speak the language with a 100% accuracy, but understand and commit to the culture wholeheartedly.
Here you have a little backstory of how the reverse can be true too.
How does someone who speak Catalan as their mother tongue face the desintegration of his language and its revival decades later?
By means of migration.
I will talk about my dad’s case.
My dad is Catalan. He is a Barcelona man, born and bred. He met my mother writing letters to each other via a pen pal service very much in vogue at the time. He brought my mother to Barcelona and married her at the Corpus Christi Church in September 1969, in the Gràcia district.
Six months later after their marriage my mum realized she did not like it here, she was very home sick, and decided it was time to come back to Colombia to be with her family. She was pregnant with my elder sister.
My father basically followed her and settled in Colombia with my mother and his family-in-law.
My siblings and me were born and grew up there until a huge financial crisis erupted and we had to come back, as it were, to the roots, around 20 years ago. As I developed a liking for foreign languages while growing up I would ask my dad to speak to me in Catalan.
He would teach me some basic vocabulary and phrases that I would retain for a few days and then forget. I would occasionally hear him talk to Gloria, his sister, in Catalan over the phone. My dad was born in 1947 in Barcelona on Avellà St. n.6. 2-1; very close to the Cathedral of Barcelona.
He was actually baptized in the cathedral as his mother knew a lady who belonged to the upper class who helped her take my dad and get him baptized there. His mum in exchange would sometimes take care of the carving of the Santo Cristo de Lepanto in a chapel of the Cathedral.
My dad’s mum became pregnant from this wealthy man, who was my grandad. He was originally from Santa Coloma de Farners and he already had his own family. My grandad owned several antic shops in Barcelona.
Needless to say this man never left his own family for my grandmother who was just an affair to him. But on his behalf I will say that he still offered to give my dad his last name, but my grandmother wouldn’t take it.
His mum couldn’t take care of him as a single mother so she sent my dad when he was still a baby to a place called Jardins de la Maternitat on Les Corts avenue with what I believe are called Sisters of Charity or nuns of charity, which was kind of a foster home or orphanage for children with no parents or single mums who had to work and had no money.
He lived there till he turned 10 and then between the ages of 10 to 16 he was sent to a type of religious foster home called Llars Anna Girondella de Mundet, Casa de Caritat, in La Vall d’Hebron, Horta, with the Salesian priests.
My dad went to Colombia and had to learn a new variety of Spanish and adapt himself to a new culture. Which isn’t negative per se, but he had to lose his accent in order to fit in the Colombian society and gain new customs and ways of behaving in society as it was expected back then.
Four decades later he returned to his native city and had a reverse culture shock. He had to come back to his original way of speaking Spanish and regain fluency in Catalan, which admirably he did do. In the world of languages everything is possible. He not learned again his linguistic skills but he was fully employed and worked for another decade till retirement.
So much like my Italian acquaintance and my dad had to regain his original Spanish accent and he also had to hone his linguistic skills in his mother tongue too. So he had to practice enough and remember Catalan again.
This shows that people not only have to learn a new language but have to live in the place to understand what is culturally admissible and even desirable in every given situation. It’s the unspoken rule of languages, I guess.
Thanks for putting up with me and don’t forget to susbcribe!
#022 – What makes Sociolinguistics so awesome!?
Hi everybody my name is Gabi and welcome back to my show. First of all, I want to thank you for listening to me and I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
I took a small hiatus to spend the holidays with my family. My sister and her husband and their beautiful daughters came over to visit us from France. They brought many gifts and received many gifts and many kisses. I hope you had a lovely time off as well with your loved ones.
Okay, let’s cut to the chase because our precious time is limited.
Today I’m gonna talk about sociolinguistics. I’m gonna discuss what we understand by sociolinguistics and why it is relevant for this podcast.
I’m also going to discuss some of the main topics in sociolinguistics. Personally, I think this is a pretty fascinating and totally awesome area of languages in general.
Here’s a few definitions I took from different places:
1. Sociolinguistics is the study of the sociological aspects of language. The discipline examines how different social factors, such as ethnicity, gender, age, class, occupation, education, and geographical location can influence language use and maintain social roles within a community. In simple terms, sociolinguistics is interested in the social dimensions of language.
2. the study of how language is used by different groups in society that’s Cambridge dictionary.
3. I found a beautiful definition on Britannica:
Sociolinguistics, the study of the sociological aspects of language The discipline concerns itself with the part language plays in maintaining the social roles in a community.
Sociolinguists attempt to isolate those linguistic features that are used in particular situations and that mark the various social relationships among the participants and the significant elements of the situation. Influences on the choice of sounds, grammatical elements, and vocabulary items may include such factors as age, sex, education, occupation, race, and peer-group identification, among others.
For example, an American English speaker may use such forms as “He don’t know nothing” or “He doesn’t know anything,” depending on such considerations as his level of education, race, social class or consciousness. Some languages, such as Japanese, there is an intricate system of linguistic forms that indicate the social relationship of the speaker to the hearer.
Social dialects which exhibit a number of socially significant language forms, serve to identify the status of speakers; this is especially evident in England, where social dialects transcend regional dialect boundaries.
Ok. I think you grabbed the gist of it. As you see there are many topics and subtopics to choose from because the very nature of Sociolinguistics is huge.
So, let’s just name four of the main ones:
let’s begin with Language and identity:
Languages symbolize identities and are used to signal identities by those who speak them. People are also categorized by other people according to the language they speak. We all have many social identities: we can be Danish and a Barca or Manchester supporter at the same time.
Every social group also has its own language or variety of language: a regional language has its own ways of speaking, for example: Texan American English is very specific and has its own vocabulary, etc. The supporters of the Barca team will have their own jargon and songs which gives a sense of belonging to the group.
We often identify very strongly with the language we speak, there is a national sense of belonging to a group. Sometimes we may see that one language corresponds to one nationality but very often this is not the case. For example in Russia many different regional languages and dialects are spoken.
Usually official languages are taught at school as a subject and obviously are used to teach other subjects.
Sometimes the fact that only official languages of a country are encouraged to be learned means that the native language of an immigrant may be forgotten altogether or neglected and because there is a strong sense of belonging and a sense of identity between language and nationality an immigrant may forget and even start to dislike his parent’s language feeling he or she no longer belongs to that group.
Likewise learning a new subject or even starting a new career for example in chemistry may lead a student to learn or acquire the terminology of the new subject and make them belong to a new group. Like a chemist.
Languages and varieties of language (subtle variations or major differences of pronunciation and grammar) are ways of expressing and recognizing the many social identities people have. Social id
People can talk in different ways depending on the different groups they belong to and they will tend to use one way or another of speaking when the right opportunity arises.
1. There languages and their varieties
For example, a group can be made of few or many individuals such as a married couple, or a a set of friends, and they may use a certain type of language, for example a set of words or vocabulary associated to a particular context that only they know. Typically couples create their own neologisms and expressions which are associated to a private context and private emotions that only they know.
So you may like to call your spouse my ‘’my cute little mouse’’ within a specific frame of mind and emotions that means something typically endearing. However, if you used that same expression, my cute little mouse when performing a neurological surgery on a patient as a Neurosurgeon then that would sound very cringe to the ears of the other surgeons and medical stuff. You would probably be told to watch your language and be professional.
Or as large as a nation, where everyone understands the allusions in their shared language (often allusions to shared history, to contemporary events, to media people of fact or fiction etc). The ‘secret’ language of the smallest group and the ‘public’ language of the national group are two ‘varieties’ of the same language.
I think this may be a good moment to point out to the fact that learning a new language doesn’t necessarily grant you an all-access pass to the feeling of belonging to that particular culture in its entirety.
2. Social identities
People belong to a certain group like a family, a school, a city, a football team, a minority, etc. So they identity as x and they claim to belong to X group. They can be identified and accepted by others in that group. Or they can be rejected straight away. People who belong to an other groups may identify them with a specific group and say you belong to such and such group.
This can create a lot social tension nevertheless. If a particular group or person is taken to belong to another group that has a certain type of prejudice this may be detrimental for their well-being.
People tend to speak using different varieties depending on the person they’re speaking to or depending on the group of people they’re talking to.
We’re all born into a family and use the variety of our families. The same can be said for our group of friends. We acquire the language they use and we use certain words and expression which create an in-group mentality.
We go though life acquiring new varieties and ways of saying things. Sometimes a whole new variety is a new language in itself.
While we could say that spoken language is always learned naturally and inadvertently, we cannot say the same thing about written language and the reason for that is that written language can only be learned in a formal manner. Children learn how to read and write at school.
The school teaches the formal variety used by the state. The name of the language is related to the name of the state itself, id est, the Spanish language comes from the Spanish State.
Very often one single State may have individual varieties and so you have Catalan or Basque in Spain. Some of these varieties are official and recognized and some are not official. Catalan is official, but Sardinian or Sicilian isn’t.
That being said you don’t automatically gain access to a new society by means of speaking their language because very often the criteria you have meet to access it depends on vastly different factors, which are often either concealed from whoever wishes to integrate a new culture or are quite frankly based on prejudice.
And as we all know this sort of irrational behavior is anchored deep in our tribal minds and it takes a really long time and effort to get rid if it.
National language and national identity are reinforced by having different subjects taught at school in the national language. Likewise, having social interactions with your family and peers enhances a kind of national soul.
It is generally thought that —although no evidence seems to support these thoughts— that learning a new major language widely spoken such as English may derive in the loss of the national language coupled with the loss of national identity and pride.
There seems to be some empirical truth to that in my opinion. The more people use English in their everyday life at work, school and at home the more the cultural traits and cultural fads and modern nuances will permeate and create new ways of conveying meaning into our everyday life in detriment to the older ways of doing the same things.
This is often the case in multinational companies where there seems to be a homogenization of departments such as Human Resources in which the language they speak seems to operate as a kind of trojan horse full of new cultural ideas and fashions.
#023 – Language and ethnicity. Does my speech represent my identity?
Hi everybody, my name is Gabi and today we’re going to talk about an interesting but controversial subject once more. Navigating the seas of Sociolinguistics can be daunting territory because a lot of the literature touches on subjects that are difficult to speak about nowadays such as race, gender, ethnicity, language, sense of belonging to a community among others.
I haven’t been able to come up with one satisfactory definition for the word ethnicity. It’s turned out to be a much more elusive subject that I would’ve imagined. But here we are and I’ve concocted a preliminary definition:
Scholars in the fields of anthropology, sociology, ethnic studies, and even linguistics all have their own version of the definition of ethnicity. However, there is a more recent point of convergence in the definition as of lately.
First, ethnicity is a social construct so it isn’t tangible in any sense. It used to be the case that ethnicity was the social counterpart of the biological term race, but this categorization was discarded, because the term race turned out to be impossible to define in biological terms. the fact that “ethnicity” and “race” may be socially constructed does not mean they are purely hypothetical concepts that have no basis in reality. It does not matter if we believe race and ethnicity should or should not have major roles in our society.
On one hand, the ideologies associated with race and ethnicity create their own social realities on the other hand gender and social class are other variables to take into consideration when trying to understand the real meaning of ethnicity. And this is the reason why we tend to group together a particular race with a social class. Race and ethnicity include both self-identification and the perception of one’s identity by others. Race is especially noticeable when you first meet someone of mixed races and unconsciously struggle to categorize him or her.
Race can also vary depending on the context. For example, a darker skinned person may be categorized as white in a predominantly black environment. And that same person would be categorized as brown in a predominantly white environment. Native Americans have their community practices and their own way of assigning an ethnic background to another Native American and thus classify him or her as belonging to a specific tribe. In other groups, for instance, African Americans, the fact that you may descend from Africans does not suffice to belong to the community.
You need to adhere to certain practices in order to be accepted as a member.
A definition that I happen to like more is the following:
[Ethnic groups are] human groups that entertain a subject belief in their common descent because of similarities of physical type or of customs or both, or because of memories of colonization and What is ethnicity? . . . it does not matter whether or not an objective blood relationship exists. (Weber, cited in Smelser et al. 2001:3)
Race and ethnicity are grouped in one single definition by some authors but are separated for others by one common factor, namely, physical features. Smelser et al have their own definition of race:
“[R]ace” is a social category based on the identification of (1) a physical marker transmitted through reproduction and (2) individual, group and cultural attributes associated with that marker. D
In the us as we all know race is basically centered by two axes: black and white. In the usa there was the one drop rule in which a white woman who happens to have only one distant black ancestor is black. This leads to paradoxical cases in which a white woman can give birth to a black child but a black woman cannot give birth to a white child. In other places such as South Africa there are three categories: black, white and colored. Colored being people of mixed ancestry.
The one-drop rule sometimes doesn’t apply in some contexts. For example, in southAmerica you may have a black ancestor far back into your sixth generation and that would hardly qualify you as being black. If anything, the umbrella term latino would be a better descriptor.
Even you have happen to have one black parent, you would be described as half black at best.
The concept of ethnicity becomes less fuzzy when we take into account race as a marker. None of the other markers are as significant to the eyes of people as race to determine the ethnicity os someone. Religion, customs and ways of dressing are less prone to be ethnically recognizable than race because racial characteristics are 100% visual and thus recognizable in nature.
There is the idea of a continuum of ethnic differences among groups. Such continuum may be conceived as a group of perceptions that are relatively prominent when comparing two distinct ethnic groups. It comprises both cultural and racial markers. In the low end of the spectrum we have markers identified as ethnic and not racial in terms of phenotype and culture.
For example Irish-Americans and Italian-Americans are both recognizably different in contexts such as the previous settlements in New York. Other kinds of outward ethnic signs could be dress and religion as for instance with the Amish in Pennsylvania. Some perceptions of difference such as language are very obvious and some others such as food may be less so. For amish dress codes are extremely important in telling them apart from the rest of people.
Race could sometimes be a fuzzy element too. In Dominican Republic only Haitians count as black but in the USA any black or racially mixed Dominican would be black. Sometimes traveling make you become
Within black communities lighter-skinned black women tend to have a wider array of options to marry as opposed to darker-skinned women.
In some groups such as Mexican-Americans claiming white ancestry is viewed in disfavor so children of white and Mexican descent tend to conceal their white parent in fear of being ostracized by other members.
The ascription to race is sometimes a fuzzy classification because it tends to mutate according to the context. Italians, Irish and jews weren’t considered fully white in the same way that anglo-Saxons and Germans were when they first immigrated to America, but this changed as they integrated into American society making differences seem smaller in comparison to the rest of the groups classified as white.
They could intermarry and weren’t banned to sit on public buses the same way blacks obviously were but were nevertheless viewed differently.
Sometimes traveling will have you ascribe to more than one just ethnic group. If you happen to be black and from Panama, then in the US you would be black-latina.
Language and ethnicity
People may index several markers of their ethnicity when speaking. For example, a native New Yorker of Porto-Rican descent, a white elderly man and a Chinese-American while all New Yorkers may differentiate each other when they speak.
They may signal social-class, ethnic background and even gender. Sometimes there might even be a degree of variation.
You might signal you have higher education, but at the same time you might not want to sound too white. You might signal you’re a woman and favor woman causes, but you might not want to take a radical stance or you might not want to be seen as radical by others. According to the context speakers may want to diminish linguistic displays that index different aspects of their identities which means that speakers have a repertoire of identities.
In some communities such as the Mexican-American community thee might be a series of codes that community members draw on: standard English, regional varieties of Spanish, code-switching among others.
There are certain resources that emerge in order to build an identity:
A heritage language: Spanish. There is a certain pride that comes with it, for instance, if you speak Spanish, then you must be Spanish or have Spanish origins. In Mexican and Dominican communities in the US speaking the language, namely, Spanish, makes a person member of a community right away. Maintaining the language is a life-time effort which serves to preserve the identity of the community.
Code-switching, process of shifting from one linguistic code (a language or dialect) to another, depending on the social context or conversational setting according to Britannica. One good thing about it is the ability to voice an inherent affiliation to multiple identities at the same time.
An interesting feature of code-switching is that you can index certain types of small phonetic or syntactic nuances to your dialect.
Suprasegmental features such as intonation or syllable timing can index even more information even when speaking a standard variety of English.
People will often index multiple facets of their identity when speaking. For example, a drag queen enact an identity that relies on the audience’s knowing that they are, in fact, biologically male.
They will use words such as cute and awesome and will also use typical female intonation if they wish to convey the fact that they are representing a female version of themselves, But then at the same time they might want to index male features of language in their speech in order to index the fact that they are biologically male. They might index their race by using linguistic features of their racial background.
Code-switching is especially interesting in bilingual contexts in which people will pretty much associate a member of a community to a set of ideas and presuppositions depending on the language they speak.
This will go as far as people typically changing their demeanor towards a person if they hear that person speak a regional dialect versus the dominant language. For instance, speaking smaller dialects in Italy tend to be regarded as evidence of lack of education and narrow-mindedness while perfectly speaking the standard variety of Italian will open more doors and will rank you in a higher position.
The opposite can be said in countries where the regional language or dialect will position you higher in the local social hierarchy. That is the case of the Basque Country and Catalonia in Spain in which speaking the local languages will typically position in a higher place in society.
Striking a balance between the local variety and the dominant language simultaneously in a conversation will grant you a positive perception from everyone around because it will mean that you are well-aware of the privilege you have while also aware of the sensitivities of those less privileged than you.
The same thing goes when speaking the local variety of Spanish of your own migration diaspora in appropriate contexts and in the company of the persons who understand and feel the said variety in the same way you do and switching to the dominant version of the variety in Spain when the context demands it.
Thank you very much for listening and I hope you had a great time. Please don’t forget to subscribe.