Haven’t you ever wondered what it is that some people seem to have that makes them learn and express themselves in different languages without seemingly batting an eyelid? Has the thought: ‘oh, I’m just not built for this’ crossed your mind before? Well, let me tell you something. I used to think the same way when I was a kid, but luckily things drastically changed for me when I decided to challenge myself and tried to actually talk to native speakers in their native language.
First things first: get your grammar right from the beginning! I know, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you don’t just learn a language by doing grammar exercises from a textbook in the sense that grammar won’t take you there on its own, but grammar is essential to build the robust grounds of your language fortress. A common recipe I use is a two-step system that I like to call the survival grammar toolkit.
The survival grammar toolkit is the bare minimum you need to know in order to speak a language and make sense. It is divided in two steps; the first step tackles the need to construct basic grammar sentences by using the most common words of traditional lexical categories such as nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. The second step is the social context detailed below.
The survival grammar toolkit comprises the following:
Grammar:
1. The alphabet. Learn the alphabet and get acquainted with every new letter. Make an effort to learn the right pronunciation of every phoneme and take into account the phonetic variations of every letter (or cluster of letters) in words. Do spelling exercises and try writing new words.
2. Learn the most common regular and irregular verbs with their respective personal pronouns. Start by learning the most common regular verbs and start to notice what the verb roots are and what the verb inflections are in the present tense. Start noticing trends in the language you’re learning.
3. Learn vocabulary that matches those verbs and lexical items you previously learned and start building your own phrases that are appropriate and that make sense context-wise.
Social context:
Take into account what the social setting is. If you happen to be in a more relaxed setting —such as if you’re having a coffee in the terrace of a coffee shop with friends— the type of language you will use will be heavily influenced by it. Remember that the way we speak is perceived by others as an indicator of who we are and with whom we identify. It inadvertently gives others clues on our socio-economic background, nationality, ethnicity, gender and political ideology among others.
Start to notice what the linguistic nuances are in the language you’re learning. Investigate what men and women sound like, what type of differences are there in their speech, if there are any, what differences are in terms of vocabulary between children and adults, what the different ethnicities sound like, if there’s any urban dialects such as verlan in France, which share features with the cockney accent. Both dialects use back slang, that is, words pronounced backwards. Cockney is the accent spoken in the East-End of London; and start to swiftly delve into the heart of the culture and language you’re getting acquainted to.
I can’t emphasize enough why you should think about these two steps when you just start learning a language. It is your free pass to access a new level of communication. Namely, one that makes sense in the real world.
Check out why you shouldn’t let fear stop you from achieving your language goals:
https://learninglanguagesinsocietywithgabi.com/article001_fear
Check the tweet below and let me know what you think in the comment section below.