Name: Jack
Studying: French, Spanish and Portuguese
Mother Tongue: French and English
Strongest Language: French
Future Plans: Teaching, Travel, Writing Novels and Short Stories
1. Why do you want to learn languages? Languages make travel and communication easier and they provide insight into different cultures and societies. Language opens the door to the world. They are also an AMAZING skill to have, favoured by all employers and often just very impressive.
2. Why these particular languages? I’m already bilingual, speaking English, French and Creole (An Island Dialect), so Spanish was a no-brainer for me. Being one of the most widely spoken languages it has obvious strategic appeal. It I love Hispanic culture, particularly Latin American. I love the music and grew up listening to Gloria Estefan, Silvio Rodriguez and have always been fascinated with that part of the world without having the opportunity to travel there. Portuguese followed on from there, for its usefulness in Brazil and lusophone Africa as well a Europe.
3. What kinds of resources helped you in your University Language learning? I’m not a conventional language learner as a Dyslexic/Dyspraxic I find Grammar rules and linguistics quite complicated and hard to grasp, and learning things off by heart does not work for me! I like to use more authentic resources such as music, films, native speakers on the news, in interviews or in person, books etc. I believe you learn language best when immersed in it, so I try to surround myself with Spanish: playing music or movies, having words of songs or poems up on my walls, writing texts in it and speaking it to whoever will listen (and occasionally to myself!). Anything can be a resource really, I put my email accounts, mobile phone, computer, facebook account, camera etc into Spanish or Portuguese and you wouldn't believe how much that helps with undertstanding and confidence!
4. How do you improve your Reading? Writing? Speaking? Listening? I improve my reading by simply: Reading. Practice makes perfect. I use a technique of highlighting everything in a text that I DO understand, and speculating on what I DON’T, before looking it up or asking someone.
I improve my writing by again, simply: Writing, I practice writing all kinds of genres of Texts. I write summaries to practice vocabulary; commentaries and essays to practise structure and register; leaflets, stories and articles to practice fluency, and email exchanges with penpals or texting friends to build up competency and learn colloquial usage.
I try to speak as much as possible in Spanish to native and non-native fellow students like myself. I also have little debates in my head sometimes of a particular theme, and speak aloud to myself when hovering or doing the dishes alone. I also learn the words to songs and sing them to practice pronunciation, intonation and cadence, and I find this REALLY helps.
I don’t really practice listening as it comes to be as a byproduct of all the other skills. I listen to music, movies, news reports and my friends speaking Spanish and absorb it quite subconsciously I guess…
5. What are your Strengths and Weaknesses in learning Spanish? I’m a self-starter and that really helps. I also connect language with the context, it isn’t just a set of rules for me, its relevant to what I see on the news, what I hear in Shakira’s latest song, what I read in the Newspapers everyday.
My weakness is that I often overlook the details of language learning as they frustrate me, and this is detrimental to the progress of my formal and academic Spanish. I should spend more time on my writing and formal register.
6. What is the hardest part of learning Spanish? The Grammar and the subjunctive. As someone with learning difficulties, learning finicky little details like gender or complex and rare conjugations goes completely over my head, and I struggle to retain rules and irregularities. I also don’t respond well to many formal language learning resources such as text books and even some teachers as they adopt a linguistic point of view using lots of linguistic Jargon that always means very little to me. I may not know what the subordinate, colocative clause of the third person in a cognate is, but I do know how to use it!
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Interview with a Portuguese Language Student
Name: Catalina
Studying: Spanish and Portuguese
Mother Tongue: English
Strongest Language: Portuguese
Future Plans: Travel, Charity/Missionary work and possibly Teaching
1. Why do you want to learn languages? I began learning Portuguese because I started attending a Portuguese speaking church and I wanted to communicate with my boyfriend’s family who are Brazilian. The benefits of learning Portuguese for job opportunities did not have anything to do with my decision to pick up the language.
2. How long have you been learning Portuguese? For just over three years although I didn't really have any guidance or support from teachers in the first two years. At the moment I can understand most Portuguese literature and have a conversation with a native Portuguese speaker about anything (within reason- nothing about science and stuff!) My pronunciation is one of my strengths. I have quite a good knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. But I need to improve on more formal Portuguese.
3. What kinds of resources helped you in your Learning? Going to church and listening to Portuguese throughout the services was a great help when I started learning. Speaking to Brazilians helped to improve my pronunciation and pick up vocabulary and grammar. It also helped with my confidence. The main thing that helped was that I was completely surrounded by Brazilians most of the time so learning was more real and practical. It was and still is a lot more fun that way. On the other hand I wish I had used more resources like grammar books to make sure I was speaking correctly. Now I spend more time reading and looking through books and guides rather than practicing my speaking.
4. How do you improve your Reading? Writing? Speaking? Listening? I improve my listening by watching the news in Portuguese and taking notes, and watching films.. I improve my reading by just practicing and making sure I understand what the text is about instead of focusing just on words that I don't know. I improve my writing by using synonyms and using new words.
5. What is the hardest part of learning Portuguese? The hardest thing in Portuguese is the difference between Portuguese from Portugal and from Brazil and the fact that the books are not always reliable on which word is used where. My advice would be to focus on your weakness because I was very happy (and still am) to chat to someone in Portuguese but I always put off writing something which meant my speaking is much better than my writing. Spend more time on the things you are least comfortable at doing. And hopefully you will get better at the weaknesses and you will be a more well rounded Portuguese speaker! Yeah but don't stress just have fun with it! =)
Studying: Spanish and Portuguese
Mother Tongue: English
Strongest Language: Portuguese
Future Plans: Travel, Charity/Missionary work and possibly Teaching
1. Why do you want to learn languages? I began learning Portuguese because I started attending a Portuguese speaking church and I wanted to communicate with my boyfriend’s family who are Brazilian. The benefits of learning Portuguese for job opportunities did not have anything to do with my decision to pick up the language.
2. How long have you been learning Portuguese? For just over three years although I didn't really have any guidance or support from teachers in the first two years. At the moment I can understand most Portuguese literature and have a conversation with a native Portuguese speaker about anything (within reason- nothing about science and stuff!) My pronunciation is one of my strengths. I have quite a good knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. But I need to improve on more formal Portuguese.
3. What kinds of resources helped you in your Learning? Going to church and listening to Portuguese throughout the services was a great help when I started learning. Speaking to Brazilians helped to improve my pronunciation and pick up vocabulary and grammar. It also helped with my confidence. The main thing that helped was that I was completely surrounded by Brazilians most of the time so learning was more real and practical. It was and still is a lot more fun that way. On the other hand I wish I had used more resources like grammar books to make sure I was speaking correctly. Now I spend more time reading and looking through books and guides rather than practicing my speaking.
4. How do you improve your Reading? Writing? Speaking? Listening? I improve my listening by watching the news in Portuguese and taking notes, and watching films.. I improve my reading by just practicing and making sure I understand what the text is about instead of focusing just on words that I don't know. I improve my writing by using synonyms and using new words.
5. What is the hardest part of learning Portuguese? The hardest thing in Portuguese is the difference between Portuguese from Portugal and from Brazil and the fact that the books are not always reliable on which word is used where. My advice would be to focus on your weakness because I was very happy (and still am) to chat to someone in Portuguese but I always put off writing something which meant my speaking is much better than my writing. Spend more time on the things you are least comfortable at doing. And hopefully you will get better at the weaknesses and you will be a more well rounded Portuguese speaker! Yeah but don't stress just have fun with it! =)
Interview with a French Language Student
Name: Channah
Studying: French, German and Russian with a little Japanese
Mother Tongue: English
Strongest Language: German
Future Plans: Linguistics and Teaching probably
1. Why do you want to learn languages? It’s really interesting and exciting - unless you learn and study it you don't realize all the complex things that go on inside your head when trying to construct sentences and speak everyday. Grammar is fun. You can learn rules which you then have to apply all the time when using the language. I also like how when first learning a language, how you can see yourself improving as you learn more vocabulary and grammatical structures, and it is really satisfying as you see yourself progressing and becoming more confident
2. Why these particular languages? I have always studied French and don’t want to stop learning. German is really grammatically interesting and I feel a lot more confident in speaking this language. Russian is exciting. Its alphabet is like a code and once you know which sound each character represents you feel you have achieved a lot and it opens up possibilities of understanding so much more. Just started doing lunchtime taster Japanese course – again, another (or in fact 3 different) alphabets is challenging but really satisfying to learn.
3. How long have you been learning them? I have been learning French since I was 11. At GCSE the language seemed to ‘click’ for me. Currently, I understand the majority of French that I hear and I really enjoy reading and writing but I lack a lot of confidence with speaking. It’s almost as if a barrier comes up when I’m in certain situations with French – I have no confidence and consequently I’m unable to say anything.I started German 3 years ago at the beginning of A-Levels. I am now at a similar level in German as in French. This year I have become more confident with speaking German, I think because I live with another student studying German and we often speak German together. I like feeling equal when speaking a foreign language and that rarely happens with native speakers so that may be why I often get quite nervous and say very little in the presence of native speakers.I have been learning Russian for about a year. I found learning Russian quite frustrating at first as I wasn’t able to express all the things I could in my other languages.
4. What kinds of resources helped you in your Language learning? At GCSE and A Level, we spent an hour a week with the language assistants and I got a lot out of this. My language assistants from my school are probably the only native speakers I am reasonably comfortable speaking to and still like to keep in contact with them. I enjoy reading looking at Grammar Books as they provide the key to how the language works. When I first started learning German, I got myself quite a concise grammar book which I read and learnt the main, important grammatical differences which I’d have to get to grips with in order to pick up the language. I am still surprised how easily I managed to do this in such a short space of time. I really enjoyed finding out about the grammatical differences and similarities between German, French and English.
5. What resource do you hope to make use of in the future? Maybe speaking more to native speakers… although sometimes, I prefer learning languages without the help of native speakers. I think it’s really cool how non-native speakers of different languages communicate together – it’s a shame that English is often the lingua franca. I often think it doesn’t matter whether one sounds native or makes mistakes as long as the speaker is competent enough to get a message across, however, I don’t like the thought that I will sound foreign and make mistakes, even if they might be able to understand me perfectly well.
6. How do you improve your Reading? Writing? Speaking? Listening? I like to keep mini flashcards of new vocabulary I learn and I listen to podcasts in the target language, just to get used to listening to that language. I also put the language of my phone, email homepage and other computer accounts like facebook and Blackboard into French so I get used to seeing the it on a regular day-to-day basis.
7. What is the hardest part of learning French? Probably the fact that I’ve been learning the language since I was 11, but I still make so many mistakes and even if I keep learning the language for the rest of my life, there are always going to be things I get wrong and I will always have an English accent when speaking French. This might sound like quite a negative attitude, but I think, once you realize this, but love learning languages nonetheless, it means you don’t have to set yourself the near-impossible task of native-like competency, but can relax and enjoy learning it with the aim of being the best second-language learner of French that you can be.
Studying: French, German and Russian with a little Japanese
Mother Tongue: English
Strongest Language: German
Future Plans: Linguistics and Teaching probably
1. Why do you want to learn languages? It’s really interesting and exciting - unless you learn and study it you don't realize all the complex things that go on inside your head when trying to construct sentences and speak everyday. Grammar is fun. You can learn rules which you then have to apply all the time when using the language. I also like how when first learning a language, how you can see yourself improving as you learn more vocabulary and grammatical structures, and it is really satisfying as you see yourself progressing and becoming more confident
2. Why these particular languages? I have always studied French and don’t want to stop learning. German is really grammatically interesting and I feel a lot more confident in speaking this language. Russian is exciting. Its alphabet is like a code and once you know which sound each character represents you feel you have achieved a lot and it opens up possibilities of understanding so much more. Just started doing lunchtime taster Japanese course – again, another (or in fact 3 different) alphabets is challenging but really satisfying to learn.
3. How long have you been learning them? I have been learning French since I was 11. At GCSE the language seemed to ‘click’ for me. Currently, I understand the majority of French that I hear and I really enjoy reading and writing but I lack a lot of confidence with speaking. It’s almost as if a barrier comes up when I’m in certain situations with French – I have no confidence and consequently I’m unable to say anything.I started German 3 years ago at the beginning of A-Levels. I am now at a similar level in German as in French. This year I have become more confident with speaking German, I think because I live with another student studying German and we often speak German together. I like feeling equal when speaking a foreign language and that rarely happens with native speakers so that may be why I often get quite nervous and say very little in the presence of native speakers.I have been learning Russian for about a year. I found learning Russian quite frustrating at first as I wasn’t able to express all the things I could in my other languages.
4. What kinds of resources helped you in your Language learning? At GCSE and A Level, we spent an hour a week with the language assistants and I got a lot out of this. My language assistants from my school are probably the only native speakers I am reasonably comfortable speaking to and still like to keep in contact with them. I enjoy reading looking at Grammar Books as they provide the key to how the language works. When I first started learning German, I got myself quite a concise grammar book which I read and learnt the main, important grammatical differences which I’d have to get to grips with in order to pick up the language. I am still surprised how easily I managed to do this in such a short space of time. I really enjoyed finding out about the grammatical differences and similarities between German, French and English.
5. What resource do you hope to make use of in the future? Maybe speaking more to native speakers… although sometimes, I prefer learning languages without the help of native speakers. I think it’s really cool how non-native speakers of different languages communicate together – it’s a shame that English is often the lingua franca. I often think it doesn’t matter whether one sounds native or makes mistakes as long as the speaker is competent enough to get a message across, however, I don’t like the thought that I will sound foreign and make mistakes, even if they might be able to understand me perfectly well.
6. How do you improve your Reading? Writing? Speaking? Listening? I like to keep mini flashcards of new vocabulary I learn and I listen to podcasts in the target language, just to get used to listening to that language. I also put the language of my phone, email homepage and other computer accounts like facebook and Blackboard into French so I get used to seeing the it on a regular day-to-day basis.
7. What is the hardest part of learning French? Probably the fact that I’ve been learning the language since I was 11, but I still make so many mistakes and even if I keep learning the language for the rest of my life, there are always going to be things I get wrong and I will always have an English accent when speaking French. This might sound like quite a negative attitude, but I think, once you realize this, but love learning languages nonetheless, it means you don’t have to set yourself the near-impossible task of native-like competency, but can relax and enjoy learning it with the aim of being the best second-language learner of French that you can be.
Interview with a German Language Student
Name: Autumn
Studying: English, German and Spanish at University
Mother Tongue: Hungarian
Strongest Language: English
Future Plans: Possibly teaching, Linguistics, Working for the EU, Diplomacy and D efinately Travel!!
1. Why do you want to learn languages? Personally I feel fascinated about language learning because I believe that it allows me to access a greater part of the world we live in directly and gain an insight into how other people […] think about and see the world.
2. Why these particular languages? When I started primary school I had already been learning English, so the only other option was German at the time. It was the same with French when I went to secondary school; I simply had no other option. And then Spanish was actually my own choice mainly because I felt intrigued by and wanted to explore Latin American culture.
3. How long have you been learning and how competent are you at your languages? I have studied German for 11 years, French for 6 years and it is my second year studying Spanish. In German I am quite advanced in all skill areas. I generally feel confident about using the language in various formal and informal real life situations. Surprisingly in spite of only starting Spanish one year ago I would rate my competency between pre-intermediate and intermediate and I have built up quite a lot of confidence too in such a short period.
4. What kinds of resources helped you in your Language learning? Well, at high school I was not really relying on online sources unlike now at university, it was simply not common practice at the time I guess. Instead, mainly based on the recommendation of my tutors, I used selected material in print that was designed to help language learning. Also, I enjoy reading simply for pleasure in foreign languages, so for example I have read books and magazines. And not to forget native speakers and other language learners as excellent resources; I have always liked practising with others.
5.What resource do you wish you had made better use of from the start of your language learning? Definitely other speakers [of the language] whether they are also language learners or native speakers. Besides that, I would say the unlimited variety of resources on the internet.
6. How do you improve your Reading? Writing? Speaking? Listening? When I read I like […] to underline and highlight things I find noteworthy. I have developed my own elaborate marking system to work with texts, using different codes and symbols. I find this method much more effective than solely listing words in a book. It slightly changes the outcome of reading when I decide to focus on the theme of the text and only try to pick out elements that are directly linked to this theme. While at high school I also used to write summaries and commentaries on readings and form questions to them as if I was designing my own listening comprehension task.
With respect to improving my writing skills I now benefit from sending emails to my foreign friends or my fellow students. Or even just texting my friends in a foreign language who study the same language does help. Apart from that especially in German I used to write my own stories or topic-based essays and imaginary letters that really improved my writing skills.
To improve speaking there is the good old method of memorising dialogues by heart so one can then apply those phrases in real life. I know it may well sound a bit boring but it actually worked out well for me in German. Also, having at least one form of a safe environment where one feels comfortable to speak up is essential. It can be a class or a group of friends or a language teacher or a native-speaker friend, there are numerous options.
In order to improve my listening skills I search recordings online. For example newspaper websites normally have news clips and one can always find interesting ones. They are nice because one can go back and listen to them several times as opposed to listening to a live radio show for example. I like watching movies with foreign sounds and subtitles and I listen to foreign music over and over so I cannot actually help gradually understanding more of the lyrics just by being exposed to it constantly. I have had the chance to benefit from having conversations with native speakers, so if one has an opportunity to do so I would highly recommend not missing it; it is probably the most effective and authentic way to improve listening and speaking skills.
7. What is the hardest part of learning German? For me personally the hardest part of learning German is regional differences in pronunciation and colloquial phrases in everyday speech. Even though German is considered to be a “difficult language”, I would recommend trying to enjoy it and make use of it! Most importantly, find some kind of motivation for YOURSELF personally that will help you fight through the hard times of language learning!
2. Why these particular languages? When I started primary school I had already been learning English, so the only other option was German at the time. It was the same with French when I went to secondary school; I simply had no other option. And then Spanish was actually my own choice mainly because I felt intrigued by and wanted to explore Latin American culture.
3. How long have you been learning and how competent are you at your languages? I have studied German for 11 years, French for 6 years and it is my second year studying Spanish. In German I am quite advanced in all skill areas. I generally feel confident about using the language in various formal and informal real life situations. Surprisingly in spite of only starting Spanish one year ago I would rate my competency between pre-intermediate and intermediate and I have built up quite a lot of confidence too in such a short period.
4. What kinds of resources helped you in your Language learning? Well, at high school I was not really relying on online sources unlike now at university, it was simply not common practice at the time I guess. Instead, mainly based on the recommendation of my tutors, I used selected material in print that was designed to help language learning. Also, I enjoy reading simply for pleasure in foreign languages, so for example I have read books and magazines. And not to forget native speakers and other language learners as excellent resources; I have always liked practising with others.
5.What resource do you wish you had made better use of from the start of your language learning? Definitely other speakers [of the language] whether they are also language learners or native speakers. Besides that, I would say the unlimited variety of resources on the internet.
6. How do you improve your Reading? Writing? Speaking? Listening? When I read I like […] to underline and highlight things I find noteworthy. I have developed my own elaborate marking system to work with texts, using different codes and symbols. I find this method much more effective than solely listing words in a book. It slightly changes the outcome of reading when I decide to focus on the theme of the text and only try to pick out elements that are directly linked to this theme. While at high school I also used to write summaries and commentaries on readings and form questions to them as if I was designing my own listening comprehension task.
With respect to improving my writing skills I now benefit from sending emails to my foreign friends or my fellow students. Or even just texting my friends in a foreign language who study the same language does help. Apart from that especially in German I used to write my own stories or topic-based essays and imaginary letters that really improved my writing skills.
To improve speaking there is the good old method of memorising dialogues by heart so one can then apply those phrases in real life. I know it may well sound a bit boring but it actually worked out well for me in German. Also, having at least one form of a safe environment where one feels comfortable to speak up is essential. It can be a class or a group of friends or a language teacher or a native-speaker friend, there are numerous options.
In order to improve my listening skills I search recordings online. For example newspaper websites normally have news clips and one can always find interesting ones. They are nice because one can go back and listen to them several times as opposed to listening to a live radio show for example. I like watching movies with foreign sounds and subtitles and I listen to foreign music over and over so I cannot actually help gradually understanding more of the lyrics just by being exposed to it constantly. I have had the chance to benefit from having conversations with native speakers, so if one has an opportunity to do so I would highly recommend not missing it; it is probably the most effective and authentic way to improve listening and speaking skills.
7. What is the hardest part of learning German? For me personally the hardest part of learning German is regional differences in pronunciation and colloquial phrases in everyday speech. Even though German is considered to be a “difficult language”, I would recommend trying to enjoy it and make use of it! Most importantly, find some kind of motivation for YOURSELF personally that will help you fight through the hard times of language learning!
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