A few years ago, I bought some `Teach yourself German' CDs. I just downloaded the CDs onto my itunes, with the intention of moving them onto my ipod.
Technology, got to love it. Will it make it any easier though?
I never got past the first CD. I reckon to learn a language you have to read the books, watch the movies, and speak as regularly as possible. Ideally that would mean living in a country where that language is spoken all the time. Preferably it would mean that the people in that country don't speak your language.
Problem is, that also means completely removing yourself from a society where you are comfortable and more than likely from all your friends. Big ask.
In SA, I find learning Xhosa or Zulu very difficult because there are few books available. But I don't think that is the real problem. My Xhosa and Zulu never got past the introductory level. My Afrikaans is still pretty poor. While I can understand it relatively well, my personality is different when I am listening and speaking afrikaans. I have to listen so intently, and my vocab is so poor that I don't have enough confidence to actively participate in the conversation.
Why a European language then? Well... I reckon as basically a pure english speaker, I am cut off from a whole world out there. I think language is intricately linked to the way you think. Maybe if you can speak more than one language, you can think in more than one way?
I guess it would also be nice to have access to a whole world of books and movies that you are cut off from.
A cynic would say, well, you would have to learn Mandarin, Hindi, French, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Zulu, Xhosa and a whole bunch of others to give you access to all those cultures too, and being fluent in all those languages would be impossible. And the cynic would be right.
But you have to start somewhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment