How to learn the local language as an ESL Teacher
One of the difficulties of living abroad is the language. You’ll be limited in many ways if you can’t communicate with people because they speak a language you can’t understand. Some of you want to be able to watch movies or listen to music in other languages. I’m here to help, usually the first proof that you can teach anything is that you can learn it yourself. That’s why every master was once a student.
I studied French in middle school for three years. But I got out of school able to speak just a couple of bonjours and bonsoirs. Sad right? However, I could speak 4 different languages fluently before I was 6 years old. And now I can speak 7 languages fluently so I can consider myself able to help another person learn to speak a new language.
As you’ve noticed, social media has even brought the world together and it has become sort of a global village. More and more people are learning English and other languages each day to try and tune in properly to what is happening globally.
More important than being able to read or write in any language, is being able to have a conversation with the particular language. I intend to make this as practical and informal as possible. Because mastery of speaking begins informally.
To speak a language fluently,
1. IMITATE
I was speaking english and reading newspapers in English by the time I was 6 years old. But I got through middle school unable to speak French which I learnt formally everyday. What was the difference?
Simply, Imitation. You must learn to imitate. And that means, say it exactly as you hear it. Don’t restructure it into your native language. Try to understand without translating. The problem with translating is that it makes you slow, and if affects your grammar and sentence structure. And these grammar rules vary for different languages. When I begun learning to speak Chinese, this is one of the mistakes I was making. Trying to speak chinese back and forth using English as a format. It’s a normal thing to try and understand especially in the beginning, but often I made mistakes with sentence structure. Because at certain times I found myself trying to correct a Chinese person about how to speak Chinese. Strange right. I quickly realized my mistake and started imbibing words and sentences exactly the way I hear it. As time went on, the structures begun to make more sense and words that I had learnt before made more meaning as it expanded into other examples.
When kids gathered to speak one another's language in my neighbourhood while I was growing up, we simply imitated each other. So when someone says a word or sentence to you, even if you don’t understand all of it, use the whole sentence the same way you heard it. Always imitate.
2. R&R - Repeat and repeat
The second thing to learn to do is to repeat. I read a book once which said that when we repeat something at about 8 times, it begins to stick. Repetition is the mother of all learning as the saying goes. I’m not sure about the how many times, but I’m quite sure that repetition makes things stick. I think practice doesn’t necessarily make perfect, but practice certainly makes permanent.
It is essential that you use repetitively use what you learn. Say the word a few times. Voice it out to other people and it will become easier to remember and use it each time. When you hear a new word or sentence, you can repeat it a few times in your head
One of the benefits of repeating is that it aids the imitation process. This reinforces it in your mind and your subconscious mind picks it up. Always repeat and repeat
3. PATIENCE
This is rather odd. But you need to be patient when you’re learning a new language. Don’t try to understand everything at once. You need time to learn and practice. Some things make sense only after a while.
Think of it this way. Learning a language is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Sometimes I hear a particular word and it’s exciting. I know however after that incident, that I will forget the word. But I don’t bother because I also know that I will come across it again and it will begin to stick. Sometimes I intentionally don’t ask for the meaning of certain words until I’ve heard it enough times that the word is already in my mind.
When learning a new language, you won’t notice your improvement everyday, just follow the process. Just continue patiently. Periodically, you’ll notice sudden changes and improvements. This happened to me many times in learning how to speak Chinese. At first I couldn’t differentiate the sound, but I kept learning individual words and then the sounds suddenly became clear after a while, I just noticed it one day.
Also I couldn’t understand when they spoke fast, but I kept listening and then suddenly one day I realized, hey, I can understand a sentence even if they said it fast. So don’t rush the language learning process. Be patient in your learning
4. LEARN and LISTEN from MULTIPLE SOURCES
Take some time to actually learn some basics of the language and also to learn some vocabulary on your own. You can use google to find many sources. There are apps such as duolingo that can help you learn step by step. You should also have a translation app such as google translate or the translate app on iOS to help you understand certain words. I personally prefer google translate because I also get to read the pinyin for Chinese, which is something translate in iOS doesn’t offer.
You should also listen from different sources. once source can give you a limited amount or variety of input. No matter how you look at it, everyone’s vocabulary and way of speaking is limited in one way or another. Listening to different people can even help you understand the same thing much better. So do well to learn and listen from multiple sources.
5. BE CONSISTENT
Lastly, be consistent in your learning, particularly listening. Consistency compounds. I can’t explain much how this works. But it’s like magic, it just works. As Einstein said, “compound interest is the eight wonder of the world”. Learning a lot of things hastily in one week and skipping the next six weeks is totally useless. It was Bruce Lee also who said, “I don’t fear the man who has done ten thousand kicks in one day, but I fear the man who has done one kick everyday for ten thousand days”.
I think one of the essential things to learning a language is to have someone who consistently speaks to you in that language. In my case, it was the teachers I work with. This is why kids grow up speaking a language easily before they can even read and write. Because parents and relatives are consistently speaking to them even though they don’t understand. So just be consistent. Because Consistency compounds.
THE ONE TRICK
Finally to my one special trick, combining all 5 steps. Imitate, repeat, patience, different sources and consistency. This is if you want to hear and speak fluently. This has nothing to do with reading and writing. So this is what I did.
Every morning. I turn on the TV. Tune in to any Chinese channel. And just listen. I don’t really watch because I’m usually busy with something else. But I listen. And the trick is to listen for the words you already know. You’re not trying to understand the sentences. You’re not trying to translate into your native language. Just listen.
For every word that is said that I already knew, I will reinforce it by repeating the same word in my mind. Gradually it became so much easier to understand. I did this for about a month. After only one month. I could hear and understand Chinese, even when it was spoken really fast.
BONUS TIPS
In conclusion, I'll give you this special bonus, let me give you some information breakdown that no one is talking about.
To learn how to master words, start by listening to sounds of individual words
To learn how to master hearing, start by listening to individual words that you already know in a sentence.
To learn to master speaking, just speak, wether it is right or wrong, just speak. But it is key to speak with an open mind that you will learn the correct thing, in case you realize an error in your words or sentence.
Lastly, you’ll never learn every single word. Jeez, do you know how many words there are?
Keep calm and enjoy the process.
