I typed "Language Schools" into Google Associate in Nursing the other day and got a whopping 95 million hits. When I returned my gaze to my head, I wondered how many public schools, junior colleges, and universities in the United States provide second acquisition chances. That has to be a similarly spectacular yet enigmatic number.
the last word is mystery All of this helps explain why, despite all of the possibilities to learn a second language, few Americans are multilingual. The truth is that only around 9% of American residents are truly multilingual. Nonetheless, there are so many public and private universities offering second language teaching, not to mention the thriving industry in foreign nations offering Americans the opportunity to "become proficient" in another language.
Despite all of these changes, Americans remain at about 9% multilingual, while Europeans are at 52%. Have you ever thought about why? I've even done it.
For the past five years, I've approached my second language learning trip using victimization and non-traditional methods. I did not start with descriptive linguistics classes as my first courses. You are aware of what those are. If you took any kind of second acquisition education in school, including Latin or Greek, you probably started with a descriptive linguistics book.
If you "stayed the course," you would have gained the skill to interpret written materials. The nearly universal experience of students who begin their second acquisition trip using the grammar-first system is that when they attempt to speak the language or go abroad for a year, all they will say is,
"I need to use the restroom, and could I please have a cheese sandwich?" How all of us, regardless of our nation of origin, learn ways to|a means to speak our native languages is how we should approach second language learning. Take note that I stated acquisition rather than studying the second language. There is a distinction, and thus is the rub, when it comes to selecting a course of study in which you will first gain a high level of spoken fluency before mastering descriptive linguistics rules.
Allow Pine Tree State to go out on a limb here: You will not be able to speak the language if you do not approach the training of a second language first with second language acquisition, rather than a grammar-first strategy. Isn't it what we're talking about when we talk about spoken fluency?
One way achieves one goal, yet the opposing method provides you with something you do not really desire. I'm a long way from being able to scan and explain physics in Spanish. But I can debate simple news items, go to the doctor, or do almost everything I'd like to do in Spanish. I want to improve my linguistic abilities so that I can argue matters that are even more difficult.
Right now, I'm still in the toddler stage of learning Spanish, which is OK. Take note that I did not come to this point by taking a grammar-first course. I'll do what most natural Spanish speakers between the ages of 5 and 6 can do. Believe me when I say that at this level of spoken fluency, most Americans I know who speak Spanish would kill to obtain it.
So, how did I pull it off? I used a consistent process. Inadvertently, I failed to master my first language, English. I'm studying Spanish the same way that all Spanish-fluent native speakers learned the language as youngsters.
I'm doing second language acquisition first, and hence second acquisition second. The horse, which represents language acquisition, must come before the cart, which represents language learning. That's what you're after first.
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