Lessons from the Street

-Ghent, Belgium
- July 8, 2004

I met Jim while standing in front of the IPSO wassersalon (Laundromat) in Ghent. Jim is an American living abroad. He came to Europe in the late sixties before he received his draft notice for Vietnam. In the short half hour that we talked I learned quite a lot about language learning that underscored the lessons that I have been learning this week.

When Jim came to Europe he didn’t speak any other language. However, he knew that he would be hear a while. I asked him how many languages he knew. He said he was fluent in Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, and French. He also knew Greek and Latin quite proficiently. I was amazed. Standing on the street was not a well kept scholar, but a disheveled blue collar fellow who had learned these languages. Obviously I was interested in his “secret”.

What I learned was interesting. It was if he had been sitting in on our lessons the past several days. He said the first thing to do was to write down a few key phrases that would go a long way; phrases such as “Hello”, “How are you”, “good bye”, and “thank you”. Then he said to get a small notebook and write down all kinds of phrases and questions. Then he suggested that I try to listen to people in public – on the bus, in the grocery, at the market. He then said that he liked to read the paper in the foreign print and ask someone to explain what certain paragraphs meant. Finally he suggested watching TV and listening to the radio broadcast in the language I wanted to learn.

These were the same exact lessons we learned today. We were encouraged to “think outside the box.” We were challenged to immerse ourselves in the language. Talk to people. Ask them to help. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

I decided if Jim, a blue collar guy could learn 6 languages fluently, I could certainly learn at least one. Thanks Jim, I will take your advice.

Comments

[Andrew]

My experience has been that learning a language is more a matter of motivation than mental capacity. I have seen brilliant people who could not seem to learn Portuguese, even though Portuguese is not that difficult a language to pick up.

The ability to think outside the box is also important--like they said in your class. I heard some people, when presented with a particular gramatical rule in Portuguese, say "well they should say it another way." In other words, the whole Portuguese language was supposed to cowtow to their American way of thinking. They failed to remember that English is much less consistent and logical than the language he was trying to learn.

Anyway, sorry for the long comment. It is wonderful to see you engaged in this part of your ministry. Be encouraged, and God bless!

[MaltaGirl]

Hi :-) Warning: long "comment" follows!!!

I live in Malta (was born here too) and was in the situation of having one Maltese parent and one British parent. Although I've been here all my life, we only speak English at home and I went to English-speaking schools, so I still couldn't have a decent conversation in Maltese by the age of 16. After 11 years of Maltese lessons, 6 years of Italian and 5 years of French, I still couldn't use any of those languages with any success.

Then I went to a government-run school where all my lectures were in Maltese, and I made Maltese-speaking friends, so I was immersed in Maltese for 8 hours a day. My new friends also provided a supportive environment for me to fracture the Maltese language in :-)

Three months after starting in that school, I was finally able to converse reasonably well in Maltese! Even though I have absolutely no talent when it comes to learning new languages. (I'm a science person, NOT a language person)

So I just wanted to say, I found that immersion was the only thing that finally worked for me after 11 years of school lessons, private lessons, homework, exercises etc. TV and radio are great, and you learn colloquialisms from locals. Don't be afraid to keep saying "What does this word mean" and pretty soon your friends will turn and explain words without you even asking!

Also, take every opportunity to try to speak it. I used to get REALLY frustrated when I tried to speak because I made so many mistakes and received so many corrections, often from children, oh yeah and then there was the ridicule, but it's the only way! Try to find a couple of friendly local people who don't mind helping you in conversation. I had a Maltese friend and she helped me in this way with my Maltese, and I did the same for her in English, so it was a good trade.

Good luck! :-)