Very interesting! I think language production is really important. I’m working on a piece about what has helped me learn Spanish from scratch in middle age. Balancing consumption and production is key. Looking for opportunities to speak and regularly getting outside my comfort zone has helped
I'm looking forward to your piece! I’ve subscribed, so I’ll keep an eye out for it. Also, if you ever wanna collab on a Spain-related article or a live or anything, let me know. I’d love it.
I completely agree that producing language is vital to interact comfortably with other speakers. A huge help to me in learning to speak Spanish more fluently (without translating from English first) was my decision to translate a book of English Christmas carols into Spanish and then sing them out loud as I walked home from the bus stop everyday. Kudos to teenage me for thinking of a way to get my brain get used to making those sounds. Your class sounds amazing!
Thanks for sharing that, Robin! Did you find it helped give you a feel for the Spanish structure as well? Or did it mostly help you with pronunciation and vocabulary?
I was at the beginning of my second year of Spanish at the time, so I don't think my translations were very good, to be honest. And my mother is a grammar genius, so she helped me there. The singing was mostly about getting a feel for the energy of Spanish, and rewiring my brain to produce the words directly without touring through English first. It's funny how kids make it look so simple, but when you break it down as adults, there are actually a lot of components that go into helping somebody be confident and facile with a later learned language.
"It's funny how kids make it look so simple, but when you break it down as adults, there are actually a lot of components that go into helping somebody be confident and facile with a later learned language." Exactly! I was thinking about mentioning something similar in this article, actually.
I think that would be a great article. It might help a lot of language learners be more patient with their progress and get more creative about how to find different ways to apply their language use. To be honest, I've never heard anyone recommend consistent singing, but that's what worked for me!
Your digression anecdote made me literally LOL
Very interesting! I think language production is really important. I’m working on a piece about what has helped me learn Spanish from scratch in middle age. Balancing consumption and production is key. Looking for opportunities to speak and regularly getting outside my comfort zone has helped
I'm looking forward to your piece! I’ve subscribed, so I’ll keep an eye out for it. Also, if you ever wanna collab on a Spain-related article or a live or anything, let me know. I’d love it.
Ahh thanks! Yes I’d definitely be up for that, I’ll have a think 😊
I completely agree that producing language is vital to interact comfortably with other speakers. A huge help to me in learning to speak Spanish more fluently (without translating from English first) was my decision to translate a book of English Christmas carols into Spanish and then sing them out loud as I walked home from the bus stop everyday. Kudos to teenage me for thinking of a way to get my brain get used to making those sounds. Your class sounds amazing!
Thanks for sharing that, Robin! Did you find it helped give you a feel for the Spanish structure as well? Or did it mostly help you with pronunciation and vocabulary?
I was at the beginning of my second year of Spanish at the time, so I don't think my translations were very good, to be honest. And my mother is a grammar genius, so she helped me there. The singing was mostly about getting a feel for the energy of Spanish, and rewiring my brain to produce the words directly without touring through English first. It's funny how kids make it look so simple, but when you break it down as adults, there are actually a lot of components that go into helping somebody be confident and facile with a later learned language.
"It's funny how kids make it look so simple, but when you break it down as adults, there are actually a lot of components that go into helping somebody be confident and facile with a later learned language." Exactly! I was thinking about mentioning something similar in this article, actually.
I think that would be a great article. It might help a lot of language learners be more patient with their progress and get more creative about how to find different ways to apply their language use. To be honest, I've never heard anyone recommend consistent singing, but that's what worked for me!
Check this out, Nolan (et al)
https://designrr.page/?id=347775&token=1022243981&h=5954