Adult Language Learning: How to Acquire Non-native Language Skills Children Learning a Native Language Children begin learning their native language when they begin to understand simple phrases. Adults talk to children with baby talk. Soon, the children begin to babble the sounds of their simple thoughts. As children mature, they learn the basics of the spoken language and begin to coherently express their thoughts. Without leaning grammar, children learn how to use words, phrases, and sentences to communicate logical and complex thoughts. They assume that their native language is the only way to communicate. These assumptions will later become burdensome as adults learning a non-native language. When children enter school, they begin to learn how to read their native language. As children advance in their education, they must learn how to write. At his point, they must learn grammar rules. Thus, children learn how to speak their native language before they learn the grammar. Some children will grow up without ever learning the proper grammar, but they will still be able to communicate properly through the spoken language because spoken language learning occurs naturally. Adults Learning a Non-native Language Unlike children who have an uncluttered mind ready to absorb a native language like a dry sponge, adults already think in their native language. They have cluttered their minds with the understanding of their native language. They assume that the natural only way to communicate is through their native language. When they try to learn a new foreign language, the assumptions they acquired as children clog their minds, making learning the new language frustrating and confusing. Linguistic Assumptions Language is a shared set of assumptions of the meaning of sounds people utter and symbols they scribble. By themselves, those sounds and symbols mean nothing, but when people share the same assumptions of the meaning of those sounds and symbols, the people effectively communicate. For instance, if I utter a series of sounds, intending to share a thought, and you hear the same series of sounds and assume that they mean exactly what I intended them to mean, then we have effectively communicated with the spoken language. Likewise, if you create some text with the intent of sharing a thought, and I look at that text and assume that it means what you meant to share, then we have effectively communicated with the written language. We are able to communicate only because we share linguistic assumptions of similar sounds and text. In other words, we communicate using the same language. When people do not share similar linguistic assumptions, they are not able to communicate with language. Adults who strive to learn a non-native language must develop a new set of linguistic assumptions that the native speakers of that language share among themselves. These linguistic assumptions include not only the single words but also the way those words are arranged inside the phrase or sentence. Thus, adult foreign language learners must learn the grammar and syntax of the foreign language if they hope to learn how to properly communicate in the language. Unlike children who develop their native language as they acquire their first set of assumptions, adults must develop a new set of assumptions that will differ from their old, native language assumptions. This language learning journey with include lessons on grammar and syntax early on in the learning process. The Different Categories of a Language Linguistic languages (as opposed to computer languages) can be divided into two categories, the written language, and the spoken language. These categories can be further divided into two subcategories, input and output. Thus, learning a language can be divided into four subcategories. The Written Language The input of the written language The output of the written language The input of the written language is reading text because the learner absorbs input from the written language. The output of the written language is creating the text to communicate a message. The Spoken Language The input of the spoken language The output of the spoken language The output of the spoken language is the series of sounds the speaker makes with the voice box and muscles in the mouth to communicate a message. The input of the spoken language is the listener’s understanding of the series of sounds the speaker makes. The Teacher/Learner relationship Communication can be considered a teacher/learner relationship. The teacher is the creator of the text who shares, or outputs the information in a message, and the learner is the audience who takes in the information in the message. The teacher shares information with the learners, and when the learners respond to this information, they become the teachers, sharing additional information with those who were the original teachers. This teacher/learner relationship can be simple or complicated. For an example of a simple teacher/learner relationship, consider the following simple email conversation. Mr. Smith Sends Email: Dear Miss Jones, A meeting will be scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 PM. Will you be able to attend? Miss Jones Replies: Yes, I will attend the meeting. Mr. Smith Replies: Great! I will see you then. In this scenario, Mr. Smith teaches Miss Jones that a meeting is scheduled and that he wants to know if she will attend the meeting. Miss Jones learns the content of Mr. Smith’s message and responds, or teaches Mr. Smith that she will attend the meeting. Mr. Smith learns the content of Mr. Smith’s simple message and teaches Miss Jones that he is grateful for her attendance. Since both Mr. Smith and Miss Jones share the same assumptions concerning the meaning of the set of written symbols, the communication is effective. The teacher/learner relationship extends into the spoken language. The speaker is teaching the listener the spoken information. If the listener learns the information and replies, then the spoken content in the reply teaches the original teacher of the message. The following simple example of spoken content will help with this understanding: MR SMITH: Hello, Miss Jones. How are you doing? MISS JONES: I am doing fine, Mr. Smith. How are you doing? MR SMITH: It is such a beautiful day, don’t you think? MISS JONES: I agree. It is a lovely day! Mr. Smith is the teacher who teaches Miss Jones that he wants to start a casual conversation. Miss Jones learns from the message that Mr. Smith wants to start a casual conversation. She then responds and teaches Mr. Smith that she is also willing to engage in a casual conversation. As the conversation continues, Mr. Smith teaches Miss Jones that he thinks this the day is beautiful. Miss Jones learns what Mr. Smith teaches and then teaches Mr. Smith that she agrees with this message. Adults who wish to acquire a new language should start as learners of the simple written language. By learning the basic vocabulary and grammar rules, the learner will be able to recognize simple thoughts in text format. The written language is easier to learn for the beginners because the symbols (letters, words, phrases, clauses, and sentences) are static. As the beginning learners reads the symbols, they can take more time to learn the meaning of those symbols. With the written language, the learner chooses the speed at which the message is delivered. The learner may read slower or faster, depending on various factors such as complexity of content, level of expertise from the learner. On the other hand, with the spoken language, the teacher chooses the speed of delivery of the message. Once the sounds are made, the learners will need to be able to process those sounds and match them to the new assumptions they develop in their studies of the new language. If the learners develop the new assumptions through the study of the written language, then they will be more able to learn how to recognize with the ears what they have learned to recognize with the eyes. Thus, adults who strive to acquire new language skills should should begin learning the input of the written language. The Input of the New Language Input of the Written Language The language learning process must begin with the alphabet. Letters make words, and without words, there is no language. While many languages share similar alphabet, most alphabet differ to some degree. In addition, although the letters may look the same, their actual sounds often differ. Thus, the learners will need to develop a basic understanding of phonetics. The letters of the alphabet relate to sounds. Some languages have letters that correspond to only one sound while others have letters with various sounds. The vowels in English, for example, can be open or closed, or long or short. In some languages, the stress on a particular syllable is important to the meaning of the word. These assumptions of the new language must be learned even at the written-input stage of the learning journey. The learner must grasp the relationship of letters, syllables, and words, and stress the sound they will make. How words should sound in the mind constituents the study of phonetics. This is a mental action performed with the eyes. Creating those sounds with the voice box is the practice of pronunciation. This is a physical as well as a mental process that will be developed in the output of the spoken language learning experience. Nevertheless, the phonics learning process moves the learners into the spoken language level. Vocabulary This is a good time to learn common terms like the days of the week and the months and seasons of the year. Beginning learners will not need a large vocabulary. That will come as they live and learn. However, they will need to learn grammar, and the aforementioned vocabulary will give the learners enough nouns to start learning the verbs. Parts of Speech Not all words perform the same function. Nouns, for instance, are people, places and things. Verbs are actions. They go good with nouns because the nouns perform the action of the verb and create a complete thought. Input of the Spoken Language After developing assumptions in the new language about the sounds the letters and words are supposed to make, the learners will be ready to develop new assumptions with their ears and audio part of their brain. At this point, the learners will need to employ audio files. The learners shall read some simple text, study the vocabulary and grammar, and then play an audio file while trying to follow along. This practice will allow the learners to train their ears to recognize what the eyes can identify. At this stage, the learners will have developed basic skills of the input of the new language. They will be able to read simple text and understand when the same text is spoken. As the text grown more complex, the learners’ input languaging skills will grow stronger. Music motivation How to Use Google Translate Opiput he Sounds and Symbols The individual letters that form the words must be arranged in a manner that creates meaning. Otherwise, the set of letters would not make words. Likewise, the words, phrases and clauses must be arranged in order to create a clear and effective message. Otherwise, the learner may receive a different message from what the teacher intended to send. For this reason, adults who inspire to learn a new language must begin to learn the grammar rules early on in the language learning journey. They must learn the assumptions of the target language. Learning the grammar is more important than memorizing a large vocabulary. Adults who do not learn the grammar of the new language will fail to understand and communicate in the language. Consider, for example, the word “will” sentence in the previous example: A meeting will be scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 PM. Will you be able to attend? Without understanding the assumption that the word Will is a helping verb that creates the future tense of the verbs it helps, the adult learner will never be able to use the future tense of the verb in communication. This assumption does not exist in some of the romance languages like Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. In those languages, the assumption is that the future tense of a verb is created by changing the ending of the base infinitive form of the verb. Thus, adult language learning goes beyond learning a new set of vocabulary. Adults who strive to acquire a new language must learn a new set of assumptions. Learning The Input The input of a language consists of absorbing other people’s thoughts. This can be accomplished by either reading written material or listening to speech. Although the content comes from outside sources, and therefore constitutes input, the manner in which the information is absorbed makes a big difference. Input from the written language is absorbed through the eyes while input from the spoken language is absorbed through the ears. Learn the Input of the Written Language First Learning how to read a foreign language is easier because the learners have more time to examine the words and phrases and determine their meaning. With reading, the learner determines the speed that the message is sent. If adult learners come across an unknown word while reading some text, they can look it up and determine its exact meaning within the sentence. Likewise, if the learners come across sentence structure that does not make sense, they can refer to their grammar instructions to help them grasp the meaning of the sentence.