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Acceleration of foreign languages: how to meet the linguistic challenges of working abroad

Mother tongue English are increasingly exhorted to learn foreign languages to play a more effective role in globalization. However, we tend to do not learn foreign languages for three very valid reasons.

1. Many other peoples in the world are not only urged to learn English, they are required to do so. So you can find English virtually everywhere you go.

2. The grammar of most other languages, certainly the most European languages, is much more complex than English. Thus, native English speakers often consider language learning as a formidable, and even demoralizing task.

3. Most native English speakers, particularly in North America, live in environments almost English-only. We almost never heard other languages spoken live on radio or television, and almost never see written in newspapers, magazines, books, etc. This is hardly inspiring.

The fact is that the world conspires against anglophones learning other languages. So if you do not speak English, you do not be ashamed.

However, while these factors explain why Anglophones are so few other languages, they are not valid excuses for not learning them when the situation requires. For example, you are sent to open or manage a foreign subsidiary, you are assigned to negotiate or maintain working relationships with a foreign partner, etc.

How If you go about learning a foreign language with the least pain and most gain? In my personal experience, the secret is in changing your state of mind.

I live in Brussels. I speak French fluently, understand and can more or less move Dutch and German, and I am now rapidly acquiring Spanish. But the first language I did not control them. He was Swahili, which I learned when I spent two and a half years working in Tanzania.

Like many (probably most) Americans grow up in a predominantly English, I thought the ability to speak another language required superior intelligence, only to have people with this unique talent could actually achieve. Shortly after I arrived in Tanzania, I visited a remote tribal area where almost everyone spoke three languages. Moreover, virtually none of them had never seen the inside of a school (there were simply not schools), much less a degree from a prestigious university (UCLA).

So I had a radical rethink my attitude towards learning languages. This new mindset has significantly helped me master the languages I now regularly use. I will illustrate with French, the language I know best. But remember, these same ideas and techniques applicable to virtually any language you may need to acquire.

Some Useful Psychology

The good news is: learn to speak a language is part easiest job.

I know you have thought about would be the most hardest part. However, I would say that most people with an effort minimum, can learn to speak a foreign language reasonably well really quickly.

Sign language is another story. French, for example, is one of the most complex written languages in the world. In fact, French written and spoken French are almost two separate languages. By Therefore, if your goal is to speak, focusing on the spoken and written language allowed to come later.

I know this may sound like a heresy because the majority of language courses try to teach both at the same time, especially in public schools. They spend a demoralizing time to make you write a language (probably because it is easier to grade students this way), but the last thing you really need to know.

When I say that talking is the easiest job, I do not advocate a "total immersion". Few we have the luxury of spending a week, or preferably several weeks, while focusing on learning a language. What I advocate is doing things in the right psychological.

Most people can master enough of the fundamentals to be able to speak (bad, yet so coherent), and understand what is being said to them, within only 2 to 3 months. The trick is to recognize that the main obstacle to the acquisition of a foreign language is not grammar. This is the vocabulary.

If you do not know the verb you need, it is not serious you know how to conjugate verbs, you still can not talk. If you do not know the word you need, there is no question that you know how refuse adjectives you still can not talk. And so on.

I suggest that the most efficient order to learn a language would be:

1. basic grammar

The minimum necessary to establish an intelligible (If they are incorrect) sentence.

From my experience, it is the most effective self. Sit down with a grammar book for about 10-15 minutes each day until you begin to feel uncomfortable with it.

2. Basic Vocabulary

The minimum necessary to begin using the basic grammar.

Another Once, in my experience this is more efficient, making self-taught, ie the classic "learn five new words every day." It will not be very Long before you begin to see how different words are linked, so you can begin to guess what new words mean without resorting to the dictionary.

3. Speaking the language

Putting the grammar and basic vocabulary to work as soon as you can actually start using them.

It's time to consider a language school or a tutor. With the foundation of what you've learned by yourself, you definitely progress more easily and more quickly than if you had jumped in the teaching of languages at the very beginning.

4. Writing language

Fight against the onerous task of putting the language on paper.

You will almost certainly never need to do much writing. And what you write will certainly need to be reviewed and corrected by a native speaker.

Since the vocabulary is essential, the key to control largely unknown another language is: learn to read.

There's nothing like being able to sit with a newspaper, magazine, or even a novel in language to reinforce both grammar and vocabulary. The more you read, the more your vocabulary will grow. And as some of the seemingly bizarre ways to make the language Things will become increasingly familiar.

best results, the novel should contain a maximum of dialogue and a minimum of description. With dialogue, you can often anticipate and interpret what the characters say, with the description you have no idea.

When I learning French, I used the novels of agatha christie and the adventures of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs, because they are about 90% dialogue and description of 10%. Just my favorite literature, but they served the purpose. I also suggest Animal Farm by George Orwell and Candide Voltaire. However, all new, with a high ratio of dialogue to description will do.

Important Tip

The end of reading in the language is to learn vocabulary automatically. Constantly in search of unknown words break your reading rhythm and damage your enjoyment. By Therefore, keep using a dictionary to an absolute minimum.

It is not heresy to say, common sense.

In fiction, few words are essential to understanding the plot. Do you really need to know precisely what room like? Just know that is large and elegantly furnished. Do you really need to know precisely what the landscape looks like? Just that it is isolated and windy.

In addition, repeating words. You will certainly see an unfamiliar word many times over throughout the text. In least one of these periods, the way it is used will tell you exactly what that means, no effort at all.

Generally, if you use a dictionary of more than 2-3 times a page, you're probably too tedious. Stop. Just read and enjoy!

Once you arrive the site where the language is spoken, all grammar and vocabulary that you have saved in this way quickly prove itself.

In my case, happened just weeks after landing in Tanzania. At first, I was talking translating into English. However, I have a magical day suddenly realized that I was not the English translation. I spoke in Swahili directly. It was like being released from prison. Although this occurred more than 40 years ago the picture of my cell door flying open and my mind is flying free as lively today as the day of the event. It is an experience not to be missed!

Having discovered that I could really speak a foreign language – and I do not need to be a genius to do – I tried to determine how it happened. I came to the conclusion that the most important psychological factor is resignation.

Different languages have different ways of doing things, some of which seem quite absurd. It is useless to keep moaning: "Why do they speak in this ridiculous way when it is so much easier to do how we do it in English? "

Whatever you are annoying: Do not fight, she accepts.

This is how children learn languages. They are not constantly question grammatical structures, because it would simply never occur to them to do. And we all know how much more easily and quickly "naive" children learn languages that we "sophisticated" adults!

Three basic

With Swahili as a basis, I also tried to determine the fundamental principles of learning language that could help me move on to other mastering. I found three to be particularly useful.

Ease Principle

What you do not have to do is always

easier than what you have to do.

In other words, less you have to think about learning a language faster than you learn. And fewer errors you make. As I will demonstrate below, French has certain features and characteristics that make it much easier than English. Take advantage of them.

Here is The second principle that can ease your way.

Knowledge Principle

familiar habits and ways of thinking

often difficult break.

Paradoxically, some of the areas where a language other than English is easier at first sight seem familiar – and therefore wrong difficult. Although it may take a while to accept, once you start thinking in the language, you'll quickly come to appreciate and enjoy their benefits.

Here is an anecdote to illustrate this point.

Once I was talking with a Dutch friend. It was agreed that English is fundamentally simpler than its own language, and yet he complained he could not get used to the English structure is more simple sentence. Some case of Dutch grammar requires that the order of words in the sentence to reverse, which never happens in English. Objectively, then, the structure of sentences English should be easier than Dutch. But for him, no need to change the order of words does not seem natural.

Here is a third Basically you will find very useful.

Context Principle

By themselves, words and phrases

have little meaning, often can

be understood only in relation to

Other words and phrases.

This is very reassuring. This means that even if you say something wrong, in general, people still understand you because of the context in which you say. Similarly, even if people tell you something using the grammar or vocabulary familiar, in general, you will still be able to understand because of the context in which they say.

In short, you do not have to approach perfection in a language to use it effectively.

Focusing on simplicity, not complexity

In conclusion, allow me to fulfill the promise I made to show that certain functions has both French and characteristics that make it dramatically easier than English. This is also true of most other languages, regardless of the difficulty they may seem at first. The important thing is to focus on simplicity, not complexity.

Here are seven examples I could cite many more.

1. No stress

Most people do not know the seriousness of their own difficult mother tongue could be a stranger. Mother tongue, you probably find that English is very easy to pronounce. But the fact is, French is even easier.

What! With its nasalization, trilled "r" and other sounds difficult? Absolutely!

Firstly, it is important to understand that sounds in any What language are inherently difficult to pronounce. If they were, they would not exist because native speakers do not have never accepted in the first place.

Learn to pronounce sounds unknown strangers is never easy. Francophones learning English have a terrible time pronouncing the "th" sounds of words like "the", "they", "through", "start", etc., because there is no equivalent French. But they do quite well. As you may have trouble with certain French sounds that have no equivalent in English. But you can also do.

When the French pronunciation has one undeniable advantage over his English is almost an absence of stress.

stress simply means that certain syllables are given more stress than others. For example, "difficult" is pronounced "DIF"-fi-cult ", the first syllable carries the tonic accent. It can just as easily be pronounced dif-fi!-Worship, or even "dif-fi cult!

Technically, stress available in French, but it is very difficult to hear. For example, in English we say "rest"-au-rant, there is a distinct stress on the first syllable. In French it is "rest-au-rant, stress-free everywhere. Similarly," con "-Ven-tion" has a distinct stress on the second syllable. In French it is simply "con-ven-tion, without stress. And so on for each word in the language.

So you'll never guess where the accent should go, if you can never make a mistake.

You grew up with the stress, so you might not immediately recognize what a problem it really is, even among native speakers. British, for example, as if to say "con-tro! Ver-sy" Americans while prefer to say "asshole!-Tro-ver-sy". And sometimes they do not understand each other because of this difference. Britons say "gar! Ages" while the Americans say gar-age! "Always with the possibility of misunderstanding. And so on. In French, there is no stress, if this problem simply does not exist.

2. Gallic Impersonality

A. Using "we"

or English, imbued with the idea that French is a very personal language (the language of "so-called" love "), few things are more surprising the frequent use of the very impersonal "ON" (pronounced ohn). However, Francophones learning English are surprised to discover that English has no equivalent of "we", so they have to look everywhere for alternatives.

In fact, it is not quite true. English are equivalent, "a", but it is rarely used. The Queen of England uses it: "We discussed carefully the question "rather than" I have carefully considered the matter ". Moralists use:" Do not kill " "We must be ready to fight for" one country, etc.

French uses "we" without any embarrassment. In fact, using prevents much embarrassment. For example, a key problem in English is to avoid "genderism. This is the explanation of the use very strange the plural pronoun "they" as if it were a singular. Example: If someone studies hard, they will succeed.

Why are we doing this switch apparently illogical singular pronoun "someone" and the singular verb "study" in the plural pronoun "them"? Because or he would have been necessary to say "it will succeed." However, the sentence is clearly not intended for men only. Otherwise, it was necessary to say "he or she succeed," or "he / she will succeed," which are heavy. French has no such problem, because "On" (a) is the universal solution.

B. Using possessive adjectives

Here is another example of how the impersonality Gallic avoids genderism. Consider the sentence: "Any person who studies hard will see their efforts rewarded quickly." We start the sentence with a singular subject and verb, but we end up with a possessive plural ("their"). In French, the sentence is singular all along, because no distinction between the sexes. "The effort" could mean both "effort" or "his" effort, according to context.

Thus, the inherently impersonal French grammar automatically excludes a large number of "politically incorrect". In English, we can achieve this goal by a few contortions rather illogical and inelegant grammar.

3. Use of infinitives

A major problem of expression French (and most other Europeans) against the English is the good use of infinitives. Mother tongue, you've probably never made account that infinitives can be a problem. After all, an infinitive is just an infinitive.

Well, not quite. English infinitives are in fact very unusual compared to the infinitive in French. Because the French infinitive are unified, while English infinitives separable. By example

1. French brands: crèche (-er from the infinitive)

2. English: to eat

The French infinitive is always a single word, but the infinitive in English can be used with both parties, or just the second part. The problem is, in many cases this is not optional but necessary. For example: "I need to eat something" (two parts), but I need to eat something "(only the second part). So what is the difference? Why in the first example is the "to" necessary and in the second step is it not necessary, for help, it would be quite wrong?

In French, this problem never arises. "I chose to eat Journey" (I need to eat something) and "I Do Journey crib chose" (I have to eat something). Simple, is not it. Imagine if the French worked as English. You would be constantly making choices about the forms of the infinitive to use – and in many cases, you'd be wrong.

4. Use of definite articles

The use of the definite article ("the") in English this roughly the same problem that the use of the infinitive. In other words, you should always have the choice when to use and when not to use it. The French is much simpler.

Really! Do French have three definitive articles (the, la, les) against only one in English? Absolutely! But the problem is not decide which to use the definite article. Rather, whether or not to use the definitive article at all.

In French, you keep the definite article more frequently than you do in English. Thus, you have far fewer decisions to make, and therefore much fewer opportunities to make a mistake.

Example

1. "I like cats" (cats in general)

2. "I like cats (cat specific, not necessarily all cats)

In French, the two states are rendered "I like cats" if no decision on whether or not to use the definite article. You discern the meaning of two sentences of the context in which they are used, and rather than their grammatical form.

5. No distinction between "a" and "a"

The words "a" and "a" are equivalent "non" in French. Basically, these two words mean the same thing, but "one" is more precise, it adds emphasis. For example:

1. I saw a Chinese film (at least one, maybe more)

2. I saw a Chinese film (only one, no more)

Both of these sentences are rendered in French "I saw Chinese film of the UN." As with the definite article, you distinguish the meaning from context.

Much Francophones speaking English often make the mistake of saying "I ate at a Japanese restaurant" when they really mean "I ate in a Japanese restaurant. "As an English speaking French, you do not make this mistake, because it is simply not possible!

6. Simple progressive (continuous) time

English makes frequent use of progressive (continuous) verb tenses, while French almost never done.

Times are gradually formed by two verbs: the wizard (assistant) "be" and this "Join" (-ING form) another. Example: She eats.

English uses the time to distinguish between progressive general period during which an action takes place and the precise moment when the action takes place. French generally did not make this distinction. "She eats" or "it eat "or" eat it ". Once again, French leaves the interpretation of the exact meaning of context.

And once again, because there is only one grammatical form, there is no possibility of error!

7. Converting verbs into nouns

Because his penchant for progressive tenses, English has a characteristic way of turning verbs into nouns, ie using a verb that the object or subject of a conviction.

In French and many other languages, just use the infinitive: EAST Walk Good for the Lungs. You can do the same thing in English: To walk is good for the lungs. However, the preferred form is: Walking is good for the lungs. For English ears, "walking" is more dynamic than "walk", ie it seems to give a better picture of what is happening.

This may very well be the case – in English. But there is no such distinction in French. So once again, there is no way to make a mistake!

While learning another language is never easy, it takes time, energy and dedication. However, as we have seen, there are three powerful strategies you can use to make the job much easier.

• Focus on the simplicity of the language rather on its complexity.

• Channel your energies on the basis of the best psychological:

1. Basic grammar

2. Basic Vocabulary

3. Speaking the language

4. Writing language

• Concentrate on reading the language comfortably and automatically master its grammar and vocabulary

Good luck! Good luck! Veel geluk! Viel Geluck! Buena suerte! Buona Fortuna! . . . .

Philip Yaffe is a former journalist, columnist / with the Wall Street Journal and a consultant in marketing communications. He currently teaches courses and conducts workshops for a day writing and public speaking in Brussels, Belgium.

In the "I" of the storm: the secrets of writing simple speaking (almost) as a professional, his recently published book, insightful and entertaining, explains the key principles and practices of communication persuasive. It is available from the publishers of Ghent, Belgium (www.storypublishers.be) and Amazon (www.amazon.com).

About the author

Philip Yaffe is a former writer with The Wall Street Journal and international marketing communication consultant. He now teaches courses in persuasive communication in Brussels, Belgium. Because his clients use English as a second or third language, his approach to writing and public speaking is somewhat different from other communication coaches. He is the author of In the “I” of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional. Contact: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com.

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