There are two things that can make or break the language teaching and learning process. And no, it's neither age nor sex - contrary to what popular notions would tell you.
They both begin with the letter 'M' and can take the language learning and teaching journey a long way - or not very far! Take it from someone who has been learning languages with passion (and sometimes without) their whole life!
My love for the English language began with Enid Blyton and the adventures she offered me through it. My fondness for Portuguese grew over the hundreds of melodious unintelligible conversations I eavesdropped on as a child, every chance I got. My romance with Hindi was short-lived; my teacher said I asked too many stupid questions so we had a falling out. As for Konkani, I had to abandon learning the 'pure' form, in order to preserve what was my own.
Which brings me to French, the last language I encountered in my childhood. We shared a longer, healthier, and much more passionate journey together. I tried my hand at a bunch of other languages as well - Italian, Marathi, Kannada, German, Japanese, and conversational Arabic. I had varying degrees of success and failure.
So what makes language learning a success or failure?
From my experience learning as well as teaching languages, I have learned that it comes down to two things - motivation and methodology. These do not share a linear relationship, but they do go hand-in-hand.
What can demotivate a learner and lead to failure?
Let me give you a few simple examples.
If you dismiss a young first/second language learner every second minute with the "right" way to speak their own language without considering the notion of richness of dialects, you will have lost a Konkani-speaker for life, or worse, created one who will shy away from using it.
If you laugh at a Hindi learner from a non-Hindi speaking Indian region for messing up the masculine-feminine forms of grammatical forms, you've created a mumbling Hindi-user.
If you hand over a list of French vocabulary and verb-endings to an adolescent or adult learner to memorise, you have created a dysfunctional relationship with a beautiful language.
So how can you learn a language successfully?
Language is a means for self-expression.
Whether a child or an adult, language fuels and helps channel one's imagination - as wild or dull as it may be!
Knowing multiple languages can lend character, nuance, and gorgeous shades even to everyday banter and common interaction, as much as it does to literary expression.
What role does a teacher play in all this?
Learning or teaching a language is about learning or teaching how to create a healthy and beautiful relationship with the new language.
For teachers, it means creating a learning context that is filled with magic, play, and fun. It means sharing not just a language, but the love and passion you have for it.
What’s your role as a learner?
For learners, it means learning how to take a language beyond the classroom and have it spill over into your everyday life.
Some areas where you can create space for your new language:
your Instagram/Facebook language settings
the morning radio/news
a Netflix series
some Sunday reading
new recipes in the kitchen
conversations over chai with a neighbour/colleague who speaks another language
a letter exchange with an online penpal
a quirky Spotify evening playlist
novel cultural references and philosophical notions to dabble with
new ways of expressing yourself through poetry, blog-writing, or, even, a simple personal journal…
The possibilities are as infinite as your imagination!
The important thing to remember is that learning a language is like getting into any other relationship - how far you go together will then depend on how much fun you have with it.
What do you think? What motivates you as a language learner?
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