If you take different entries to the forest, and walk the paths in different directions, you will notice more different plants and trees. The more you walk in the forest, the more comfortable you are there, the more things you notice. The first time you walk through the forest you are just concerned about not getting lost and don’t notice the different trees and plants very clearly. Imagine a forest with many paths and different kinds of trees and plants. Spitzer also makes it clear that we learn best when we have repetition and novelty. The brain is programmed to notice things and create patterns, as Manfred Spitzer points out in his book Learning: The Human Brain and the School of Life. Noticing happens when we get a lot of exposure to a language. We acquired our first language without really wanting to. The noticing process is a little more conscious in acquiring a second language, only because we are more deliberate about it. We had so much exposure that our brains just naturally picked up the patterns from our surroundings. We don’t remember consciously noticing much when we acquired our first language. Once we are used to certain things, we start to notice other things. We start to get used to seeing them and hearing them as we read and listen. We may even go to a grammar source for an explanation. If we notice these things, we become a little curious about them. It might be pronunciation, how the writing system differs from our own language, gender, the way certain words change or word order. Then, slowly, some of the more obvious things start to attract our attention. Even if aspects of the pronunciation or grammar are explained to us, we don’t notice these very clearly when we first listen and read. When we start in a new language, we don’t notice much. In many languages like Russian, French, English or European Portuguese, vowel sounds change or disappear depending on the stress within a word or phrase. English spelling doesn’t always reflect how words are pronounced. It takes a while to get the gender of nouns right in the Romance languages, the cases in German or Slavic languages, the tones in Chinese, or the use of articles in English. Noticing is something we do naturally, if we get enough exposure and if we want to notice.Īll languages have their unique difficulties with regard to pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. At one time I thought that noticing was a skill that needed to be developed. You need to experience a language through lots of exposure before you can hope to learn it. What we don’t notice at first, we will eventually notice, under the right circumstances.Īs the Sufi saying goes, “you can only learn what you already know”. However, to notice phenomena we need to experience them, over and over.
To learn a language we need to notice what is happening in the language. It is a long road, so settle in and be prepared to enjoy it. You also have to accept that it will take months and maybe years to become fluent, depending on how much time you put in every day. I also read and focus on words and phrases in my reading for another 30 minutes or so most days. For me this consists mostly of listening to mp3 files when I have the time, while doing other tasks, so it is really quite easy to fit in.
You have to put in at least an hour a day. You will also eagerly take in the language without resisting it. If you are positive, you are more likely to put in the time needed to succeed. Without a positive attitude towards the language, the process and your own ability to succeed, you probably won’t succeed. You have to be motivated, to like the language and to think you can succeed.
Let’s start by reviewing the three keys to language learning. Our ability to learn a language is influenced by our attitude and the time we put in, but what separates good language learners from less successful ones is the way we notice different aspects of a new language. Anyone can become a good language learner, or a better language learner. Good language learners are made, not born.
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