Re: Polyglotism the Easy Way

wm.king@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

It occurs to me that if
I am really to understand the history of the 19th century and
generally (including the history of royalty, which is a big part of
it) I am going to have to become fluent in French and German. At
present, my knowledge of these languages would merit a D and and E-,
respectively. I am 44 and do not fancy returning to university.

So what do you suggest? What is the quickest easiest way to acquire a
thorough fluency in two languages with which one has a barely passable
acquaintance at the age of 44?

As Don says, I doubt you really need fluency in those other languages, but it does depend on why exactly you think you need them. If you only want to read historical and other works then your task is fairly simple and can be achieved by yourself at a pace that's going to be mainly determined by your enthusiasm. The nature of such material is more straightforward to learn anyway, as you'll have less idiom and passing-fad cultural references to understand, and you'll also not have to cope with spontaneous circumstances; if you don't understand a word or phrase you can just make a note in the margin and return to it later with a dictionary.

Since you're in Canada I'd start with French because the available resources will be ten a penny. Borrow some "teach yourself" books from the library and have a start at them. You'll no doubt soon find one that's "you". Perhaps you can also find some French-language books on popular history after a time. There will be heaps of words and phrases you won't understand, but you'll quickly learn some from context and learn others by looking them up. Accept that you'll have to put up with not understanding a lot for quite some time to come. Don't judge yourself against a native speaker's ability, because it's taken them *years* to get there!

If certain topics interest you then find something on those in French for you to read. If you have a genuine interest in what you're trying to read then you'll be motivated to understand it, and you'll perhaps also already understand something of the topic beforehand. If you like reading certain genres of fiction then perhaps find some books in that genre that are aimed at teenagers or even children. If you're interested in current affairs (either at home or abroad) then have a stab at newspapers and websites. But don't waste your time doing something that you would otherwise find boring just because you think it will help you with your learning, as you'll then become bored with the language-learning as well. Reading French-language Wikipedia articles might be useful (and in many cases you can click through from one language version to another using links along the left-hand side).

Your biggest problems will be time and motivation. Many people who just feel "it would be nice" to learn another language soon give up because of these two factors. A little but often is the key. Having a couple of hours to spare each Sunday is a lot less useful than spending just half an hour each day on it. As for motivation, try to keep things fun, or at least interesting. If you have no interest in current affairs then forcing yourself to watch the news in French will just put you off the whole business; on the other hand, if you love (say) hockey then reading about the weekend's matches in a newspaper will make it all seem so easy! Although it has an African slant, the French version of the BBC News website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/french/) might be useful site to bookmark, as the articles are in bite-size chunks rather than long and turgid paragraphs; they have versions in other languages as well.

There are also lots of little things you can do that will keep the learning wheels oiled. Learn numbers and the names for letters by reading car licence plates when you're stuck behind them in traffic. You can also learn numbers by reading price labels when you're doing your shopping, and learn to count by adding them up in your head. When there are bilingual signs and information about read just the French (or both when you're just starting out); don't look for the "Exit", look for the "Sortie". If you frequent bookshops then spend a few minutes just browsing French-language titles and the bumf printed on the back. If you're in a cardshop try reading a few of the French-language ones. Get one of those books of puzzles where you have to find words horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. If you like (non-cryptic) crosswords, get a book of those. Try reading books that have parallel texts. Read the French instructions, ingredients, and warnings on products. Look at the weather and television pages in a French-language newspaper instead of your usual source.

If you have the time and money then classes can of course also help you. Certainly they can be useful for learning the very basics even if you just want to be able to read, and feedback from an instructor and your own sense of how well you're doing in particular areas compared to your classmates can be very handy. If you have the time and the money then an immersion course is an even better way forward. A week's vacation in Quebec province might also do the trick, or even long weekends there if you're not far from it. Immersion can make your brain hurt if you're a beginner, but you can learn a huge amount in a very short time. Simply walking down a road and seeing and hearing the language in every direction is a help, because you have a context to put things in rather than just learning dry lists of words or studyin grammatical forms.

If you want to learn more than one language then I'd leave the second one until you've got past the basics of the first.


--
AGw.
address in header goes nowhere; replace "bottomless_pit" with "devnull"
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Opening
    ... reading texts with words I don't understand - reading (a ... I've done it with languages with which I'm ... and it was packed with French speakers. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Welsh placenames mispronounced
    ... languages and were replaced by a French version halfway thru history ...
    (uk.railway)
  • Re: The Edmund Fitzgearld & the National debt
    ... >> By your reading, the Louisiana Purchase was illegal, and should be given ... > If you knew ANYTHING about the history of the US you'd know that Thomas ... should we give the Louisiana Purchase back to the French? ...
    (rec.boats)
  • Re: Torture - A lawful good act?
    ... least ride a fucking bike, you are the fucking bigot, you idiot! ... Germans uncomfortable was "awful" to you. ...  Do you know WHY the French ... want to talk history, you dumb fuck! ...
    (rec.games.frp.dnd)
  • Re: Original Declaration of Independence has much in common with todays history
    ... history are aware of how convulted our history was. ... Revolution started versus things that went back many decades between ... Southern states fight every effort to address slavery during various ... The costs for fighting the French created a crushing debt on ...
    (soc.retirement)
Loading