It was really interesting to read about how the brain processes different information and carries out different tasks. Although most of us aware of the complexity of communication, and especially the difficulty of learning new languages, we never really consider how work goes into breaking down and comprehending even the simplest sentences. Different parts of the brain work together to carry out the motor actions involved in speaking and convey and context. The Broca’s area is responsible for the ability to speak and the Wernicke’s is responsible for the ability to understand speech.
When we are having a conversation, the brain is always multitasking — it works to convey emotions, read facial expressions, predict and process the answers we receive. The text uses the word “soup” as an example. If our brains were simply processing one letter at a time, we would not be able to make the lip round sound that is required to say the word.
What I found was most interesting, and also helpful for my own learning activities is the importance of context when learning languages. I have never been a big fan of flashcards, and high school language classes where we primarily focused on vocabulary have always been a bit difficult for me. When I learn new words, I like to put them in sentences to contextualize them and it helps me remember the meanings and certain phrases better. This is what I have also been focusing on with my language partner. I have learning how to say common phrases, greetings, and simple sentences. I feel like this has not only helped to actually better remember the new vocabulary, it has also helped me better understand the new culture. By putting the new words that I am learning into context, I have been able to learn more about Korean culture and society. For example, during my last tutoring session with my language partner, we were talking about how a lot of the Asian languages, including Korean and Bengali, have honorary pronouns for the elders; which is not the case in English.
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