The workings of the human brain are immensely individualistic and complex. When analyzing this fact in the context of language speech and comprehension, the complexity only increases. Everyone’s brain works differently when it comes to learning a language. For most right-handed people, the left hemisphere of the brain is dominant for language, whereas there is a mixed dominance between the left and right hemispheres for left-handed people. Similarly, every language has its own unique phonetics, phonology, grammar, and semantics, making it seemingly impossible to find consistent rules to follow by. As the article by David Crystal states, “different languages talk about the world in different ways (188).”
Now comes the big question: Is there a best direction for the study of a language? For me, I think the answer is a big resounding yes. As I alluded to in my last blog entry, I have figured out that I learn languages best by hearing them in practice; whether they be in movies, songs, or everyday conversations. Before learning the grammar of a new language (the typical first step in language learning), I like to acquire a “sense” of its sounds and words. Individual words do not make sense in and of themselves, but they are a pertinent step in the process to finding meaning. Thus, I often listen to music in other languages without understanding a single word. Despite the fact that I don’t understand the words, I am often able to sing along to the song and imitate the sounds. Slowly but surely, I discover that the meaning eventually makes itself evident to me, through visual associations and other contextual clues.
British linguist J.R. Firth says it best, “you shall know a word by the company it keeps.” For example, I listened to many Brazilian songs before arriving in Brazil without knowing a single word of Portuguese. I watched accompanying music videos and live performances that gave me insights into the general ideas the song wanted to convey. Unknowingly, I had learned some of the collocations (the tendency of words to work together in predictable ways) of Portuguese and was more apt at understanding various phrases when I heard them.
My language learning style is undoubtedly unconventional, but for now it seems to work.
Check out the picture below of a concert I attended in Brazil by the internationally renowned Brazilian artist, Seu Jorge. As you can guess, I listened to his music WAY before I went to Brazil :)
Comments