Discover the world through language

Reactivating a language you learned before

As language teachers, we so often hear people tell us that they studied a language a long time ago–in high school or college– but have forgotten everything they once knew. They usually go on to say that they had learned the rules of grammar but were always afraid to speak the language. And then after 10, 20, or even 50 years, they feel that they have forgotten everything and need to start over. But you would be surprised to see how much is still there in your brain! In this post, I will discuss how you can reactivate a language that you studied long ago.

Let me start by telling you about my own recent experience in relearning French. I learned French for 2 years in elementary school in the Netherlands and then took it for six more years in high school. At the time, I was able to read some of the major French literature and speak it reasonably well, but after high school, I never spoke it again. I moved to the United States for graduate school, became fluent in English, and ended up working there for more than 40 years until I decided to retire to the South of France.

For the first couple of years that I was going back and forth to France, I just listened to people speak but was afraid to open my mouth. I realized soon that I understood a lot more than I thought and that helped me gradually regain my receptive skills (listening to conversations and reading signs and menus, for example). Remember the principle of Comprehension precedes production! You first need to understand things and (re)build your vocabulary before you gain the confidence to start speaking.

Here are some ideas for reactivating the knowledge that you had once acquired and for expanding on it to (re)gain your fluency:

Start by rebuilding your receptive skills by focusing on listening and reading. There are many ways to practice listening: listen to podcasts; watch movies in the target language; watch newscasts; listen to audiobooks, etc. A great way to reactivate your reading skills is to start by reading graphic novels or illustrated books that provide you with visual context. I am currently rereading all the Asterix comics in French!
If you have the opportunity to travel to the target country, immerse yourself in experiences that reactivate your vocabulary: go to the market; enjoy a lovely meal at a restaurant; take a train or a bus trip; go to the theatre. Surround yourself with authentic experiences where you hear the language spoken.
Expand your vocabulary by reading and listening. Make notes of words you remember and write down new words that you encounter. Try to use them in a sentence and practice your pronunciation.
If you have forgotten much of the grammar (like I have!), buy a simple grammar book to review the basic rules but don’t get too hung up on getting everything right. If you wait until you speak totally ‘correctly’, you will never say anything! Try to just get your meaning across when you begin speaking and don’t worry about making mistakes!
Try to find a learning partner. A tandem exchange (virtually or in person) can be an excellent way to practice speaking. For example, if you are relearning Spanish and you find a partner who wants to improve their English, you could meet for an hour once or twice a week and spend half the time speaking English and the other half speaking Spanish. It’s a win-win for both of you!
Best of luck, and let me know how it goes!

Raising a bilingual child

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Many parents would like to give their children the opportunity to speak more than one language, and I am often asked what the best approach is to raising a bilingual child. The simple answer is that there is not one best way because there are so many variables that should be taken into account. It generally depends on both the family’s circumstances and the broader societal context in which they live. In this post, I will describe some scenarios that may occur and will suggest some strategies to consider. My examples will assume multilingual families living in the United States.

A very common scenario is where one parent speaks the language of the broader community and the other parent speaks a different language. For example, you could have two parents where one speaks English and the other French (or Korean, Finnish, Swahili, etc.). In that situation, “one parent, one language” can be the best strategy, where each parent speaks their own language at home with the child. It’s important to be consistent and especially persistent with the other language because it can be very easy to just switch to English all the time. Children will often start speaking English back, but just keep speaking to them in your language.

If both parents speak a language that is different from that of the larger community, it is perfectly fine to only speak that other language at home. Children will quickly pick up English from daycare, school, and their friends. In the past, parents were worried that their children would not learn to speak English, but actually the opposite is true: children will very quickly switch to English and lose their proficiency in their home (or heritage) language! This is one reason why it’s important to find other resources to help maintain and increase children’s proficiency.

To maintain both languages at a high level of proficiency, it is important that children receive some formal education in both (i.e., not just speaking the language(s) at home). For some languages, there are bilingual schools in the community where children can continue to gain both oral proficiency and literacy skills in both languages. Check whether your community has bilingual immersion schools or dual language immersion programs available, where children can become biliterate. Many states have now adopted the Seal of Biliteracy, which recognizes students who have attained proficiency in two languages.

There are also after-school or weekend programs available for many languages, some of which may be affiliated with churches or religious organizations, while others are organized by parent or community groups. For example, many children of Chinese or Korean or German heritage attend Saturday schools where they can improve their language proficiency and cultural understanding. Some universities offer language enrichment programs for children in the community. For example, Yale University offers the WorldCLASS program to the New Haven community, which provides instruction in 8-10 less commonly taught languages for high school students. Check whether your community has a program in your language or otherwise organize an informal parent group!

Another strategy that some parents adopt is to hire a babysitter or nanny who speaks the language that they would like their child to learn in addition to English. If both parents work outside the home, the caregiver could interact with the child in the target language. Grandparents can also be a wonderful resource if they are available to watch the children from time to time. Some parents are able to send their children to spend their summers with grandparents or other relatives overseas so that they can become immersed in the language and culture for an extended period of time.

The challenge is to find as many resources as possible to immerse the children in the language. Movies, picture books, cartoons, fairy tales, and games are all wonderful ways to engage children in another language. Focus on having fun and on making learning another language a joyful experience!

Eight tips for learning another language

Don’t worry about making mistakes!

First and foremost, relax!! Many people get very nervous when they are learning another language and are afraid to speak it. When you have an opportunity to use the target language–whether in a classroom, when you are traveling, or when you are around friends who speak the language you are learning–try to focus on what you CAN do and don’t worry about what you CANNOT do. Take a deep breath and try out what you have learned so far.
Along with the first point, focus on simply communicating and don’t worry about making mistakes. People too often don’t want to say anything in another language because they are afraid that they will say something wrong. Don’t worry too much about grammar or pronunciation but just try to get your point across. In other words, get your meaning across and don’t be too concerned about whether your grammar is correct.
When you are a beginning learner, start by building your vocabulary. When you learn a new word, practice it in many different ways: repeat it, use it in a sentence, write it down, visualize it. If you have an opportunity, use it in a real context. For example, if you are traveling abroad, go to the market and look at all the fruits and vegetables on display. You can start by reading the signs for the different items, then say the word out loud, and then you could practice by buying something.
When trying to communicate, don’t hesitate to use gestures and facial expressions. For example, you can point at things you want to buy in a store or you can indicate with your hands whether something is big or small. You can also show with your face if you don’t understand something.
Ask for help! Start with learning some expressions in your target language that help you when communication breaks down: “Could you repeat that, please?;” “I did not understand that;” “Could you speak a little slower?” Or: “I don’t know that word.” Native speakers are often not aware of the fact that they may speak too fast or use idiomatic expressions that learners don’t understand. They are usually happy to make things a little easier for you!
DON’T memorize conversations or dialogs from textbooks. They are often unnatural and stilted and don’t reflect the language that is used in the real world. In real life, no one will talk like that! Instead, learn the building blocks of conversations: How do you say hello? Goodbye? What is a polite greeting? What expressions are used to ask for directions? How do you order a cup of coffee?
Use all your senses in the learning process. Many people have a preference for learning in a particular way and may favor, for example, visual or aural input. However, it can be helpful to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. When you are learning new words, use images to remember them, write them down, and say them out loud.
Immerse yourself in the target language by using all available resources: read online news sources; listen to podcasts; watch videos and movies; watch tv shows and sports events; listen to music. If you can travel to the country where the target language is spoken, practice with the locals by buying food at the market or in a restaurant; read the local newspaper; go to a concert; watch local tv. Get actively involved in using the language as much as possible!

Why study another language?

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Many people wonder whether it’s worth the time and effort to learn another language. Language learning is hard work, and even after many years of studying and practicing, most learners will not sound like a native speaker. Some people also think that with the availability of technology resources (AI, Google Translate, etc.) learning another language is no longer necessary. It’s so easy to get a translation on your phone!

That said, there are many good reasons to learn another language, and there are many benefits to speaking multiple languages. Some of the reasons that people have for wanting to study another language are:

Traveling to other countries and learning about different cultures. Even learning the survival basics of another language can make your travel experience more rewarding. This includes, for example, learning to say thank you, understand basic greetings, asking for directions, ordering a meal, or buying a train ticket. In many countries, English is spoken, but if you make an effort to communicate in the local language, you’ll find that people really appreciate the effort!

Communicating with a friend, neighbor, or relative who speaks another language. In today’s globalized society, we are surrounded by people from other cultures who speak different languages. Learning to speak their language can be a way to gain a deeper understanding of their culture and to forge a more meaningful connection.

Improving your brain health. There is increasing evidence from research that being bilingual has cognitive benefits as people age. Bilingualism protects against cognitive decline and is associated with a delay in the onset of symptoms of dementia. ¹ In a recent study I co-authored, we found that more than half the participants who used the Babbel language learning app were over the age of 55 and were seeking to improve their brain health. ²

Improving your business. These days, all companies are part of a global marketplace, and cross-cultural understanding is crucial for business owners. Of course, one can argue that English is the international business language, but gaining a deeper understanding of the culture(s) your business partners or your customers across the world can help avoid embarrassing or costly mistakes. Speaking another language or showing cultural awareness can also create a tremendous amount of goodwill. Listen to this podcast episode from America the Bilingual (a tremendous resource for learning more about bilingualism!): https://www.americathebilingual.com/71-the-surprise-in-that-subway-sandwich-languages/

These are just a few of the reasons for learning an additional language. The most important reason, I believe, is articulated by the 2007 report from the Modern Language Association which emphasizes that speaking another language and learning another culture allows you to view the world and reflect on yourself through the lens of that other language and culture.³

Byalistok et al., 2012. Bilingualism: Consequences for mind and brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 16(4), 240-250. ↩︎
Van Deusen-Scholl, N., Lubrano, M., & Sporn, Z. (2019). Measuring Babbel’s efficacy in developing oral proficiency (https://press.babbel.com/shared/downloads/studies_research/Measuring-Babbels-Efficacy-in-Developing-Oral-Proficiency.pdf) ↩︎
Modern Language Association Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages. (2007). Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World. ↩︎

Practicing your language in real life

When you are studying a language, one of the most difficult things is to begin conversations with speakers of the language you are learning. Whether it is ordering a cup of coffee in a coffee shop, selecting a meal in a restaurant, asking for directions, or buying a train ticket, it can be very scary to interact with people in the real world!

Here are some tips for managing conversations:

Many conversations are based on routines that you can practice in advance. For example, in a coffee shop, they will ask you what you would like to order. Be prepared to know how to answer all the questions in advance: What kind of drink would you like? Tea or coffee? Hot or cold? With cream or milk? With sugar or honey? Rehearsing a conversation in advance and thinking of the vocabulary you might need will help you reduce your anxiety.
Many native speakers of a language are not used speaking with people who are beginning to learn their language and they tend to speak too fast or use words or idioms that you may not know. You can use some strategies to manage these situations:
- Ask people to slow down a bit. People are often not aware of the fact that they speak too fast for a learner to keep up with.
- Ask for clarification if you don’t understand something. For example: I didn’t get that; could you repeat that please? Or: I don’t understand that word. What does it mean?
- Check for comprehension. If you are not sure that you understood something correctly, check with the other person(s) in the conversation. For example: Did you mean….? Or: Did I understand this correctly?
- To help with your pronunciation, you can also repeat words and phrases that you heard. Often, the other speakers will then repeat it again.
A final tip is to simply relax and not worry too much about whether you make any mistakes. Just try to get your meaning across in whatever way might work. You can, for example, point at items on a menu, use gestures, or describe what you are ordering or buying (for example, if you don’t know the word for “stamp” in the post office, you could say “the little thing you put on an envelope”). Focus on fluency in conversations and don’t worry too much about the grammar or the pronunciation, as long as you manage to communicate. Check out our post on accuracy versus fluency.

Motivation

“Going to a country where you don’t speak the language is like wading into the sea when you can’t swim – it’s intimidating at first, not impossible, and ultimately manageable.”
Stewart Stafford

There are many factors that play a role in the language learning process, including both external factors, such as opportunities for learning the language either in a school setting or in a natural environment where the language is spoken, and internal factors, which are the individual differences that may have an impact on the outcomes of our learning process. Examples of individual differences are age, gender, personality aptitude, learning style preferences, and attitudes and motivation. In this post, I will discuss the issue of motivation and how it is one of the most important variables in achieving success in learning another language.

Early research in motivation, for example by Gardner and Lambert during the 60’s and 70’s, pointed to two types of motivation: integrative–or the desire to connect closely to another culture– and instrumental–or the interest in fulfilling a specific goal. If you have an integrative motivation, you are seeking to become part of the other culture, while with an instrumental motivation, you use the language to gain an advantage, such as a job promotion or passing an examination. In addition, motivation can be extrinsic–or motivated by rewards and punishment from others (for example, a grade from your teachers)–and intrinsic–or being motivated by the learning situation itself (for example, being excited about participating in a study abroad program). However, these binary distinctions are now considered somewhat simplistic as motivation is a complex and dynamic process.

A more recent perspective on motivation is discussed by Zoltan Dornyei, an SLA researcher based in the UK, who proposed the “L2 (second language) motivational self system.” This system consists of: 1) the “Ideal L2 self”–which represents the ideal image of oneself and includes both instrumental and integrative motives; 2) “The Ought-to L2 self”–which includes the attributes you should have to meet your expectations; and 3) the “L2 learning experience”–which takes into account the immediate learning environment, such as the impact of your teacher, the curriculum, and your experiences with your peers. In other words, your motivation includes your own ultimate goals that you hope to attain and the ways in which you plan to go about getting there, and this is also affected by the immediate context in which your learning takes place. To draw a parallel, imagine you want to lose a certain amount of weight and imagine your future self as being at that ideal weight which would allow you to, let’s say, buy a bathing suit for a summer vacation. That then requires you to take certain actions, like eat less or exercise more, to attain those goals. However, your goals are affected by your immediate environment, and if you have roommates who buy pizza every other day, that will impact your ability to attain your goals. This model is helpful for us in setting our goals, understanding what personal attributes and actions might help get us there, yet realizing that there are outside factors that may impact the ultimate outcomes. Remember that motivation is one of the strongest predictors of success in language learning!

For an excellent introduction to second language acquisition and more detailed information about individual differences, I would recommend the book by Nina Spada and Patsy Lightbown, “How languages are learned.”

Accuracy versus fluency

“Do you know what a foreign accent is? It’s a sign of bravery.” – Amy Chua

As you begin learning a new language, there are so many things to work on: pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, culture, and so much more! One thing to bear in mind is that it will take a long time to master a language, so be patient as you gradually increase your skills. Throughout your language learning journey, try to focus on achieving a balance between accuracy and fluency:

*accuracy is the ability to speak correctly, using target-like pronunciation, speaking in grammatically correct sentences, and making appropriate word choices.

*fluency is the ability to speak with ease and efficiently express your ideas in the target language. It allows you to participate in a conversation and speak in a natural way without having to stop to collect your thoughts or search for words.

Although it’s not possible to achieve an equal balance, it’s important to pay attention to both. When you focus on accuracy, you will want to pay close attention to, for example, how a word is pronounced, or which form of the verb you might need to use, or which preposition might be needed. Pronunciation, as many of us who are learning a language later in life will know, can be very tricky. Research suggests that there is a critical or sensitive period for learning one’s first language, during which time the brain has sufficient plasticity to allow for successful first language acquisition (or acquiring one’s mother tongue). While there is some dispute about the time frame (somewhere between the age of 5 and puberty), this Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) suggests that learning another language after the first one has been acquired may be more difficult, and most second language learners do not reach the proficiency level of a native speaker. This is particularly relevant for pronunciation: most of us who learn a language at a later stage will have an “accent”, which means that we will not sound like a native speaker and may carry over some of the sounds and other speech patterns from our first language into our second one (or third one). On the one hand, that makes us sound foreign, but it also reveals something about our linguistic identity: when I try to speak French, my accent will also show that I am a bilingual speaker of both Dutch and English. As long as your accent does not seriously interfere with being understood, it’s something to work on but not to agonize over!

Focusing too much on accuracy can stand in the way of gaining fluency. If you don’t dare speak until you have found the correct article (“is it le maison or la maison–the house?”), or remembered the right verb forms (aller-to go: je vais-tu vas-il va), you might not be able to get a word out at all. Sometimes it’s better to just venture out with what you know and try to get your point across, even if the grammar isn’t perfect. Many people who learned a language in school complain that they never dared speak the language for fear of making a mistake. The reason for this is that they focus so much on being correct that they freeze and cannot get a sentence out. Some ways around this are, for example, to paraphrase a word if you can’t come up with the right word, use gestures to point to things, or keep speaking even if you bungle the grammar. The most important thing to remember is to simply communicate with what you know as long as you can make yourself understood. Don’t worry too much about being perfect and allow yourself to make mistakes because that is part of learning a language!

Comprehension precedes production

Have you ever been part of a conversation in your new language where you feel you mostly understand what is being said but it’s impossible to get a word out and participate in the conversation? You’re not alone! For most language learners, it will take some time to acquire enough language passively (i.e. to be able to understand it) before it is internalized sufficiently for you to use it actively. This is known as the principle of “comprehension precedes production”; in other words, you understand much more than you can produce at first.

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A first step is to increase your comprehension. There are a number of things you can do to understand more about what is being said in a conversation. First of all, don’t worry if you don’t understand every word, as long as you get the gist of the conversation. Focus on identifying the main topic. What is the conversation about? Is it about the weather? Politics? Shopping? You may be able to fill in a lot of detail with what you already know about that topic, so try to focus first on a global understanding of the conversation.

Practicing listening comprehension can also be a good way to help in gaining a better understanding of conversations. For example, you can use all kinds of materials that are available online in the target language to help you get comfortable with listening to a natural rate of speech. You can watch videos, news broadcasts, weather forecasts, commercials, music videos, etc. Again, don’t try to understand every word, but practice getting the main idea and identifying the vocabulary that you already know. Something that I have done recently is set the GPS in my car to French so that I have to listen to directions in French. It has been very helpful in reinforcing many of the words that I had learned! Another way to increase your understanding is to read in the target language and increase your vocabulary. It doesn’t matter what you read as long as it keeps your interest.

By first working on expanding your vocabulary, getting used to a more natural rate of speech, and focusing on gaining a global understanding, you can gradually increase your level of confidence and before you know it, you will want to participate in the conversation!

Strategies for learning vocabulary

“A different language is a different vision of life.”
Federico Fellini

Learning a new language starts with some first steps: learning the basic structure of the language and how sentences are formed (grammar), practicing the sounds of the language (pronunciation), and acquiring new words (vocabulary). Although it sounds daunting at first, it can be exciting to discover how another language expresses itself and how that may reflect a different view of the world and a different way of experiencing the world.

How do you start with learning new words? What are the best ways of building your vocabulary when you are just beginning to learn a new language? Here are five simple strategies that will help you get started:

Learn the words in a thematic context (or a domain): It’s easier to learn new words that are related to a common theme; for example, the domain of “clothing” includes many different words, such as “dress”, “pants”, “socks”, “skirt”, “shirt”, “hat”, etc. Another example is “food”, which has a number of different sub-domains, such as fruits or vegetables. Grouping all the fruits together, such as “apple”, “pear”, “banana”, “cherry”, “orange”, etc. is a good way to learn a whole bunch of new vocabulary all at once.
Use all of your senses: We all have different preferences about learning–some learn better by listening to words being spoken; others prefer to see an image; yet others like to write things down. The best way to remember new words is to activate all your senses in the process: visualize the words (for example, look at a picture of a market where fruits and vegetables are being sold); listen to the words being used in a meaningful context (for instance, watch a video or listen to a song that contains the words you are trying to learn); and write the words down, preferably in a full sentence (for example, “I like eating beans, carrots, and potatoes, but I don’t like cabbage and leaks”). You can also make flash cards by writing the word on one side of an index card and the meaning on the other. Or, you can put post-it notes on items that you want to learn; so, for example, you can label everything in your kitchen so that you see the word every time you use the item (e.g. “toaster”, “coffee pot”, “refrigerator”, “stove”, etc.).
Use the building blocks of language: Words are made up of smaller elements that convey meaning. For example, in English, we generally add an -s to indicate that a word is plural, or more than one. So: one table-two tables; one book-two books. That small unit of meaning (-s) is called a morpheme, and we can use them to expand our vocabulary. To give an example from French, a language that I am currently relearning: I already knew the words for many fruits, but I learned that by adding –ier, which indicates that something is a tree, I now also know the word for the fruit tree. So that all at once provides me with many new words. For example, pomme=apple and pommier=apple tree; poire=pear and poirier=pear tree; cerise=cherry and cerisier=cherry tree, and so forth and so on! By identifying these morphemes we can increase our vocabulary multifold!
Don’t overdo it! It is better to not to try to learn too many words at once because they won’t be absorbed in our long-term memory. Remember those long vocabulary lists in your textbook that you had to learn by heart? Most of the time, rote memorization is not helpful (except for maybe getting an A on the quiz the next day!). Focus on no more than 5-10 items per day, which gets me to my fifth and final item. . .
Practice, practice, practice! Research tells us that we have too use each vocabulary item in meaningful contexts between 8-16 times, so it’s important to find opportunities to practice each word that you have learned. If you live in the culture where the language is spoken, try out your new words with native speakers. You can go to the market and order vegetables, or go to the store to buy bread and pastries. If you have friends, family or neighbors with whom you can practice, that is another way to solidify what you have learned. Another great way to practice is to begin reading in the target language. It can be simple advertisements that can be found online, children’s books, comics, Instagram posts, recipes, or whatever you are interested in. The most important thing is to use the language in as many ways as possible, and above all else, enjoy!