Suggestion #25: For non-native English speakers: Improve your English. For native English speakers: Learn another language. - Stephan K?mper
When I was growing up, I had the opportunity to take various classes in school that focused on foreign languages. In elementary and middle school, I took a couple years of Spanish. In High School, I took three years of German. During my adult life, I have, through various media interests, become very interested in learning both Japanese and Korean (as spoken and written).
To tell the truth, while I can hear a lot of these languages around me every day, and through various mediums experience Spanish, German, Japanese or Korean, and understand a fair bit of what I hear and read, I struggle with speaking it in any way that doesn't come off sounding ridiculous.
The reasons for why I'm not better with these languages are many, but I believe it comes down to one fundamental issue. We learn, and remember, what we use and directly interact with. My Spanish and German probably would be a lot better today if I had more of an opportunity (and took advantage of the opportunities that I did have) to daily use those languages. Hearing, reading, writing, but most of all actually speakingwith other people in that language. The fact is, I grew up in an area where, at the time, there were not many Spanish or German speakers. Even today, while I love watching Anime and K-Drama, the biggest hindrance so far has been having access to a limited number of fluent speakers to interact with (and to be fair, would be willing and patient enough to interact with me ;) ).
Language acquisition is easiest when we are young, because we hear it while our minds are making the mental map of our world. We are able to associate sounds and actions early on, and those become part of our everyday language. Our "Native Tongue" is easiest because it's where all of our formative experience are associated. Later on in life, as we try to learn a new language, we find that we struggle to make the same kind of connections. I find myself actively translating what I hear, formulating what we want to say in English, then translate it again to say it back to the person I am speaking with. The tighter I can make that feedback loop, the more likely I will be to gain comfort and fluency in that language.
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