System 13

A typical language learner come evening time…

Something made me smile a few days ago. I mentioned to my mom that I’m interested in perhaps learning some Russian. She responded, “But you haven’t finished with German yet!”

No, I’m not, nor will I ever be!

I think a lot of people who have never really studied a foreign language in earnest have this misconception that you study the language for a certain amount of time, and then you’re “done”. You’ve learned the language, you know all of the words, and it’s time to move on. Nicely done, here’s your certificate that says you “know” such and such language. Unfortunately, this is far, far from the truth. Learning a foreign language is a lifelong process. There will always be new words you don’t know, new idioms that come up in the language – in other words, there will always be more to learn. Even if you decide to stop actively learning the language – stop studying new grammar points, stop learning new words – you have to use the language to maintain what you have learned. Learning a foreign language consists of both learning new material, and keeping up on what you’ve already learned. I know from experience that taking a break, even a short one, can be extremely detrimental to your language proficiency. Longer breaks can often throw you back to the very beginning. You’ll relearn the material faster than you learned it the first time, but often, you will have to relearn it. You have to keep using a foreign language for you brain to keep hold of it. It’s like a muscle that isn’t used: eventually it weakens, and then atrophies.

I’ve often had people make remarks about being “done” with a foreign language. I quite often lug a German dictionary around with me, or perhaps some flashcards. People who know about me learning German, but haven’t seen me in a while, will often say something like, “Oh, I figured you’d be done learning German by now! How much longer do you think it will take?” Hah – a long time. A very, very long time!

Image under CC by DanielJames.