Language Learning as Lifestyle Choice

I remember talking to a high school debate coach once about his latest success story: a new debater who was cleaning up at novice debate tournaments. He acknowledged that she was talented, but said that she would never be a great debater.

“Why?” we asked, since she was already obviously successful.

“Because she doesn’t debate in her everyday life,” he said, going on to explain that truly successful debaters are people who are constantly discussing issues and crafting arguments even when they are just hanging out with their friends. They unconsciously practice debate everyday. The coach considered his new recruit intelligent, but intellectually complacent.

I feel like a very similar principle can be applied to language learning. Just like initial success at a debate tournament doesn’t guarantee long-term success, success in learning a foreign language in the classroom doesn’t necessarily translate to success in the real world. Both require everyday outside reinforcement.

This is why I see language learning as a lifestyle choice. I can’t count the number of times I have memorized verb charts for a test only to forget them within a week. If you want to really master a language, it needs to be something you do in your free time. Classes and homework aren’t really going to reinforce the necessary knowledge. You’ll forget the vocabulary and verbs after a few months if you don’t do something about it. You need something extra: reading books in the target language, watching soap operas, listening to music, whatever works for you. And if you don’t want to spend your free time practicing the language...well, that’s a good sign you don’t consider it really worth learning.

Thinking about language learning got me thinking about learning other subjects. Why should history (or any other subject) be so different from language learning? If you really want to be knowledgable about a subject, then it just makes sense that you would seek out ways to learn more. I’m not one to pick up a history textbook for fun. [Some who have known me may dispute this!] Nevertheless I do find myself gravitating to books and podcasts that refresh my knowledge on certain historical subjects that I am interested in. I also find that traveling, even if it is to a place 30 minutes away from where I live, also helps me get excited about new things and reinforces what I already know.

I think the mentality that “learning = school” is pretty deadly for actual learning. It has certainly led to many a disillusioned foreign language student studying a language for four years in college and then wondering why they still can’t understand people. I think the best teachers give us a firm foundation in a topic, and then inspire us to figure out what we want to build on that foundation.

[Note: I wrote this while I was supposed to be doing my daily Russian reading. Curse you, blog!]