Facilitating thinking in a second language
я недавно зарегистрировался на http://www.quora.com - рекомендую. о сайте в википедии.
по теме "лигвистика" есть до десятка подразделов. я на парочку подписался
и ещё на другие интересующие меня темы. вот вопрос и 6 ответов на него.
I've often read that thinking in a second language is an important step to gaining fluency. How can you overcome lexical or grammatical gaps while still attempting to switch the language in which you're thinking?
Thinking in a second language is something that comes naturally as you get yourself immersed in the learning process.
It is a given that your communication is heavily slowed down as long as you first think in your mother language to then translate your thought to the target language, but it is only through practice and familiarization that you start thinking in the same language you are speaking.
I say this from experience: I am a native speaker of Portuguese, and speak English in a near-native proficiency level. Today I struggle to learn the idiom of my new country, Israel, and it is a suffering when someone asks me my ID number - I have to enunciate every group of three numbers in my mind, in Portuguese, and then say them aloud in Hebrew. However, my telephone number slips out quite simply and nicely. Why? Practice, repetition, immersion.
To achieve that fluidity, it is very important to understand the grammar of the new language, and accept it for what it is. Do not ever compare it to your mother language (it is obvious that the language your mother taught you will always be the most beautiful in the world, just as the best place in the world will always be "home"). For instance, one must accept and deal with characteristics like the absence of auxiliary verbs in Hebrew [1] to build the past tense (equivalent to the English constructions using the verb "to be") . As long as you find it cumbersome, funny or anything you will only lag behind. You must accept that you are entering a different mindset, a different way to express reality.
Be patient and persistent. And be passionate! Some day, when you least expect, you will find out that you finally got it!
по теме "лигвистика" есть до десятка подразделов. я на парочку подписался
и ещё на другие интересующие меня темы. вот вопрос и 6 ответов на него.
I've often read that thinking in a second language is an important step to gaining fluency. How can you overcome lexical or grammatical gaps while still attempting to switch the language in which you're thinking?
Thinking in a second language is something that comes naturally as you get yourself immersed in the learning process.
It is a given that your communication is heavily slowed down as long as you first think in your mother language to then translate your thought to the target language, but it is only through practice and familiarization that you start thinking in the same language you are speaking.
I say this from experience: I am a native speaker of Portuguese, and speak English in a near-native proficiency level. Today I struggle to learn the idiom of my new country, Israel, and it is a suffering when someone asks me my ID number - I have to enunciate every group of three numbers in my mind, in Portuguese, and then say them aloud in Hebrew. However, my telephone number slips out quite simply and nicely. Why? Practice, repetition, immersion.
To achieve that fluidity, it is very important to understand the grammar of the new language, and accept it for what it is. Do not ever compare it to your mother language (it is obvious that the language your mother taught you will always be the most beautiful in the world, just as the best place in the world will always be "home"). For instance, one must accept and deal with characteristics like the absence of auxiliary verbs in Hebrew [1] to build the past tense (equivalent to the English constructions using the verb "to be") . As long as you find it cumbersome, funny or anything you will only lag behind. You must accept that you are entering a different mindset, a different way to express reality.
Be patient and persistent. And be passionate! Some day, when you least expect, you will find out that you finally got it!