On textbooks
Here's another brief thought. It's sometimes asked why it's so difficult to learn a new language (even though children, all children, are really good at it).
There's different reasons. People sometimes claim that children's brains are more malleable, or in any case more adaptable, than adults'; I'm not sure I believe this. One of my own thoughts I wrote down here somewhere years ago is that as adults who already learned a language, we already have conceptualized the world, and we are seeking to impose a new (perceived) structure of the world where there already is a prior one in our brains. Children, in contrast, have no concept of the world, and learn to speak at the same time that they build this structure: language shapes perception, and perception shapes language.
Recently I thought of another, much more profane reason: textbooks. Specifically, many of the textbooks I've seen are based on studying grammar, and on receptive use of a language. The questions that textbooks ask are what does this mean? (reception) and what is the structure of this/why is this structure used and not another? (grammar), but what textbooks should really be about is expressive intent: how do I say this?.
Expressive intent is seen at the beginning of textbooks, of course: how I do I say hello, how do I order food at a restaurant, how do I ask for directions, that sort of thing. But after a certain level of language acquisition, this stops, perhaps because there's so many ways to go (so many different intents to cover after the basics have been learned). And, coincidentally, that is when (in my experience) people start having trouble progressing further. There's Beginner Hill, which is all friendly and easily climbed, and then there's Mount Fluency, whose summit is accessible only to advanced alpinists with a dogged perserverance.
Image: Itchy Feet. Read the comic, buy the books!
Perhaps there's a business opportunity here: since there's so many things to cover after the basics, why not produce a whole load of textbooks for advanced learners, covering all sorts of things? But I guess it's not something that'd pay well and cover the costs, especially for the languages I'm interested in and where I'd like to improve (specifically, Icelandic).
There's different reasons. People sometimes claim that children's brains are more malleable, or in any case more adaptable, than adults'; I'm not sure I believe this. One of my own thoughts I wrote down here somewhere years ago is that as adults who already learned a language, we already have conceptualized the world, and we are seeking to impose a new (perceived) structure of the world where there already is a prior one in our brains. Children, in contrast, have no concept of the world, and learn to speak at the same time that they build this structure: language shapes perception, and perception shapes language.
Recently I thought of another, much more profane reason: textbooks. Specifically, many of the textbooks I've seen are based on studying grammar, and on receptive use of a language. The questions that textbooks ask are what does this mean? (reception) and what is the structure of this/why is this structure used and not another? (grammar), but what textbooks should really be about is expressive intent: how do I say this?.
Expressive intent is seen at the beginning of textbooks, of course: how I do I say hello, how do I order food at a restaurant, how do I ask for directions, that sort of thing. But after a certain level of language acquisition, this stops, perhaps because there's so many ways to go (so many different intents to cover after the basics have been learned). And, coincidentally, that is when (in my experience) people start having trouble progressing further. There's Beginner Hill, which is all friendly and easily climbed, and then there's Mount Fluency, whose summit is accessible only to advanced alpinists with a dogged perserverance.
Image: Itchy Feet. Read the comic, buy the books!
Perhaps there's a business opportunity here: since there's so many things to cover after the basics, why not produce a whole load of textbooks for advanced learners, covering all sorts of things? But I guess it's not something that'd pay well and cover the costs, especially for the languages I'm interested in and where I'd like to improve (specifically, Icelandic).