Bilingual
Babblings
Butchy spoke two languages, but neither of
them fluently. His teacher worked hard, though. She spent time with him; she
repeated words and phrases. She knew that immersion and repetition are keys to
success. And although Butchy’s language skills were limited, his teacher was
well pleased. After all, Butchy was only a parakeet.
But Butchy can teach us a couple of lessons
about learning a language. For one thing, it helps to spend time with those who
speak the language we want to learn. Two sisters learned a second language by
doing just that. In a short time, they fumbled their way to fluency.
Some of us, however, dislike fumbling. One
person attempted the immersion approach during an Amish church service. Instead
of sitting near somebody who could translate, she tried to figure things out
based on the smattering of German she understood. To her, the sermon sounded
like this: Blah, blah, dark. Blah, blah, light. Blah, blah, world. As you can
imagine, she got very little out of that sermon besides frustration. After that,
she sat with the translator.
Listening to the translator helped,
especially when certain words were frequently said. Those were the memorable
ones; they stick when we hear them often enough. That is why toddlers usually
say “no” before they say “yes.” That is also why Butchy spoke Portuguese Creole
and English—the languages he heard every day. Why, he even coughed and laughed
like his teacher.
Grandma Lizzie was another teacher who
realized the importance of repetition. One day her English-speaking neighbor
trudged up the hill for a visit. In Pennsylvania Dutch, Grandma Lizzie asked
her visitor if she was tired from the walk up: “Bisht du meet funn ruff lawfa?”
The neighbor wanted to learn that sentence. So Grandma Lizzie patiently
repeated it until the neighbor could say the words as well as her teacher.
That Pennsylvania-Dutch sentence literally
means, “Are you tired from up walking?” We arrange the words differently in
English, which is one reason learning a foreign language is such a challenge.
Not only do we need to learn the words, but we need to learn where to put them.
Besides that, not all speakers of a language
say things in the same way. English, too, has its dialects, accents, and slang.
If a foreigner learns English, he will still struggle to understand everything
he hears in America. Does the Georgian’s “I” sound like the Mainer’s? That is
why immersing yourself in a setting and repeating what you hear is so
beneficial. Language-learning recordings can help, too. We not only need to say
the words; we need to say them correctly.
Seeing the foreign words in print also helps,
since we sometimes hear incorrectly. One person thought she heard a “p” sound
when it was actually an “f” sound. When she said the word that she thought
meant “work,” she was informed that it meant “shop.” There is a big difference
between working and shopping—unless your job is assisting customers at the
local Piggly Wiggly.
The printed word has another advantage. One
couple learned Spanish while living in Guatemala. Since returning to the States,
they continue to read literature written in Spanish so they will retain what
they learned. If we use it, we won’t lose it.
Another way to retain a language you’ve
learned is to keep your motivation in focus. When we have a purpose for
learning, it pushes us to stick with it. The students in one school study
French because their church has an outreach in Quebec. What better reason to
learn a language than reaching out to the lost?
One person chose to study Spanish because so
many people in the world speak it. She mainly used the workbook method, but a
brief trip to a Spanish-speaking country proved much more effective. By the end
of that 11 days, she was even dreaming in Spanish. And she also learned two
crucial sentences that her workbook had never mentioned: “I’m sorry,” and “Where
is the bathroom?”
Sure, the workbook had taught her some Spanish.
For instance, she could say, “The fat cat is in the kitchen,” and “I like
chocolate.” But those sentences never came in handy during that trip—although,
letting others know you like chocolate can sometimes have its advantages.
Workbooks do have some advantages,
though. For one thing, you can study the grammatical rules of a language. But
you can also learn them by listening to native children. After all, the average
5-year-old who has grown up speaking English knows how to conjugate basic verbs,
even though he has never taken a course in English grammar. That is because he
has heard proper usage over and over again. The same is true for children who
speak other languages.
They can also learn a second language more
easily than adults. And besides that, children who speak the language you want
to learn make good teachers. They use simple words, but they know how to
pronounce them and where to put them. Also, pay attention to how adults talk to
toddlers. You will hear a language plainly spoken, and listening to that is a
good way to learn.
These days some schools offer
English-as-a-second-language classes. The previous method? Immersion. One
former immigrant remembers at age 5 being thrust into a school where only
English was spoken. Although she found the experience frustrating, she also
learned the language in a hurry.
Her parents, on the other hand, never learned
English as well as she did. That is because they spent most of their time with
those from their own background. But if we want to sound like natives, we will
spend time with those who have grown up with the language we want to speak.
Parakeets who spend time with people can
learn to speak their language. But put two birds in the same cage, and they
will prefer talking with each other. Even a lone parakeet allowed to spend time
in front of a mirror will prefer primping and preening to impress his favorite
bird. But by immersing him in the world outside of his cage, and repeating
words and phrases every day, you might teach him to mimic the way you talk.
Although mimicking is far from communicating,
birds like Butchy still remind us that immersion and repetition work. And we
can combine those methods with studying books written in the language we want
to learn. Then when we have learned that language, we can spread the Gospel to
more people. And that is the best motivation in the world.
