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Learning Article : Why Am I Still Not Fluent?

Discuss the Article : Why Am I Still Not Fluent?

Why Am I Still Not Fluent?

Learning your first language was a natural process that started long before you studied it in school. Unnatural approaches to learning could be slowing you down in new languages.

Yorumlar · 19

13

Hi, I study English everyday and sometimes I feel like it is not ending forever. I am still begginner of English speaker, My level seems like not being upgraded more recently. So I've felt a kind of depression about studying languages. and kept searching how to study foreign languages in more efficient way. because there are plenty of another things to do in our usual life like studying my major( my major is international trade)doing a part time job etc, it is hard to take times to study English in a not English country.

Anyway it seems like there is no magical way to improve my English. Everybody said that I have to keep studying, just don't give up and try to expose myself in the place where is that I am able to speak English. But I think that is not that efficient way to my level. and it is hard to find the person who is appropriate to talk in my level. I have participated in meet-up activities many times. but everyone there couldn't speak good English, so I felt like everything was mess. it was so much fun to know each other though, at least I felt like it was not helping on my English. So, Actually I disagreed the first part of your article. 

However while reading  the next part, I convinced to find the answer how to improve my English level. You said learning languages is just building a larger vocabulary foundation by constantly reading and listening to interesting material. I think I always focus on the patterns and structures not the meanings when I see English letter. I might have to study some English related cultures and words in that contents. I got a good idea of my better study way. Thanks^.^



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8

I'm fine with what you wrote. I liked the phrasing you used to summarize your advice: "stop learning about a language, and start learning about the world through a language, using that language". Your advice even applies to those who don't want to learn a language and culture as a whole, but only want to learn to read a language in a specific context (like linguists learning to read German to read linguistics works only). I've seen some of such people getting unnecessary hang-ups on grammar and learning about a language, when they should be jumping on real texts of their interest as soon as possible.

I'd like to insert a shameless plug on bilingual readers. I feel there's some injustice in the relatively low number of bilingual readers available in the market, and I mean publications with the same text in two languages side-by-side, not "readers" with notes on the text in another language. Bilingual readers, written in a simple style, would be really accessible to beginners. I've found some bilingual readers in English and Chinese, but they're usually meant for Chinese speakers and have no pinyin (transcribed Chinese pronunciation).

I'd also like to mention that while your advice does apply to the majority of people in the classroom, there are nonetheless people like me who legitimately love grammar and find it very useful when learning a language. In fact, a problem I have is finding people who know a lot about Chinese grammar! There are good books and academic articles on Chinese grammar, but finding people over the Internet who read them too is another thing. Yes, I know I'm part of a minority nonetheless, and it seems unfair to impose our learning style on the majority of the population...

7
I have mixed feelings about the arguments in your article.  I agree that using our target language is important and necessary in our quest for fluency, however you choose to define fluency, but I don't have much confidence in the natural learning hypothesis.  Babies begin to learn their native language through observation, repetition and deduction of meaning but they also begin to learn the structure of the language, the grammar, through the corrections of their parents and the help of their teachers once they start formal schooling.  In learning a second language, we are attempting to replicate a process that occurred over many years with our native language in a much shorter time frame and with fewer hours of exposure to the target language.  Learning the structure helps. I think it would be more productive to acknowledge the importance of grammar in the quest for fluency and try to devise more effective ways to teach it than your students had experienced.
5
I appreciate that grammar vs natural learning etc is a very debatable topic. It's made even harder by the fact that language is such an abstract thing to talk about. What is it really? You can't really see all of it at once,  or clearly define it like a solid object. It can be hard to pull the nuts and bolts apart to study it effectively. It's really just some sort of huge ecosystem that exists within your mind. What I would say is that there are people out there who have achieved fluency in a many languages. So it can be done! I think it comes down to creating good language learning habits in your life. So for students who are feeling frustrated, I would say: study successful language learners! Search for well known polyglots, because the methods that they use obviously work! Read their books, watch their YouTube channels, read their blogs! Figure out the methods and habits that they use and get inside their heads. And then try those methods and techniques for yourself! From what I can see, most of these habits follow some sort of natural language learning process but I think there are some methods which can accelerate the process. 
5

I completely agree with your summary you made about learning a language.But when it comes about fluency then we should think whether we want to be fluent in speaking on in writing.If it is in writing then we should practice more and more by writing or by putting our ideas down in a paper and we should be more cautious about our spelling and grammar portions.If we want to be fluent in speaking,then there is no alternative except practicing with a native speaker or with someone speaks that language better, I think.So behind each case,one thing is common i.e " KeepTrying".So we should keep in mind that Practice makes one perfect.

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