LL-L "Language acquisition" 2005.05.17 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 17.MAY.2005 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
Subject: LL-L "Language acquisition" 2005.05.16 (06) [E]

Ron/Ben wrote:
> Ben:
>
> >  When I learned
> > Spanish in high school, I was looking ahead in the book shortly after
the
> > course began. I am one of those people who hates repetition. Tell me how
> > to
> > conjugate it. Give me a few phrases, and let us move!
>
> This describes me too, is also one of the reasons why I find most in-class
> language courses frustrating.

Exactly. That's why I found myself a private tutor for learning Spanish.
Anything else would have been a waste of time, and a frustration to others,
just like back in school.

Ron, what image can girls develop in a world where they sell a Barbie doll
that keeps saying "Math is hard - let's go shopping"? By the way, my
11-year-old who is doing so well in languages is currently planning to
become a math teacher. But I have heard all my life, from all kinds of
people including my mother, that I have a "rare dual talent" for both
languages and math/science/logic. I do believe that this is a myth, and that
everybody has, or can develop, both talents - if they are even that
different. I think it is really only a matter of stepping back far enough to
see the whole picture, instead of just one detail at a time.

I think I mentioned before that my oldest daughter developed her own grammar
in both German and Dutch when she was only about 20 months old. She would
say "memacht", "scheschlafen", "sesessen", or, in Dutch, "memaakt",
"seslapen", "pepeeld" (gespeeld) - adding the consonant that would appear in
the next syllable to the front of the word, like in the correct examples
"gegessen" and "gegaan". This shows that even very young children seem to
develop a broad sense of grammar when they learn to talk, probably soaking
up the pattern - or the concept that a pattern exists - before they actually
try out their own vocabulary.

Gabriele Kahn

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