English, baby!

Learning a New Language

Learn English: ESL Lesson about learning new languages

Date: Feb 18 2020

Themes: School, Travel

Grammar: Simple Past Tense

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Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

Go Super to Listen

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Go Super to Listen

As a kid, learning a new language is pretty easy. In fact, the younger you are, the easier it will be. Once you become a teenager, it’s harder to learn a second language. And adults can definitely build conversational skills, but it’s even harder as you get older.

The best way to gain fluency in any second language is to listen to it 24/7. You can have an aptitude for language and the ability to memorize new words, but you will pick up any language faster when you hear and speak it every day. Not only that, but your accent will be far better than if you learn it from a book. Just one more reason why traveling is so cool!

Listen to Gary and Julie talk about their experiences with learning new languages in today’s English lesson.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Julie

Gary

Julie: So, Gary…

Gary: Yeah.

Julie: Do you speak any languages other than English?

Gary: I can speak very little Spanish and Japanese.

Julie: Did you learn them when you were in school, or did you live somewhere outside of the US?

Gary: Good question! I learned Japanese while I was living in Japan, so Japanese was around me 24/7. So it was pretty easy. Do you have an aptitude to learn new languages?

Julie: I think I do. I do. I studied French when I was a teenager, and I studied Spanish in college. And because those languages are so similar, I think that helped me to build fluency in both of them. Well, I shouldn’t say… I’m not fluent. I would say I have conversational skills.

Gary: But it was much easier for you to be able to memorize different words because in Spanish and French they were very similar.

Julie: Sometimes the verbs are almost identical. It was easier for me to pick up Spanish because I could think about the word in French. Would you say that being in Japan also helped with your accent? Do you know what I mean?

Gary: Yeah. I think I heard certain words that were spoken in a specific way. And in fact, I learned a Tokyo-based accent, versus an Osaka-type accent.

Julie: That’s interesting.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

Go Super to Listen

Gary and Julie have both studied different languages. Gary speaks some Spanish and a lot of Japanese. He lived in Japan, so he heard the language 24/7, which made it easier for him to learn.

Julie learned Spanish and French in school. Because the languages are very similar, she was able to develop conversational skills in both. One day Julie may even have fluency in these languages. It takes a lot of work, but it’s worth it!

Do you speak more than one language? Is it difficult to learn a new language?

Comments

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Shoba

Sri Lanka

Hello dear ScienceBoy,

Your idea of having an English speaking girlfriend/boyfriend to improve our language skills is simply superb.

I too would like to find a Sinhala boyfriend and hang out with him to make my learning process easier. But the problem is, I’m already married!

Shoba

Sri Lanka

Dear S&W and Julito,

My English teacher was such a generous person.

He bought more grammar books with the “jackpot” and made us study them as well which was much worse than losing our pocket money.

Grammarist

United Arab Emirates

For me, learning several languages is a lost cause. I think I am not into learning any language other than English. It is really great when you reach the level in which you dive into or look for the nicety of the language you are learning, with passion and excitement involved. It is the stage of the FLOW, where someone enjoys doing something without being aware of what is going on in his surrounding. Time passes by but your senses are channeled only to what it is on your hand.

English, as I am thinking now, could be the language I might enjoy.

WobblyJoe

United States

Javi- I do the exact same thing but for Spanish. I watch the Spanish language channels and can follow along ok if I have the captions on but if it’s just my ears, I have trouble hearing individual words. I like la familia P. Lucha and Sabado Gigante but without the captions it tends to be beyond me.

As for accents, I have no idea what you guys are worried about. All English speakers have accents. Regions and nations all talk differently. The only people who don’t have accents that I can hear are people with the same accent I have. If TV is any indication, there are accents among nearly every group that are distinguishable.

I have to turn the captions on when I watch Downton Abbey or Top Gear. The English accent can really jumble words for me. Australians are worse. At normal native speaking speed, about 10% of what they say is lost on me. If they slow down, it is fine.

Stick with it! Practice makes perfect.

julito

Argentina

S&W hello !! good question , who wins the jackpot????

S&W

China

Dear shoba ,Your comments was very interesting.Your english teacher created a unique and efficient way to force students speak english.My question is ,When the piggy bank was full,What gonna do with the money inside ?

julito

Argentina

How do we know that we are on the road to master a new language ? the first clue is when we notice that we are thinking in that idiom.

tar1ta

Antarctica

Hello, hoseiny, you seem to be a pessimist #2 here. Welcome and join to complaining about learning English! :)

Everybody, have a good day! I’m going to work for a few hours but I’ll be back.

hoseiny

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

this lesson took me back afew years in time when i asked one of my friends(who was very good in english) how many hours per day do you study english? and she replied me: 24

yes, she was right. she said you must eat with english, sleep with english, awake with english, walk with english and…

it is a long process to learn another language.

tar1ta

Antarctica

@ScienceBoy,

I have been studying English since (maybe) 2011 and I still can’t make verses in it! So how can I leave a comment on somebody’s photo in the social network? )

Joking apart, I like writing messages in English, you know. Maybe I should find an English-speaking boy/man to make learning more interesting :D

ScienceBoy

Turkey

@tar1ta,

I’ve been studying English since 2009 and I am still not good enough. So I do understand you :)

tar1ta

Antarctica

@ScienceBoy,

I like your point of view :)

If I told you how long I’ve been learning that awful English, you’d be amazed.

tar1ta

Antarctica

@studentship,

I think that sometimes it may be fun. Until those who know English better make fun of me and my mistakes, for example. :))) Okay, it’s better than offending someone accidentally.

But it’s impossible to avoid it.

ScienceBoy

Turkey

@tar1ta

It seems you are actually very good at writing in English. Why would you think you will never be fluent in English? Yes speaking is harder than writing but I don’t think you are late for that.. for anything.

studentship

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

no, learning new languages is not hard at all, It’s also fun

It only needs penchant and hard effort if you want to learn them in fluent

tar1ta

Antarctica

@a2020,

I don’t understand how could someone learn something 24/7? Listening to songs in English during sleep? )

tar1ta

Antarctica

There is a quiz here, “What does “mixed feelings” mean?” So my feelings for English are, let’s say, mixed. On the one hand, knowing English is in fashion and sometimes useful in reading manuals and menus of some computer programs etc., not to speak of communicating with penpals. On the other hand, I’m not going abroad and above all I know I’ll never gain fluency in any foreign language.

That fluency means the ability to speak a foreign language like your native language (without fear and foolish mistakes): to express ANY thought (and do it quickly!) so others could understand you, to understand native speakers easily, to know proverbs and idioms and abbreviations, to make verses for your friends...

All that seems to me IMPOSSIBLE. But if it’s impossible to me it doesn’t mean other members cannot achieve perfection. Maybe I just started learning English too late (I should have started learning it when I was in school.)

P.S. Sometimes I wonder WHY did those bad men lay down the Tower of Babel a long time ago? :D
I am in a bad humor :-(

ScienceBoy

Turkey

@julito

Haha, good idea indeed. I know there are some Irish pubs in Istanbul. There is a small problem. I don’t drink;)

julito

Argentina

@Scienceboy

As you mention it , that idea of getting to know an english speaker girl friend ,it is very convinient as it works both ways , you learn english and save a lot of money on paid classes. Maybe in your city you could find an Irish pub to go and socialize with girls.

julito

Argentina

Dear Shoba,
How clever Was your english teacher !! . Praise the Lord that you dared to talk in english or mumbling something like that, otherwise your dad might have ending up broke or worst putting a mortgage on his business to pay for your english lessons. Jejeje!!!