There is an entity inside of you about which you are not too much aware. I will call it (using the terminology of Don Miguel Ruiz) “the parasite”. Do not be afraid, do not panic – this entity is in all of us and it directs (more or less, usually more, some would say from 90%) our life.

Don Miguel Ruiz divides this parasite to three parts – judge, victim and value system (for more). For us at this moment will be enough to know that HE (I will use HE, but it could be appropriate IT or SHE too – it makes no difference) influences very strongly our ability to learn, especially to learn foreign languages. HE is very conservative and learning in its essence means a change, HE has its own value system, HIS own judgment and - on top of it - the older we are (6,7,10 years … 40 goes without saying) the stronger HE is. Maybe you have already heard the term „thinking out of the box“. HE is that BOX. HE will sabotage to some extent your effort (without HIM there would not be actually any effort) to learn any new language. Why? Because HE has the language of its own already, the mother one.

It doesn't sound very positive, does it? So, why I write about it. I am positive from my nature. Yes, to be positive, really positive, does not mean to avoid negative aspects of live. For me to be positive means to search for solutions. And I have a solution for you, maybe even bombastic;-) solution – we will turn this sabotaging parasite into our best language teacher. HE will be the best one not because of HIS education, methods... but because HE is ALWAYS PRESENT with you, HE works „instead“ of you, for you, without rest, without forcing HIM to do it, all the time, even at night, even if you do not care about your English at that moment. HE can perform several tasks at the same time easily, HE is tireless... But enough was the superlatives. How to do it?

First – we need to let HIM to learn the new language. Actually HE CAN learn several languages (but somehow HE is reluctant to do it. At least from the beginning) HE lives by HABITS. HIS current habit is (for majority of us) to use just one language. HE resists bigger changes, and the new language is quite a big change. So, what we can do? We cannot persuade HIM, force HIM... Why? Because HE DOES NOT LISTEN. Yes, HE does not listen at the moment YOU (your conscious mind) is in charge. Yes, HE is your UNCONSCIOUS (or SUBCONSIOUS) mind. HE is your so called „autopilot“. And we need to reprogram HIM. How to do it? It is rather easy, but there is here one little obstacle, something which will try to prevent you to do it – it is HE! HE will tell YOU – it is all nonsense, it is bull-shit, do not do it! Or things like that. In other words – he would like you to stay “in the box” you have always been and everything will be OK. Yes, it will be OK, OK for HIM. But there will be no English improvement, at least not very significant one. So, do not listen HIM (NOW) and PUT INTO YOUR EAR HEAD-PHONE WITH ENGLISH AND LISTEN! LISTEN HOURS AND HOURS, LISTEN SUCH WAY THAT YOU DO NOT PAY ALMOST ANY ATTENTION TO IT, LISTEN OVER AND OVER THE SAME STUFF, LISTEN KNOWN MATERIAL. And this is important – listen most of the time the KNOW material, prepared before. Sometimes you can listen unknown too, but your parasite would not be willing to „digest it“ and could be rebellious. HE likes repetition, HE listens when YOU are engaged in other activities (consciously engaged) and HE learns:-) So, at the beginning he will resist, after while he will like it, and then he will even demand it! It becomes HIS HABIT.

Second - let yourself to be taught by HIM. After some time he will speak English rather well. You will notice that you can now chose what language will be in your head – your native language or English. No big difference anymore. Maybe only smaller vocabulary, but it is just a question of time to build it. This thinking, this voice it your head, is HE. HE does not resist the new language anymore, for HIM it is not any NEW language after all, and HE is willing to help you, to learn you and to assist you. You will notice also for example such phenomenon like this – you will say a sentence and „HE listens“ and „HE says“ It is wrong, reformulate it! And he will say you how, or better to say, HE will say it. After all HE and YOU are ONE. You will have much bigger ability of self-correction, you will be able to understand and speak better and the both immediately without mixing languages. You will enjoy the language learning process. It will not be so big effort. Much of that effort was just fighting with HIM after all. Just try it and try OUR METHOD too.

there was a king* and that king had a son*. That young prince was very brave, he was learning English. And that prince was me :-) Actually that prince was not so very young already, he was in his early forties and actually he was not any prince. That king was not any king too. He was an elderly, already retired man, my father.

I can remember a short story that can be interesting more for me then for you. But I will write it anyway. We were sitting in my car, the radio was playing and my father asked me: “You are listening the BBS radio?” He was a little surprised.
I replied: “No, I am learning English. It is from CD”
He was surprised even more. “But this is not an English course, it sounds like a real English”
I replied:”Of course, I am learning English, I told you, REAL English, what else?”
My father is kind of macho man, so he laughed out loud (LOL) and said: “This way you cannot learn anything! If you want to learn English, go to a language school”
It made me laugh too a bit, remembering our last dialog concerning English which took place about 30 year ago. I told: “I was there in such school, don't you remember anymore?“ He stayed silent.
I continued: „The result was not so bad, I became the best chess-player in the chess-club I attended“
Maybe he also remembered because he did not argue and said: „H'm, but you cannot understand anything, it is too quick, there is not Czech language there, just English. Maybe you can catch one word here and there. It is only a waste of time and effort what you are doing“
I expected his opinion. So, I tried to explain to him the situation: „This way I am just listening what I already understand after a short but intensive preparation at home. This is called a passive phase of my listening. At home it was an active one. As you can see, I have a headphone in my ear too. I listen all day long. But most of that time I do not pay any conscious attention to it.“
He started to be somehow nervous, not very at ease. It was obvious that this activity, I do, makes him irritated. He said that it is all nonsense and what I remember word by word was: „You should go abroad to  lean foreign language, there is no way“
I agreed with him this time, but I replayed: „I can create the English surrounding for me here without moving abroad. It goes without saying that this cannot fully substitute the longer dwelling in some English speaking country but it is the best possible thing I can do for it now and here“. I saw that he was not very convinced, he wanted to say something, something probably not very pleasant to me, but he stayed silent. After while he continued: “You will see that I am right, this way you will never be able to speak English well“
 
And maybe he was right. I really was not able to speak English to much this way. You can read about it here. But I was able to understand native speakers well, BBC, CNN, audio-books and different kinds of courses I was interested in... It was my goal at that time. And the other language activities? The reading was not so big problem. It is in reality very similar to listening - only it goes to your head the different way – and there is more time to „perform it“.  And the speaking, my father was talking about? It needed some „special care“ I was writing about it in some of my previous posts. Yes, maybe here is a good opportunity for me to mention our BrainSpeakActivator exercises you can download for free (7 day version) and our new VIP inner circle coaching program which begins these days. You can ask at the end „And what about the WRITING? You forgot to mention it somehow!“

AND WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM DOING NOW!? :-)

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* The characters in this post are non fictitious and any resemblance to persons living or dead is not coincidental at all.

I see it quite relevant to learning languages now. Everybody agrees that children are super effective language learners (especially in comparison with adults). Why is it this way?

I would start by clarifying that I am not a believer and on the other hand I am not any unbeliever in God. I think that both are the same, but from other side – one believe in existence of God and the others believe in non-existence of God. But is not the topic of my post - So, what Jesus wanted to say to us? And how it is connected with our inability to learn effectively foreign languages?

From my perspective, Jesus sees children as innocent beings, still free of stuff we (adults) put on them, free of conditioning, prejudices and judgments … They are spontaneous beings, they have a courage and vitality (maybe because they do not carry all of that mentioned stuff with them). They overflow with activity, they are able to play and experiment, they are willing to make mistakes and learn from them without any gilt or shame, they are very flexible ... to name just a few. Such attributes are unfortunately lacking in us as adults (partially or completely) and it strongly influences our learning processes (language learning included) and needless to say that the influence is negative.

First of all, we are conditioned to speak with some language already (our mother language) and it is not easy to get rid of it (to give it away form our head) while using the other language we are learning.

Second, we are afraid to make mistakes and teachers support us in such approach. If you make a lot of mistakes, you are considered to be a bad student and you are “punished” by bad grades, of course… In such situation could be better not to be very initiative. The children, on the contrary, are eager to do things, to speak, they make mistakes, fall down while learning to walk, but they jump on their feet again and are able to learn very quickly this way :-)

Spontaneity was lost – we think to much before using our language - even our native language - but in case of the foreign languages it is even worse – we have grammar rules* on top of it! In his post on my blog, Jarne from Finland said that we should had special language kinder-gardens for adults (similar to those for children, where they learn foreign languages very early, before school) Would it be helpful? Would not it be kind of business meeting there anyway? Long faces and uneasy silence most of the time.

We somehow lost a fantasy, we tend to do things repeatedly over and over again, once learned. We fight against new approaches, ideas. And we struggle, because, everything is changing anyway. The lack of openness, tolerance and acceptance keeps us stuck on spot. No progress means no joy and it leads to quiting such an activity very quickly – in our case the language learning activity.

To say just a few.

So, was Jesus right? Did Jesus know the truth? I think so. He also used to say: “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free”

  Let's break free! :-)

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*We think that children do not learn the grammar rules because they are too small to understand them – and we are not. We think that we, as adults, should learn simple sentences like children first. Isn't it perplexed a bit? We are adults, we do not need to learn such simple sentences, and at the same time we do not need to learn those complex grammar rules as children do not learn them explicitly. Yes, we can, but later - children learn them later too. (Excuse me for this, if you are a „Grammar Lover“ - you can do it
now ;-) Everybody is unique)

   

1. English is a skill not a knowledge. The skill needs practice. It is similar with the driving a car
   
   
2. The traditional methods bring traditional (average) results (if you make a lot of effort)
   
   
3. Nothing against grammar, do it, if you like it. Only not first but last.
   
   
4. Learning the language takes time. Not necessary big effort.
   
   
5. A teacher is helpful, not necessary. What is necessary are models to imitate (in case of your native language your parents for example)
   
   
6. I want from you not to think about English every day, I want from you to think IN English every day
   
   
7. EFL (Foreign? Forget about such term) ESL (Second? Third, …or x. It does not matter) I would only add 'N' into it to create ExNL where 'N' stands for 'Natural'
   
   
8. Learning languages is more play than serious business
   
   
9. There is no quick-fix to gain it, just regular activity
   
   
10. The language is about communication, the communication is about understanding, the understanding is about listening – so, start here (children do it always, naturally and successfully)
    
    
11. Learning languages brings joy. Is that so? (in your case)
    
    

Do hormones support language learning?

I am a bit tired today, physically. I was biking to our neighbor state Germany and it was 67 km bike trip. Yes, not too long but my first one  this year. My body needs to accommedate after the winter rest. So, I will finish my „search for English“ today – but the blog will continue, of course – there will come other posts (some of you were able to recognize the certain similarity with the name of that well known book by Viktor Frankl „Man's search for meaning” :-) Does the concentration camp have anything in common with language schools? No, actually it is not so bad. This book was just one of my favorite audio-books to listen. I will have to refresh it again!

So, I will just finish this (last) part of my story and the „BIG ANNOUNCEMENT“  I promised to some of you via email is postponed till tomorrow. Be patient. Meantime you can download the 7 day version of BrainSpeakActivator course for free (if have not done already) and become familiar with it a bit.

Let's continue. The second course, the course with native speaker, was here. He, RF and me! Just 3 protagonists. I was rather nervous. My friend RF is easy going girl and I hoped that she will help me if necessary. And it was NOT necessary at that time at all! I was able to understand the native teacher and I was able to communicate with him and my friend quite well. My English significantly improved, my speaking abilities in comparison with that previous course boosted! I was very happy about it! And it encouraged me to continue the way I set to myself.

Next year (2010) we were with Jane on holiday in Mediterranean island Rhodes. I started to use my English practically and it worked qute well! I can remember the beautiful receptionist at beach bar I was able to chat with about half an hour every day – kind of English lessons! :-) She was also foreigner working there,she was in her early twenties, blond, slim… good at English. I noticed at that time that communication is about two things (at least) 1. form (language) and 2. content (what to say, the message itself). We, as language learners, pay too much of our attention (and perhaps brain resources) to the first, to the language itself and somehow there is not so much energy for the second. The consequence is poor communication. I found that in my case it was not so bad. We both entertained, the girl included ;-) She was also glad to be able to chat with somebody in English. I enjoyed that learning experience and practiced my English speaking well with the support of my hormones which seems to be instrumental in the language learning process! ;-)

In my opinion the most important thing to keep in mind it to be proactive. To create opportunity for learning, to surround yourself with the language you are learning (I notice that even Jane by living with me and by being exposed to that English is able to understand enough even she does not learn it intentionally, nearly against her will) Use the language on daily basis in different forms. Use every possibility to practice it!

So, I continued and I still continue writing emails with R.F. She moved to other part of our country farer form here. Kate, on the contrary, moved nearer, so we are able to meet each other about once a week for 0,5 – 1 hour English coffee chat which is very helpful and pleasant. I read, I listen and I use English for writing this blog to share my experiences with you. I do of the course BrainSpeakActivator, those exercises every day. Actually I managed to persuade the author of this method that it could be good to make the English version of his method available for public (he stopped to offer it a few years ago and was selling only Czech version in book (paper) form. I completed the English version and made some changes in it. This method is not any quick fix or any gimmick. And it is not the easy method at all. To quote Jarno: „One thing I have noticed during my way, there are no shortcuts for learning language!“ - See more at: http://www.brainspeakactivator.com/1/post/2013/04/self-teaching-mosaic-part-4-speaking-last-but-not-least-overcoming-difficulties.html#comments

I fully agree with him. Some methods work better some not so well. But what is crucial – keep going! Day in, day out. The beginning is usually the most difficult, kind of a rocket overcoming gravity of the Earth, then you create a habit (it takes 21-30 days) and you are able to continue and you will improve (I will too, I need it). English is beautiful languages worth to be learned! Let's learn! Read this blog tomorrow, there will be that BIG ANNOUNCEMENT from me. Similar to this one:
:-)

New Age of my English: from listening to speaking, tragedy turns into comedy

When I was about 40 years old (as you can see, learning languages, and learning in general too, is not about age – so, never is too late) I switched my learning approach to listening. Listening became my main source of English. Not only I listened in my car, but I started to use headphones (better to say only one headphone) and practiced that “unconscious” listening (look at the V.F.B. video below) and actually even nowadays I have that headphone in my ear nearly all day long :-)

I listened that course based on V.F.B. approach, I listened BBC radio in my car, I listened different kind of courses (those courses were not courses intended to be language courses – these courses were self-improving materials in English (the topics in which I was interested), audio-books (here I had sometimes both audio and printed version or PDF – so, reading was also practiced but in lower extend) I started to watch movies with subtitles and I made parts of them into mp3 version for later conscious and unconscious listening (for example the Terminator ;-) - which was my first movie I „worked“ with). I restarted watching the satellite TV – namely CNN and at this time it was not so frustrating. Actually it was joyful for me to be able to understand (most of it). Some programs I recorded and there were transcripts on Internet too for downloading – I printed them, found unknown expressions, marked them and wrote above their Czech equivalent and then I listened them using my mp3 player. At home I let play English talks (and I continue with it even now) often to create kind of English surrounding. It is not necessary to pay attention to it, sometimes I do, but in most cases I do not. It could be rather silent at the background like a radio (the same it is with my listening of mp3 player during the day. I do at the same time my other activities, for example business activities, dealing with clients, solving computer problems or washing up dishes, running, biking… I bought wireless radio headphones too and I am able to listen whatever I want in all my house or in the garden (whether gardening or sunbathing-I prefer second one;-) ).

This way I had continued about for 2 years (I was quite happy about my increasing ability to understand) and then I met my best friend RF for the fist time. She was better in English than me, especially in speaking. She spent some time abroad. I was keen into her ;-) She was and still is really a beautiful girl! We started to write emails together and then I suggested her to write them in English. At that time I had no courage to propose English speaking, of course. And she also had not such need. Actually as I found later that she is not willing to speak English in public here in Czech republic between people speaking Czech. Kate is but I will talk about it later. Sometimes at that time I created my first „plan for English“. See the picture – click to enlarge:

One day she (RF) came with possibility to attend an English course, they has some interesting offer at work and I agreed. I was relatively confident knowing that my English improved. But what happened? It was course of a small group (the group of about 5 people and it was meant to be mainly a conversational course. But it turned that it was such a combination of all activities. By the way, I was there only one man among young women (except a teacher).

Yes, I was a „star“ in listening, average in reading and grammar exercises, but my speaking was… terrible! How to say it, there was NO speaking at all. I was hardly able to say anything and because I was not very outspoken even in my mother tongue it was not very surprising to me. I also noticed that I do not like to speak in English somehow. I did not like to hear myself to speak in different language – it was not natural for me. I did not feel well doing it.  I realized, that I needed some new approach at this stage or to incorporate to my approach some additional components if I would like to speak. V.F.B. calls this „ the activities“ as I notice in that video and there are also some possibilities, I think, described in her book too, but it is all let up to every individual. This stage is not so elaborated in her approach – at least it seems to me.

So, I started to search and I found (YES! „Search and you will find“ It works) two remedies. I do not know which one of them helped me more. First was that I found another best friend (I have two now :-) ) Kate and because she used to live (at that time) in neighbor country (Slovakia) we chatted via Skype every day – and I must say that it was very, very hard for me (at the beginning) Even frustrating and I am glad, and maybe even kind of proud of myself, that I was able to do it for sufficient period of time. Meantime I realized that my talkativeness as such is poor (in my Czech too) and I found the second remedy a METHOD (God bless!) which promised to boost the talkativeness. I found that it existed also English version (even it was kind of unfinished at that time). I bought that method in PDF format and I started to practice it according to instruction every day. At the beginning it was a bit strange for me to do that kind of self-talk but I managed to continue anyway. After while I created a habit and everything went surprisingly well, smooth and forward. I started to speak better with Kate and I become familiar with my voice in English and on the top of it I realized that I was starting to think in English! This „self-talk“ I practiced using that strange method turned into „inner self-talk“ = THINKING. When I think of it now, the goal of everybody who learns some foreign language should be to be able to think in that language. But to return to my story. It was about one year after my first, not very „successful“ course with my friend RF and we decided to attend another one. This time it was conversational course with native teacher. Only we two (students) and the teacher from England who does not speak a word in Czech! I was a little bit nervous about it. I had never met any native English speaker before and never spoken with any one before! And how it went?

I can see now, that this blog post is a bit too long, so I will let the rest of it (and I will rest;-) ) for tomorrow. Although they say that „tomorrow never comes“ I hope that at this case it will come.

to be continued ...

My English started to turn the right way from the time I began to use the kind of approach you can see on this following video. Though it was not exactly this course because it is not for ESL or EFL learners and it is not for my nationality after all. But these principles works. They works mainly (at least in my case it was that way) to make you understand the language you are learning well, directly, without unnecessary and hindering inner translations. So, look at it:

I am sorry, I have to say that  V.F. Birkenbihl is not with us anymore, she has passed away :-( but her method, her approach lives on. Thank you Vera.

I would like to create some program like that, based on V.F.B. approach. I would like it to be an universal program, as far as a language (English will be target languge but mother tongue could differ, and I would like it to be for whatever content you chose (everybody prefers and needs something else) and it should be very cheap at the same time (or for free if possible). So, this is my vision.

 And what really helped me with speaking (I will write about it, among others, in my next post “MEN'S SEARCH FOR ENGLISH – part 3, – probably tomorrow or day after tomorrow) was this method Brain Speak Activator – you can download for free HERE 7 day version. It is very simple, but not very easy to do. Its power comes from one thing I will describe in my next post – part 3. By the way, all three parts (part1, part2, and coming part3) create one whole, but are devided because of lenght (this way it is easier to write for me and easier to read for you too :-) )

Resurrection of my English

Firstly – Why I am writing about myself and my English learning experiences? Right question. It is because I would like to share with you what was working for me and what was not. It could help you. I am aware that everybody is unique, individual being, but something we have in common. Maybe you will be able to find this “common” to make your language learning process easier and quicker than was the mine.

I studied in university and chose different languages than English to learn. When I think of it now, I had to be very fed up with English! In that university I chose Spanish because they told that it is very easy language (in reality it was not so easy but our teacher was quite benevolent – it was a pleasant elderly woman). But my English was still “sleeping” in me. I was burnt out somehow. I needed time. And it was given to me.  After a while I was able (and slightly to forced) to use English at least for reading of a technical literature – I studied computer science, programing  and knowledge engineering and most of that materials were in English. The programing languages are based on English of course. Otherwise I did not have any motivation or craving to study English or use it at all. Maybe the reason also was that I had a lot of different things to learn and my capacity was used sufficiently at that time.

So, although not very clever I graduated with quite good grades and actually I was invited to stay at that school. But at fist I had to go to military service (it was obligatory) and there (more or less for fun and because of necessity to fill the free time) I started to learn Esperanto. Now I do not remember anything from it, to say the truth. But my zest for language learning was slowly returning back. And this even slightly accelerated after being back in university. I started to read more and it was mostly in English. At that time I was not able to speak and understand nearly at all. But the will was there inside of me to learn again and after leaving the university and starting my professional carrier I wanted to move forward with my English. I restarted. Fist I used traditional approach again – some books, grammar, learning new vocabulary … but not at language school. I did it jut on my own, and by my own pace. There was some slight progress but not too very significant. There were such periods of activity and then after some disappointment time of “rest” again. And it repeated itself several times. Then I met a man, Czech, who lived in Canada for some time (he was willing to speak with me in English, but actually I was not at that time – I had no will and ability to do it). He did business with me and suggested me to watch satellite TV in English. I followed his suggestion for a while, but I was not able to understand well and after some frustration I finished this activity too (now I know why it was so – I will tell you later).

And finally! The year 2005 was the break point! I found in library an interesting book written by V.F.Birkenbihl and I started to apply her approach. Few weeks later I even managed to find a course based on her method. It was English course for Czech people. Coincidence? I started to do it – to learn this untraditional way. Yes, I followed the rules exactly as they told and after some time (about 3 months I think) I was very excited. I was getting started to understand! I understood English without inner translation – I understood it directly. Not all, of course, but I saw that it is possible, that it is working. My paradigm of learning English shifted from reading to predominantly listening.

It was the beginning of the “New Age” of my English. It was just a beginning!

To be continued ...

THE EARLY YEARS
My journey started nearly 40 years ago (time really flies, isn't it?). I was a small boy in elementary school – I can hardly remember those times now. But some things we remember better and those are usually moments of joy or on the other hand (in most cases?) painful moments. In my early years of „search for English“ I encountered unfortunately mostly the second ones. My parents sent me to the language school to learn English. At fist I welcomed it. It looked like a new adventure for me and it was not so bad. To say the truth, I was even quite enthusiastic about it (at first). But such a state did not last for long!

Needless to say, we were taught by Czech teacher (there were no native language teachers in our country at that time) using classical methods, of course. It was a lot of vocabulary, grammar, exercises, reading, tests... It is the truth, that I was able to cope with it somehow, especially at that particular lesson in which we were taught some grammar phenomenon for exeampe, but a few weeks later? It goes without saying – I had such a mess in my head! And on top of it, I had newer been a good at speaking. I am not speaking only about English but it was the same my native Czech language. I can remember our teacher (regular, not language teacher) saying: „Jirka is such a silent boy. He is not stupid but he is very passive, when I ask him, he usually know ...“. Yes, I used to be very silent and shy. Actually I was not (and still I am not) very clever. I have just had no thoughts in my head at that time and because of it the speech of the teacher „recorded“ somehow into my memory. Maybe that lack of thinking did not interfere with the learning process and actually was very helpful. I nearly did not need to learn at home at all. But different situation was with that English lessons. I had in my head two languages at the same time, fighting together, competing for resources. The results were corresponding. Gradually I become fed up with that „stupid English“ but my parents insisted – I had to continue. And when I think of it, I was not any exception or a bad student in our class, actually I was an average one.

So, I continued, hardly able to understand, hardly able to say something. With my reading and writing it was the same. I forgot most of the grammar from months and years before, I forgot most of vocabulary we crammed up … but I continued. I went for years this way. I was already in my high school and the lessons of English (in language school) were twice a week and 2 hours long each! It started to be a torture for me and I was looking for every opportunity to miss those lessons. Maybe because of it my results deteriorated and it lead to my further disappointment with language learning. I started to skip school. At that time I used to play chess and I was quite good at it actually. It was my hobby and instead of attending the language school I played chess with my friends from our chess-club. My parents, of course, received the news from the language teacher about my frequent absences and were furious. My father was very upset, I remember, he cried to me something about importance of language learning. I was hardly listening (being in puberty – accustomed to such situations) Suddenly my attention focused to one sentence he uttered. It was: „You must chose – you must chose between English or Chess! There is no doubt about it“ He probably did not expect any response from me, but it came to his amazement - I said at that moment: „I chose the CHESS“ And it was. It was a finish of my English education for few years to come and a total finish of my „classical“ English learning. At least such kind of language school organized education. I finished successfully the high school (learning there German and Russian) and went to university. I played chess and I was good at it and happy, I enjoyed it. And what about my English? It had a resting time.
Hibernated!

To be continued ...

Protagonists: me (“a little me”) and ME (Jirka Slaba)


me:  So, there is that promised “English story” today?

ME: No.

me: Why?

ME: I do not write the BLOG every day.

me: Why not?

ME: Because I am busy, sometimes.

me: Lazy?

ME: Hm, feel free to use it interchangeably.

me: I have some questions concerning a vocabulary.

ME: Ask.

me: You told that you do not learn single words. What do you do instead of it?

ME: I learn the language, no words. If you read my previous posts you know that “my” method (actually it is not my method at all, nothing is original, we create from existing building blocks...) but to the point – this approach, as you know, is based mainly on listening and listening of KNOWN content. So, you have a transcript and you can easily find the unknown words. At the beginning you will need probably “translate“ this way more or less a complete text, later on only some words. You do not need to create any list from these words – just have their meaning to look at them (in text) from time to time (if necessary).

me: It is much more difficult to understand and learn words in sentences than in separate list as you called it, isn't?

ME: Actually, it is not.

me: I do not understand. I have always had troubles to catch the meaning. It is too quick for me sometimes and on top of it those native speakers! Ach, they connect everything together! It is impossible to get it, it is not perhaps English at all.

ME: It is an English! It is the real English. Yes it differs from your school English. And by the way, for me it is much easier to understand the meaning of worlds in whole sentences – it gives me the context to grasp the meaning – sometimes I understand the particular word only partially (it is kind of game of probabilities) and just the rest of the sentence gives me the global picture which I need to get it. Sometimes I learn a new word without looking to the dictionary at all. Imagine that you have a sentence (or few sentences) and only ONE word is unknown. You can guess relatively well the meaning of it (the one of possible meanings). You are not 100% certain. Let's say only 60% (just for demonstration – actually you do not number any probabilities in you head) After some time you hear the same word in different context. And it either confirms your previous guess or you must to reassess it (or you can look it up in the dictionary (at last) – and it is out of your own natural curiosity – so, you can remember it now forever)

me: You told that some words are more important than others and that they create kind of matrix or mosaic to see the global picture or something like that. How do you distinguish them and do you learn them preferably?

ME: Yes, there are such parts of language which are more important. I learn them preferably although I do not need to distinguish them from the other parts.

me: I do not understand.

ME: Every language has one interesting feature – the most important parts are those parts that repeat itself most often, are more frequent. And those parts you listen naturally most often. You learn them better because of that repetition (and it is not mechanical repetition). It is the other advantage of this approach. In the classical traditional school approach you learn all words from your list and gives them the same priority (plus not taking into consideration the difference between passive and active vocabulary) and it is a big wastage of resources and your mental energy.

me: So, I see that you are so perfect not doing it!

ME: No, nobody is perfect. I do a lot of errors and I learn from them.

me:  And you are “Nobody”?

ME: Yes.

me:  And WHO AM I?

ME: A good question to the end of our dialog. Ask this question from time to time. Ask it yourself. Bye.

me: Bye.

ME: Dear reader - next time the promised story :-)