2009-11-07
Linguistic Assimilation
The hardest part of learning a foreign language is not the ability to read or write in it, nor to pronounce the words or to learn the vocabulary.
The hardest part, at least to me, is having to listen to native speakers of the language and to be able to parse their words into something that you understand to be speech.
The process of linguistic assimilation - the process by which you make the transition from a mere student of the words to an actual user of the language - begins when you develop that ability to parse the sounds of the language.
I just wish I could make that process easier and more efficient for me. Sadly, the only method for assimilating the language remains the tried and tested method of listening to the language being spoken; and while it is enjoyable, round here there is a dearth of fresh material involving spoken Japanese and Chinese, so I have to make do with what I have got.
The hardest part, at least to me, is having to listen to native speakers of the language and to be able to parse their words into something that you understand to be speech.
The process of linguistic assimilation - the process by which you make the transition from a mere student of the words to an actual user of the language - begins when you develop that ability to parse the sounds of the language.
I just wish I could make that process easier and more efficient for me. Sadly, the only method for assimilating the language remains the tried and tested method of listening to the language being spoken; and while it is enjoyable, round here there is a dearth of fresh material involving spoken Japanese and Chinese, so I have to make do with what I have got.