FOREIGN LANGUAGE: What is it?

FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
What is it?
YOUR “TALKING” COURSE
In terms of CUA’s
distribution requirements
(religion, philosophy,
the humanities,
natural and social sciences)
which is foreign language most
like?
Like the Humanities,
foreign languages work
with
words and expression,
literature, communication,
and culture
Like Science and math, foreign
language has
rules and formulas,
 lots of memorizing,
 a strict sequence which builds
cumulatively
and there is even
 a lab.
Like the
Social Sciences,
foreign languages use
a country’s history and
sociology as content.
Most importantly,
think of language as a
“performance” course, such
as music or drama majors
take.
THINGS THAT
NEED TO BE
REHEARSED …
What do the
following have in
common?
They are all things that need
to be
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
new dance steps
the violin
the apology to your parents
a tennis serve
your lines in the play
a new pick-up line
foreign language
THINGS THAT
NEED TO BE
PRACTICED…
PRACTICE: REPITITION,
REPITITION REPITITION, REPITITION,
REPITITION,
REPITITION, REPITITION,
REPITI….
REPITITION,
Speaking
a Foreign
Language
Handout
online
English is certainly not the
easiest language to learn:
THE BAD
• Spelling!! – Spanish and Italian
are so much more phonetic
• Pronunciation!!!!
• Size of English’s vocabulary:
500,000+ words (vs. 100,000
in French)
THE GOOD
• No gender for adjectives and
nouns
• Verbs are where they
“belong,” unlike German
• 26-letter alphabet, unlike
countless pictographs of
Chinese and Japanese
The NINE!! sounds in English
of ough:
A rough-coated,
dough-faced, thoughtful
ploughman strode through the
street of Scarborough where after falling into a slough - he
coughed and hiccoughed.
Phonetically:
A ruff-coated,
doe-faced,
thawtful plowman strode
throo the street
of Scarboruh where –
after falling into a slue –
he coffed and hiccupped.
If you study only by reading
silently,
you draw only upon
your visual memory.
If you study out loud,
you double your efficiency
by adding auditory memory and
you make your mouth work,
helping with pronunciation
and speech.
You cannot get by
in a foreign language course
by cramming at the last minute.
You may be able to “learn” vocabulary
items that way,
but you cannot teach your mouth
to use them in sentences.
(Can you cram for a piano recital?)
Pause-fillers in your target
langauge
Fr: Comment faites-vous pour dire?
It: Come faccialo per dire?
Sp: Cómo hágale para decir?
Gr: Wie Sie tun Sie zu sagen?
“Whatever…”
• Gr: Was auch immer
• Fr: Qualunque
• Sp: Lo que
• It: Quoi que
Smith – we’re getting another one of those strange
“aw blah es span yol” sounds
don’t LEAN
on English…
¡PRACTICA!
PRAXIS,
PRATIQUE,
PRACTICE
You can’t learn to
speak a language by
“thinking”
about it.
You’ve got to USE it that means practice.
Don’t worry if at first
the language sounds
odd –
Hello?!!
It’s a “foreign”
language.
Don't be afraid to make mistakes.
Self-consciousness can be a mighty
obstacle to learning a language which
may be why children so readily acquire
languages – they don’t mind saying:
“Me want dose.”
Imitate pronunciation
and rhythm
as exactly as you
can.
DANS LA CLASSE,
IN CLASS
Don’t fall behind –
language learning is
cumulative,
one unit building
on the previous.
Don’t zone out when
somebody else is
reciting in class –
recite MENTALLY
with them and
get some private
practice for yourself.
Don’t stay away
from class
even if you’re
unprepared,
because you’ll just fall
further behind.
Apologize if you’re
unprepared
and then start to
catch up
listening to the
ongoing classwork.
To know another
language is
to have
a second soul.
- Charlemagne

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