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Of all the languages for an adult to learn, English is the least impressive I can think of. Here's why: 1) English language media can be found almost anywhere

by xiaoma 16y ago

Of all the languages for an adult to learn, English is the least impressive I can think of. Here's why: 1) English language media can be found almost anywhere on earth. Many countries not only have English movies, but also local English language radio stations, newspapers and magazines specifically targeted at EFL learners. My current home, Taiwan, has all of these. A modest number of those resources exist for languages such as Mandarin, Spanish or French in various countries around the world. Materials in Taiwanese Hokkien, on the other hand, are very, very difficult to come by in most places. 2) No matter what kind of racial background you have, strangers in the US, UK and other English speaking places will probably assume you speak English. Not so for an American who moves to Korea, Sweden or Egypt. 3) Even when dealing with non-native speakers of English, it could very well be your best language for communication. When non-German speaking Chinese and non-Chinese speaking Germans do business, they'll likely use English. 4) English loan words are common in just about every major world language, except French. However, French learners of English still have a lot of cognates to help them out since English borrowed them from French. 5) In many parts of the world, English is a high-prestige language. This makes it even more likely that locals will want to use it with outsiders. It also makes it possible and even common for multi-decade expats to still be virtually monolingual English speakers. 6) Many people, including the author of this article have been instructed in English since childhood. However poor that instruction may be, it's still a head start. If he learns a lower-prestige language for which materials are hard to find, I'll be impressed. Blackfoot and Navajo, for example, are both shrinking language communities. Most of their speakers also speak English (and many prefer to with outsiders). Here's an article about language learning from someone who's had success in those circumstances: http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/languagelearning/essaysonfieldlanguagelearning/LevMAlnCnTYSIMLrnngYrLngg/contents.htm http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/languagelearning/essaysonfiel...

curtis 16y ago
The point of the Korean's story is not that he learned English but rather how well he learned it and how fast. He estimated that he learned 30,000 words in 2 and a half years, and if you followed the link to the phone interview, the guy has no recognizable accent at all -- he sounds like he learned American English as a child, even though he didn't start really learning the language until he was 16. This is actually fairly remarkable.
- xiaoma 16y ago
  First of all, that interview was after TWELVE years of living in the US, completing high school, completing college and working in the target language environment. Any highly motivated learner should have an excellent accent long before that. A serious language learner can get to a very high level of proficiency in a couple years' full-time effort. Some of them have fun, too!
  - curtis 16y ago
    My sister-in-law's mom, who is originally from India, has lived in the U.S. longer than I've been alive, and yet she still has a strong accent. I'm not an expert, but in my experience it's extremely unusual for someone who learns a second language later than about 10 or 12 to ever completely get rid of a noticeable accent. Of course the first and second languages matter -- native Japanese and French speakers who learn English later in life rarely seem to loose their strong accents. Speakers of germanic languages seem to have it easier. It would certainly be interesting to hear a sample of the Korean's speech from when he was 18 or 19. However, I think the reason he speaks English like he grew up in the U.S. is because he put a lot of specific effort into getting his pronunciation absolutely right. A serious language learner can get to a very high level of proficiency in a couple years' full-time effort. Some of them have fun, too! In general I agree with that. What the Korean did was clearly overkill for what just about anybody would ever need to do. However, I think you could employ the Korean's techniques to a lesser degree and still have fun learning a second language.

by xiaoma 16y ago

curtis 16y ago

The point of the Korean's story is not that he learned English but rather how well he learned it and how fast. He estimated that he learned 30,000 words in 2 and a half years, and if you followed the link to the phone interview, the guy has no recognizable accent at all -- he sounds like he learned American English as a child, even though he didn't start really learning the language until he was 16. This is actually fairly remarkable.

xiaoma 16y ago
First of all, that interview was after TWELVE years of living in the US, completing high school, completing college and working in the target language environment. Any highly motivated learner should have an excellent accent long before that. A serious language learner can get to a very high level of proficiency in a couple years' full-time effort. Some of them have fun, too!
- curtis 16y ago
  My sister-in-law's mom, who is originally from India, has lived in the U.S. longer than I've been alive, and yet she still has a strong accent. I'm not an expert, but in my experience it's extremely unusual for someone who learns a second language later than about 10 or 12 to ever completely get rid of a noticeable accent. Of course the first and second languages matter -- native Japanese and French speakers who learn English later in life rarely seem to loose their strong accents. Speakers of germanic languages seem to have it easier. It would certainly be interesting to hear a sample of the Korean's speech from when he was 18 or 19. However, I think the reason he speaks English like he grew up in the U.S. is because he put a lot of specific effort into getting his pronunciation absolutely right. A serious language learner can get to a very high level of proficiency in a couple years' full-time effort. Some of them have fun, too! In general I agree with that. What the Korean did was clearly overkill for what just about anybody would ever need to do. However, I think you could employ the Korean's techniques to a lesser degree and still have fun learning a second language.