【Chat】Picking up vocabulary and syntax

[evadne 11]

I had heard that if one studies meticulously but without thinking the information after he had absorbed them as well, he/she will not be able to assimilate them in timely fashion. And on language studying, for example the major one, on studying English - should one abandon syntax-cramming and dwell himself/herself on true conversation? It was surely to say if one just seek to roughly explain his/her own opinion, there will be no need for formal (and sometimes verbose) words. Therefore, the English lexicon, whose etymologic ancestors were numerous, will face humiliation...Okay, enough babbles.

So here is my question: do you often read novels in English or languages other than your mothertounge? To you much gratitude was given!

[abtvctkto61 10]

I consider myself as dual-mothertongue, so not really.

But reading novels in a certain language surely helps learning it, at least for me.

[evadne 11]

That excited my curiousity to ask...

Do you often think in English? I mean, can you not by translation understand a passage in English?

[MikiRei 10]

I personally think that one understands language better when they understand the culture. In other words, when one learns meticulously, as you've said, without thinking about it aftwards, there are not able to learn the language well. What tends to happen, people need to COMBINE both ways of learning. They learn the rules of the language but can only truly understand when they are thrown into the environment and are forced to apply what they've learnt. Through the environment, they are then able to learn the culture and understand the language better.

Basing on my own experiences, I was born in Taiwan and hence learnt Chinese by being brought up by it. That's learning the language through true conversation (well, other science about how baby learns thing will also come into play but let's not go there for now). I started learning English when I was 3 except I wasn't REALLY learning it. My mum threw me into this language school where ALL the teachers are American and do not speak an inch of Chinese. They taught us as if they're teaching any kindergarteners back in the States. That, again, is learning through true conversation.

Then I came to Australia when I was 6 and everything rolls on from there - that, I guess is still learning language through true conversation.

As for Japanese, I started learning when I was 6 as well however, being a child and the subject being something imposed upon me by my mother (ie. hire tutors etc.etc.), I hardly cared to learn it meticulously. Luckily, I do have interest in learning the language and tend to result in just talking to my Japanese tutors and they replying me in Japanese. Again - learning through true conversation. I only truly started picking up the language after I've watched a bunch of Japanese films, animes and dramas and reading a bunch of mangas. I never bothered checking the dictionary though and through time, I managed to understand the language through understanding the culture through the different mediums. I personally don't think I forced myself to learn any vocabs. I just read/watch/listen and thought about the words - it gets especially fun doing this when Japanese is very close to Chinese and so there are times where I'll hear a word in Japanese and realise it is very similar to the Chinese subtitles underneath. I then learn the vocab that way. So yes, in a sense, it's just as you've said. People will only pick up the language if they think about it rather than rote learning.

So anyways, back to your question. Firstly, I'm not quite understanding your question.

"Do you read novels in English or languages other than your mothertongue?"

Is English the mother tongue? Or are you asking generically if people read books only in their mother tongue or otherwise?

If that's the questions, then for me, I read in languages other than my mother tongue. More correctly, I read in the languages to which the book was written in ORIGINALLY. ie. If it was a book originally written in English, I'll read it in English, if Chinese, then Chinese etc.

should one abandon syntax-cramming and dwell himself/herself on true conversation?

For this, well, I think I you need to combine the two. What happened to me was that I learnt Japanese purely through reading/listening around and picked up the language bit by bit. However, I have no true understanding of the grammar. To me, if it sounds right, it sounds right but I never understand why. As a result, whenever there's a grammar test, I suffer greatly. The same goes for English. It is better when you truly understand certain grammar rules instead of guessing around and relying on your ears. So the conclusion, I guess, is a little of both. Afterall, language in its early stage did not have any rules whatsoever. Rules in language were created by human later on. So we need to learn it through subconscious absoprtion (as I call it) and also remembering the rules that were created throughout history.

As for which language one thinks in (yes, I know ur not asking me but the question fascinates me as well so I'll answer), heh, I find I have a dilemma here. I think in both Chinese and English - I switch between the language. These days, Japanese gets mixed in it as well. During high school, even worse because I was learning French and German at the time. On worse days, all five languages gets switched on and often get confused because I was trying to sort out which language I was supposed to answer people in. Really not cool...... :s

Anways, enough babbles from me