#CORRECTION: comprehensible input isn't a method it's a theory regarding second language acquisition

[susansontag]

Why did you decide to learn Spanish? Is it more of a hobby/the love of learning or because you want to talk to more people? Are you able to speak Spanish to people regularly in your day to day? Do you worry you might forget all you’ve learned if you don’t engage with Spanish enough?

Sorry for so many questions. I would love to learn a third language, but I wish I could use it as frequently as I use Spanish/English. Even though Spanish is my native language, English is just everywhere and I use it all the time. I want something like that but with another language and that is what has kept me from learning another language. What are the odds of me finding people in my day to day who speak whichever language I’m learning? Almost none because I live in a small place that isn’t very diverse. I also can’t just get on tumblr for example and find many people speaking something that isn’t English. And if I don’t keep it up I know I’d forget the language, but I’m certain I’d never forget English, you know? I want to be certain I’d never forget the other language as well!

y si quieres contestar este mensaje en español sería brutal!! :)))

decidí aprender español hace un año, más or menos, porque había querido aprenderlo por mucho tiempo. hube visto un vídeo sobre cómo aprendemos otros idiomas, y me hizo querer probar ese método en mi aprendizaje. el vídeo es esto. para mi, aprendiendo español es una inversión en mi futuro pero también es algo que amo mucho! cuando aprendí que puedo adquirir un idioma en una manera muy divertida, me quedó un poco sospechosa, porque la idea que se puede aprender a hablar y comprender una lengua sin aprender las reglas gramaticales o enfocarse en vocabulario es algo difícil de aceptar. mi nivel de español es definitivamente intermedio, pero ya puedo entender contenido nativo de los países hispanohablantes y voy a seguir mejorandolo. ahora voy a acabar de contestar en español porque quiero discutir más el método que mencioné antes

apologies for my errors btw, I'm still learning lol. basically I want to speak to people but also learning spanish just became a hobby. now I'm intermediate in terms of comprehension it feels silly to consider stopping. I'm dedicated to lifelong learning in many aspects of my life and learning languages is just another one of those areas. atm I don't have many people I can speak to in spanish in my day to day though I do have a few friends/women I know who speak the language so realistically we could speak together, so I'm not too worried. london is well connected obv and has plenty of language meet-ups also!

I get what you mean about maintenance but I've heard many say once they reach a B2ish level in a language they basically never forget it. in spanish I want to get competent enough that I can just think in it in my head even when I'm not in a spanish speaking country or speaking to someone in it. I practice most days so I don't worry at this stage. as for why to learn, you've got to ask yourself why you want to learn a particular language and for most ability to use it a lot is high priority (some learn a language just to read books or watch films though, for example). I'm very close to spain and also france (I also want to learn french) so I'm not concerned about my ability to use them in my life - I also live in an incredibly diverse city. I recognise how lucky this is and that it's not everyone's experience, but languages can really be doors to other places and opportunities I feel so it depends on why you want to learn it and what you hope to get from it

as for the method I mentioned I basically adhere to the comprehensible input method* put forward by stephen krashen. I'm actually going to talk about this more in another ask though because I received two more asking about how one should go about learning a language and well, that's what has been working for me. I'm not a purist about it though, I do just think it's a bit like magic

#CORRECTION: comprehensible input isn't a method it's a theory regarding second language acquisition #there are certain methods of learning that are compatible with this theory* #asks #anon #languages