Language learning, and culture - my experience and advices.

 In these blogs, which I write spontaneously, so randomly, when I feel like it, the main thing is to tell my point of view, or my experience on something. Like bar chatter. I don't necessarily have to be a professional in the topic in question, I don't claim to teach anything, I just share my experience.

And so today I want to share my experience and opinion on language learning.

It is a complex, vast and interesting topic, and it has always fascinated me.

How important is it to learn languages ​​nowadays? Concentrating on something, whether it is a need or a mere interest, always helps personal development.

And how easy is it to learn a language nowadays? Well, there are different schools of thought on this, but more often than not, simplicity is the most effective method.

A code to decipher, like a game.

To think that all of us, in the end, say the same things.

No matter where we are on the globe, we talk about the same things, we just do it in different ways.

With different words, written differently, and the development, history, grammar, word order, therefore the order with which we receive or communicate information, the sounds, of the language in question are also different, but in the end we all have a word for everything.

Some of us will first receive the information regarding the what, and then the who, while others of us will receive the opposite.

This has always caught my interest.

Languages ​​that have grammatical cases are fundamental and interesting from this point of view, and after having heard so much about them, as a kid, I decided to look into the question further.

I am still fascinated, for some reason, by the presence of changes in words, or in endings, or in articles, in the construction of the sentence, in some languages, based on the grammatical case in use, which corresponds, we can say, to that that I want to indicate in my communication.

For example in German, "Der" indicates the subject, the case is the nominative, "Den" instead is the same article, but inflected in the accusative case, which indicates the direct object.

It is a really simple example, but to show, to those who know nothing about anything, an example of change, that is, a particle, an element of the language, which changes, based on the meaning it wants to express, on its function. This circumstance, for example, does not exist in my native language, the masculine singular article "il", will always remain "il", just as in English "the".

For this reason, even the order of words can be more flexible, in languages ​​with grammatical cases, we understand the meaning from the declension.

Not to mention that the aforementioned "changes", which we can also call declinations, do not ignore the number and gender, creating very numerous combinations.

Furthermore, the phenomenon of agglutination, another thing unfamiliar to me, since it does not appear as a characteristic in Romance languages. Very long words, which indicate a concept that can be more or less complex.

What in English or Italian is expressed with a sentence, made up of separate words, prepositions and conjunctions, in other languages ​​is expressed in a single, long word, and it all makes perfect sense, and works fully in communication.

This is also another result of the structure of languages ​​with grammatical cases.

In short, all this is mega, too many things, too difficult to summarize in short and in simple language, but it is truly fascinating

I won't delve into the matter, because, well, i just don't, buy yourself a book on linguistics, embark on your own journey of cultural discovery, take lessons, talk to a professional, a polyglot, find some material on the internet that may be of interest to you, this is what you have to do.

Here I tell things, I chat, I write.

The point is this interest led me to delve into some languages, and some situations related to the structure of linguistics. It is still of interest to me and is part of my life, like a hobby, whenever I have time.

It is clear that since I am not a professional, nor a genius or my god the new messiah of neurons, it is not that I have learned who knows how many languages ​​in practice, but rather this research has taught me many things, enormously broadened my horizons, even cultural ones yes. why not, but also social, work, and many other beautiful things.

Furthermore, over the course of my life, for one reason or another, I have also learned a few languages ​​and yes, all in all I have also gained some small satisfaction.

Regarding grammatical cases, there are 3 languages ​​in particular that have inspired me, that I have faced and that have given me the opportunity to understand, even just a little bit better, the idea of ​​communicating in ways totally different from mine, at the level of grammar, i.e. Finnish, German and Russian.

Each of them taught me something, from their similarities, and differences. They have things in common, such as, precisely, the presence of grammatical cases, declensions and agglutinations, but also clear differences, Finnish and Russian have no articles, Finnish has no gender, while German and Russian also have the neuter , in addition to masculine and feminine, German has 4 cases, Finnish 15.

The Cyrillic alphabet, I remember how much fun it was for me to learn it, decipher a code, different letters, some totally new, representing sounds that don't even exist in my language.

German, on the other hand, teaches the art of patience, dealing with a communication with attention, sometimes the most important information is communicated at the end of the sentence, the verb often comes at the end, and this, trust me, changes a lot. In my opinion, the way of thinking is influenced by the language, the way in which the brain works, adapts, German is not by chance the language of great minds in psychology and philosophy, it has to do with a certain mental approach, "the German is German also because he speaks German."

So, in short, for these and a thousand other reasons, I am fascinated by languages. I'm not saying I'm fluent in the languages ​​I spoke about before, but I've studied more or less. I remember some, I don't remember some, in short, the usual ups and downs. Some languages ​​I have actually studied, of others I have only observed the grammatical structure, the construction, after all it is not my job, they are difficult topics and I tackle them when my mind is ready. Obviously I would like to have more time and energy, during daily life, to follow all this more, but in short it is a healthy spontaneous activity. Every time I have the opportunity, I will learn something new, which can then stimulate new interests.

Now, we come to you, world.

Is it important to study languages ​​nowadays?

Fundamental.

It opens the mind a lot, and there is a great, great need for this, and it also opens many other doors, work, social, etc.

How difficult is it to study languages ​​nowadays?

It depends on the language, of course, if you are Italian and want to learn Spanish, it will be easier than for a Japanese person, and if you are Dutch and want to learn German, you will probably have a better advantage than a French person.

But this is too obvious. Some languages ​​are easier, some are harder, and people are different, so some students may learn faster than others, depending on the topic, and blah blah blah, this crap is obvious and boring.

It makes no sense to approach the answer like this, because it would be impossible. We are all different. So let's talk in general, general but thoughtful advice, which could be useful.

So let's repeat, is it difficult to learn a language nowadays?

Mmmmmm, yes, could be, but well, I would say no, not necessarily:

Whether your Italian mind is more predisposed towards a total and very difficult challenge with Japanese, or whether your Hungarian mind wants to deal with Estonian, brothers of grammatical cases, or whether a native English speaker wants to learn the apparently harmless Spanish, there are elements that they all have in common.

Simple and obvious, but crucial: motivation.

Knowing why you are learning, having a motivation that arises within you, dictated by internal movements,  or comes from outside, such as having met a partner, a TV series, a song, a character who may be of interest or inspiration to you, and that you therefore want to know better through his language, literally anything, every element that encourages our involvement, helps the process. Even the smallest, can prove fundamental to learn 200% more effectively.

Furthermore, we can find material everywhere:

Internet, teachers, films, books, video tutorials, we can travel, surround ourselves with the language we want to learn, listen to podcasts, learn and immerse ourselves culturally in the reality of those who speak our target language, to accustom our brain to new communication patterns. Getting him used to the normality of a language that may be totally different from ours, and may not seem "normal" to us, but in fact, it is in all respects.

Learn in a modern way, don't just read the grammar rule, then do the exercise, and blah blah how boring, these middle school ways are obsolete and ineffective.

It certainly takes a lot of study, it's clear, but I promote a more modern, even more interactive method, not grammatical maps or very long lists of words, which we will then forget.

A little at a time, have goals based on our level, play with words, don't be afraid to expose yourself and don't feel ridiculous when you try to speak the target language with the correct accent, imitating native sounds.

It doesn't mean studying more lightly or superficially, but rather, more intelligently.

The assimil method, or making sensible vocabulary lists, for example, as I learned from the polyglot Luca Lampariello (legendary polyglot, language coach, he won't mind being mentioned here, he'll never read anyway, anyway he's a legend so if you're interested in the theme, follow him on the web), in small, pocket-sized notebooks, which I can use at any time in everyday life, target language page on the left, and immediately next to it on the right page, the translation into our native language, I cover a page with my hand and I try to remember the words, in both languages, until they are fixed in my memory.

The words must not be random, but must belong to the same content, the same text, the same context, the same article.

So as to have a common thread between them, fixing themselves better in the mind.

In short, there are no sensational solutions, experiments from the future or important aliens, but many small things, small factors, small habits, small ways of thinking, which however can all together create the right conditions for absorbing a language. Even if it were a person, a teacher who stimulates you, a small notebook, a new learning method.

If these conditions exist, learning a language will always be an extremely challenging, but pleasant process, and perhaps not as prohibitive as it might seem.

Keeping our material in order, moving forward with small goals, letting ourselves be fueled by the small satisfactions that we gradually manage to obtain, and having a little willpower, which never hurts.

So now you too can learn your language, how nice, run and tell everyone!

But jokes aside, the topic is very interesting and current, maybe I will return to it in the future.

Happy learning